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Posts by f stop  

Joined: 9 Dec 2009 / Female ♀ 		Last Post: 9 Oct 2015
Threads: Total: 24 / In This Archive: 21
Posts: Total: 2493 / In This Archive: 1879 		From: USA, dirty south
Speaks Polish?: tak
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Displayed posts: 1900 / page 28 of 64
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f stop   
21 Aug 2011
News / Multi-culti (in Poland) -- roadmap to disaster? [344]

Heh, did you act all interested like.

I pretended I had something to attend to before I became snarky.
I have a few engineer guy friends, smart, ambitious, socially inept dorks, with toys galore (airplanes, Porshes) but it's really hard to find sane, decent looking girls for them, especially in Florida. They're just bred here to catch a husband... and decent looking ones want a hot looking muscle guys. The Russian brides option is looking better and better. Hey, maybe I should send them for a vacation to Poland!

(Oh, lol, one of the girls wanted to know if this joke was in bad taste: Amy Winehouse has been sober for almost a month.)
f stop   
21 Aug 2011
News / Multi-culti (in Poland) -- roadmap to disaster? [344]

That's why dividing people into immigrants and citizens is so misguided. Divide them into hardworking people vs. bums. Honest people vs. criminal element. Heads vs. squares. Beatles vs. Stones. Er.. scratch that.

Last night I tried to have a light conversation with some silly girls that believe that the way the stars looked from Earth on the day they were born, determined their personality and who they will marry. Discrimination makes just as much sense to me as astrology.
f stop   
20 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]

complete recipe please

That's the problem, the sauces/stews I do on the fly (hence spectacular misses), often putting together just what's at hand. As luck would have it, this time it was a bag of just harvested green chilies. I never used them before because I thought they were very hot. They are not!

One thing I've learned is to put much less spices (especially salt) than what you think it's going to need if you're going to simmer for a while, because simmering really actentuates the flavors. Then I adjust the salt and heat at the very end. Whenever I use tomatoes, I add a pinch of sugar, too. Cumin is one spice I grew to love after the mostly unfortunate Indian cooking phase I went through.

The secret to my stuffed cabbage is a huge amount of sauteed onions. I do 1/4 ground pork, 1/4 ground beef, 1/4 sauteed onions (and since they greatly reduce while sauteeing, that's a LOT of onions to chop) and 1/4 cooked rice. I don't put any spices in except salt and pepper. Not even garlic. Another secret here is a steamer basket while I cook them, so they don't cook in their own grease. I make a couldron at a time, then pack them in individual containers for freezing. They freeze very well.
f stop   
20 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]

It was a sauce made with some fatty pork, a hole bunch of home grown mild green chilies, tomatoes, onions, garlic, some flour, lot of ground cumin, a little oregano, salt, cayenne and black pepper, simmered for hours. Served on the side, to be poured over the stuffed cabbage.

I've had some spectacular misses in the past, but this was definitely a hit.
f stop   
20 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]

I've been trying to introduce my friends to Polish food. Last month they found my stuffed cabbage too bland. Last night I made it again, this time with green chile sauce. They must have liked it, because at the end of the night it was all gone. Is that fussion?
f stop   
19 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]

If you check, you will find, VEGETA, is not a item from Poland, or made there.

it doesn't matter where it is made. Many Poles think it's so fantastic, they put it in just about everything they cook.
f stop   
19 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]

I used to use all kinds of pre-made spice mixes, when I didn't know how to cook. Now I enjoy developing the flavors from fresh vegetables and herbs. That Vegeta, in my opinion, is an unfortunate development in Polish cuisine.
f stop   
19 Aug 2011
Life / Have many Poles had enough of one another? [198]

for my mother, the proverbial last drop was berating she got from the sales lady, trying to buy some socks, of all things. We were visiting in Warsaw, and my mother dared to try to get the b!tches attention. It brought my mother right back to the supplicant mode she's all but forgotten since she immigrated to US. She said she'll never go back to Poland, and she kept her word.
f stop   
18 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]

Vegeta is an embarassment to Polish cooking. Horrible stuff!
I can understand taking shortcuts when in a hurry, but don't list it as an example of your fine Polish cooking. Same as using chicken bullion cubes instead of home made stock.

Learn how to use spices, instead of spooning that sht in!
Here are the ingredients in Vegeta:
salt 56%
dehydrated vegetables 15.5 % (carrot, parsnip, onions, celery, parsley leaves)
flavour enhancers (monosodium glutamate max. 15%, disodium inosinate)
sugar
spices
cornstarch
riboflavin (for coloring)
f stop   
18 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]

Breakfast: if I have any, I usually stick to what we call a "continental" fare; some bread, butter, jelly, tea. I think that I got from my Polish upbringing. I still can't get used to american breakfast of fried eggs, bacon, sausage... or cold cereals.

Lunch: occasionally I take Americans to a local Polish restaurant for lunch. They like the soups, although they are supprised how 'watery' they are. They notice the sweetness in salad dressing. For main course they consider kielbasa too heavy, but will go for a pork chop or, a lot of time, go with fish. Something they recognize. There are no sandwiches on this restaurant's lunch menu. Kanapka z pasztetem would have been nice.

Dinner - for starch, my favorite will always be potatoe.
I love saute'ing stuff in butter - I think that comes from my Polish side too, Americans use more oil.
I make a lot of cabbage side dishes. Love cabbage.

Most of Polish food I know is comfort food. And that works best if it is what you were raised with.
f stop   
18 Aug 2011
Life / Car or no car to commute in Warszawa? (Warsaw) [13]

It's been a while since I've been in Warsaw (I lived there till I was 16 and then I've been back for vacations twice). But I do remember Poles are terrible discourteous drivers. Freaking wild west out there! Unless there've been many bike paths or lanes made, I would not get next to them on a bike, either.

But I do remember the public transportation very fondly :)
All considered, it probably is a least stressful choice. Not to mention the green points.
f stop   
17 Aug 2011
Life / Have many Poles had enough of one another? [198]

Anyone, from anywhere in the world, can see that this claim, to be one of the least materialistic people in the world, is a statement coming from a sickeningly self righteous person.

Des, I think the knowledge of these 12 commandments will take you up to the next level. You're almost there:

netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/88q1/13785.8.html
f stop   
17 Aug 2011
UK, Ireland / I need help!! (problems with my Polish coworkers) [41]

Polish women have a cut-throat, take-no-prisoners survival instinct. Especially middle-aged ones, with kids to feed. You are a threat, probably because you get along with the boss, speak better English, love the job. You're not going to get anywhere trying to get buddy-buddy with them. Make a long range plan: to manage the place, or whatever the way up is, and anything you do needs to be aligned with that goal. But, unless both of them are absolutely irreplaceable, you got to break them up, or you'll be wasting a lot of time and energy on petty crap.

Good luck.
f stop   
17 Aug 2011
UK, Ireland / I need help!! (problems with my Polish coworkers) [41]

till someone apologizes for whatever trivial thing they may have done

Are you serious?? Obviously, you have never worked in a kitchen. It is no place for weak, or meek, apologetic or uncommunicative.
The battle lines have been drawn - they already snitched on her once, for cussing, which as far as I'm concerned is a God-given right in a kitchen.

So, Emma, protect yourself, pick one and burry the other, or they'll push you out of a job.
f stop   
16 Aug 2011
UK, Ireland / I need help!! (problems with my Polish coworkers) [41]

Just prop up your phone and start videotaping when you're ready to ask them something.
If they ask, tell them you're videotaping. Make sure it's not illegal... is it?