30 November 2009

Angie's growing fan base :)

Some of my friends may have let me down recently but my dog's friends circle grows bigger every day.

Angie has been with us for over a year now and has made some good dog friends over the past few months. I have also met some very nice people I would not have met if she were not with us. It may sound silly but it is true - thanks to my dog, I have established new friendships :)

Saffi is the first and the most important of all Angie's friends. I have written about their friendship in my previous posts so I am not going to repeat myself. The important thing is, they are still best buddies, are always crazy with happiness when they see each other and I do not think this is going to change any time soon.

Then, there is Balthazaar, a small, white staff. Angie and Balti (that's how I like to call him) are like two puppies in love. They run around the park for hours, chase each other and try stealing sticks from one another. Angie is faster than Balti and he sometimes gets a bit frustrated when he cannot keep up with her. So what does he do? He gets under Angie and tries to knock her over on her back. He is sometimes successful and when he is, it pisses Angie off because she likes to be the one who is on top all the time...

There is also Bailey, a massive, black English Bull Terrier. Although he looks very fierce, he really is a big, gentle softie. And he is sooooo lazy... I have never seen such a lazy dog in my life! He does not want to run... he does not want to play with sticks... he does not want to chase other dogs. He just stands in one place and watches the "action" unfolding around him. Thankfully, Angie has her own ways of "turning him on" and when he is finally in the mood, he starts chasing her and having some fun. Boy, does he look funny when he runs! Even his facial expression changes.

Then, there is Angus, the White Scottish Terrier. He is a lot smaller than Angie but loves her to pieces. She is very careful when playing with him. Weighting 30kg, she could easily break his neck or injure his spine. She never jumps on him like she does on other, bigger dogs.

Another one is Major, a massive Staffordshire Bull Terrier. He does not really play with other dogs but when he sees Angie, he changes dramatically. He likes to play rough and that is what she likes best!

Now that I think about it, most of Angie's best buddies are big, masculine and strong dogs. Why does she like them so much? And why do they get along so well? For once, I think there is lots of staffs around. Secondly, Angie likes big dogs because she does not have to be careful when playing with them. She loves playing rough and getting physical with other dogs. She can achieve the highest level of enjoyment and playfulness when playing with dogs that like to play tough as well :)

29 November 2009

Best Christmas Markets

Polish Christmas markets held in Cracow, Warsaw and Gdansk are amongst the best ones in Europe! You can enjoy Polish carols, treat yourself with delicious festive foods, drink hot mulled wine and buy some beautiful, traditional gifts and hand-made toys, decorations and ornaments.

So if you plan to visit Poland before Christmas, you have to make sure you find plenty of time to experience a Polish traditional Christmas!

26 November 2009

Are We Still Friends?

What is the meaning of a friend?

According to the Modern Language Association, the word signifies a person 'attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard...a person who gives assistance... a person who is on good terms with another'. True and obvious. We all know it.

So what do friends do? they appreciate and value each other's company and are altruistically loyal towards one another. They like us, we like them back. They regard us with care and sincerity and so we trust them, too.

What is the meaning of MY friends, then?

Before I left my country 9 years ago, I had had dozens of friends. Good buddies, best mates, close and not-so-close friends. I was a very sociable, outgoing and happy person and used to see them almost every day of the week.

Has anything changed since then? Many things. First and foremost, I have grown up, matured, become more responsible. Today, I would not do many silly things I did several years ago when I was in my early twenties. But I think it applies to everybody. We all become more level-headed and rational with age.

Many years have passed. I have made new friends, rebuilt former friendships and stayed true friends with only a few. What about the rest? Well...

Some of my so-called "friends", who were rather close to my heart not that long ago, have completely forgot about my existence. They do not have the time to talk or write from time to time... I am not thinking about regular contacts, regular emails, not even mentioning regular phone calls. I am talking about sending few words to my mailbox every now and again... once a month... once every three months...

I know I could contact them myself. And I did. I called, sent emails, text messages, tried chatting on Skype. Numerous times. Some of my "friends" eventually reply with few words or chat for few minutes. Others (not pointing out any names here) cannot be even bothered to do that...

Some, like me, emigrated abroad few years ago. They did not even make an effort to write simple 'hello, how are you?'. It was a different story when they were about to leave the country. I was the source of many useful information about the life in the States. Boy, did they like me then! So they left and I heard from them twice (and only because I was the one who wrote to them first). It is hurtful because back in the good days we were rather good friends and used to hang out a lot.

Others have been trying to write an email to me for the past year and, apparently, cannot find the time to finish it... I am patiently waiting and wondering for how long I will have to wait for that email to finally hit my mailbox...

I understand that we are not 20 anymore, that everybody has their own families, work, duties... blah, blah, blah... Well, I have work, uni and other responsibilities, too. And I sometimes have difficulties to manage the time in my life and end up doing everything in a hurry. But I always find the time for my friends. It makes me think that if they were really interested in what happens in my life, if they really wanted to keep in touch, they would. It is as simple as that. I cannot be the one who always makes the first move. I cannot and I do not want to. And considering the fact that many of my "friends" do not even reply, I cannot be bothered anymore. Why should I? And so I don't anymore.

I have got several close friends, one best friend and I am perfectly happy about it. And for the rest... Why should I care about someone who does not give a damn about me? I don't give a damn about them, either. I simply do not care.

There. I said it.


I thought I would finish my post with this poem. Just to remind people what friends should be like:

A friend is a tender shoulder
On which to softly cry
A well to pour your troubles down
And raise your spirits high

A friend is a hand to pull you up
From darkness and despair
When all your so-called friends
Have helped to put you there

A true friend is an ally
Who can't be moved or bought
A voice to keep your name alive
When others have forgot...

Author unknown

20 November 2009

Work, Work, Work...

Slawek is finally coming home tonight. I have not seen him since Monday morning when he left for work. This week has been a bit crazy, so was the previous one and, frankly, the next one is not going to be any better either... Work, work, work... everything seems to circle around it... and I really hate that fact!

2 November 2009

Not-So-Disastrous Weekend

I thought this past weekend would be unfortunate. For several reasons. First, because I had to make something I had never made before. Second, because I was going to watch something I was really looking forward to but was not sure whether it would be any good. Surprisingly, the past two days turned out to be a really nice weekend...

I will start from the beginning.

A couple of weeks ago Slawek's boss went hunting... As a result, Slawek was given a deer... a half of it, I mean... one front leg, one back leg and a comber. I know how it may sound but I just have to write it down... (and please don't think I'm a psycho)... there was a dead deer in my freezer... (yeah... I know... it sounds a bit freaky...)

Anyway... Last week we decided that it was time to finally eat it... I started defrosting the two legs on Wednesday morning. On Thursday morning, I had to pull the deer's skin off. Although it was pretty easy to remove, as you can imagine the whole procedure was pretty disgusting. Thankfully my friend Juan offered his help and did almost all the dirty job for me.

At first, I wanted to marinate the meat in one big piece and roast it in the oven. But then I found several recepies for deer steaks, chops and stews and decided it would be a better idea to cut it into small pieces.

To tenderise the flavour, I marinated the meat for 48 hours using a reciepe I had found on a famous Polish chef's website. On Saturday, I fried the pieces of meat, put them in a big pot, added fried onion and Polish bacon, veggies and remaining marinate and cooked it for about an hour and 20 minutes. I added a bit of red wine, plum jam, tomato puree and the stew was ready to eat.

Chiara and Mauro came over on Saturday evening. We sat at the table along with Esther and Juan. As a starter, I served baked stuffed tomatoes with salsa. Then, it was time for the big thing... I served the deer stew with roasted potatoes and pickled cucumbers. I was so affraid that the meat would not be tender enough and that it would not have a great taste. I could not have been more wrong. The stew was very tasty, the meat was tender and the flavours were well balanced. I should have jotted down all the nice comments that were made at the table. I think everybody really enjoyed the meal and I must say that I am very proud of myself :)


Sunday was a bit boring. It rained cats and dogs almost all day. I defrosted a freezer and a fridge, cooked chicken soup and made some chicken and veggetable jellies.

In the evening, Chiara, Mauro, Slawek and I went to the O2 Arena to watch Michael Jackson's This Is It at the Vue Cinema. I really wanted to see this movie but I was a bit anxious at the same time and was not sure about this whole idea of making a documentary about "what would have been". The moment I sat down, however, and the film started rolling I knew I would enjoy every second of it. And I did... I really did.

This Is It was made of over 100 hours of footage of Michael Jackson's rehearsals before what was supposed to be one of the greatest come backs in the history of music. The documentary showed his enormous talent and professionalism. He knew exactly what he wanted to make out of it. He knew every single detail, every song, every word, every rhythm and every sound. He was in good spirits, smiling, laughing and joking with people. He moved and danced like 20 years ago. All of the backup dancers, although highly trained and 20-30 years younger than Michael, did not dance half as good as him.

Not even once Michael Jackson's death was mentioned in the movie and I was particularly happy about it. The documentary was a celebration of his genius. It mirrored him as an artist. I am really grateful I was able to watch it and I think Michael's come back tour would have been trully amazing...