Wordless Wednesday: Frost, Prairie Grass, Sunshine and Shadow

Grzaniec or Polish Mulled Wine

Grzaniec (pronounced Gshzah-nee-ets) is a wonderful drink to enjoy during the Christmas preparations. 


Between temperatures beginning to drop, outdoor Christmas decorations, shopping, and other outdoor activities, something warm (and soul warming) can make the holidays... brighter.  Especially if you are lucky enough to enjoy shopping at an outdoor Christmas market, such as those offered in Chicago or throughout Europe. 


We are personally hoping and planning on enjoying the Christmas market at Wroclaw's Rynek next year.  A mug of Grzaniec will be in my hands.


Before you make Grzaniec, enjoy this video I found of Wroclaw's Christmas Market last year.





Grzaniec is really just a way to warm and flavor red wine and the variations are many.

In my own personal experience, the different recipes vary based on region, family traditions, and the flavor of the wine that you purchase (which, years ago, different regions had different wines available to them).

Here is the version I made last night.


Ingredients:

1 quart of Red Wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon
1/2 cup Local Honey
1 Cinnamon Stick
5 whole Cloves, lightly crushed
1 whole Nutmeg
1/2 Bay leaf
1 tablespoon Orange Zest


Place the cloves into a spice ball or place all the spices into a cheesecloth bag.

Add all ingredients to a pot and bring almost to a boil, stirring to make sure the honey completely melts and mixes into the wine.


Serve steaming hot in a mug.

Smacznego!  Or rather, Na zdrowie!...




Notes: 

This post was inspired by the Embassy of Poland in D.C.  I'd love for you to follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Local wine is a great option for this as it goes well with the local honey.  Also, it's more environmentally responsible.

Don't Drink and Drive!  I lost a friend to a drunk driver years ago.  He was only 19 years old and all of his friends were basically just kids and mourning his senseless murder.  Please don't be a part of that...

Wordless Wednesday: Frozen Pond

I promised yesterday I would post some photos that were possibly of December 13, 1981's "Martial Law" but after looking closer, I realized they must have been taken closer to the end of the USSR's Communist regime in Poland.

I can share them another day.

Instead, I will celebrate today's temperatures being in the 50's with photos of our small fish pond frozen over.

Every once in a while, we can briefly see the goldfish, catfish and snails in there but they for the most part are cowering in the plants and bravely trying to make it through the winter.

In the meantime, geese keep coming over and walking on the pond.  Shouldn't they have flown south for the winter?

Na razie...





Related Posts:

Winter on the Prairie

What a Winter Wonderland

Zupa Ogonowa or Oxtail Soup

I Sense Spring

Winter has always dragged me down. 

I change.

I change from an optimist who smiles at everyone constantly (it's rather contagious, I have to say) to becoming grumpy and suffering from cabin fever.  Even the kids notice it and I try to explain to them that Mama prays a lot during Winter and why.

This year was harder because last winter, I was living on the East Coast and suffering through a freak blizzard last winter.

We moved to the Midwest and are living on the flat Prairie with no respite from the wind and an unceasingly bitter cold which I had never really suffered through before. 

And it felt like it would never end.

I literally began to feel like I was living in some sort of frozen tundra Hell.

And I wasn't really alone in my suffering.  People I interacted with were also becoming more snappish and short tempered.  Of course, that in no way encouraged any sort of comraderie with others.

Until...

A couple of weeks ago, we had almost 60 degree weather and it was heaven sent.  Since then, it has been cold but I will take an average of 30's and 40's over just above 0 degrees Fahrenheit any day.

I have been desperately keeping my eye open for signs of Spring. 

Birds have been singing in the Dawn lately.

We have been going on walks more lately.  I am used to hikes.  There is a huge difference.  Hikes leave me feeling as though I exercised and conquered something, even if it is a small rocky hill.  There are no hills here. 

So, instead we go on a walk.  Still, I relish the walks because they are walks through Spring.

I saw a little fly come in through the front door and land on my hand...

At a local meadow which was originally a pond, mating pairs of ducks and geese were eating nonstop what I believe was algae...

At a local park, I found green moss growing...

I saw what looked like pussy willow leaf buds to me and tried to take a picture but the squealing wiggling excited toddler in the baby carrier wouldn't allow me to focus the camera properly.  I think she could sense the Spring and the moisture in the air as well...

We combed a local beach for interesting rocks and found fossils since the temperature was finally bearable...

We even found a "seeing stone".  Do you see any fairies in it?  My older daughter walks around with it looking for the fairy folk all the time now.  I think it's time to look for old Polish stories about ghosts and spirits...

When I step outside, I smell earth and grass outside, a sure sign of Life. 

I am only wearing my East Coast winter coat unzipped instead of my knee length down insulated coat with 5 layers underneath. 

When I step outside and feel all this, I look up to Heaven and just smile.  I'm sure He knows why I am smiling.  Finally...

Between all this and Paczki Day yesterday, I know it's Spring and that God was hearing my desperate prayers for an end to this long miserable lonely Winter.  I hope you can feel it as well!

Na razie...

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What a Winter Wonderland

It snowed outside.  Actually, it seems more like my house was placed in the middle of Antarctica.

That's my window caked with snow.  Two of the windows in our house ended up having snow coming inside because we need to replace them.  Oh, the joys of moving into a new house.  Oh, the joys of winter.  Oh, joy...

Thankfully, we are plant people.  So, I can look at my various plants and remember that soon winter will end.  At least, according to some Groundhog.

In the meantime, my older child likes to eat snow.  So, we decided to do an experiment.  Which kept both busy for a good half hour.  First, we gathered snow in a clean bowl and waited for it to melt.  Because children are impatient, I gave them a cup full to play with in the meantime. 

Next, we poured the melted snow, or water, into a cup through a coffee filter.



Then, we looked at our results.

And through a magnifying glass.

All I can say is, I refuse to eat snow.  But the kids?  They thought it was gross and dirty but still wanted to get more and eat it.  Mommy sighs.  Kids laugh at Mommy sighing and continue to eat snow.

Yesterday, a friend reminded me of this verse.

"He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’ So that everyone he has made may know his work, he stops all people from their labor." Job 37: 6-7

At least my older child is off school so that we could all snuggle together, chase each other around the house and laugh and scream and dance...  After all, why else would God bless us with them if we can't spend snow days laughing with them?



 

If you liked this post, check out Winter on the Prairie.

The Snow is Coming...

Starting tonight, we are supposed to get at least a feet of snow.  I've heard perhaps even 2 feet.  Around this time of year, I start getting pretty grumbly about snow, especially this year when my oldest is in school and her school does not close for something as trivial as snow, typically.  So, I decided to take pictures and try to find the beauty in it.

Can you see what looks like a tiny little snail?