The One On The Bench

Talking to a girl who - with regard to the hunger for books - seemed like a young me. Only less reticent. Much less.

Girl: Did C.S. Lewis get a Nobel Prize?
Karo: Did he? The Nobel Prize in Literature?
Girl: I don't know. But if he didn't - he should have. He was a genius!

Stay tuned.

The One With The Dried Things

My newest composition - salad with dried apricots (of the similar sort as the previous one with dried tomatoes):

• grilled or boiled chicken meat
• whole-wheat fusilli pasta
• dried apricots
• walnuts
• spices: curry, garam masala^*; some pepper and/or salt
• 1 spoon of: [white] wine vinegar, olive oil and/or oil, water
• 1 teaspoon of: brown sugar, honey

^*garam masala is an Indian spice mixture consisting of coriander, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves, nutmeg - but be careful with it! if you put too much, it may ruin the whole thing; alternatively, you can use only some of the spices listed here.

A friend of mine told me that if you used dried tomatos which were not marinated in some oil, then it was good idea to marinate them yourself, since then their flavour would get more intense and they would soften. That advice turned out to be invaluable and I always follow it.
This time I did the same with apricots: I soaked chopped apricots in the marinade made of the oils, water, vinegar, honey, sugar and spices; left it for the night and then mixed with all the other ingredients. (Had I remembered I had some ginger root, I would have probably added some ginger flakes to the apricots. Well, maybe next time).
Delicious!

Apart from being creative, I also try to be forethoughtful i.e. I spent the afternoon collecting lime flowers for Winter. However, my guess is this stock will be gone by Autumn. Providing I will manage to dry it properly and store... Otherwise it will be gone much sooner. I hope not - there is nothing like a lime tea with honey on a cold day.

Stay tuned.

The One On The Bicycle

Got a bike!
Rode a bike in Kraków first time in... hmmm... for the first time ever, I guess.

And it was terrifying - for to many reasons to even start listing.
Exactly as I had expected.

So I believe the first goal would be to find some cyclist-friendly routes - to be able to avoid multilane carriageways at every occasion.

Stay tuned.

The One On Jupiter

Did you know that there were places on Earth where you could picnic on Jupiter?
And stare at the setting Sun.

Stay tuned.

The One With Snow White, Blood Red And Ebony Red. For The Second Time

Snow White & The Huntsman

You should also add Ravenna, The Queen, and make it a trio, since she is an equal partner to the title duet.
The movie is good: pretty pictures, absorbing (yet, still classic) story and characters, sometimes funny, visually pleasing with special effects, and satisfactory as a whole - you can see a solid cast and crew behind, and that they all they did a really good job.
There is no magic. No sparkle. I like the film, I enjoyed it while watching. No butterflies in my stomach, though.

Music by James Newton Howard. At first, it seems a tad indistinctive. Later on, however, you start being drawn by all the small themes and phrases. So I guess this score is of the inconspicuous kind - you have to give it a little time to kick in, but it is worth investing that time.

There are two songs on the album: Breath of Life by Florence + The Machine, which I like very much; and Gone by Ioanna Gika (which somehow reminds me strongly of Emiliana Torrini's Gollum's Song) - which I love:

Stay tuned.

The Truly Educational One

Today I have learnt:

• I am not allergic to bee sting
  (well, my allergies are much more sophisticated e.g. I am literally allergic to cleaning and trinket jewellery)
• even if you are not allergic to bee sting, it still hurts as hell
  (and, later on, this unpleasant feeling of numbness and itching continues)
• you can travel through the whole city and miss that fact that there are some hay straws on your back
  (which is actually a nice reminder of the moments you spent getting that straw clung to your shirt)
• I can resist pizza
  (it maybe be the case, however, that it is only true when it comes to a pizza that is not home-made)
• I can not resist fudge
(home-made or bought - does not matter)

Stay tuned.

The One With The City Symphony

Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt

A silent documentary film from 1927. And it is amazing!

You remember a classic episode in every modern tv series, where one character has been singled out and we follow them the whole time in order to get the comprehensive view of their everyday life.
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City is exactly the same, with this slight variation: it does not picture a person - it pictures the whole city.

You get to see the morning rush, when everyone hurries to work. You watch them commuting - by trains, trams, buses...
You see people working - in factories or running their own shops, workshops.
You watch them eating - adults, children, zoo animals...
You learn how they spent their free time and relax: playing, doing sports, going to movie theatres etc.
You watch them fall asleep - you watch the whole city fall asleep.

And all that beautifully shot (sometimes using hidden cameras) and edited in a manner that results in a real, live, visual symphony. Brilliant!

Different music this time. Composed, arranged and played by the Dobrobyt band. It fit the movie and was a nice diversion from a regular set and style. I missed the classic silent-movie vibe, though.

Stay tuned.

The Treacly One

Can I take you to dinner tonight? If you like we could order nothing but dessert.

Prince Charming in Bunheads
(Well, he has a name... But if he brings flowers and says stuff like this, he does deserve to be called something more.)

BTW, this whole 'word of the day' and, consequently, writing in English thing started due to Gilmore Girls and Bunheads is the new series from the creators of GG.

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Pity that strawberry season is so short. If it was longer, it would provide me with some chance of getting cured of being a chocoholic.
Anyhow... Let's enjoy it while it lasts.

Stay tuned.

The One On Bloomsday

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

Walt Disney

It is difficult to chase your dream, though, when you are still not sure what this dream actually is.
So I guess I should start figuring it out...

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I solemnly swear that by the next Bloomsday I will have read James Joyce's Ulysses.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Strawberry Pie, Strawberry Shake, Strawberries With Whipped Cream, And Another Strawberry Pie (Of Different Kind)

What more does one need on a day like this...?

Stay tuned.

The One With No Smile

In the heterotextual world everything is safe as long as you have a smiley face at the end.

Men at Work [s01e04].

That is exactly why I try to limit the number of smileys I use.
Refraining from appending punctuation faces everywhere happens to be difficult sometimes. It is worth the struggle, though, since it keeps the message real, not exaggerated or trivial. And that is important when online chat is the most common means of communication you have with some people.
And, yes, it is also less safe, when you have no smile to hide behind. Which is probably why keeping this habit under control is not an easy task for most people.
It does not mean I do not use smileys at all - I do, of course, I do, and often instead of a message. I simply try to use them consciously, not automatically.

It is like with cooking and salt - or sugar, for that matter: when you use it too much and too often, you tend to forget what the real taste of your meal is; moreover, you actually loose the ability to distinguish the small details that make the meal one of a kind, you cannot tell what (if anything) makes it special any more.



Stay tuned.

The Freckled One

I did not think it possible that today could be better than yesterday.
And yet it was - although all signs indicated it would be quite an ordeal.

And I have got freckles! Finally.
It was always my Mom and my Sister who got freckled in Summer and I always envied them. My turn!

Discovering Sting anew:

Stay tuned.

The One That Ends Very Well

I left my place in the early morning today and set off to work, with a perspective of a long and boring (due to rain) day.
I ended up in the Cracow Opera House showing kids (and some adults as well) how to stand on a balloon (and not make it burst), skewer a balloon (and not make it burst), burn a balloon (and not make it burst). In return, I got a face painting with a bee - or I should rather say: the bee, as it was meant to picture Maya the Honeybee. (Afterwards, when I was coming back home, the painting on my face was a reason to smile for people around me. Which in turn made me smile).

Little Lord Fauntleroy

A musical (and it was the first time in my life I had a chance to see something of this genre). For children - clearly.
I enjoyed it anyway.

This is what you can call a proper Children's Day!

Stay tuned!