Christmas 2013

I looove Christmas Eve!!! no matter where I am I have to try and make it as polish as I possibly can with what I have available. Of course it is NEVER like back at home with all the family around and crispy cold weather outside the window. Also I will never EVER get use to the Christmas in the middle of the summer, although the weather was not the best here with lots of rain and wind. But anyway.... I got myself a wee (real) Christmas tree for a bit of atmosphere and beautiful smell. Plus this year like any other I did some polish cooking. Not as many dishes though as we normally have in Poland but three its always something.  The smell of boiling sauerkraut in the morning does the trick and makes me feel like at home within seconds. I was too lazy to make my own barszcz and so I used one that I got from a Russian shop in Auckland. Of course we didn't have a carp on our table and blue cod had to replace the muddy taste of carp that I do actually like. In terms of pierogi....well I am getting better and better every year but still I'm far from making 100 or 200 of them on one go:)

Just two (and a half;) of us was celebrating Wigilia this year so a huge change from last year but still it was nice to make it happen.