Gadgets

Just wanted to share these neat gadgets I have been using a lot because of all the cooking - the recipes seem to use a lot of fresh lemon juice, I got tired of throwing out the other half of the lemons after I squeezed one so I was excited to find the lemon keeper here at Tesco! I had bought the onion one at Bed Bath and Beyond while I was in Boston for Easter, I was surprised to find something similar here (I never would have found this in Dublin!). I know I could just use some tupperware, but these are much cuter.

And since I like to torture myself, I went back to Tesco again today. I was trying to prepare today's lunches (Chicken Satay Wraps) last night while I was cooking dinner, but while I was boiling the chicken the glass pot cracked so I ended up throwing everything out. I also needed something for dinner tonight, I was planning on making some salmon and since today was Thursday I was hoping to get something very fresh. I thought it would be a quick visit but of course I was wrong, it was nearing lunch time so the kids were getting antsy and I was looking all over the store for artichoke hearts which of course I couldn't find. I did manage to find baby corn for another recipe - in a jar so at least they will last. I timed myself from the time we left the house until we got back, and it took just under two hours.

Two hours for just this. And yes that is a half eaten hot dog sitting there, they had a cafe so I grabbed some for the kids but of course Jack didn't like his

And can you believe right before I pulled in our driveway I realized I had forgotten the salmon for dinner. UGH!!!

Here is the Quinoa Tabouleh recipe for Alisa and anyone else who wants it : ) If you google Patrick Holford you will find his website which supposedly has a lot of info and maybe somer recipes on it, but I have never bothered to look

Getting Back On The Program

So one of the reasons why I am being really picky about finding all the food I need is because I am trying to get back on my healthy eating program. I bought a book in Dublin written by a British guy named Patrick Holford and started following the program back in March. He outlines a 4 week meal plan so I followed it for the month of March and have to say it was awesome. I wasn't trying to lose too much weight, just really my spare tire that annoyed me depending on what pants I wore : ) After doing this for a month I felt amazing - I literally was jumping out of bed every morning around 6:30 and bouncing around the house all day full of energy. I have to admit it was a ton of work - but maybe I think it was a lot because I never really cooked much before. But the key for me was eating a healthy lunch - usually I would just eat whatever the kids were eating (grilled cheese, ham and cheese sandwich, pasta, etc) because I would be starving by the time I picked them up from school and fed them so I would eat whatever was in front of me. But with this 'diet' (I had to keep calling it my eating plan because Ava kept asking me why I was going on a diet, which is what the book said) I was forced to start prepping my lunch before I picked them up from school. I did end up losing about 8 pounds but I used to go to the gym a lot and the month I was doing this I couldn't get there as much so I think a lot of that weight was some muscle tone that I lost (no more body pump). As you can imagine with the move I fell off the wagon so I vowed to start up again once we moved to Poland. I have been trying to get Mike to read the book (a majority of the book on the left explains how everything works, then the last part is the eating program with all the recipes) but he never got around to it so now thankfully I think I have gotten him on board. I bought the cook book on the right because in all honestly there are just some meals that I know Mike would never eat in a million years (the Quinoa Tabouleh salad for one, I give him credit or trying it at least!) so I wanted lots of options.

We started on Monday and I can already feel a difference - I would highly recommend this for anyone out there who is trying to lose weight or get healthy - it's all about eating to balance your blood sugar so it's great for diabetes. And now that I have done this I don't like to eat out anymore because the food doesn't taste as fresh as it does when I cook it : ) I even have basil, mint, and coriander plants growing in my window sill already! It's a little annoying because it uses the metric system so I had to buy an electronic scale so I can measure out grams of everything - and there are a few ingredients he uses that I know I won't be able to find here - Nairn's brand oat cakes are one of his big snacks, so I bought a bunch of boxes before I left Dublin but not sure what I'll do when I run out. Anyway I am hoping that Mike will stick to it, I think he struggled with the Avocado Gazpacho for lunch yesterday, and the Chestnut and Mushroom Pilaf we had for dinner Monday night - but at least he's trying!

The 'giant' Tesco - I've been 4 times already so eventually I will figure out where everything is

I'm struggling with the vegetables here, they don't seem as fresh as in Dublin. Every head of broccoli I picked up in both grocery stores was already yellowing, there's not as many green leafy vegetables available (couldn't find spinach and I know when I have to make the recipes with bok choy or kale I will be out of luck) so I am getting frustrated. If a recipe calls for something and I can't find it I don't know how to substitute and then it screws up my whole meal plan for the day. I needed green beans for a side dish and they didn't have any so I bought the yellow ones and they were terrible.

Yucky yellow beans

carrot juice

I'm trying to get the kids to eat my meals as well but it's going over like a lead balloon. There is a possibility that Ava will start to but Jack has gone to bed without dinner the past 4 nights, I'm trying not to worry but I just wish he would eat better. He doesn't even like taking the gummy vitamins (he doesn't like gummy bears - does anyone want to send a care package with chewable vitamins for Jack?!) He does like carrot juice at least - we had already discovered the bottle on the right in the Polish section of Tesco in Dublin, and he wanted to try the one on the left that we found here. He loves them (but Ava starts 'gaggling' if she is near him when he starts to drink it!) I can't even tell if it's real juice or not and I don't have the time or the patience to sit and translate the ingredients so I'm just telling myself it's pure carrot, apple, strawberry and banana (?) juice.

And here is our mini dishwasher which has proven to be a total PITA now that I am a cooking machine. I usually partially load it after lunch, then fill it up after dinner and end up hand washing most of the rest, but I always have to leave some for the morning because there isn't even enough dish strainer/counter space to finish everything. Not sure why everything is so small, even the counters are really low -they hit lower than my hip bone so Mike can't really do the dishes because he has to slouch over to reach the sink and it hurts his back (so he says....). It reminds me of my dad visiting us in Dublin and having to kneel at the sink to shave! I would understand it in Ireland because generally people (especially the men) and much smaller, but in Poland we have seen a lot of tall people walking around. Mike is no longer giant-looking!

Now I just need to get back to the gym before I go insane. Michal brought us to look at two gyms the other day but we haven't been back to actually join one. We liked one much better than the other, but honestly I got really depressed because there wasn't much for me there. I am a morning gym person and the majority of the classes were after 5pm. The classes I have to choose from are: In. Walk (on treadmills, actually looked pretty interesting), Mental Body (?)., Pilates ( on a mat - I want reformer), Stretching (will be filled with old geezers), Body Sculpt (ok I might), and abs (can't do). The spinning classes are all at 8 am so I don't think I would ever make it to one of those (definitely not during the summer while the kids are around, and during the school year I am not sure what time the bus will be picking them up). Also the gyms are really far away, a good 15-20 minutes, so a big change from my 8 minute drive in Dublin. The one gym we want to join has a service where you can leave the kids while you work out, but it's only available after 4pm so that doesn't work for me this summer. I was hoping to find Pilates Reformer classes (on a machine) because I got hooked on that while in Dublin but so far I haven't found a gym that offers it. Will have to get Michal to look into that for me and hopefully there will be a special Pilates studio he can find. I do have a bunch of work out videos on DVD so I may just have to break out Kathy Smith again...

Exploring The 'Hood

One day Mike noticed a little pizza place tucked behind a few buildings in our neighborhood so we decided to check it out. We were expecting big things since it was called Happy Bar Pizzeria. We were a little surprised when the menu was in Polish and they didn't have English written underneath ( I guess we are in Poland, but still we can dream) so out came the Google translate. The pizza turned out to be really delicious, and they had a play area for the kids - which we are finding is very common in most public places. Oh by the way the menu was also in Italian, and pepperoni pizza means with red peppers not meat - but Mike had already discovered this when we went to Italy

Jack's photo of the restaurant

Jack making a friend on the slide. They couldn't communicate but just  kept giving each other the thumbs up

Surrounded by the local beer Tyskie

We have discovered that we like this beer the best - but it's hard to come by

We decided to check out a furniture store someone had told us about, because we are looking for a table and chairs to put out back so we can enjoy the nice weather. Unfortunately all of the furniture was horrendous so it was a wasted visit - but now we know where our landlord shops for his furniture...

At least they had this neat play area - unfortunately the kids wanted to stay in it and not walk around the store with us

I also managed to find the post office in our neighborhood just by chance - one day I was driving along and just happened to notice a woman walking in a weird place and I was wondering where she was going. I saw a red mailbox and a sign that said 'Poczta' - I was very excited because we had received a notice in our mailbox, I hadn't had time to translate it but I knew we were expecting a package from Nina so I assumed that's what it was for. I figured this was one more thing to add to my ever growing to-do list and wasn't sure when I would find someone to help me find out where to go. We went inside and no one spoke English (of course!) so I just handed over the ticket and luckily I was in the right place. I also managed to send a package too, so it was a productive day. 

Thank goodness for technology - the kids staying busy while at the post office

And just a random photo of our bidet - or as Ava calls it, the Butt Cleaner. Jack has decided to use it as his personal toilet

Thanks Nina for the shoulder buddies!

Soccer Fever- Euro 2012

As I mentioned there is a big soccer tournament in Poland right now. The Dutch team was staying in the Sheraton while we were there, so I think between seeing the players in real life walking around the hotel, watching the games on TV, plus a visit from Mike McNally who was helping them out back with their moves, the kids have really gotten into soccer. Yay! There is a big billboard in the city of Xavi (a Spanish player) wearing Predator cleats so during an outing to Decathalon sports I wanted to buy Jack a pair. Unfortunately they didn't come in his size, but Ava shocked me by saying she wanted a pair! She hasn't taken them off her feet since.... 

Next to the team bus outside of the hotel

Trying to get pictures of the team and security yelled at her

The coach was staying in a room near ours so she got a picture of him

Out watching the games with Mike McNally

Mike, Sean, Oisin, and Mike before they hit the road to Poznan. Jack was very upset that he couldn't go

In Poznan

Irish fans galore

Those of us who were not invited to Poznan still managed to have fun in Krakow - Go Ireland!

Being silly

Enjoying some freshly squeezed OJ while Mommy enjoys her freshly squeezed mojito

Watching more games at the Sheraton

With the giant Predator

And the game ball

Ava in her new cleats

Don't mess with a girl playing soccer in a dress!

Jack practicing out back

First Week

Here are some pictures from the first week. We stayed in the Sheraton most of the time because we were getting the carpets at the house cleaned, we didn't have a car/internet/phone yet, and hadn't figured out groceries. We were back and forth trying to get everything organized and unpacked.

First days at the new house

Ava enjoying her new room

And the backyard

Jack in his new digs

While Mike was at work the kids and I explored our new city

It got really hot - This particular day we actually got sunburn just from walking around for a few hours. I have to say it feels good to have the sun shining on us again! The kids were dying to jump into this fountain

We found the American cupcake store. SO yummy

Daddy met us for dinner one night and introduced us to La Campana and its quiet back garden. You don't even know you're in the middle of the city. Ava has decided it's her new favorite restaurant, and that she'll call it Al Boschetto (which was her favorite restaurant in Dublin)

Shopping Excursion

Monday I decided to venture to the Galeria Krakowska, a big shopping mall in the city. I had been to it on my second visit here, so I knew there was another big grocery store inside and also to my surprise, an organic store. I loaded the kids into the car and off we went, it took about 20 minutes to get there and somehow I managed to park in just the right spot in the parking garage - right outside of the grocery store (called Carrefour). I was wondering how I was going to wander through the mall with my big 'ol shopping cart after I finished shopping! We walked through the mall and I recognized quite a few stores - Nike, H&M, MaxMara, Aldo, Lacoste, Sephora, and MotherCare. The mall was huge so there were a lot of stores I had never heard of too. 

I was tempted to buy this for Mike..they had the same for about 10 other countries

Forever 18 instead of 21 - is this because the drinking age is 18 here??

The organic market 

The organic store was very small but I won't complain - there was hardly any produce - was looking for peaches and strawberries specifically but they only had apples. I bought a few but when we got home and ate them they were absolutely terrible. I was happy to find hot dogs because I knew my kids would at least eat those for lunch but when we got home and cooked them they didn't like them either. I found some tahini and chemical-free cleaning products so I was happy enough. I was most excited about finding Lactose-free milk, not really sure that it's organic though. It's in German but look how easy that was to figure out what was in the carton?? Which makes me think of something totally unrelated, but flowers in Polish is kwiaty - does that make any sense??

The grocery store wasn't as big as Tesco so I wasn't as overwhelmed but unfortunately this meant that I couldn't find a lot of things - no pears, spinach, red onion, macadamia nuts, baby corn, spring onions, black eyed beans, or drinking straws. So this called for another visit to Tesco! I saved the trip for the next day though, as I got lost on my way home from the Galeria (even with the GPS - there were so many roundabouts and two roads running next to each other that I kept going the wrong way).

Before moving here I had read that fresh fish is very hard to come by. Mike has eaten out a lot since he's been coming here for work and there is always a fish option on the menu and he has said they were all delicious. I asked Michal about the fish situation and he said Krakow receives its fresh fish on Thursday, so it's best to eat it Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. But this really applies to shellfish, mussels, etc. because 'regular' fish can be (and usually is) frozen. We eat a decent amount of fish so when I got to Tesco (it was a Monday so I wasn't planning on buying anything) I decided to explore the fish section. Scaaaaary.....

Nope, I would not touch any of that foul-looking fish

There were huge freezers of frozen fillets. Didn't really look too hygienic to me (kind of like the big vats of sauerkraut I saw in the produce section)

And huge freezers or frozen veggies next to the fish

And here is a little video of Jack keeping himself (and Ava!) entertained while walking through the mall