PolishForums LIVE  /  Archives [3]    
   
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
Interests: all

Displayed posts: 1900 / page 30 of 64
sort: Latest first   Oldest first   |
f stop   
8 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]

Hmm. I guess laying claim to particular crops or live stock does not make much sense..
This week I bought some of my hurricane supplies from a Polish deli. I guess if I have eat meat from a can, it might as well be Polish pasztety. Added bonus is that nobody else will probably touch it! ;)
f stop   
8 Aug 2011
Language / Which language is easier for Poles? [43]

Ukrainian. Seems closest. And they have a sweet way of pronouncing their l/ł's.
Oh, wait, did I say sweet? I meant the most attrocious.
f stop   
8 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]

except for a very brief glimmer of hope in the early 70's the shortages of the Solidarity era effectively sealed our faith in our own exposure to our culinary art

but we sure can make 20 different dishes from potatoes, don't we? ;)
f stop   
8 Aug 2011
Travel / Whats your favourite Polish city and why? [132]

When I was young, I craved cities. You had a much better chance of running into different, interesting people (meaning that finding some intelligence was not that hard), changing scene was easy. Now that I'm old and decrepit, I want my life to be more manageable. Internet has a little do do with that transition, I think. So, even though Warsaw is my old home, but I would pick something more like Lublin now.

If it was 10 deg. south. ;)
f stop   
7 Aug 2011
Language / Survival Polish (some basic lessons : ) [9]

if you say each of the phrases quickly, they resemble some common (as common as swearing goes, anyway) Polish curses. Is that what you didn't get?
f stop   
5 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Moving from United Kingdom to USA. Is it worth it? [136]

my estimates of my mother's bills are: electric:$150 (summer), internet+phone:$100, water:$100(water cost has been sky-rocketing in FL, and she waters her garden almost every day), gas:$50, car and house insurance:$100.

My electric is over $400/month in the summer, ~$100 in the winter (I have a big house with 3 AC systems. Don't ask, I'm working on it...).

Her home insurance is $600. Mine, hurricane alone is over $6000.. that's why I don't have any.
f stop   
5 Aug 2011
Life / Struggling young Polish couple - try to solve their problem [176]

My reaction might be to the situations I see around me (with some hints of mid-life crisis thrown in, I suppose): rents are actually cheaper than the mortgage payments, home owners spending all of their free time and money fixing/remodeling or just upkeeping their house, missing out on many other stuff..

I have a good friend who invested in some lovely, riverside rental units. He calculated that he should be able to retire soon, the rent payments would provide him with extra spending money. Now, after couple forced evictions and many-a-weekend spent fixing toilets, he is re-evaluating that plan.

Another example is the vacation home. I always loved the stability of spending my vacations in the same island home, until I was forced to seek other arrangements and discovered all the variety I've been missing.

I have a young, fresh-out-of-school apprentice, that I feel should really discover all the different opportunities, not only in USA, but abroad as well. But, he is saddling himself with a big, beautiful home and a fervent hope that his job is not going anywhere.
f stop   
5 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Moving from United Kingdom to USA. Is it worth it? [136]

my mother proudly (!) lives on $800 a month. I have no idea how she does it. Granted, her house and car are all paid for, but the bills like insurance, electric, gas, water, must be at least $500/month. With the $300/mo remaining, she manages to keep herself and her dog in fresh vegetables, and still sends some money to her sister in Poland.

For entertainment she gardens, fixes (tinkers with) everything, plays with her stocks and checks on everyone via facebook. She is my hero. ;)
In contrast, my living expenses, even after the house was paid off, are still close to 3K/month!
f stop   
4 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Moving from United Kingdom to USA. Is it worth it? [136]

Kumbins:
Home prices in US are dirt cheap, if you have any leads on a job, I say go for it!
Go south - you won't have to worry about house heating, and if you're in the tornado alley or hurricane coast, you'll pick up work quick when the sh!t is down. ;)

If you listen to the news, you'd think US is a hotbed of sickness and poverty. I look around and I don't see any. People that want to work, work.
f stop   
4 Aug 2011
USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]

Gordon Ramsey on the case.

In majority of his shows, there is a moment when Gordon goes way too far with the insults, and a restaurant owner has enough. I always wonder what amount of money, or legal contracts, persuade him to go back, or not to punch Gordon in the face.

The only successful Polish restaurants I've ever heard of are in large Polish communities, such as Polonia, in Hamtramck, MI, which Anthony Bourdain covered.
f stop   
3 Aug 2011
News / Poland has most world's beautiful coin [13]

A silver coin bearing an image of Polish pianist and composer Krzysztof Komeda has received a special award 'The most beautiful coin in the world" at "International Prize Vicenza Numismatica" 2011 international numismatic contest.

Poland Coin
f stop   
3 Aug 2011
History / Why did communism in Poland fail? [180]

I will acknowledge free education and health care

I never was a great fan of communism, but the two above are pretty big tickets. I also felt very safe there.
I have some some ties with Cuba now, and I'll be watching with great interest and some trepidation how it evolves.
f stop   
3 Aug 2011
Love / Polish women USED TO BE much more attractive: [162]

But don't you think the age has to do with your weight issue

definitely! I'm sure our metabolism slows down when we age.
Another evil thing is the TV recorder. Every day there is another two hours of choice programming saved for me. It's a curse! I'm supposed to watch in my rowing machine, but you know how that goes..
f stop   
3 Aug 2011
Love / Polish women USED TO BE much more attractive: [162]

I NEVER eat fast food or junk food, so I can't blame this on McDonalds. But we do eat lunch at restaurants almost every work day. That's one of the problems, very hard to figure out the calories when you go out a lot. Desk job - that's a big one. Also, I do not like artificial sweeteners, so no diet drinks. Another big one: I love to cook, and I cook with real butter a lot. I do not take any pills, or energy drinks, which a lot of girls around here use as a diet aid. When I lived in cities, I used to walk much more, but around here, we don't even have sidewalks! It's from the door to the car, back to the door. Not easy.. I'm not exactly stressing out about this, but it's pissing me off that I never had to worry about what I ate, and now I'm freaking counting calories!
f stop   
2 Aug 2011
Love / Polish women USED TO BE much more attractive: [162]

NOW, change the activity to running.

no freaking way! I think all you runners out there are doing some serious damage to your ankles, knees and hips. I'll stick to the activities I actually can enjoy, not torture myself with, like spinning in place, for example.

I know exactly how many calories I eat and how much I burn (I already mentioned the app I'm using, so I don't need yours, thank you). I burn about 350 cal/hr paddling, 700/hr swimming.