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One week to PolishFest ‘07

I extend an invitation to PolishFest ’07 to all of my readers.

PolishFest will be held on the grounds of my parish, the Blessed Virgin Mary of Czestochowa, PNCC, 250 Maxwell Rd., Latham NY 12110 (just outside Albany, Exit 4 off the I-87 Adirondack Northway) beginning at 5pm, Friday, September 21 and continuing through 6pm on Sunday, September 23.

PolishFest includes the Chopin Recital, Polish Craft Vendors, Free Polka Lessons, a Pierogi Eating Contest, Holy Mass, Children’s Games and Craft Activities, Bouncy Bounce, Cooking Demos, Genealogy, Raffles, Bell Jars, Polish Pottery, Amber Jewelry, Kielbasa Sandwich, Golabki (Stuffed Cabbage), Potato Pancakes, Pierogi, Kapusta, Bigos (Hunter Stew), Homemade Polish desserts, Polish Beer, Wine, take-out food and so much more…

More information, including the festival’s entire menu and schedule of events is available at the PolishFest website.

Note: Polka Bands performing this year include: The Rymanowski Brothers, The Mass Brass, The Maestro’s Men, and EFO (The Eddie Forman Orchestra)

Grace Smokowski will be on-hand signing her book “When I Last Saw You.”

Others appearing include a team from the Culinary Institute of America, Director Craig DeBiase, and Genealogist Cecile (Ceil) Wendt Jensen.

You have my heartfelt invitation to attend.

Serdecznie zapraszamy!

Poland - Polish - Polonia, ,

Family vacation

The family and I had a wonderful vacation with my sister and brother-in-law in Connecticut. We saw a lot of the sights, ate some really great food, and did some shopping.

Highlights:

The highlights included a day trip to Mystic Seaport. The work they do on rebuilding old ships, in the traditional manner, was amazing. We toured the ships, the museums, and the living exhibitions. I’d highly recommend Mystic as a destination. I can’t help but mention the Polish tie-in. We toured the sail training ship the Joseph Conrad. For those unfamiliar, Joseph Conrad was the pen name of Teodor Józef Konrad Nałęcz-KorzeniowskiAlso note that nearby New Britain is often referred to as New Britski because of the large Polish-American population..

We also visited the Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill. Fun for the kids and very interesting for the adults. They have wonderful nature trails and an exhibition center. The history surrounding the discovery of dinosaur tracks at the site reminded me of what government can do when it chooses to do the right thing.

Shopping:

For shopping we checked out Evergreen Walk and the IKEA store.

IKEA was an event unto itself. An amazing place. As my sister noted, it is not a place you run into and out of, it is an experience. The experience lasted about four hours, including lunch in the cafeteria – the Swedish meatballs were great. I want to redecorate.

We also visited a Stew Leonard’s Dairy Store. That was an experience as well. The products were first rate, and unusual. I found babka (Polish bread) from Brooklyn and Polish Priest Pierogis. It was great for the kids too, with a lot of interactive and entertaining displays.

Food:

For food – my sister makes great meals and knows all the best places. We tried the following:

Lunch at the Sea Swirl in Mystic – an excellent clam shack. I had the fried clams, my wife had the fish. Both were fantastic. I can see why people rave about this place.

Dinner at Abbotts, Lobster in the Rough. Another excellent experience. Down home outdoor eating/picnic style. I had the sampler. Enough lobster, clams, muscles, and fixins’ to serve an army. Note that they do not serve beer or wine, but they allow B.Y.O.B.

While at Evergreen Walk we dined at Ted’s Montana Grill – famous for serving bison steaks and bison burgers. The bison streak was excellent.

Other food highlights included the New York Pickle Deli – if you ever get the chance, check out their seafood bisque. On the way out of town we tried the Wood-N-Tap, a local chain. The food was basic but good.

All-in-all a great trip. I’m happy that my sister lives closer now and that we can spend time together. She and my brother-in-law were excellent and understanding hosts.

Everything Else,

Further adventures in food

Nicole’s Italia

On Thursday my daughter graduated from kindergarten. After graduation mom and dad took her to Nicole’s Italia. We held her Christening reception there not all that long ago (so it seems…).

I’ve always found the food there to be of high quality at a reasonable price. The owner is typically on-site and he’s really a wonderful and generous host.

My wife had Chicken Parmesan, and it was perfect. I had Veal Saltimbocca which consisted of a veal cutlet sautéed in a Marsala wine sauce on a bed of spinach and covered with a layer of prosciutto and provolone. Also excellent. Their children’s menu is extensive and includes every kid’s Italian favorites plus the typical kid’s standbys.

If you are in the Capital Region and in Guilderland, stop by at Nicole’s in the 20 Mall (2080 Western Ave., Guilderland).

Jesse’s

I love Texas Hots. For the uninitiated Texas Hots are hot dogs covered in Texas Hot Sauce, onions, and mustard.

I fell in love with Texas Hots back in Buffalo. You can’t drive 10 miles without running across a hots restaurant. I always thought Louie’s was the best (they even have a Wikipedia entry). In Buffalo, Hots restaurants were typically run by a Greek family, in Louie’s case, the Galanes family.

There’s also the world famous Ted’s Hot Dogs which was started by Theodore Spiro Liaros in a small shack under the Peace Bridge in Buffalo. I ate there after many a trip to Crystal Beach.

Anyway, there was nothing to compare to Louie’s or Ted’s here in the Capital Region, that is until Jesse’s opened.

Jesse’s is a Texas Hots lovers dream come true. Located at 1800 Western Avenue, on the side of Cosimo’s Plaza in Guilderland, Jesse’s fulfills my need for Texas Hots.

Jesse Caprotti Jr. opened the restaurant this year bringing his family’s Texas sauce recipe to the area.

During the 1960’s and 70’s, and up until their passing, Jesse Sr., and Betty Caprotti’s successful stand in Kingston, NY served the same Texas Hots, using the same family recipe, to locals.

You will always find Jesse Jr. in the kitchen and his family, including his daughter Colette at the counter. They are wonderful folks, and if you’re miles from Buffalo or Kingston, you couldn’t find better than Jesse’s.

Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Polish Fair in New Britain

From the New Britain (CT) Herald: Polish fair tradition grows

NEW BRITAIN – The Odpust Parish Festival is here again, and attendees are told to expect more fun, more music and more food.

The second annual Polish festival is to take place June 15-16 at Sacred Heart Church, 158 Broad St. A celebratory vigil Mass will take place that Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m., with festivities following immediately after each.

The Odpust festival, which celebrates the feast of the parish of Sacred Heart, is a tradition in Poland.

“It’s a way to not only bring [together] the parish community, but as a way to go back to our roots,” said Anna Lenczewski, chairwoman of the festival committee.

Live bands Rytmy 95 and Galicja will be on hand to play Polish music, along with karoke so children can sing along to their favorite tunes.

Despite the rainy weather last year, the festival drew hundreds, and Lenczewski hopes this year’s Odpust will bring bigger crowds.

“I hope people will have fun, but also strengthen traditions that can be carried in the future,” Lenczewski said.

In conjunction with the festival, there will be two car raffles. One winner will be drawn each night for each car. Among the cars to be raffled this year are a 2007 Ford Fusion and a 2007 Ford Mustang.

Participants have a one in 700 chance to win each vehicle. Tickets for the raffle are $50 apiece and can be bought after all Masses during the weekend festivities or at the Sacred Heart Rectory office, 158 Broad St.

For information, call Anna Lenczewski at (860) 798-1048.

Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Yummy cheese

From Polish Radio via the Polish American Forum: Slovakia backs down on sheep’s cheese war

Slovakia will withdraw its veto on the registration of the Polish `oscypek‘ highlander cheese. An agreement on the matter has been signed by Poland’s deputy premier and agriculture minister Andrzej Lepper and his Slovak opposite number Miroslav Jurenia.

Slovakia officially filed the veto with the European Commission on February 19th claiming it has for centuries been the producer of a similar type of cheese under the name of `osztiepok’.

If Poland would receive the Recognized Certificate of Origin, its `osztiepok’ could encounter serious barriers in export to other EU markets, Slovakia argued.

However, the Polish side had been successful in explaining to its southern neighbors that a bilateral agreement of December 2005 effectively guarantees the two products and their brand names absolute independence of each other, having entirely different cow milk content and place of origin.

This allows for independent registration of the Slovak and Polish cheese product. The contentious cheese has been produced from times immemorial on both sides of the border in the Tatra mountain region with the initial differences becoming more visible, or rather palatable.

The Polish `oscypek’ continues to be hand made by highlander shepherds and has a cow milk content of only 40%, while in the Slovak `osztiepok’ variety it goes up to 80% and the cheese is produced in seven selected dairy plants with Dutch and French capital participation.

Now if some of my Górale friends or family would just send some over… Oh, and a case of Harnaś as well.

Poland - Polish - Polonia

Best Polish beers

Tom, from the Polish American Forum on Yahoo advises us that All About Beer magazine, the bible of international beer connoisseurs, lists Okocim Porter as one of the world’s very best.

In the May 2007 issue, All About Beer announced that the Beverage Testing Institute has chosen Okocim Porter as the second best porter in the world for 2006! First place went to Samuel Adams Holiday Porter.

Okocim’s Palone, a dark Polish beer, was selected as the second best dark lager. Hirter Morchl from Austria won the first place prize.

Okocim Porter and Palone were the only Polish beers included in this list of the best 102 beers of the world.

I’ve been drinking Zywiec lately (the Polish beer with the ultra cool beer thermometer on the label – it turns red when the beer is cold enough to drink). It’s lighter than Okocim and most Okocim is more akin to a malt liquor.

While I haven’t had either yet, I understand that Hevelius Beer Named after Johannes Hevelius —“ a famous Polish astronomer (1611-1687). He has built his own observatory in Gdańsk and cataloged 1564 stars, discovered 4 comets, and was one of the first to observe the transit of Mercury. and well as Harnaś (from the highlands of the Tatra mountain range) are excellent.

Poland - Polish - Polonia, ,

Time for toast!

From France24: Polish monks to open chain of hellishly good food shops

Unfaithful and angelic Poles will soon be able to buy jam made for their vice or virtue when the Benedictine monks of Tyniec open a chain of shops selling hellishly good food.

“We plan to open more than 100 franchise outlets. Sixty of them will be opened before the end of the year,” Father Zygmunt Galoch, who is in charge of the monks’ commercial affairs, told AFP.

Pear and apple “angelic jam”, zesty lemon “unfaithful jam”, and even cinnamon, raisin and apricot “prayer book jam” are already available online.

The new chain of shops will also sell cheeses, herbal teas, fruit syrups, prepared meat products and alcoholic beverages, all sold under the “Benedictine Products” label.

All the products are organic and produced either by the monks or by small family businesses located, like the monastery, near the southern Polish city of Krakow, Father Zygmunt said.

Franchisees will help to fund the monks’ plans to go forth and multiply the number of shops selling their heavenly foods.

Current Events, Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, , ,

Miscellaneous political lunacy (NY Style)

Some things that have passed through my thoughts in the past month or so:

New York – Bastion of Stupid People

I guess our Legislators consider us to be so stupid that they have to put forward all kinds of weird legislation in order to protect us from ourselves. To wit from TechNewsWorld:

New York pedestrians could find themselves on the wrong side of the law just for crossing the street while chatting on a cell phone or listening to an iPod if state Senator Carl Kruger gets his way. The New York lawmaker plans to introduce legislation to make it illegal to use portable electronic devices such as a BlackBerry Get the Facts on BlackBerry Business Solutions or PlayStation Portable game console while crossing the street.

The legislation comes after the deaths of two pedestrians in Sen. Kruger’s Brooklyn district within the past five months. “iPod oblivion,” the lawmaker said, has become a term used nationwide to describe the state of compromised awareness that is a result of the huge popularity of electronic devices among users of all ages.

“You can’t be fully aware of your surrounding if you’re fiddling with a BlackBerry, dialing a phone number, playing Super Mario Brothers on a Game Boy or listening to music on an iPod,” Sen. Kruger claimed.

…

“This is an avoidable tragedy,” Sen. Kruger added. “If you’re so involved in your electronic device that you can’t see or hear a car coming, this is indicative of a larger problem that requires some sort of enforcement beyond the application of common sense.”

Here’s the Bill he submitted. It applies to persons in cities with a population of one million or more.

Funny thing is that there’s only one city of more than one million persons in New York, and that is New York City. The rest of the state is so economically dead that anyone who can leave does. At least they’ll get hit by a bus while listening to their iPod in warmer climes, while holding down a good paying job, and paying little if anything in taxes.

As to other moments of legislative brilliance:

I’ve already commented on Law and attempted Laws to ban trans fat and foie gras in this blog. We’re all ignorant of educational efforts promoting good eating and better health. As such good health has to be forced on us. I can’t wait for the next government hiring initiative. A cop for every citizen. You will walk that treadmill, you will do it now!

On the heels of all that is inattentive driving legislation. Put down that coffee (then they get you for driving while drowsy), cigarette, sandwich, comb, or shaver.

What really amazes me is that our elected leaders wish to protect us from ourselves in every way possible but can’t muster the courage to protect the unborn (yes, New York is rushing headlong into funding embryonic stem cell research – which doesn’t work).

They can promote so called ‘gay’ marriage, but can’t reform a corrupt legislative process wherein all state laws are agreed to behind closed doors by an oligarchy of the Governor, Assembly Leader, and Senate Majority Leader.

The New York Sun carried an article on legislation being considered which would offer an apology for slavery, and reparations. See Albany Mulls an Apology for Slavery: Reparations Study Is Being Sought.

Oooooh white guilt. I get to pay because someone in New York once owned a slave.

Wasn’t me, my family, or really anyone I’ve met. I have no guilt over slavery. My people fought against slavery in Europe, Haiti, and the United States.

When someone talks to me about their guilt over treating Polish immigrant coal miners as slaves – in the 20th century, the nativist movement, their guilt for selling Poland to the Soviet Union, or their snickering at Polish jokes, then we’ll have something to discuss. I’d also like to see a formal apology from all the states where the Klan actively targeted (and still does target) Catholics with the necessary reparations being paid to various Catholic Churches.

And a technical question. If the citizens of New York are apologizing for slavery does that mean its African-American citizens are apologizing to themselves?

Of course to answer that question you would have to understand the whole concept of citizenship.

I think rather that the people who promote such drivel and no more than self-serving stooges. They’re the ones that the family had to place in politics in order to prevent their bringing the family fortune to ruination (aka George Bush I and II).

Then, of course, NY stupidity extends overseas

See: Settlers launch first drive in U.S. to sell homes from Haaretz. One of those Americans who actually went through and bought a home in Israel’s occupied territories is Dov Hikind. He bought a home in Shomron. As one commentator on a blog said, he should make aliyah now. I agree and that’s his right, especially if that is where his heart is.

Why stupid? Because Mr. Hikind is fermenting continued bloodshed over land Israel has no right to occupy (unless of course you’re a dispensationalist) and he’s doing so as an elected representative of the people of New York.

That’s right, Mr. Hikind is a New York State Assemblyman representing the 48th District. You know, sworn to serve this country and this state.

Oy, he could have had a nice place in the Catskills with no problem.

Everything Else, ,

And a cool thing

On our trip to Florida we learned of Tervis Tumblers. My sister has several sets.

Tervis, we learned, is the original and the oldest insulated tumbler company in the U.S. These tumblers and their other drinkware are perfect for keeping hot things hot and cold things cold. They do it without sweating and they’re practically indestructible. In addition they are light weight.

We finally decided to get rid of our old glassware and we replaced it with Tervis. We received our first set a week ago (one more set of eight on order). They are great – and another shout-out to my sister for introducing us to these.

Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Niech Żyje Starbucks

From the Lansing State Journal: Starbucks gets in the paczki game

DETROIT – The paczki – a popular Polish pre-Lenten pastry – is putting in an appearance for patrons at about 60 Detroit-area Starbucks outlets.

Beginning Tuesday, the Detroit-area Starbucks stores will sell the deep-fried jelly-filled doughnuts. Paczkis (POONCH’-kees) pack lots of calories and are customary on the eve of Lent, the 40-day period of self-denial that many Christians observe before Easter.

Starbucks Corp.’s Great Lakes regional director, Scott Hasselbach, told the Detroit Free Press that selling paczkis is a way for the international chain to be ”locally relevant.”

Starbucks is offering them with apple cinnamon, raspberry and Bavarian cream fillings for 95 cents. Starbucks said it will take orders for boxes of six for pickup on Fat Tuesday, Feb. 20, the day before Lent.

Smacznego!

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