It is the custom in these parts

Should your front door be unlocked (rather unlikely) and it were to open as you sat quietly reading, eating supper or whatever, allowing several family members to walk in, unannounced, you may be somewhat taken aback. Imagine the scene then when they remove coats, shoes and hats, move to the table and settle themselves. Put down your book, computer, turn off the tv, and put the kettle on. Then get the bread, latest cooked dish, cake, beer, vodka…whatever you can find and offer it all. Everything will be eaten and drunk. That’s what happens here. The fact that we have not yet installed the electric gates and our door remains unlocked will make no difference. They will ring, we will open.

It appears, amongst our family here, there is no such thing as loneliness.  I say it appears as my language is not good enough to pick up all the gossip, but as my particular generation grows older I can be assured of the close company of a good handful of contemporary family members. So for all the shock of this unwarranted intrusion to me, a true Brit in so many ways, despite being 100% central European in blood, the fact is these visitors have chosen to spend the evening with us, in our house. I am very flattered.

So I keep up the baking, the soups, the bottling, waiting for the next invasion. Just to be ready.

 

Rear centre, Stefan. To his right, brother Zbysiek. Next to him, wife Anita. Opposite her is Anna, Zbysiek and Stefan’s sister, who sits next to her son in law, Mariusz, and lastly, his son Maciej.

Bread

For a long time I have been baking the family bread, but it wasn’t especially good. The taste was pretty bland, despite the addition of all sorts of seeds etc., though it looked ok and had some sort of a crust.  I thought, now I have more time lets take this to the next level and put in some effort. So I did a bit of research and bought myself a smart book. This bread is made with a sourdough starter.  Making the starter is fun, spread over 4 days of feeding and stirring. Then it can be used to start the next bake in all sorts of recipes that need yeast. But this is natural yeast produced with flour and water, only. As the starter matures all sorts of chemical reactions happen. The flavour intensifies and the bread as a result is a far more interesting product.