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Wednesday, March 18, 2015

DIY Leczo Warm Sausage Stew

Dearest friends,

As the weather is changing and one half of the day is cold the other is warm and there is also rain coming and going, we need some good and warm food to get ourself going on.
One of my favorite hungarian based yet polish traditional dishes is "Leczo" which is basically a warm sausage stew :) Or at least that is what I think and that is how I will call it for the non-polish readers of this blog :p

Here is what we need to get this on the road:

Time : about 1 hour 20 minutes (depends on the fire power and the ingredients but it is around 1 hour, so be prepared in case you are hungry while doing this...)
Servings : 4 large portions
Ingredients:

2 pepper red, 2 yellow and 2 green
1 zucchini
2 onions
smoked bacon (not extremely necessary but it tastes even better with it!)
1 teaspoon paprika
500 g of dry sausages
salt and pepper
oil

We always eat it in large bowls with slices of bread. Each spoonful of hot nourishing leczo is awesome and we eat it with great pleasure. Every time I see the bottom of the bowl I feel a little disappointed that it finished...

Steps:
Slicing peppers into small cubes and also the zucchini and the onion.
Put the onion into a pan with oil and roast them until they get slightly yellow.
Slice the sausages as in the picture above and the smoked bacon too.

Put the bacon and the sausages with the onion and fry them together and mix them with a wooden spoon so they would not get stuck to the pan, but make sure you do not crush the sausages...

Add the vegetables and add water and the condiments according to yours taste, along with the teaspoon of paprika :) It is essential ;)

Make sure when stirring you will not destroy the ingredients... be very gentle :)

The Master Chef :)

The Goodies are on the way :p

After all this, put a cover and let them boil for like 45 minutes to one hour, check them from time to time and makes sure there is enough water as this should be a stew and have liquid... you are supposed to eat it with bread (homemade, if possible) and dip pieces of bread in the stew :)

Enjoy it and let me know how that went ;)

Yours truly,
The LadyBug :)

Warm Sunny Autumn Days

Dear sweet friends,

Show me a person who does not love Autumns and I will box that persons ears. I belive Autumn is the best time of the year. Autumn is not cold, not hot, has that warm fuzzy feeling about it :) and you still can go out without layering clothes upon your body, the sun shines bright and the leaves change their colors and move/dance with the wind. You can still eat icecream without being afraid to catch a cold and you can feel winter coming. Present season will knock on our doors soon, are you ready?! I believe Ned Stark was not joking when he was saying that Winter is coming!

Kidding aside, I may have a hot/soft spot for Autumn due to the fact that my birthday is in this lovely season. Guess what? This year my birthday will actually be in the same day I was born: Sunday :) Did I also mention that Sundays rock? I dont know about you lads/lasses but on Friday one has to finish work, run errands around the house. Saturday all stops and I can get to sleep late - considering that each day I wake up around 5:30 AM, I consider waking up Saturday at 9-10 AM quite reasonable! So Sunday is the best day for me :) We get some energy in Saturday and we get to have fun on Sunday.

If you are reading this blog for quite a while, you may have noticed that we have a soft spot for a couple of places in town, where we feel very much like home. One of those places is Bona - Ksiazka i kawa, where we like to spend the time out on the terrace - looking at people being fascinated by this beautiful city, carriages with horses well groomed, couple of newlyweds coming out of the church... The little bookstore/coffee shop is right next to the church St. Piotr and Pawel Church, the church where Marek and I got married :)

It is one of the first secret places I have found here in Krakow and I consider it as our own :) It has a lovely athmosphere and everything feels just right there. Sometimes it makes me feel as if I would be in another place or another time. For example, a week back (when we actually took the pictures in this blog post) when I entered the room I was greeted by the magical sounds of the soundtrack from Amelie. It made me think immediately of creme brulee and Audrey Tautou.

Everything I have ever tasted here was wonderful and even the thought of it makes my mouth water now, as I am writing this post. For example, last week Marek went with his favourite coffee Americano + the fruit salad with icecream and whipped cream. I chose the pineapple caramel rum icecream - whipped cream treat that was sweeter than pure honey from the bees :) Smooth, sweet, delicious, fresh, a true experience for the taste buds! By the way, did you know that the pineapple is not, strictly speaking, a fruit? Rather it is 100-200 fruitlets all fused together!

Oh! And did I mention I just love October? It may be because of my birthday again... or maybe because Halloween is coming? Or maybe because the trees are just losing their multicolored foliage... or maybe because one cannot simply get too much spiced pumpking latte! Either way, you have to feel it as well: tastebuds tingling due to the muchness of grapes, slow cooked stews, hearty soups, hot chocolate and warm cider/beer/mulled wine to keep you warm and cozy inside-out :) Oh, and is there anyone out that who doesnt like to snuggle with a good book, with a great book, like lets say Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer? Good books and good tea + warm blanket = best friends forever :)

Yours truly,

A Warm Sunny Autumn Day Fan = The LadyBug