Sleeping in the Swivel Chair

 Nice shot of Kotek having a doze in the swivel chair.

Good, Easy-To-Make Soup

Nice shot of an easy-to-make soup that I put together recently.

After simmering carrots, potatoes, and sweet potato for about 20 minutes, I simply added some halloumi and a beetroot cutlet for a few minutes to bring things together nicely.

The end result was a really good, subtle-tasting soup, with the sweet potato shining out more than anything else.

A Pretty Good Yield

Backtracking to summer again here, and it was a pretty good year with the fruit yield, with the crunchy pears being delicious.

My wife and I made plenty of apple (and pear) pie from the yield:

We seem to get a decent fruit yield every 3-4 years, with lean years in between.

A War Memorial

Passed this war memorial, near the river in Warsaw, a month ago while visiting the dentist.

To get to the memorial, you need to go to the parkland fountain behind the Hotel Sheraton, and then walk straight down some steps and onwards for about 10 minutes.

In the picture below, you can just about see the river in the background:

Like most war memorials, this one made me think about the horror of war, of course.

Statues in the Snow

Looking back to mid-December at some statues in the snow in the parkland behind the Sejm Parliament building in Warsaw.

Really enjoyed the couple of weeks of snowy, sub-zero weather, but unfortunately, by Christmas, it was well above 10 degrees Celsius.

Summer Flowers

Another flashback to England from last summer, with a vase of flowers from my friend's garden in Bury, Lancashire.

These flowers really caught my eyes as at first glance, they look like they have a yellow cross.

A Tall, Dark, Glass Building

For quite some years now, such tall, dark, glass buildings have been popping up all over Warsaw.

It has kind of resulted in Warsaw taking on a more Gothic appearance.

A Many-Armed Tree

Passed this many-armed tree in the parkland behind the Sheraton Hotel in Warsaw.

When a tree has so many branches, it looks wonderful.

Passing the Ye Old Beverlie

 Another flashback to last summer, passing the Ye Old Beverlie pub in Canterbury:

The Ye Old Beverlie lies in a nice, leafy suburb of Canterbury. 

Can remember going in this pub a few times years ago, and an American man bringing in a good-natured dog that ate ice-cubes.

A row of houses near the Ye Old Beverlie:

St. Stephen's church which is a stone's throw away from the Ye Old Beverlie:

On the way back down to the centre of Canterbury, we saw some interesting-looking buildings:

My friend guessed that owing to their size, they may've once been hotels for people travelling to Whitstable.

Onion Soup

 A nice shot of my wife's onion soup with cheese toasties inside:

The cheese toasties go brilliantly with onion soup, with white wine being a magical ingredient of the soup.

Passing a Piłsudski Statue

Passed this Piłsudski Statue, not far away from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw on New Year's Day evening.

The Statue looked great standing in front of a lit-up building:

The whole scene was befitting of a great leader from Polish history.

A few days before passing this statue, I'd seen a poster of Piłsudski:

He's obviously a much-loved, Romantic figure in Polish history.

Three Edelmeister Beers

Have recently become familiar with three Edelmeister beers, including the reddy brown one above which has a kind of rich taste, and is 5% alcohol strength if I remember correctly.

Don't like many IPAs because they often have an overdone hoppy taste, but the Edelmeister IPA below was more positively subtle in this regard:

If I remember rightly, the IPA above was 4.7%, which, for me, is just about perfect.

And finally, there is (what is described as) a black lager:

At 4.2%, this is a light, pleasant-tasting beer, although if you drink it regularly, it begins to taste a bit sweet.

Church of the Holy Cross Manger

Saw this Christmas manger when I went into the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw the other day.

Piłsudski Square Cross

 Passed the Big Cross in Piłsudski Square this evening:

And couldn't help but think of the recently deceased, Pope Benedict XVI, as he'd said Mass here during his Papal trip to Poland in 2006.

For me, Pope Benedict XVI was the best Pope since Pius XII, as to some degree, he managed to put the Old Latin (Tridentine) Mass back in the regular parish where it belongs. Unfortunately, his successor started trying to destroy this good work about a year ago.