Pitch, “Among yakking, smiling and still chewing mouths in Singapore, Poland, Japan, South Korea, Albania, Laos, Egypt, Namibia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia.
I grew up near Chicago, which has one of the largest Polish populations of any city in the world outside of Poland. And western Pennsylvania, where I lived and worked for several years around the turn of the century, also had a very noticeable Polish influence. Among other things, you could see a lot of ethnic influences in the foods that were most popular there. I remember that pierogis were common, and kielbasa was ubiquitous. At work, many of us from outside the region would joke about how the Pittsburgh steak was kielbasa; it was everywhere--you couldn't go into a grocery store without being confronted with a gigantic meat case full of nothing but kielbasa.
When people talked about a "good restaurant" and you asked what it was that was good about it, the unvarying response was "large portions, very cheap"!
One thing I like about being back in Bridgeport are the many varieties of sausage available. Many more varieties than I used to be able to find in California. Including kielbasa. It's probably clogging my arteries but it tastes good! All the vegan-vegetarians out in California would probably sneer at me while they are out-competing each other in vegetable consumption to prove which one is "holier than thou." Funny how the most adamant vegans are often overweight. Maybe it's the lard in the Little Debbie Chocolate Ho-Hos?
I live in California, and you are pretty much correct, it is a "sausage desert" compared to the eastern US. I guess the California "state sausage", if there was one, would be chorizo, which is from south of the border.
I lived in Sacramento for the better part of 37 years (with short "adventures" of sorts in Southern Oregon for a year and northern Baja, Mexico for a little over a year). I was introduced to chorizo while in California. I can't find it here in Connecticut. Among a lot of regional foods I still can't find here. Others being pepperonicini (a kind of mildly hot pepper less spicy than jalapeno peppers). I was heartened to find a little, tiny food store here with an abundance of grapes from both California in the Fall and Chili in our Winter season, as well as avocados. I learned to love avocados while in California. We never had them in Connecticut when I was a kid so I'm tempted to thank the store owner who bothered to bring them into his store from Mexico, every time I see him. The store owner is a very affable guy, I believe from Peru. He appears to be full blooded native American. He has a lovely wife also native to South America and his store is literally "mom and pop." They have their nieces working for them often when they are away.
.
The last rental unit I had in Sacramento was near an enormous Walmart where I got my groceries. It was the exact opposite of the tiny food store I go to now. Inside, this Walmart looked like the hanger type building where Boeing builds their jets. I was somewhat chagrined to be patronizing Walmart but I have to admit the food there was very inexpensive. I could buy a loaf of cheap bread for less than a dollar; now I'm paying close to four dollars for a loaf of bread. But I can't complain; the little food store near my residence now saves me a long and annoying bus ride every week to a proper grocery store, Stop and Shop, in Fairfield. Ironically I used to work at that grocery store about 42 or 43 years ago stocking shelves. I was thinking of stopping in just to see if some of my old co-workers might be still there although close to retirement. I had a manager, "Jamie", who was a couple of years younger than me. He went right to work there right after high-school. I "wasted" four years at college and when I got the entry level shelf-stocking job there he had already worked his way to manager. So much for my "higher" education? Or maybe it's just my unpleasant personality? I'm better off working in a job where I don't have to deal with people. Stocking shelves was fine for me as boring and tedious as that job was; I had another manager, a very nice lady, who tried to make me a cashier; back then the registers didn't automatically dispense the proper change. I would sometimes get flustered back counting the change (like if someone gives me a ten dollar bill for an $8.36 purchase I would get nervous deriving the correct change). I had a number of customers simply walk out on me I was sometimes so inept.
I knew a lot of Poles growing up in south-west Connecticut. My neighbors were Polish-American. Jerry and Wanda.
Bridgeport, Connecticut was a place many eastern and southern Europeans migrated to. From the Civil War's end (1865) until the 1950s it was a thriving albeit small manufacturing center. Mostly for war material. Guns and bullets. Now the factories are all shuttered and crumbling. The residents who had no means of escape have taken low pay service jobs. There is a pizza joint just down the street from me where I can get an excellent, thin-crust pizza with two toppings (I prefer garlic and mushrooms) for a mere $10. I always make an effort to tip the waitresses well knowing they make very little in wages.
Perhaps because of the large Polish and Italian population there is a Catholic church on virtually every block in west Bridgeport. One church about a half-mile from me, which might be Congregationalist, with a very high steeple has put a crescent moon on top of the steeple and made part of its space available to the new Muslim population.
As a Palestinian once said to me, "the only way to escape the beast is to go into the belly of the beast." Kind of like Jonah and the whale.
Formerly Congregationalist, now sold to the Muslims - The Bridgeport Islamic Community Center - still looking very churchy - built in 1926 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Yes. That is it. From the outside (at least to this pedestrian) it still appears to be a Christian church, unaltered except for the small crescent moon on top of the cross atop the tall and imposing steeple.
Apparently the new owners had enough respect for the old owners to avoid altering the structure in any significant way? E.g. no Muslim call to prayer towers, not that there is anything wrong with that other than it might make the long-term, deeply entrenched Christian population a bit uneasy?
While I guess Poles, like Finns, are right to be wary of Russia, they are wrong in attaching their carts so strongly to the American Empire. Soon enough they will find themselves multiculturalized and gayified, wondering "what the Hell happened?" Just look at France or Ireland. I think Finland in particular was stupid to abandon neutrality and join NATO. I think it will not age well for them. But then again, they were already pretty much Americanized, like Poles are too.
My Swedish friends believe that they will be gaining protection by joining NATO. I just shake my head, knowing the likelier fate will be having their youth sacrificed by attacking Russia.
I learned a new word today - posca - and read the Wikipedia article about it and the one about acidulated water. Jesus's last drink was posca. Some people say he died for our sins. Other people say, metaphorically, "No one else can go to the bathroom for you." Nobel Prize winning poet Robert Zimmerman wrote:
Hi everyone,
I tried for several hours to submit the paperback edition, but for some reason, it's not working out. I'll try again tomorrow.
Linh
I grew up near Chicago, which has one of the largest Polish populations of any city in the world outside of Poland. And western Pennsylvania, where I lived and worked for several years around the turn of the century, also had a very noticeable Polish influence. Among other things, you could see a lot of ethnic influences in the foods that were most popular there. I remember that pierogis were common, and kielbasa was ubiquitous. At work, many of us from outside the region would joke about how the Pittsburgh steak was kielbasa; it was everywhere--you couldn't go into a grocery store without being confronted with a gigantic meat case full of nothing but kielbasa.
When people talked about a "good restaurant" and you asked what it was that was good about it, the unvarying response was "large portions, very cheap"!
One thing I like about being back in Bridgeport are the many varieties of sausage available. Many more varieties than I used to be able to find in California. Including kielbasa. It's probably clogging my arteries but it tastes good! All the vegan-vegetarians out in California would probably sneer at me while they are out-competing each other in vegetable consumption to prove which one is "holier than thou." Funny how the most adamant vegans are often overweight. Maybe it's the lard in the Little Debbie Chocolate Ho-Hos?
I live in California, and you are pretty much correct, it is a "sausage desert" compared to the eastern US. I guess the California "state sausage", if there was one, would be chorizo, which is from south of the border.
Hi Bill,
I lived in Sacramento for the better part of 37 years (with short "adventures" of sorts in Southern Oregon for a year and northern Baja, Mexico for a little over a year). I was introduced to chorizo while in California. I can't find it here in Connecticut. Among a lot of regional foods I still can't find here. Others being pepperonicini (a kind of mildly hot pepper less spicy than jalapeno peppers). I was heartened to find a little, tiny food store here with an abundance of grapes from both California in the Fall and Chili in our Winter season, as well as avocados. I learned to love avocados while in California. We never had them in Connecticut when I was a kid so I'm tempted to thank the store owner who bothered to bring them into his store from Mexico, every time I see him. The store owner is a very affable guy, I believe from Peru. He appears to be full blooded native American. He has a lovely wife also native to South America and his store is literally "mom and pop." They have their nieces working for them often when they are away.
.
The last rental unit I had in Sacramento was near an enormous Walmart where I got my groceries. It was the exact opposite of the tiny food store I go to now. Inside, this Walmart looked like the hanger type building where Boeing builds their jets. I was somewhat chagrined to be patronizing Walmart but I have to admit the food there was very inexpensive. I could buy a loaf of cheap bread for less than a dollar; now I'm paying close to four dollars for a loaf of bread. But I can't complain; the little food store near my residence now saves me a long and annoying bus ride every week to a proper grocery store, Stop and Shop, in Fairfield. Ironically I used to work at that grocery store about 42 or 43 years ago stocking shelves. I was thinking of stopping in just to see if some of my old co-workers might be still there although close to retirement. I had a manager, "Jamie", who was a couple of years younger than me. He went right to work there right after high-school. I "wasted" four years at college and when I got the entry level shelf-stocking job there he had already worked his way to manager. So much for my "higher" education? Or maybe it's just my unpleasant personality? I'm better off working in a job where I don't have to deal with people. Stocking shelves was fine for me as boring and tedious as that job was; I had another manager, a very nice lady, who tried to make me a cashier; back then the registers didn't automatically dispense the proper change. I would sometimes get flustered back counting the change (like if someone gives me a ten dollar bill for an $8.36 purchase I would get nervous deriving the correct change). I had a number of customers simply walk out on me I was sometimes so inept.
Dyngus Day is just around the corner after St. Patricks Day.
I dated a girl whose father was from Poland. My introduction to Galumpki cabbage rolls. A hearty delight!
Dyngus Day, who knew? Wot a pagan riot! Read all about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Amigus-dyngus Where can i get a pussy willow whip?
I knew a lot of Poles growing up in south-west Connecticut. My neighbors were Polish-American. Jerry and Wanda.
Bridgeport, Connecticut was a place many eastern and southern Europeans migrated to. From the Civil War's end (1865) until the 1950s it was a thriving albeit small manufacturing center. Mostly for war material. Guns and bullets. Now the factories are all shuttered and crumbling. The residents who had no means of escape have taken low pay service jobs. There is a pizza joint just down the street from me where I can get an excellent, thin-crust pizza with two toppings (I prefer garlic and mushrooms) for a mere $10. I always make an effort to tip the waitresses well knowing they make very little in wages.
Perhaps because of the large Polish and Italian population there is a Catholic church on virtually every block in west Bridgeport. One church about a half-mile from me, which might be Congregationalist, with a very high steeple has put a crescent moon on top of the steeple and made part of its space available to the new Muslim population.
As a Palestinian once said to me, "the only way to escape the beast is to go into the belly of the beast." Kind of like Jonah and the whale.
Formerly Congregationalist, now sold to the Muslims - The Bridgeport Islamic Community Center - still looking very churchy - built in 1926 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Yes. That is it. From the outside (at least to this pedestrian) it still appears to be a Christian church, unaltered except for the small crescent moon on top of the cross atop the tall and imposing steeple.
Apparently the new owners had enough respect for the old owners to avoid altering the structure in any significant way? E.g. no Muslim call to prayer towers, not that there is anything wrong with that other than it might make the long-term, deeply entrenched Christian population a bit uneasy?
While I guess Poles, like Finns, are right to be wary of Russia, they are wrong in attaching their carts so strongly to the American Empire. Soon enough they will find themselves multiculturalized and gayified, wondering "what the Hell happened?" Just look at France or Ireland. I think Finland in particular was stupid to abandon neutrality and join NATO. I think it will not age well for them. But then again, they were already pretty much Americanized, like Poles are too.
'To avert disaster, it must stop backing Uncle Sam’s belligerence, appeasing Brussels and antagonizing the Kremlin.'
But to avert disaster wouldn't be very Polish.
My Swedish friends believe that they will be gaining protection by joining NATO. I just shake my head, knowing the likelier fate will be having their youth sacrificed by attacking Russia.
I learned a new word today - posca - and read the Wikipedia article about it and the one about acidulated water. Jesus's last drink was posca. Some people say he died for our sins. Other people say, metaphorically, "No one else can go to the bathroom for you." Nobel Prize winning poet Robert Zimmerman wrote:
"Are you ready to meet Jesus?
Are you where you want to be?
Will he know you when he sees you or
Will he say 'Depart from me' ?
Are you ready?
I hope you're ready