œliwowica - we call it "plum brandy" rather than vodka. Not sure why. I suppose brandy implies
fruit rather than
grain as the main ingredient.
wiœniówka - yep, cherry vodka! Looove this stuff. Having said which œliwowica is better if you intend to stay up all night. Well, even if you don't
intend to, actually
œledŸ - yep, herrings, which we would call
rollmop herrings for some reason (I think because they tend to be rolled, though dunno where the "mop" bit comes from). Their taste is in the same area as strong blue cheese.
wigilia - yep, Xmas Eve - when you eat œledŸ and fish exclusively! The beauty of Xmas to me as a child was that I got the whole Polish thing on wigilia (including opening presents "when you see the first star", meaning after dinner really) and the whole English thing the day after.
bu³ka - ah, here we differ, adam. You think "roll", and I think "cake/very light sponge". I can remember my Mum visiting other Polish friends, and whilst all the kids messed around upstairs they'd have a chat and Kenwood Chef (blender) in constant operation for going on an hour or so. The resulting mix would be baked, resulting in a fantastic buttery/eggy airy spongey bready concoction. Not quite cake, as you could spread it with butter without it being too rich. But a lot more tasty than the tastiest bread. I've never tasted anything else like it really, and suppose I'll always miss it. Mum tells me it takes lots of making
barszcz - yep, good ol' polski beetroot soup! Also partaken of at wigilia, occasionally with little pierogi (sp?) dropped in.
go³¹bki Yep yep - minced meat mixed with rice, wrapped in (outside) cabbage leaves and braised in meaty/tomatoey stock. It's vaguely like the Greek recipe stuffed vine leaves, but a lot nicer. I hated them as a child
but love them now
kotlety Difference of meaning here, too, adam - my Mum calls Polish hamburgers (minced meat, egg, occasionally onion & garlic, occasionally breadcrumbs)
kotlety. Hang on, do you mean "chop" as in the cut of meat, or "chop" as in the verb?
Hmmm, overall I'm fairly impressed with how well I've been brought up knowing the important facets of Polish culture!
Oh!
How could I forget to mention
bigos ??
Fisk
