Off-Topic / Nobel Prize and Oscars = Propaganda? [61]


What isn't?

If some people can't control their urges if they see a bit of skin, the fault is theirs alone.

Travel / Poles as tourists in foreign countries [93]


That's the r*SSians.


That's massage parlours in Birmingham.

Joking apart, they were relatively normal compared to the r*SSian tourists there. A bit solemn though.

Travel / Poles as tourists in foreign countries [93]


When I was in Venice a while ago there were plenty of Poles (mostly women) there and they (apart from looking a bit serious and earnest) were fine. Much more cultured and civilised than the r*SSians and Chinese who were there.

Off-Topic / Nobel Prize and Oscars = Propaganda? [61]


It's people who harass etc that are "going the wrong path".


What does that mean?

Off-Topic / Nobel Prize and Oscars = Propaganda? [61]


You don't say what is too much according to you.

Showing a bit of skin doesn't "bring harassment or worse". Harassers "or worse" do that of their own volition.

Food / Bigos Recipe [183]


Similar taste, very different consistency.


Plus, 999 times out of 1000 that someone eats it, they're not a hunter or even rural.


The same for us, however there's a dish called Scouse that's cabbage, potatoes, cheap meat all done in layers in a pan.

Stewed cabbage is a good name, however I just call it bigos. It doesn't need translating and food translations (particularly in PL) can be a mess, like calling schabowy "a chop" or translating smalec as lard rather than dripping.

Food / Bigos Recipe [183]


Yes, though as you say, it may be a family tradition, perhaps as an alternative to prunes.

It was sorrt of black blobs, perhaps made out of raisins. It was actually very nice. Since then, I've once seen a picture of bigos that looked like it had them in, however from the photo it was hard to tell if it was that or prunes.

Food / Bigos Recipe [183]


Hot hot hot. Not so much a personal thing, more cultural to do with coming from a very rainy place.


I've had it with steam coming off, though it's generally not as hot as I'm used to. I've sent back food in restaurants in Warsaw before (though not bigos)because it's not quite piping hot.

Have you had bigos with the grape paste in? I'm not sure what it's called however the lady who did it that way said it was traditional.


:-)

Food / Bigos Recipe [183]


Less of the 'north' since it's in the tropics and no, I don't 'dwell' there, just visit for professional reasons.

And btw, they tend to serve food warm rather than hot in most of Africa too. At home in Poland, it's very common (not that you'd know that); food often seems tepid to me and in southern Germany there are dishes that are left about a foot away from the fire for hours before serving, sometimes to the point that it causes food poisoning.


Depends on the fat/oil content and a couple of other things. Bigos isn't actually that high in this respect.


I guarantee that you'd find some of the stuff I cook to be too hot. Poles generally do so I tone it down a bit and am less likely to serve things on red hot plates.

Food / Bigos Recipe [183]


If you'd actually spent time in PL or nearby countries, especially Germany and Austria, you'd know that stews and soups in Central Europe are often served more warm than hot.

And after spending time in those places, you'd probably be happier and have better manners.

Food / Bigos Recipe [183]


I've had three over the decades that I liked. One was in Podlasie and had blobs of a sort of paste made from grapes in it, another was just good and I'm not sure why and the last one was made by a Polish lady who'd lived for many years in Paris and had a lot of red wine in.

Food / Bigos Recipe [183]

Yes. They're related though not the same thing. Bigos is bigos and choucroute garnie (which I slightly prefer to bigos, though that's not a high bar since I don't like bigos) is different.

Some people say that Napoleon's Grande Armée (or specifically their Polish wives) brought bigos back with them to France and choucroute was developed. I'd say that's a bit of a stretch and it's more to do with using available ingredients..

Genealogy / Is "Lubrant" a Polish last name? [7]


It may well be a variant of the Swiss name Lybrand or the Dutch name Leibbrandt.

There's also an old and now archaic first name in Northern Italy, Liutprand which Lubrant, Lybrand and Leibbrandt may well derive from.

Food / Bigos Recipe [183]


Arguing is the national sport in Poland, and elsewhere arguing about food is surprisingly common . I've seen Sicilians getting really worked up about whether arancino or arancina are more authentic and almost come to blows over the correct type of pasta to use in pasta al forno.

With bigos, the gulf between a good one and a bad one is huge, however some people prefer the kind I'd call a bad one. It's what someone's used to, what individual tastes are and of course nostalgic memories.

I dislike the name Hunters' Stew for similar reasons to the thing you mention; "hunters'" implies chasseur to me which bigos isn't. A better name is simply bigos, since soupe au pistou is soupe au pistou and not paste soup, ossobuco is ossobucco and not bone hole and haggis is haggis everywhere rather than a description of what it is.

Off-Topic / Nobel Prize and Oscars = Propaganda? [61]


I like that one. A good translation might be: "stupidity we don't sow". That's one I'll save for later.

Off-Topic / Nobel Prize and Oscars = Propaganda? [61]


Why?


Google is replete with websites that discuss the issue, many from a first hand point of view.

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Life / Cost of burials in Poland [17]

@pawian
He'll be scattered or buried under a tree or whatever when I finally do it so no need. An urn might be used by someone If ashes are kept on display (a guy I knew who was a Bishop kept his mother's ashes in an urn on an altar) however an undertaker wouldn't supply one other tha; a very basic jar unless asked. I suspect there's a box of some sort inside the bag but I've not looked and don't much like seeing the bag on the windowsill when the door to that room is left open.

Life / Cost of burials in Poland [17]


We haven't buried mine yet. His ashes are in a bag in the spare room. He requested no funeral and in any case, the family were grieving and had no appetite for one.

Cremation is the norm in the UK and someone would only be buried if they specifically request it or have a family plot in a centuries old village churchyard.

Scattering is popular. The 'Garden of Remembrance' that most cities' crematoria have in the U.K. have one where you can scatter ashes and remember the person. Some people's are just stored by the city for a few years then disposed of unless the family don't want that (though this is increasingly rare) and some people scatter ashes in a favourite place like a park, a beauty spot in the countryside, a nice beach or so times a sports ground if the deceased was a sports fan.

Off-Topic / Nobel Prize and Oscars = Propaganda? [61]


That doesn't explain why you think Iran being in the bottom few percent world wide isn't a problem for a significant number of women there, when clearly it is.


And existing laws cover that. Very few (if any) countries in Europe allow people to walk through a city centre nude, and it's hard to see why you think special rules should apply to women.

Life / Cost of burials in Poland [17]


Still a small number, however it's a positive thing.

Most funerals I've been to in PL over the past decade were interments of ashes. What I haven't seen in PL yet is "pure cremations", where there's not a funeral of any sort. They're getting more and more popular in the UK since nobody except the morbid actually like attending funerals and it's better to make a donation to a charity or take a nice holiday rather than pay a clergyman or clergywoman that happens to be on crem duty that day and who never met the deceased to talk for 15 minutes.

Life / Expats in small towns in Poland? [7]


They're growing in facilities etc and perhaps they will have a better future. There is still a lack of infrastructure like good train services and planning laws are weak with horrible stuccoed bungalows built on the edges of towns which just grow and grow like boring suburbs and often built individually by the owner which usually looks worse, however once that's eventually sorted, I'd say yes, they can be a very nice place to live and are improving.

Off-Topic / Nobel Prize and Oscars = Propaganda? [61]


In terms of rights, it's in the bottom 10% of countries worldwide.


Why?

Feedback / Who deserves to inherit Polish Forums? [344]

They're showing here though I'm using a tablet.

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Life / A Muslim Arab in Poland who loves Polish KABANOS & VODKA [20]


Ours are always on the bone with a lot of fat and are fried or grilled. A lot less popular than they used to be and I'm not sure why. In PL I'd not translate it (but almost never speak a word of English there unless it's with someone from abroad who's lived there for years and doesn't need translations).


Yes, that and the fact that marginal land (think Wuthering Heights or the valley in the photo in Random Chat) is only really suitable for sheep and a small farmer there wouldn't have had much to feed many pigs or chickens with.

Life / A Muslim Arab in Poland who loves Polish KABANOS & VODKA [20]


Yes. Perhaps "breaded pork schnitzel".


I'd guess the same. That and topography, since different land is suitable for different things. Poland has always had plenty of chicken and pork since both suit the type of land and rural economy well.

Life / A Muslim Arab in Poland who loves Polish KABANOS & VODKA [20]

I suppose it's memories and fond times. I'm never really happy with the word chop as a translation of kotlet. Pork steaks is a bit better but not perfect, and you can say schnitzel in English. It's comfort food, and the first thing I eat when I come back to PL.

In the U.K., they have a tradition of doing a large joint of meat on Sundays, with the meat appearing in different forms (like pies) later in the week. Because a leg or other cut of pork (always but always with apple sauce) was always cheaper than lamb or beef, it was traditionally less favoured.

We used to have gammon joints sometimes, a sort of brined pork that's a reddish colour.

Work / 9000 gross salary in Warsaw? [18]


Don't worry, it's an online forum and we're on the net.

Life / A Muslim Arab in Poland who loves Polish KABANOS & VODKA [20]


Plus they've had it dinned into them in religious lessons that it's bad in various ways, as strongly as Mormons are told that coffee is bad and as strongly as evangelical Protestants are told that praying before religious statues is bad.


When I first arrived in PL years ago (and was missing lamb, a staple meat where I come from and entirely normal, whereas pork is seen as the poorest and least favoured choice for a Sunday dinner).

I went to dinner with a friend of a friend. Hardly unsophisticated since he worked at the Warsaw office of the BBC. He'd been to Greece on holiday and had cooked Moussaka. The first thing he said, even before his guests had taken their shoes off was: "it's lamb, but don't worry, I've cooked it for so long that you won't taste anything at all".

Life / Solar energy in Poland [22]


It's normal to inform your house insurance provider if there's any significant changes.


Ours is pretty good.

Work / 9000 gross salary in Warsaw? [18]


Who said that?

This is a discussion forum where people give opinions, make suggestions, answer questions

. You're free to agree, disagree or say something between those, just as others are free to disagree with you.

You must be a real snowflake if you can't handle people disagreeing with you.