Gone on a Lucky Country

Today is Daffodil Day here in Australia.  This is a huge fundraiser by the Cancer Council (much like the American Cancer Society for those back home) that is held every year to raise funds for research etc…  The event, in a nutshell, is people all over the city selling merchandise to raise the funds.  Most of the volunteers are school children in their uniforms and they are quite adorable and earnest about selling as much as they can.  I always buy from the boys that stand on Wharf 4 of Circular Quay as I am getting off the ferry.  My reasoning is simple:  people will approach you over and over during your morning commute asking you to support the Cancer Council; but if they can see that you have already bought something than they leave you alone.  So, I try to buy something the instant I step into the city.  In hindsight, I wish I had waited and bought from the two 10 year old boys at the exit of the St. James Station.  They were having a very serious discussion with each other about where exactly to stand to maximise their sales thereby raising more money.  What cuties!  This year I bought a sunny little bunch of actual Daffodils.  It’s a very small bunch for $5.00; but for such a good cause that I would have paid double that.  They are quite fragrant and, as I sit here at my desk, basking in Spring flowers and dreaming about the 67 degree day outside the windows right now, it’s hard to reconcile that it’s actually almost September.  Anywho – here are some facts about Daffodil Day:

Last night a friend with a car was nice enough to drive me out to a little Polish deli in Roseville.  As you know (if you read my last post), I am having a pierogi party tomorrow and I was hoping to get some authentic and delicious kielbasa to cook up with the pierogis when we are done working for a much deserved reward dinner.  Well! It was incredible!  If you live in Sydney you should go there and buy as much deliciousness as you can carry home.  I cannot recommend it highly enough!  This place is called European Taste Smallgoods and Delicatessen – they don’t have a website; but if you Google them you will find lots of articles about them.  They are at 19 Hill St. in Roseville….  It’s a very tiny place – just enough space for a couple of deli cases and some dry goods on the other side.  Pretty much everything was in Polish which made me feel proud and sad and sorry all at once.  Proud of being Polish, sad for Dad being gone and sorry that we never learned Polish growing up.  I checked out the deli cases while the customer before me was being helped and found what I was looking for!! 

The woman behind the counter (who I also think was one half of the couple that own it) made me think of Grandma Ziebro – in those pictures before her hair went all grey.  Anyway, she helped me find the kielbasa I wanted – there was only smoked in the case so I asked her for fresh.  She gave me a suspicious look and said “Only in freezer, only in package of six – you still want?”  Indeed I did.  She handed it to me a little reluctantly and I asked her if it was the same flavor as the smoked garlic one I was getting.  She said no.  I asked what the difference was and she said “This one raw – you must cook!”  Poor woman, I kept trying to tell her that I knew that it was raw meat and that I needed to cook it ; but I think she was nervous to sell it to me cause she thought I would take it home, eat it raw and get sick.  She packaged them up though and as she was ringing them up she asked me why I was buying so much.  I told her about the party and that I was teaching people how to make pierogis.  She immediately paused and took the handle of the shopping bag and pulled it to her side of the counter.  I was still waiting for the total when this conversation happened:

Her – “You are going to teach people how to make pierogis?”

Me – “Yes….”

Her – “How do you know how to make them?”

Me – “My Dad was Polish and I had a big family and we used to make them all the time.  I decided one year that I wanted to really perfect the family recipe so I worked on it for a long time and now I have a really great recipe and an easy way of making them”

Her – “What kind you make?”

Me – “Mushroom and sauerkraut and potato.”

Her (nodding) – “Ok…. What do you put in your dough?”

Me – “Flour, eggs, water, oil and salt”

Her – “Yes, many people do not put the oil”

Me – “Oh, you definitely need the oil or the dough is not good”

Her – “Ok!  Very Good!”

Then she got all smiley, gave me the total and wished me well for the party.  Whew!  I was quite nervous that I was going to fail the test and not be allowed to buy my kielbasa.  She was so cute that I want to take her back in some of my pierogis when they are done, ask her to adopt me as her granddaughter and teach me Polish.  They are right by a train station so I see many trips for kielbasa in my future.  I am just sorry for the people who will be riding that train home with me, smelling that garlicky goodness and not getting to have any.  I hadn’t gotten to taste any of the stuff I bought so it was with great trepidation (who am I kidding – I ripped that package open and cut a piece off before I even said hello to my husband) that I tried a piece when I got home.  It is some of the best kielbasa I have ever tasted.  Like Easter Kielbasa on delicious steroids.  Amazing… 

This morning as I was leaving for work, I quickly reached in the fridge to grab an orange and a yogurt to throw in my bag for breakfast.  I shut the fridge door and a split second later that garlic and spice smell reached out and slapped me across the face a couple of times.  In that instant I was a little girl – at the top of the basement stairs – back when there was orange striped carpet (I think?) – smelling that same smell sneaking its way out of that old green fridge with the silver handle that was in the basement – Easter was just a few days away – Mom was making poppy seed roll just up those 3 stairs in the kitchen – I was getting called to knead some Babka – Daffodils were blooming in the woods and Lily’s of the Valley were sending their scent in through the open kitchen window.  I wanted to live in that memory for the rest of my life and, when I blinked and it faded, I just wanted to sit on the kitchen floor and weep for every Easter that I will ever have in my life that isn’t like that one.

This is yet another thing that confuses my seasons/holidays.  Daffodils, kielbasa smells and slowly warming weather spells Easter to me….  Instead, I should start thinking about our Labour Day trip, whether or not we will have a Halloween party and how big of a turkey I will need for Thanksgiving this year. 

Quite strange…  

This is about my eighteenth attempt at writing a blog post in so many days. One of the posts during last week’s spate of beautiful weather in the 70’s was titled “Spring has Sprung!”  I deleted that one because really, how many times can you write “It’s so warm!!  I love sunshine!” before you realise it’s a crap post? (It’s about 6 times by the way – at least that’s how many I wrote before I deleted the entry).  

Anyway,  I stole an idea from another blogger for this entry and it’s so easy that I know I will actually write it.  Basically, I am just going to list some non-sequiturs from my recent life in bullet points below and then you will all be filled in on how exciting my life is.  No really… 

Ok, here goes:

Isn't he just the cutest?

This is a tale of our epic weekend….  Brought to you on a Tuesday; but who’s counting?  That's a joke - I know who's counting...

It all started with this incredible recipe I found for chicken enchiladas….  I decided that I was going to make them.  The recipe calls for a can of green chiles which I just so happen to have in my pantry (thanks to my fabulous M-I-L).  I decided that I should always have green chiles in the pantry for a “just in case” scenario and so I began a hunt to find some more.  This is like hunting for a needle in a haystack here in Sydney…. I heard tell of a couple of places in Newtown that might have them so I laid plans for an excursion for Saturday.   

If you don’t live here, than you might not realise that it’s been raining incessantly for the last 3 weeks.  Not just drizzle; but full-on downpours for days on end.  Our ferry stairs were turned into a beautiful waterfall that quickly turned ugly as soon as you tried to climb it.  Everything has just been cold, wet and grey.  So…  I checked the forecast for the shopping trip and was pleased to see that we were supposed to have relatively clear skies.  It was raining a bit on Saturday morning; but it cleared up by about 11 so off we went.  Our first stop was Fiji Market in Newtown.  There was a small Mexican selection here (smaller than in the photos if you follow the link); but better than anywhere else I have seen so I’m not complaining.  I got a bag of Masa, canned jalepenos, tomatillo salsa, canned black beans and canned adobo chiles.  I wished they had green chiles; but they didn’t.  They also didn’t have corn husks for making tamales with; but I figure I can do those myself this summer during fresh corn season.  I pretty much danced out of that store on a complete high.  

We were walking up King street (popping in and out of all the cool little “junktique” stores that are there) when I saw a restaurant called “New in Town” which is cute since it’s in Newtown (Please follow this link and look at the pictures of the food!!).  It’s a Polish restaurant and I was so excited to read their menu!  We ended up having lunch there because we were hungry because I wanted to and gave Joe puppy dog eyes.  We got the potato pierogis and the grilled Polish sausage and then split each entree so that we could each taste both.  The sausage was great – nothing like our Easter kielbasa from “Little Warsaw” in Cleveland – but perfectly respectable with dollops of mustard and horseradish (which was incredible and could be eaten by the spoonful) on the side.  The pierogis were honestly pretty disappointing…  I can’t say for certain; but it seemed that the filling was encased in wonton skins? Those work in a pinch for raviolis; but the effect when used for pierogis was very very odd.  The filling was quite bland and a little mealy.  Not horrible; but certainly not pillows of deliciousness like my own.  I’d love to go back and try some of the items listed on their dinner menu and see what they were like - if you followed the link and saw the pictures I'm sure you would agree.  I’m also kicking myself for not asking them where I could get kielbasa in Sydney – I’ll try to remember the next time we go there.  Finding this restaurant was another little kick in the pants for me to buy a pasta maker and make some pierogis of my own.  I swear I am buying one today and then it’s going to be pierogi party time at my place!  

On to the Newtown Foodworks still in search of green chiles…  In fact, they did not have them (or if they did, I couldn’t find them).  I did, however, find some mustard that I had been looking for and I found some Jone’s Root Beer!!  I got two bottles (which didn’t last long) and, in hindsight, I should have gotten several more….  Oh well, yet another reason to spend weekends wandering up and down King St.  

Sunday we went into town (aka Military Rd) to pick up a prescription and have dinner.  We had time to kill so we wandered over to our little discount store to pick up some odds and ends – yaknow… superglue, bobby pins and striped socks (don’t judge my shopping list!)  We wandered by Neutral Bay Fresh which is a lovely little produce shop and I decided to pick up some fruit and veg for the week while we were there.  I’ve never actually walked carefully through that little shop – every time I have ever gone in it has been a rush job for something in particular.  Well, this time I was in no rush and I gave my full attention to the whole place.  Not only did I find some incredible raviolis (roasted lamb, mushroom and rosemary), I also found Hellmanns Mayonaise and I found (excuse me while I scream a little) AMERICAN BACON!!!!  Real, honest to goodness bacon!  Joe and I quickly scrapped our dinner plans and rushed home to make BLT’s for dinner.  I cannot even tell you how darn good that bacon smelled while I was cooking it – and that BLT was just about the best thing I had tasted in a long time.  I am not ashamed to tell you that I saved every bit of bacon grease that was in that pan.  It’s sitting pretty in a tiny container in my fridge waiting to be used in my risotto tonight and some scrambled eggs this weekend!  

Granted, none of these incredible finds were cheap – the bacon alone was $12.00 for eight slices!  The mayo was $7.00 for a very very small jar.  But, for something that is as much of a treat as these little touches of America are, I would gladly pay double those prices.  It’s nice to know that I can get these things every once in a while – knowing that I have access to them is sometimes just as good as actually having them.  

I have to say, drinking my root beer while I cooked that bacon was almost a religious moment for me…