Lamentations & Exultations

Lamentations & Exultations...man, that's what I should have named this site!
 (Don't steal it. If I come across a site with that name I will know you stole it from me and so will everyone else because they can check the date of this post so ha ha on you, thief.)

Speaking of lamentations, the schedule to the left is from one of the New Jersey churches we've been visiting lately as we investigate my family's geneaology that have connections to my Sierzputowski/Stachura heritage.


(I might have an Irish last name but I am really, really Polish because that's where every single tradition I have from growing up comes from: the Polish side.)

When I saw "Sorrowful Lamentations In Polish" all I can think of was old Polish grandmas sitting around church complaining about stuff which, of course, made me want to be there for that.  I mean, how great would that be?!  It would be like the Polish version of Festivus, right?

But, no, that's not exactly what Gorzkie Zale is.
Really it's hymns and prayers - some dating back to the 1700s - that reflect sorrow for the suffering of Christ.

Not as much fun as the idea of Polish Festivus, though.

Speaking of Polish things, this past Sunday we took my mother up to Elizabeth (NJ) to take her on a tour of places that meant something to her.  Sort of like a traveling version of This Is Your Life.  First off, I have to tell you this was nothing short of a small miracle because we finally got her to leave her apartment.  My mother goes nowhere except the grocery store and doctor offices.  We have tried cajoling, we have tried bribes...nothing has worked for a very long time.
Until we started this genealogy thing and she and I started having really long conversations about it.
I've been asking her a million questions about her life, her relatives, and it was like she came back to life.  So we drove two hours to her house and then another hour to Elizabeth. Then we drove her around for two hours while she told stories and I took pictures.

For example, the above picture is Brophy Field in Elizabeth.  (It's a terrible picture, shot from inside the truck because it was about 20° outside and because there is a lot of traffic in Elizabeth and people there would not take kindly to someone holding them up to take nice photos.)
This is the exact spot where my mother was when the sirens started going off all over the city because World War II had ended.
She was with her brother and it seems that the park was locked up but they had slid under the fence (of course it was a different fence back then) to get in the park to play (hoodlums!).  The sirens started going off and her brother took off running, leaving her behind.  When she tried to slide under the fence to go after him and see what was going on, she got stuck!  Luckily for her, a beat cop was nearby and helped unstuck her.

I love these stories.  They are the ones I've been listening to my whole life but they take on a different life when you are actually at the exact location where they happened.

If you have this kind of opportunity, please don't miss out on taking advantage of it.
The advantages are numerous.

While we were in Elizabeth, of course we stopped for hot dogs at Jerry's (we don't go to Elizabeth without always going to Jerry's) but I also wanted to hit up a Polish store that I'd never been to in Linden.

Oh my God, am I glad we went.  Syrena Polish Deli is more like being in a Polish supermarket. Or in Polish heaven.  They have everything.  Can we start with the rings of all kinds of kielbasa hanging at the deli counter?  We bought regular and double smoked and they were hands downs the best I've ever eaten in decades of eating kielbasa.  I also bought apple cake or Szarlotka.  Then I picked up these frozen items:

Alexandra's Kraut & Mushroom Pierogi

I was skeptical because, well, frozen pierogies makes me think of Mrs. T's and if your only experience with pierogies is Mrs. T's then you have never actually eaten a real pierogi.
Happily, these were outstanding for being frozen.  The dough was not too thick or too doughy and they were overfilled perfectly with sauerkraut and mushrooms and the sauerkraut was real deal...not the straight-out-of-the-can/package bitter/sour stuff.
If you have only ever eaten straight-out-of-the-can/package sauerkraut then you never really eaten real sauerkraut.  Stay tuned...I will post my recipe for quick and real sauerkraut soon.

I bought my mother a package of Potato/Cheese and she said they were "just okay" but we can't really take her word for it because she usually makes her own and nothing compares to homemade.

I also bought a bag of frozen grated beets.

Poltino grated beetroots

We are serious beet people in our house but we don't love beets in a can so much so finding this product was heaven because cooking beets is a royal pain.  From this I made Cwikla to go with our kielbasa.  I don't use a recipe but to the beets you add vinegar, brown sugar and horseradish.  The more horseradish, the better...because we like our cwikla hot.  Some cwikla recipes call for ridiculous amounts of horseradish but that would be TOO hot and would take away from the beet flavor, in my opinion.

I will make beet sliders soon and post that when I do.
Yes, beet sliders!  Little tiny sandwiches made with roasted beets.  You won't believe how good they are.

People are always asking us how we find these places and why we travel so far to go to them.
See, I grew up with this stuff.  Polish food was regular food for me.  Same way with Italian food...the real kind anyway.  I was lucky enough to be brought up in a culture-centric environment in a very ethnic area. After school we used to stop for falafel or bialys in Elmora.  Having friends from lots of different cultures meant eating whatever their mom cooked when you ate over.
Also, my father's girlfriend trained at Le Cordon Bleu and taught me how to cook a million different complicated things like coq au vin and tomato aspic (so gross!) before I was 10 years old.
So, I don't do bland.
I also have to go "home" on a regular basis to Elizabeth (and close-by places like New York City!) and when I'm there I shop at the places for the foods I know and love.  Or I look for shops in other places so we have an excuse to road trip and have an adventure.
Our life is anything but bland.

This post wouldn't be complete if it didn't include a lamentation so here it is:

This morning I heard shouting outside my window and when I looked out it was my inconsiderate neighbor yelling for her dog...the one they "walk" without a leash.
The one who runs and poops all over everyone's property.
This is making me nuts.  Who does this?!  I can't imagine being so clueless and inconsiderate.
And so irresponsible with your dog!  One day I fear that dog will bolt at the wrong time and get injured.  Such foolish people.
But what to do?  Any move on our part is going to make for neighbor hostility and I hate the idea of living like that.
Almost as much as I hate the idea of their dog running all over our yard and leaving its gifts.  Our dogs use our front lawn 2-3 times a day.  What if their dog isn't up to date on shots or has some other illness?

People can be such jerks sometimes.  What to do?