We had to leave Piaski today. Jason promised Uncle Krzysiek to practice volleyball. He also promised to improve his “Dart” technique, especially since he lost miserably to Uncle Krzysiek. It was once again hard to part with family; but at least Renatka and Artur were going to the city of Wroclaw with us. We saw the “Raclawice Panorama”, a giant canvas painting (15 meters by 114 meters, and to give you an idea of how large that is: I am 5 feet 1 inch tall, or 1.55 meters). The painting is wrapped around the internal walls of the rotunda in the form of an unbroken circle and viewed from an elevated central balcony. It depicts the battle of Raclawice fought on 4 April 1794 between the Polish insurrectionist peasant army, lead by Tadeush Kosciuszko, and Russian troops.

In the evening we went to Old Town with my cousins and Renatka’s boyfriend. His last name literally means “little fishy” so we had to joke that we are related to him because Sturgeon is a fish also. We finished the evening by teaching Renatka, Artur, and “little fishy”-Lukasz, Texas Hold’em Poker. The pretzels we had with us made good chips to bet with, although we kept on loosing them through the cracks in the cafe table.
In the morning Renatka and Artur took us to the train station and we parted one last time with family in Poland. And then I felt very sad. We had one more week in Poland and we would not see any more Cousins, Uncles, Aunts, Grandma or Grandpa.

When you ask someone who has just come from the forest with a basket full of mushrooms “Where are the mushrooms?” they will look at you, smile, and say “In the forest.” they just won’t tell you where in the forest. The places of where mushrooms can be found are carefully guarded by mushrooms hunters/gatherers, and Uncle Krzysiek took us to just such a place. Unfortunately, no matter how much Jason, Renatka, Artur, Uncle and I looked they just were not there. It was too dry and too early, but we did not give up hope. As we drove through the forest on the designated/(ridden into a permanent state by other drivers over the years) road, we looked at the forest road till we heard Renatka scream, “Stop! I see a big one!”. Unfortunately there was only one. A few yards up the road I screamed “Stop! I see one.” there were three. A few miles further there were some more and eventualy we had half a basket of what I think in English are called “The King Boylean” or “Boylin” – Prawdziwki (look it up I don’t have an encyclopedia on me). And that was that for the wild forest, of course like true mushroom hunters we had that undying hunger to fill both of the baskets. This need brought us to Uncle’s home made forest which was crawling with Maslaki (rough slang translation accumulates to “Butter Mushrooms” because they had a slimy top, they are tasty but icky to touch).

So with these we filled up our baskets. Back home Grandma, Aunt Bogusia, and I peeled them. My finger tips were brown for three days straight from peeling those fungi. In the evening over sausages from the grill and vodka we all sang old Polish Campfire and Scout songs, even grandma surprised us by singing with us. When it was Jason’s turn to lead us in song he choose “We all live in the yellow submarine…” refrain, and we all followed to it since Beatles were big pretty much everywhere.

So here are some yummy recipes, remember you need cook the mushrooms first before canning, making soup or sauce out of them.

Cooking fresh mushrooms:
Peel mushrooms, chop from stem to cap checking for bugs, if you find holes, the worms are close and you might as well throw them away.
Put mushrooms in cold water (twice as much water as mushrooms) for 4 handfuls of mushrooms put in a tablespoon of salt. If you know now that you want to make soup now add 6 leaves of Italian (flat leaf) parsley when mushrooms are not cooked yet (remove before they become mushy). Add one small onion the size of half of a fist (or quarter of a fist if you are a football player)
Boil/simmer for an hour or until soft (thoroughly soft, not just squishy).
Next, well it depends what you want to do with them. If you want to can them then put them drained in a jar quickly, well packed, close jar, store in cool dark place for up to 3 months. Or you ca put them in zip lock bags (minus the water) and freeze them.

Soup
So you just cooked them and they are soft enough to eat pleasantly. You will use the mushrooms and the water they are swimming in to make soup. Add a pinch of pepper, 200 grams (8oz cup) of sour cream (although its in a firm state you may want to stir some of the mushroom water into the sour cream to liquid it up) and 1 tablespoon of flour for thickening (add the flour into a cup first and a tablespoon of cold/ice water to the flour and work into a thin paste). Hopefully you removed the parsley before it disintegrated. At the very end right before serving you can chop some Italian Flat Leaf Parsley and throw some on the soup. You can eat it straight, with boiled barley, or with pasta (I suggest Angel Hair pasta).

Mushroom sauce
Sauté chopped onions, 2 handfuls (roughly) for 4 handfuls of mushrooms, when transparent add the freshly cooked mushrooms, sauté till it smells yummy, add 2 – 4 tablespoons of sour cream (with water worked in for smooth texture), bring to boling stage, add flour (with cold water worked in like for soup). Add more salt/pepper to your liking, sprinkle some freshly chopped Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, eat with boiled potatoes.

–Marzena

Another relaxing day with family, chatting with Grandma, looking at her garden and the enormous Magnolia tree, watching Uncle Krzysiek get excited about sports (expecting to win with Jason on his team). And so in the afternoon, after a nap and a coffe, we were all ready for the big game, the players: Uncle Krzysiek with Jason (once again showing team spirit by wearing matching shirts) against Renatka and Artur, with me as the official Volleyball photographer. Aunt Bogusia came to the beach volleyball court in the village next door where the match took place later with her girlfriend to watch and support the players. The stakes were high: the loosers would have to buy beer for the winners. The first match was won by the very joyful Uncle Krzysiek and Jason. In the second match just as Renatka and Artur were coming back almost matching the opositions, again, high score, rain broke out and poured so hard that all the players, photographer and fans escaped to the comfort of their dry cars. So the winners were Uncle Krzysiek and Jason and they were presented with the beer/edible trophy during the championship photo session. All were celebrated that night with food and Hazelnut Vodka. Good game, good game Everyone.

–Marzena

Thursday we took a train to the city of Sieradz where my Aunt Bogusia Hofman (also my Godmother) and her daughter Renatka picked us up and drove us home to the village of Piaski. The railroad does not go through Piaski. I have not seen them since our wedding. When we got to Piaski we were greeted by my Dad’s Mom, Grandma Halinka, Uncle Krzysiek (Aunt Bogusia’s husband) and by their son, Artur, Renatka’s brother.
When Uncke Krzysiek saw Jason he said that in our wedding pictures he looked like Hurcules and Uncle was glad that Jason was not bigger then him but the same size, and he immediately recruited Jason to his Voleyball team. The practice match took place that evening in the back yard against the opposition composed of Renatka and Artur. Jason even got a matching t-shirt to play in while on Uncle’s team. After the practice Jason was told that the game will take place the next day in the town on a beach volleyball court.

We took a walk with Uncle Krzysiek, Renatka, and Artur to the forest of pine trees that Uncle planted 5 years ago. It was thick and taller than Jason with ediable mushrooms growing under the trees.
It was great being with family and taking a break from the traveling. We even got to do laundry.

Just so you get an idea of my cousins’ ages:
Artur just finished his first year at the University and Renatka just finished her Masters’ Degree and will be starting a job shortly where she will be speaking with customers in German.

–Marzena

Friday Aug 11th

We traveled to Poznan. From Poznan, a very large city, we took a bus to the town of Tarnowo Podgurskie, where my Uncle Mietek lives with his family. From here, after dropping our bags off at our hotel, we took another local bus to reach the village of Gaj Wielki, where my Grandpa, Uncle Piotrek and family live on a farm. After getting of the bus I realized that I did not recognize where I was and the thought of “maybe I should have taken up Uncle Piotrek on his offer to pick us up, instead of re-creating for Jason the trip Mom and I would take in the summer to reach the farm, which was a one mile walk from the bus stop to the farm but seemed a lot more when I was 7, with luggage, and whinning”. It is good thing that I remembered certain landmarks (ex. Red brick school, chappel, and the cemetary at the end of the village) because the locals were able to direct us in the right direction. So finaly we were on our way as it slowly got dark and I realized that I was not sure how far the farm was, every which way were fields, some roads, trees, and once in a while a farm house with a barn. We were closer than I thought and soon we were having hot tea and cake with Grandpa and the rest of the family. We also visited with Uncle Mietek in Tarnowo Podgurne that night and got to see my cousin Malgosia with husband and new 10 week old baby. The last time I saw her was at her wedding 4 years ago. Her son, Ziemus (how we all call him) was very content in Jason’s arms. We saw them again in the morning at about 6am when they were leaving for home which is a 6 hour drive away, with a small baby, that is not an easy ride at times. It was a good day and I had an introduction to being a translator, something that although very enjoyable, was a bit draining in the next two days.

–Marzena