My Healthy Diet in Poland

As I've entered middle-age, I need to take care of my digestive system, which means very little meat; potatoes; chocolate; spicy food, beer etc.  Thus, having taken inspiration from my friend Northsider Dave's cooking reports, I've decided to show my low fat diet in Warsaw.

First off, I love plumbs, but a few here and there during the day rather than a load just before bedtime.  Second, I absolutely adore the Greek-type yoghurt below.  In fact, I love it so much that I can't resist eating it before the main course.  It has a wonderful sour taste, something similar to a good pint of bitter.

What about the main course?  Well, first, I chop up a couple of carrots and some green beans or brocolli as below.

Next, I bring a pan of boiling water to the simmer to cook my vegetables well without destroying all the vitamins, and after 15 minutes, I add a bag of rice to the simmering vegetables.

After another 15-20 minutes of simmering, I drain the vegetable juice into a couple of cups so that it can be drunk for vitamin enrichment later in the day. 

And, finally, the end product itself:  what I call my vegetable and cottage cheese rice cake. 

Here, I'm flitering margarine and tomatoes into the rice base, while below I've put my cottage cheese middle-layer on top of the foundation.

Finally, the picture below shows the end product.  You can see that the vegetables are topped off with yet more cottage cheese.  Another idea is to put some tomato sauce, but not too much, on top to give the meal an ice cream effect.

Just one word of advice, you can probably see that this is quite a large meal, so I try to eat it midday, and often only eat half of it in one go, saving the other half for an hour later. 

Hope you enjoy it!

Steve Vai Live at Warsaw Stodoła 28-10-12

The snow arrived in Poland over the weekend, as the pictures below show.

Thus, I wasn't best happy to be standing outside for 30-40 minutes to get inside the Stodoła for the Steve Vai concert last night.  However, I soon got warmed up inside the place, as the main hall started filling up.

Glad to see that my small mobile caught the backdrop on stage, and the build up of anticipation inside the main hall.

When Steve Vai came on stage, I was really happy that he did 'Building the Church' and 'Tender Surrender' (my 2 favourite Vai tunes) just a few songs in.  Moreover, the highlight for me was when he did 'Whispering a Prayer' which a super person has put on Youtube today.

Love the interaction of guitar and electric harp here.

Despite the above, the Stodoła was really packed out, not as bad as Whitesnake a few years back, but enough to give the sardine can experience which I don't really find that enjoyable.  Thus, after about an hour or so, I went into the hallway, got a pint, and started alternating between watching the concert from the doors of the main hall, and standing at the bar taking some pictures of the Stodoła hallway/open bar area.

These pictures give you a feel of the place.  Yes, you've guessed it, like quite a few of the concert places around Warsaw, the Stodoła is a student/student-related place.

As the concert was going on in the main hall, the overspill into the hallway/open bar area could have a look at other concerts coming up at the Stodoła in the near future.

Can't wait for Marillion in late November.

Might go and see Archive, also in late November, but I'm not sure yet.

And, of course, there was a picture of the man himself.

The moral of this story:  if a concert is a little on the packed side, and there starts to be a little too much self-indulgence on stage, there is always some kind of interesting sociology to observe in the setting.

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Now for the jewel in the crown of Barcelona:  Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia.  When I lived in an attic bedsit in Papertown, a picture of La Sagrada Familia used to always cheer me up.  Thus, many years later, it was an absolute honour to visit this magnificent enchanted place.  Below is a picture of La Sagrada Familia as I draw close to it.

Now, I'm directly at the front of it, and you can see the massive amount of building work which is still going on after all these years. 

When inside the building, it's not possible to see how some people may fail to find enchantment here, as the colour of the light inside is absolutely magical.  I guess this is what Gaudi was after.

Seriously, how could you not fall in love with this?  Was Gaudi after an image of the First Creation?  If so, this would explain a lot.

Below I'm at the back of the church, and fortunately, I had a reasonable camera so I was able to pick up on some of the magnificent detail of the exterior.

Sadly, like all good things, I had to leave La Sagrada Familia behind, but not without one last parting shot.

This was my way of saying goodbye.  Fortunately, I was often able to glimpse this place from a distance, as in the shot below, which is taken from Gaudi's theme-type park (can't remember it's name) in another part of the city.

Hope you like the pictures!

Barcelona: A Pleasant Stroll through a Park

One of my most enjoyable and relaxing holidays ever was a 10-12 day trip to Barcelona in 2010 in which I also managed to visit the monastery at Montserrat and the beautiful small city of Girona nearby. 

The pictures below are just a few shots I took one late afternoon near the Arc de Triomphe in Barcelona.  The first shot is of a beautiful small church I saw while walking back from La Sagrada Familia towards the Arc de Triomphe.

After passing through the Arc de Triomphe above, I went down a long walk, and finally reached a super relaxing park, where many people were just sprawled out on the grass reading books, or were just aimlessly wandering around like me.  The first picture below is of some kind of abstract art inside the park.

I'm not normally a fan of the kind of thing above, but this piece didn't really detract from the beauty of the park.  The girls below are just having a good time strolling round the place, while in the background, there's an interesting-looking building. 

Yes, you've probably guessed it, the building is yet another church.  I just love looking at churches, it's as simple as that.

This one really does look great.  Unfortunately, it was locked up, and I couldn't get inside.

Warsaw: Some More Autumnal Shots

Above you can see a couple of shots of St. Barbara's Catholic church in Plac Zabawiecela (The Saviour's Square), near the metro Politechnicha.  For me, this church has one of the most beautiful exteriors in Warsaw.  Also in Plac Zabawiecela lies the Methodist centre which has offered Methodist religious services and (I think free) English lessons for many years. 

Like the Mormons and other smaller religious groups in Poland, the Methodists seem to use English classes as a potential channel to conversion.  Next up is Plac Konstytucji which lies just further up towards Warsaw city centre from Plac Zabawiecela.  I like the big, old-fashioned lights in this square, although I guess they haven't been used for many a year.

In Warsaw now, we're just entering the deeper bite of autumn, slowly edging towards winter.  For me, this is a time of year when the Jewish memorials start to become more visible, like the one below.

Of course, there are also many war memorials to the many Poles who lost their lives in the 2nd World War and to the brave battalions that fought to defend and liberate Poland, such as the one below.

I guess there's a long hard winter coming up after autumn here.  Can't wait for next spring to be honest.