Sunday 27 December 2015

The Man in the High Castle

Hello everyone!
Today I will continue writing about new TV series and, as always, I will tell you if it's worth watching ;)
Have you heard about the new Amazon serie, "The Man in the High Castle"?
If not, you're lucky to get to know it with me ;)
According to a polish website about movies, which is called "Filmweb", "The Man in the High Castle" is a science-fiction thriller, created by Frank Spotnitz. The serie shows us the alternative vision of the world's history: United States of America are ruled by nazis who won the World War II. The serie is based on a novel written by Philip K. Dick. I have to say that to me the main idea seems pretty interesting and I couldn't wait to watch it. However, after the premiere of the first season I was quite dissapointed. Although I still think that the idea is really good I can't help feeling that the director and the crew also believed that with this brilliant idea, they don't have to do nothing more. In my opinion, the plot isn't captivating and the viewer is unable to relate to characters, who seem cold and unreal.
I don't think I'd watch the second season, but still, I think that if you wanna give it a try, you shouldn't hesitate after one bad review ;).






Saturday 26 December 2015

Christmas in Poland

So, I didn't really notice that I haven't written anything for a long time. As it is december, I have to say that I feel pretty obliged to write about christmas traditions in Poland. I will write down a list of some things that are essential in polish christmas ;)

1. I think I should start with typical Polish obsession about cleanliness: the most important part for Poles is to have their house or apartment sparkling clean. It is believed that if the house is clean inside and outside on christmas, it will remain clean throughout the whole next year. I don't know if it's true, but my mother definitely believes in this supestition ;)

2. The second most important thing on christmas: snow. When it's not snowing it is not real christmas! In my opinion, the weather is very important for the majority of Polish people and every year they spend a whole month waiting for the snow. Maybe it is like this because we all want to feel again like children and our christmas memories are always strongly connected to playing in the snow with other kids. It is well known, that we're all dreaming of a white christmas ;)

3. Twelve dishes. In Poland on Christmas Eve we always eat 12 dishes, most of them made of fish. Everyone does the same traditional dishes every year and everyone is waiting to eat them. What migt seem weird for some people is that Poles don't eat meat on Christmas Eve.

4. Opłatek:  a the traditional wafer that we break and exchanges good wishes for health, wealth and happiness in the New Year. This is supposed to be a deeply moving moment, but many people consider it as fake and weird tradition.

5. We leave an additional plate on the table, which is supposed to reuite us with those who cannot be with us. Although, it is also a plate for people who may come to our house on Chistmas Eve.

That's all for now. If I come up with something else I'll write about it in the next post. Merry Christmas everyone!




Wednesday 2 December 2015

Traditional polish food

So my erasmus friend is coming from France tommorow. When I asked her what she wants to see in Poland, she answered me that the most interesting thing for her is polish food. As a result, my fridge is now full of some weird stuff like lard, sauerkraut, pickled cucumbers, mushrooms in vinegar, thin smoked pork sausages, bigos (a traditional polish dish made of sauerkraut, sausage and mushrooms) and, of course, vodka. When I saw all this food in my fridge I realised that I don't think that I'd be able to eat it with her. I haven't eaten bigos for years, and the last time I tried lard was when I was ten years old. I can barely remember the taste. But, who knows, maybe she'll like it? I can't wait to see her face when she tries mushrooms in vinegar, which is for me the most disgusting thing in the world!Maybe she'll like it, maybe not...but I think I'll also order a pizza, just in case ;)

Tuesday 1 December 2015

Vikings

We have autumn now: the evenings seem to last forever and those who work or study can barely see the daylight. What can we do about it? The answer is simple: nothing. But we can use these long evenings to discover some new TV series. And I have another one to recommend you! It's called Vikings and as you can imagine, it's about vikings. No surprise here! It's an Irish-Canadian historical drama created for the TV channel History. It is inspired by the sagas of Ragnar Lothbrok, a great scandinavian heroe. In the serie we can watch Ragnar's vicissitudes which lead him from a simple farmer to a succesful earl who organises first raids to the west. I'm not a history expert, but I appreciate that the serie tells us something about a scandinavian way of life, their traditions, their mithology or a women's position in society (we can see Ragnar's wife, Lagherta, who is a brave shieldsmaiden who fights as well as men). In short, Vikings is worth seeing and I think it's a good way to get to know a little bit about the world.



Sunday 22 November 2015

Where you can find cheap and tasty food in Jeżyce?

I live in Poznań for 5 years now, but I moved to Jeżyce in June. I didn't know this district very well, so I started to go for long walks to get to know this quarter of town. During these walks, I noticed that there is a wide range of restaurants and pubs and, as I never say no to a hot meal, I started to visit these places one by one. As you can imagine, it was a very tasty experience, but also useful: now I know where to go to eat something cheap and good.

I will recommend you top 3 places that I really like:

1. Thanh Ha (ul. Szamarzewskiego)
Thanh Ha is a restaurant with vietnamese food run by a very friendly family from Vietnam. The menu is really big so the choice is quite difficult, but in the end, everything is really tasty so it doesn't matter what you choose, you'll be satsfied anyway. The prices are quite low: for a big meal with rice, cabbage salad, vegetable sauce and big portion of meat you'll pay between 14 and 17 zł.

2. Kraszkebab (ul. Kraszewskiego)

Here, you'll eat a speciality from Turkey: kebab. Many of you will say that you can buy kebab on every corner and it's a fast food that isn't worth to be recommended, and I'll agree with you. However, kebab from Kraszkebab is something different. The vegetables are always fresh, the cuality of meat is really high and you can complete your meal with banana or chilli sauce. For me, it is not just a kebab, but I don't think that I can explain it...you just have to try it!

3. Krowi placek (ul. Szamarzewskiego)

Finally, my favourite place! I know that the name of this place can repel some potential clients, but it's worth to come in and try their perfect burgers. Yes, I said burgers. But don't even try to compare them to Mc'Donalds burgers or KFC. Burgers from Krowi placek are special: as you eat them, you can notice the effort of the cook to make an original american burger. And in my opinion, he did succeed.

Sunday 8 November 2015

How to relax?

As in passed month I've been very busy with studies and work I felt very stressed. I didn't have time to meet with my friends or go to a party or even to go to the gym, and I realized, that even when I have some free time I don't know how to stop thinking about all the duties and relax. I tried watching movies but normally after 10 minutes I was falling asleep, I tried walking home instead of taking a bus, but I couldn't stop thinking that I'm wasting my time and it would be much faster to get a bus. And then, the solution came to me out of nowhere: LEGO bricks. When you start to built with LEGO you're so focused on doing it well you just stop thinking about anything else. For me, it is the best way to relax, but also the best way to forget about everything, which is not so pleasant, so I have to figure something out to avoid spending too much time with my LEGO. But for now, I am really proud to say that I'm the owner of a Millenium Falcon made by myself.

Friday 6 November 2015

"Narcos"


       Last week I started to watch a new TV serie produced by Netflix, „Narcos”. It tells a story of Pablo Escobar, the head of Medellin cartel in Colombia. The story is told from the perspective of a DEA agent, Murphy, who moved to Colombia to fight narcos, the drug dealers. I was a little surprised by this decision, because when I read that there is a TV serie being released about Pablo Escobar, I immediately assumed that he will be the narrator. However, after watching some episodes, I have to say that if Pablo was the one who tells the story it could be difficult to show all the terror and death, as in general, he considered himself as a good guy. I really like the fact that in the first episode Pablo's story is presented as an american dream, he is a man who incarnates a „from zero to hero” type. You even begin to like him! But then, his good image breaks down, as you can see that he passes death sentences more often than he pronounces the name of his wife. In short, „Narcos” presents a history of a war between the Colombian state and the drug dealers, between politicians and Pablo Escobar, and between Pablo Escobar and other cartels. I recommend this serie to everyone who is interested in Colombia Drug War, or generally, in the problems of Latin America. 


Tuesday 3 November 2015

Pineapple muffins

A week ago we had to change our clocks and the evenings started to begin at 5 o'clock. For me, it was the first official day of autumn when you don't feel like doing anything and staying in bed seems to be the best solution to all your problems. After a few days of feeling really depressed I decided to get in a train and go home. As always, it turned out to be better solution that staying in bed. My mom always knew how to cheer me up and she didn't dissappoint me this time. In my case, the best way to happiness is a good food made by someone who cares enough about me to spend a whole day in the kitchen. She prepared my favourite meal for dinner (pasta with broccoli and cheese sauce) and then, for dessert, she baked some pineapple muffins. The smell was wonderful and I couldn't wait to eat them. They were really soft and they seemed to melt in your mouth and, surprisingly, the recipe isn't difficult at all!



Ingredients:

  • 300 grams of flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 150 grams of sugar
  • 100 grams of white chocolate
  • 250 ml of pineapple juice (from the can)
  • milk
  • 90 ml of vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  1. Preheat the oven to 200 C.
  2. Measure and mix the dry ingredients.
  3. Measure and beat the liquid ingredients.
  4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones and mix only as much as is necessary.
  5. Spoon into the muffin cases.
  6. Bake for ca. 20 minutes.

So if you're sad or depressed because of the weather or because of any other reason, make yourself a muffin and everything will be okay!

Saturday 17 October 2015

Supernatural

Last time I promised that next time I would write something about a TV serie I watch currently. It is called "Supernatural" and I must say that although it is quite good, I'd rather call it my guilty pleasure. I feel a little ashamed to admit that I watch this, because the plot seems really stupid: two brothers are trying to stop the apocalypse with a help of an angel. In order to save the world they have to kill the four horsemen of the apocalypse and steal their rings. What's more, the God wants the apocalypse to happen, so the angel who is helping them have to rebel against Gods will. 
 I know that there are TV series that are way better than this one, but it isn't the kind of series that you watch within one night because you can't wait till tomorrow. You don't have to watch all the episodes, if you miss one, you'll still know what's going on. I often watch it while cooking or eating dinner, because you don't have to be really focused on it. It's not "House of Cards", you don't have to stop doing everything to keep up. 
 To sum up, I recommend you this serie if you are bored, but if you have something better to watch, you should leave "Supernatural" for a lazy weekend with nothing to do.

Wednesday 7 October 2015

Tapas & fun

Everytime I decide to watch something new on TV, I end up eating loads of popcorn and spend the rest of the evening with a horrible stomachache. But this time my friends told me they would come over to watch the first episode of "Supernatural" (a TV serie which I'll describe to you the next time) so I planned that I'd make something special. As I spent the last year in Basque Country I wanted to try to prepare some tapas which I used to eat back there. After a few minutes of searching the internet, I decided to prepare red wine and garlic mushrooms. The recipe was very easy and it took only a few minutes to make it. 
I won't post the recipe here, as you can check it on this website.



The dish was very tasty and I recommend it to all of you. It is not only really easy but also authentic. I used to eat it every Thursday on pintxopote, a weekly event where you go from bar to bar to taste the specialty of the house and drink some wine: it's a popular Basque custom. Every Thursday you can see masses of people gathering in the bars to eat, drink, and above all, spend time together.

In short, if you want to make some Spanish tapas at home, garlic mushrooms are a great choice for you, and I bet your guests won't be disaponted.