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Posts by sobieski  

Joined: 1 Jun 2008 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 6 Jan 2016
Threads: Total: 106 / Live: 95 / Archived: 11
Posts: Total: 2,118 / Live: 1,951 / Archived: 167 		From: Poland, Warsaw
Speaks Polish?: Good
Interests: Polish culture and history, cooking

Displayed posts: 2046 / page 13 of 69
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sobieski   
9 Dec 2013
Food / Cheese in Poland is too bland [37]

, I find the Polish palate gravitates towards bland tastes anyways.

There is something in this...Many ethnic restaurants tend to "Polonize" their dishes. And not always with a good result. But maybe Polish restaurants let's say in the US do the same...adapt to local taste?

Trappist cheese is so much niche, that you can only buy it at the gate of the monasteries themselves.
But back to Poland cheese. Indeed blandness is the norm here. Maybe I can make an exception for Polish mountain cheese...
sobieski   
8 Dec 2013
Food / Cheese in Poland is too bland [37]

I couldn't agree with you more. In Belgium we have more as 1.000 beers, many of them coming from small local breweries, who have always a big fanclub.

Same goes for cheese - to go back to to the OP -. The Trappist cheese I buy is incredible. But...you can only buy it at the monastery gate, and only when the monks are not busy with their religious functions. It is not marketed anywhere.

But my sister is coming over for a surprise pre-Christmas visit next week with a load of Trappist cheese, Belgian chocolates, decent coffee and a big hug & smile for her brother :)
sobieski   
8 Dec 2013
Work / How much Father Christmas earns in Poland [4]

Maybe for a change a lighter-hearted item (comes from Metro, picked it up on the way to work Friday - and yes Iron, I read it myself without the aid of my wife)

It is about how much Santas earn in Poland.
Santa stalking around in the shopping centres: From 20 PLN to 50 PLN per hour. 20 if you have a Santa costume and fake white beard. 50 if you have a convincing deep "ho, ho, ho" voice. So a 40-hour working week can you earn you up to 2000 PLN.

House visits, distributing presents: It depends how Santa looks like, the more authentic to the Lapland guy, the more you earn. A 30-minute home visit goes from 120-180 in Poznań, 100-250 in Warsaw, 30-270 in Kraków.

Santa attending company events: For a 60-minute "visit" it goes from 150 PLN (Zielona Góra) to 300 PLN (Warsaw) , Scope ranges from distributing presents to rewarding the best employees.

Santa in the possession of a real belly and beard on house visits: From 170 PLN for 1,5 hour. Goes to 250 PLN if Santa has musical gifts

English-speaking Santa: Hired by companies who have a lot of non-Polish speaking employees. 250-300 PLN for 0,5 hour

Santa on a house visit on a sleigh pulled by rendeers (could be hard in a city I think); 1300 PLN for 1,5 hour.

Maybe I picked the wrong job :)
sobieski   
8 Dec 2013
Food / Cheese in Poland is too bland [37]

I do not really see the point of moving to a different country and then complaining about the food, of course it is different to your country.

True, and I agree with you on that. Only on the point of Polish cheese being bland, the Poles themselves agree. For the rest I buy almost all my veggies and eggs on our local open-air market. Quality very, very good, no comparison with what they sell in Carrefour. Sure the eggs are not kept in a fridge (two days ago they were covered with snow), but they are real eggs.
sobieski   
8 Dec 2013
Food / Cheese in Poland is too bland [37]

Still, where to go for your run-of-the-mill cheese? I took recently a good look at the labels of most "cheese" sold in Polish supermarkets...and let's say that often they resemble cheese, but that's all.

No doubt Alma & co sells perfect cheese...for a price which waters your eyes...But besides of that?

When I am in Belgium, I always buy cheese in one of the Trappist monasteries (the one my father worked in all his life actually). Nothing can equal the cheese (nor the beer for that matter) they produce.

but am very fond of Parmigiano-Reggiano

There is supposedly a Polish cheese which is cheaper but a satisfactory alternative to them...maybe that's the Bursztyn another poster wrote about/
sobieski   
7 Dec 2013
Language / Should I learn Polish or she learn English? [83]

Between ourselves (me and my wife) it is basically what I call "Pinglish", a mix of English and Polish. With our daughters...in Polish.

And yes I may be joking...with our Labrador in Polish (because we got him from a schroniska in Paluchy), and with our cat in Flemish (because he came from Belgium). Somehow animals stick to their given language, strange....

And what about you?
sobieski   
7 Dec 2013
Language / Should I learn Polish or she learn English? [83]

And if somebody could teach our daughters to talk not only in ATM but also in Polish? Our Labrador does not beg for money after all :)
sobieski   
7 Dec 2013
Language / Should I learn Polish or she learn English? [83]

I think you always should learn the language of your partner. Maybe not to "native speaker" level, but for sure enough to be able to converse with her/his relatives and friends. No need to achieve A2.

But if you live in the country of your partner, then B2 should be a must. After all, you can go to so many expat haunts as you like where Polish is not necessary...but for me it is common decency you speak the local lingo.

I know a few fellow Belgians who after having living in Warsaw for years can barely order a beer in Polish. They are pathetic. Our Labrador can order a beer in Polish.
sobieski   
7 Dec 2013
Food / Cheese in Poland is too bland [37]

Yep I do find polish (European) cheese very bland,

From what I know, compared to US "cheese" it is a delicacy.
Europe is full of good, regional cheeses. The art is to find it. The problem is that in Poland 99% of cheese is copycat of yet another bland copy.
sobieski   
7 Dec 2013
Life / Lack of human rights in Poland? [132]

That's a very good question.

Nope. That came from zero-tolerance, massive pre-emptive arrests.
Belgian police btw take a very dim view of people carrying knives, and regard them as a threat.
sobieski   
7 Dec 2013
Food / Cheese in Poland is too bland [37]

Except that I won't go to Cieszyn to buy cheese :). I know Carrefour has a big range of "cheese". Unfortunately it all is the same, regarding "taste".
sobieski   
7 Dec 2013
Life / Lack of human rights in Poland? [132]

You keep on defending knife-carrying. Google "Lazio" and "violence". And see what comes out.
And think. Why in democratic countries with a policy of pre-emptive arrests, zero tolerance, hooligan terrorism has been routed?
sobieski   
7 Dec 2013
Food / Cheese in Poland is too bland [37]

It's a Polish knock-off of Maasdammer.

And which one would that be? Because almost every shop in Poland sells Maasdammer.... In Lidl they used to have Dutch Gouda in blocks (I know it was Dutch, judging from the EU ID mark), but they do not sell it anymore.
sobieski   
7 Dec 2013
Life / Lack of human rights in Poland? [132]

A first hand account from one of the Lazio fans arrested:

Why do you keep on going defending a gang of knife-carrying Lazio kiboli? And why do you think carrying a knife in public is perfectly normal?

They got their head and butt kicked pre-emptively by Warsaw police - whose duty is the protection of the Warsaw citizens (which they did not do during the Nazi invasion on 11.11, but that is another matter).

In Belgium we had no hooligan violence since many years (at least no home-grown). Preventive arrest is the clue here and zero tolerance.
sobieski   
6 Dec 2013
Life / Lack of human rights in Poland? [132]

They are not Nazi and never were.

What is the difference between them burning the rainbow and waving Polish flags in front of them...and the Hitlerjugend burning books?
Btw...you as an expert on Polish patriotism (of course not living in Poland, not paying taxes here), what is your opinion of the Brigada Świętokrzyśka?
sobieski   
6 Dec 2013
Life / Lack of human rights in Poland? [132]

ou don't appear to have an open mind in such matters.

Lazio is a club whose "fans" are known for their extreme violence. The obligation of the Warsaw police was to protect the city and its people from this kind of animals.

Wearing any knife in public is idiot. People who mean well do not carry knifes. If the police would not have intervened and these "fans" would attack ordinary bystanders and start destroying the city, then there would have been a problem.

After all, they could have gone peacefully to the stadion and back to their hotel.
Why do you keep defending such scum? I simply do not understand this.
sobieski   
5 Dec 2013
Food / Cheese in Poland is too bland [37]

My biggest disappointment with cheese in Poland, that it is so bland. They all taste the same (at least the ones sold in the supermarkets). OK...some have holes in them (and are called "Emmental" even they wouldn't recognize Emmental even when it would kick them), some haven't....But in the end...

And I am not even talking about their composition, because I analysed quite a few times their labels and sometimes what they have in common with cheese is only the colour.

Zamoyski, Gouda, Edamski....all the same.
Of course you can buy foreign cheeses...but they cost an arm and a leg...
Question: Which are the better Polish cheeses (I prefer the Gouda or Emmental type)?
sobieski   
5 Dec 2013
Work / Is it possible for a street musician to make a living in Warsaw? [6]

For a 300 sq foot apartment in the city centre (including bills), you're looking at US$500 absolute minimum and more likely $600 for something livable.

My pal lives on Miodowa (right in the Old Town) and he pays 1700 PLN for a 45 m2 apartment. Do not know if that is including bills, guess not. But still a good deal I think.
sobieski   
4 Dec 2013
Life / Lack of human rights in Poland? [132]

I just wish that the Poles would ask for some help with dealing with their problem.

Exactly. That way it would be much easier to deal with the ONR scum and other "patriots". Polish police has a poor record in dealing with such animals.

That said and done - anyone thinking that walking with a knife on the street is the norm....is just not normal...

You don't arrest let alone charge people as a preemptive measure. It goes against all concepts of justice.

Nope. You arrest them before they can destroy and attack. The legal niceties can be sorted out later on.
sobieski   
4 Dec 2013
News / Poland, still corrupt, but not as bad as Czech/Hungary & Italy [36]

Merged: Poland doing better on the annual corruption TI index

Poland is advancing on the annual corruption index of Transparency International. I think that's good news. Personally speaking, in all these years I am living here I never paid any bribe in Poland.

The least corrupt are Denmark, New Zealand , Finland and Sweden. Poland was placed in it 38th among 177 countries and territories . The 100 points gained 60th rank , the more the country scored points , including its citizens perceive it as less corrupt.

sobieski   
3 Dec 2013
Life / Lack of human rights in Poland? [132]

Have you ever been in Warsaw? Do you know the independence march route?

Do you live in Poland...or in Warsaw? Defending your ONR scummie friends again, are you? Aha, perhaps they are freedom fighters...I missed that point.