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cookin’ up a storm in a teacup

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Krakow, Poland

“When we get back” conversations emerge occasionally now, and on one particular occasion turned to chores. I was most excited to discover that my workforce has now reached such proportions that I find myself almost entirely in a supervisory role.
I’ll have a three-year-old setting the table, filing breakfast dishes in the dishwasher and taking the compost out. There’ll be a bunch of five-to-nine-year-olds to do the dusting, clean the downstairs toilet, prepare the  lunch and tidy up the dishes, keep on top of vacuuming and sweeping, and maintain toy cupboard and bookshelf order.
The older four (by then aged 11-15) are going to try something new. For a week at a time they will take complete responsibility for a job or two. They will be able to call on me (or bribe siblings) if they’d like some assistance, but it’ll be *their* job to make sure things stay under control. The “areas of expertise” they will be working on are:

1) bake bread and cook dinner 
2) prepare breakfast and do dinner dishes (includes shining the sink!)
3) washing (get it sorted, washed, hung out, brought in, folded, put away)
4) clean upstairs bathroom and supervise littlies’ bathing (this is a cushy number!!)
 
See? There’s really not a lot left for me to do – although, as anyone with children will know, CONSISTENTLY CHECKING UP is probably the most important job! And while cleaning the bathroom sounds simple enough for the big kids, I intend to use the opportunity to proactively work with older ones about how they talk to their smaller siblings, how to gently encourage, how to give instructions politely and respectfully (who would’ve thought that Parenting 101 could be held in the bathroom?!!)

With this new style of responsibilities in mind, the biggies spent this afternoon working on their first week’s menu. (Shopping lists yet to be completed).
Dreams of croissants for breakfast and dumpling dinners disappeared quickly when they realised how much work was involved in cooking Every Single Day for a week! I’m sure we’ll learn how to bake croissants some day, but for the moment, they are wisely keeping things simple. A few “trip foods” have made it on to the menus – egg in broth for breakfast, zapiekanki, steamed pau, noodle soup, moussaka, kremowka, fried rice with lots of mint….and even the homemade baked beans that allowed us to save money to take this trip have made a comeback.

Kboy12 BREAKFAST LUNCH DINNER for next day
MONDAY

soaked oats + banana

sweetcorn + fruit

pizza
       *bake bread + bikkies

*pop pumpkin in oven
*soak porridge

TUESDAY

cinnamon porridge

sandwiches + fruit

pumpkin soup

*make curry powder
*prepare fruit salad

WEDNESDAY

fresh fruit

sandwiches + fruit

curry + rice 

*soak porridge

THURSDAY

porridge + raisins

sandwiches + fruit

roast chicken + veg 
                       *bake bread

*bake 01/10 crackers
*prepare stock
*soak oats

FRIDAY

soaked oats + plum

sandwiches + fruit

potato wedges + sausages + salad

*soak oats
*divide stock 
*soak beans

SATURDAY

porridge + peaches

sandwiches + fruit

baked beans

*make zap. topping
*make mayo + sauce

SUNDAY

egg in broth

bakery lunch
what a dreamer

zapiekanki

*soak oats

BAKING

 

chocolate chippie bikkies

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jgirl15 BREAKFAST LUNCH DINNER for next day
MONDAY

soaked oats + banana

crackers
(made last wk)

roast beef + veg + peas   
       *bake bread + bikkies

*roast peppers
*make stock
*soak porridge

TUESDAY

cinnamon porridge

sandwiches + fruit

potato salad + green salad

*prepare fruit salad

WEDNESDAY

fresh fruit

sandwiches + fruit

noodle soup

*make lasagne sheets
*soak porridge

THURSDAY

porridge + raisins

sandwiches + fruit

lasagne
                      *bake bread

*soak oats

FRIDAY

soaked oats + plum

sandwiches + fruit

stirfry on rice

*soak oats

SATURDAY

porridge + peaches

sandwiches + fruit

hamburgers 
                      *bake bread

*make 01/10 muesli 

SUNDAY

muesli

plaited herb bread

frittata

*soak oats

BAKING

 

 

 

gingernuts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jboy13 BREAKFAST LUNCH DINNER for next day
MONDAY

soaked oats + banana

crackers + fruit
(made wk 1)

potato salad
                      *bake bread

*soak porridge

TUESDAY

cinnamon porridge

sandwiches + fruit

pumpkin soup

*prepare fruit salad

WEDNESDAY

fresh fruit

sandwiches + fruit

curry + rice

*cook extra rice
*soak porridge

THURSDAY

porridge + raisins

pancakes + fruit

lasagne 
           *bake rolls + bread

*make pasta
*soak oats

FRIDAY

soaked oats + plum

rolls + fruit

fried rice + pau

*soak oats

SATURDAY

porridge + peaches

toast

macaroni cheese 
           *bake bread + cake

(*muesli made)

SUNDAY

muesli

fancy bread
carrot cake

mushroom + bacon pasta

*soak oats

BAKING

 

 

 

carrot cake

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kgirl11 (by then) BREAKFAST LUNCH DINNER for next day
MONDAY

soaked oats + banana

pancakes

roast chicken + veg
                        *bake bread

*make stock
*soak porridge

TUESDAY

cinnamon porridge

sandwiches + fruit

moussaka + salad

*bake bikkies
*soak beans
*prepare fruit salad

WEDNESDAY

fresh fruit

sandwiches + fruit

baked beans + salad

*soak porridge

THURSDAY

porridge + raisins

sandwiches + fruit

pizza 
                        *bake bread

*soak oats

FRIDAY

soaked oats + plum

sandwiches + fruit

beef stroganoff + rice

*soak oats

SATURDAY

porridge + peaches

scones

curry + rice 
                        *bake bread

*make kremowka
(*muesli made)

SUNDAY

muesli + fruit

fancy bread + kremowka

sweetcorn fritters + salad

*soak oats

BAKING

 

 

 

iced bikkies
kremowka

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They are following such guidelines as “we’ll make whatever we can from scratch” and “use produce that’s in season” and “we haven’t set the budget yet, but you can know for certain it will not be extravagant” and “if you’re going to heat the oven, make sure you make good use of it”.
They have already hatched co-operative plans:
“If you help me make a double batch of muesli when it’s my turn, you can use half it on your week”
”Let’s just do the same breakfast each week, so it’s quicker to plan”
”You’re making lasagne the week before me, so I’ll do moussaka instead”

Looks like we’re ready to hit the ground running.
I wonder if we’ll be in time to bottle peaches and make plum jam, not that I know where our preserving jars are any more! We have one experimental jar of tomato chutney hiding in a corner of Grandpa’s attic – hopefully, after two years it will still be edible. Everyone hopes so, coz they know there’s to be no buying what we could make ourselves. And they know when Mama makes such decrees, there’s no point creating a storm in a teacup over it <wink>

foodie picture of the day:
aaaagh we chopped it up before photographing – it was a 9kg pumpkin
that is one ENORMOUS pumpkin
it totally filled our GIGANTIC pot we are carrying with us!
and we’ll be eating it for two more days yet

Posted in 2008/09, children, food, learning, parenting, postcard: Poland | 9 Comments »

“What do you write about on a day like today when we did nothing mum?” asked Kboy12

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Krakow, Poland

Well, my dear boy, speak for yourself! YOU may have done nothing, but someone went to the market this morning to buy our food for the day.
So I could write about the things I saw, the conversations I had (people are so friendly and now that we’ve been here a week, and do our shopping on a daily basis, some of them are starting to recognise me and stop for a chat), I could write that I saw pineapples (last week I was saying there is nothing exotic like pineapple here), I could write about the secondhand clothes shops I pass along the way (the interesting factor to me is that they sell the clothes by weight).
But I’ll skip all that and just leave two photos of things I bought at the market before I write about what I had planned to.


fruity sernik on a chocolate base ~ m.mmmmmm


and smoked mountain cheese, an incredibly dense flavour-packed experience

Being a day spent mostly indoors at our hostel planning the Turkey leg (which, by the way, was far more satisfying than organising the Romania transport – possibly because we are ending up in what looks like a reasonable hostel in a great location in Istanbul, and partly because we have decided to hire a car and trip around for a few days and so now we have the excitement of choosing what to purge from a possible itinerary – Gallipoli, Troy, Assos, Pergamon, Ephesus, Helikarnossos, Aphrodisias,  Hierapolis, The Lake District, Konya, Cappadoccia, Ankara…..)…..as I was saying, having spent the day at the hostel, it seemed an appropriate day to take you on a hostel tour.

Here’s the view if you’re standing at the front door:

Here’s the front door itself underneath the yellow sign – and yes, the building does curve around that corner:

But we’re not staying in that exact building. We walk through that one, past a fancy staircase and the letterboxes, through a courtyard, and then into our building:

We’re up on the first floor in a very spacious room. The couch pulls out into a double bed, but it’s so short that we take down two mattresses each night for the adults and leave a small child on the couch.

There is plenty of storage – as well as this cabinet filled with our food and toiletries and shoes and books and wok, there’s another wardrobe (unphotographed) and the “laundry” you can see hanging on the heater. An altogether comfortable set-up.

Right next door is a kitchen and dining area with computer as well. Yes, it is that sickly shade of green. A contrast to the yellow walls and pink ceiling in our bedroom!

There’s bathroom, too, and toilet as well. Sharing with half a dozen other people, we’d have thought there might be queues, but we have been surprised to find it is perfectly adequate and only rarely does anyone need to wait. No picture!

So that’s where we are. It’s fantastic to be so close to the centre of town, and just a couple of minutes away from the market, tramstop on the doorstep, parks nearby.
What’s not so fantastic, something we had forgotten about, is that it is dark by 4:30. Yes, pitch black well before dinner. After eating later and later through the summer, we now find ourselves finished and tidied up and kids ready for bed far too long before seven to consider tucking them in for the night!
But it gives them time to do our homemade puzzles, draw their own maps, design houses and furniture, play games they’ve made up, write letters to me and even decorate paper for me to reply on. It also gave Kgirl10 time to hatch a cunning plan. It came in the form of a voucher, valid in any country in the world, for special food. However, it only works if she is given some of the bounty, and just in case I might be short on ideas of what to buy, she suggested sernik, kremowka or lollies would all make her very happy!

What did YOU do today Kboy12?
What did you find to write about?

Posted in 2008/09, children, craft, food, housing, learning, postcard: Poland, postcard: Turkey, recreation, toilet | 2 Comments »

did you say swaziland?

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
Krakow, Poland There’s only one bus a week from Krakow that connects directly with the bus to Brasov. We tried to book it today, only to discover it’s full. So’s the one that leaves a week earlier and the one ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in 2008/09, children, postcard: Poland, postcard: Romania, price | 3 Comments »

maybe fairy tales are true

Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Krakow, Poland

 

If you find yourself in an ancient city, with a castle (called Wawel) and a cave that once housed a dragon, you’d wonder if you’d stepped into a fairy tale!
A popular version ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in 2008/09, children, history, parenting, postcard: Poland, tradition | 1 Comment »

blog-vertorial bulgaria

Thursday, October 8th, 2009
Sakar Hills Camping, Biser, Bulgaria Bulgaria is not a country that beckons tourists. Possibly because there’s next to no tourist industry. But, in my humble opinion, that actually makes it all the nicer. It’s real. It’s raw. It’s relaxing. It’s ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in 2008/09, children, justice, postcard: Bulgaria | 1 Comment »

bedlam, bones and a blowout

Friday, October 2nd, 2009
Biser, Bulgaria What a crazy afternoon!

At midday we had an appointment with the editor/photographer/storywriter from the local rag (who we met yesterday whilst nibbling at pizzas in Harmanli), and at the same time the camp owner (who lives in ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in 2008/09, children, history, housing, postcard: Bulgaria, transport | No Comments »

Just The Facts

Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Thessaloniki, Greece Knowing Jboy13 had been taking notes as we drove, I asked him for blog-inspiration, “Did you write about the tunnels in your journal?” ”Just the facts. Not much really,” he succinctly replied. And so you get Just The Facts. Tunnel 1: ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in 2008/09, children, postcard: Greece | No Comments »

beggars can’t be choosers – or can they?

Thursday, September 17th, 2009
Athens, Greece

 

Before the ignition is even turned off, one little girl is forlornly looking into my open window. In Greek she asks for money, “ena” for drink, fingers clenched, thumb pointing to her ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in 2008/09, children, justice, postcard: Greece | No Comments »

it’s all greek to me

Thursday, September 10th, 2009
Beach Number 1, Greece

 

Being able to recite the Greek alphabet, a feat learned almost three decades ago and for some reason retained ever since, is of little help when your feet touch Greek ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in 2008/09, children, language, learning, postcard: Greece, recreation | 1 Comment »

Autumn Arrives

Monday, September 7th, 2009
Brindisi, Italy For the second day in a row the warm wind was howling, stirring up the ocean to waves too fierce for the little kids to venture into. At sunset the night before last, the sky had turned ominously ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in 2008/09, children, food, grandpa's stories, language, postcard: Italy, weather | 1 Comment »

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