News / Schools in Poland to strike tomorrow [235]

How about giving 500+ to any salary?
Teachers and people of other professions would be happy and finally it would be work that's appreciated. Those who don't give a damn about working and contributing to the state budget would be rather be ... annoyed but perhaps that would make them appreciate what they get.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

The interesting thing about solyanka is that even though it's considered of rustic origin and made of leftovers some recipes include olives and capers.

I remember Robert Maklowicz saying once that capers were actually used in traditional Polish cuisine - still I doubt peasants had easy access to them.

I guess bogracz is of Hungarian origin in a way but similarly 'polonised' as our leczo.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

I actually had to google it.
It kind of reminds me of bogracz (mum makes it occasionally using frozen veggies mix ) and solianka (I had it first in Białowieża and like it - I know there are a lot of versions) but I might be wrong as I've never tasted it.

What's really good about such soups is that they're satiable and it's enough to serve soup for a meal.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

I've just looked at the ingredients and it's kind of scary.
It might be an easy way out if you really don't have time to cook from time to time but not regulary.
campbellsfoodservice.com/product/campbells-classic-cream-of-chicken/

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

@delphiandomine
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalewajka_(soup)

It's not that fascinating really - but it is quite tasty ; )

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

I'm having some zalewajka today. It took me about 15 minutes to peel and chop the ingredients, add some spices. It's not that diffiicult or time consuming.

I know what's inside. Well, I bought some sour rye - my grandma made her own

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

I @RandomUser
I don't think so.
I mean, if canned soups were to be a hit in Poland, it would have happened over 20 years ago.
Wasn't Campbell 's sold in Poland in the 1990s or 2000s?

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

Wasn't it you who said there's no much difference to home made ones?
I once bought cumin in London hoping it was kminek.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

I'm sorry, guys, but I just can't believe you can compare home made soups to instant ones :)
The latter taste terrible of all the preservatives you add to them.
What about spices? I'd say cumin is not very popular here -unlike caraway that's added to similar dishes as marjoram.
Turmeric has gained some popularity now - but that's because of its benefits for health.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

Well, perhaps it's a regional /personal thing. Marjoram helps you to digest so I don't think it's necessary in rosół especially that it'd dominate the flavour.

We add allspice and bay leaf, salt and pepper, of course and parsley.
Also in a lot of households Sunday rosól becomes the broth for other soups - so it makes things a lot simpler.
The problem with ready made soups is that they don't taste or smell of veggies and spices but of preservatives.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

I have never seen Polish soups in cans - I've seen some 'instant' ones but they're terrible and aimed at students, backpackers etc. But I never look for any - like my working mother and grandmothers did I make soups at home. ..

Stock cubes won't make a real rosół (we don't add marjoram, it's for żurek, fasolka po bretonsku etc )
@RandomUser
Why don't you go to a Polish restaurant?

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

Carp actually became a traditional Christmas Eve dish only after WW2.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

In this sense, cauliflower is very traditional. Present in the Polish cuisine since the times of Bona Sforza. I guess it's eaten in most Polish households with bread crumbs in summer.

As for tomatoes, well, there's Polish zupa pomidorowa - again very often eaten in Polish households.

Food / Which ingredients/vegetables/fruits/meats are nonexistent in traditional Polish cuisine? [125]

@RandomUser
When you talk traditional cuisine, you talk about products that can be cultivated in a given country. Afaik, you can't grow avocado in Poland. I don't think it's possible in Canada either. However, you can easily buy pretty much everything in supermarkets here.

Duck is very traditional. Mutton isn't really. As for other meats, all are eaten here.
Cauliflower and broccolli are common and eaten at least since my childhood. Rhurbar was used for making pies and compote when I was a kid. Pineapple, coconut, avocado or ginger are available on daily basis. So is eggplant or zucchini.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

I dunno if I can post pics from the internet here but I'll try.
I have an easy riddle for you - at least it's so damn obvious for anyone Polish in their 30s and older. But I wonder if foreigners living in Poland know it too.

What is it? What do you use it for? Have you ever used it. I bet pawian has.

pareulicdalej.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/osiedle-chrobrego-3.jpg?w=256&h=&zoom=2

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

@Dougpol1
I had to google it, tbh. It's in Katowice.

@pawian
I actually liked the hints.
You can easily guess and learn something new.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

I didn't recognise him in the mural either but the hints were really helpful. And that's Jerzy Kukuczka, of course.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

I know, I know!
Or is this riddle for pawian only?
I didn't recognise him at first but your hints were really helpful.

Genealogy / Did Polish fathers name their first son after their own name? [23]

Not necessarilly as the first name but it's quite common to use one's parents' or grandparents' first name as the child's middle name.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

I'm Polish and some of these riddles are diffiicult for me, too.
As for the word used to call Jews, apart from żyd, I'd say starozakonny. So is it some sort of a monastery/convent? But why put the menorah there?

There are also the so-called ogrody biblijne, so perhaps it's one of them.

Language / What do you like in Polish language? [70]

Train is 'cug' in Silesian afaik.
Most Silesians speak standard Polish as well as Silesian and slonsko godko is mostly used at home or among friends/natives to Silesia.

What I like about Polish is our 'r'.

Genealogy / Jucewicz - Crest from my Polish ancestry [12]

Good to hear that.
Perhaps I should try again to see if they update their data.
BTW, to all of you, another great source of information is szukajwarchiwach.pl and straty.pl (information about Polish victims of the Third Reich). However, in both cases the data is not complete.

Genealogy / Jucewicz - Crest from my Polish ancestry [12]

@Miloslaw @Sandyfeet

Lucky you, guys. There are no records there for the parishes my ancestors belonged to :)

Language / Meaning of zrewanżować in this context [4]

I'd say it's nieczytelnego pisma -illegible handwriting.

Genealogy / Jucewicz - Crest from my Polish ancestry [12]

geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?search_lastname=Jucewicz+&search_lastname2=&from_date=&to_date=&rpp1=&bdm=&w=&op=se&lang=eng

Perhaps you'll be able to find your ancestors here. Litwa is Lithuania so you may start there. Not all records are available there but you might be lucky. Sometimes you may be even able to see a scan of the original document.

As Atch said, you need to have more information to find out the family crest.

Genealogy / Jucewicz - Crest from my Polish ancestry [12]

If you have managed to trace your ancestors, you should be able to find out easily which family crest they used.
Now the sensitive part is whether your ancestors were really a noble family or simply shared a surname with a noble family. In the previous case just trace your ancestors, their vital records etc and you should be able to find out their family crest.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

Nice to see you, too. :* :*

I've been looking through different threads and it seems the forum is getting more interesting than it used to be. :)

This thread is great and not that easy for me, either.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

St Christopher's Day?

Language / Trying to find an old Polish song [6]

There's nothing wrong with her Polish - the song is sung in some sort of regional dialect but it's totally understandable.
I googled some random lines and it's apparently this song bibliotekapiosenki.pl/utwory/Choinka_w_lesie/tekst
The video starts roughly at the fifth line but your grandma obviously knows more lines than you can find in the link.

Genealogy / Name: Shimonkevitz (formerly Szymonkiewicz / Siemianowicz, other spellings), Warmińsko-mazurskie, Poland [17]

@Shimonkevitz
Trzcianne and Boguszewo are two different villages. The parish church for Boguszewo was in Trzcianne according to Wiki.
Contact the state archives so that you canon get more information. @Nickidewbear
I don't get it. The Białystok Pogrom was in the 1900s and you posted a link to your ancestors' records (with Polish names etc) from the 1810s ... so how could they be escaping it?

Even if you had some Jewish ancestors a lot of your family is probably non-Jewish too. Is it so bad?