Have Tefl will Travel

  This really is a clever invention. It took me a while to work it out but the mop head fits on the spike in the basket and when you release a catch on the handle and push down it spins round extracting all the water in the mop head.    As a result the floors got moped twice; once before working out the gadget - pools of water everywhere and soggy socks and once with the clever gadget!!   more gadgets to follow!!

Not long after I arrived in Poland, I began to want to cook again. After 12 years of cooking for a living I  really enjoyed a summer away from the cooker and the sink, but pretty soon after I arrived I got itchy to cook up some favourites. It has been, however somewhat of a challenge as not only are the ingredients in Polish but also very different and although my kitchen is well stocked with saucepans and scissors there isn't a potato masher to be found and the knives are decidedly bendy which is why an enormous cabbage nearly got the better of me at the weekend! The produce here is super tasty and lovely to cook with and after a really successful baked cauliflower (only just fitted in my little oven) I though I would try some roasted cabbage and ended up having to saw away the sides of it! Other adaptations have been home made garlic bread, delicious but not the same and the scrumptious crispy-on-the out-side-pappy-in-the-middle pre-cut version from  a UK supermarket! U...

  Last Saturday I went with a Polish friend to The Goose Fair a festival of traditional handmade foods at Przysiek, which is on the road to Torun. It was Independence day here - a really big day in Poland; not only do they celebrate those who died in the world wars but their liberation form oppression in the 2 nd world war and subsequent struggles.   It’s a national holiday, people were moving around town to services and remembrances in their best clothes but there were also many informal events, a big music festival in Gadansk and  a Food festival in Przysiek. I asked why it was called a Goose Fair and the reason is that there are so many foods made with goose products in Poland, (I think it might be one of the national symbols) and the food festival of traditional polish foods celebrate this. We arrived at an enormous flood lite field and the aroma was amazing with barbeques and foods cooking over hot coals, soups and stews bubbling in electric saucepans...

On Friday night I met Magda, a friend from Church, in the Old square, I was early (I know!) and so had the time for a delicious mulled wine - the first of the season! She then took me to see a few traditional Polish restaurants. I was excited as I haven't really sampled Polish cuisine since I've been here apart from some prepacked  pierogi  from my local corner store which I'm sure I didn't do justice to. She eventually settled on the Old Mil Pierogarnia which was on the waterfront on Mill Island.This is where Bydgoszcz gets it's name 'Venice of Poland' from as there were many houses, mills, warehouses along this stretch of the Burda where canals and streams intersect and back in the day, it was so crowded with water craft that you could apparently cross the river  by stepping from one boat to another.    I'm sure this will be the most delightful spot in the summer - it was very atmospheric on a cold November evening....

  1st November - All Saints Day The 1st of November is a national holiday and many schools are also closed for the remainder of the week. Although all the shops and restaurants are closed the roads and pathments are busy and the buses and trams are running a full service - it’s been like rush hour all day.  Poles start earlier in the week visiting graves and tidying them up ready for the feast day, and all week I have seen people carrying flowers and long wreaths of greenery.   All Saints is one of the most solemn and important days of the year. Families spend the day together and will will crisscross the city and country visiting     family graves. Masses are offered all day in the churches and later, after dusk, votive candles (znicze ) are lit at the graves and families spend the evening together telling stories and remembering loved ones.   The tradition of remembering the dead at this time of the year supersedes Christian times and has many simil...

Yesterday it was a colleagues birthday and so at the weekend I chose  , with great care, a card which said Happy Birthday.  I took the card to work, we all signed it and she was overjoyed to have a touching gift (card paired with a chocolate Swiss roll)  10 mins later my friend asked if I was sure it said happy birthday as there appeared to be prams on the front  😳  Sure enough what I had thought were charming 3D relief images of decorated cakes (in a somewhat modern style), were now clearly recognisable as prams and when we translated the inside of the card the inscription said something to the effect of.. ‘Congratulations on your birthday, good wishes to you and your parents, we can’t wait to meet you’ In my defence several language teachers and polish speakers had signed the card and not noticed.  My poor friend was a little embarrassed and so I tried to persuade her it would become a funny anecdote, especially when she did actually have a baby! It just...