2015-03-16: If it is new to me how can it be traditional?

Hippocates said something about not causing harm. As a vague adherent to greek advice and also being a non finder of round nosed safety scissors I did not perform The Unveiling Of The Atrophied Leg.

Causing giggles whilst she cuts off the cast might fall into the "causing potential for harm through distant action" but I think I am safe.

Didn't matter, Ewa was just happy to see it still existed, even if it seems a bit of a cut was made at some point which looked a little angry. Some local Poles suggested that Ewa ought to get anti coagulant injections if she was going to fly to fight off DVT.

Of course immediately after "wheee I have a leg" there was "holy crap what happened to the muscles, I have a bag of skin for a calf".

After a quick bit of net research and then calling the doctor who had suggested these self administered stomach injections to one of the friends. Ewa decided she didn't need them.

It was not as smelly or hairy as I expected. I still didn't get too close

If she does get DVT now I am going to be in a sooo much trouble. I am of the opinion that generally Poles take their medical stuff way too seriously and will happily over medicate themselves into weird mental places. I think this is the only trait that worries me about Poles.

To celebrate The Presence of The Leg and Acknowledge (but not miss) The Absence of the Cast we went to the bar by the horsie hospital. It turns out to be a restaurant as well. Restauracja Stajnia - http://stajnia.pila.pl/ do not trust google maps on this one as the web site on the map is for a pub stajnia in Krakow. Stupid google has probably been reading too much wikipedia.

I figured I could nick a horse from next door and use the sleigh to get her home if she drank too much

I like restaurants, you are always allowed to drink more if you buy some food and often they have better booze. This one had quite a few bottles of wine laying around and I recognised some of the labels so I think they might be a bit of a wine specialist place. We drank beer and vodka, we can get wine anywhere.

Walls finished in "ahhh fuck it, just smear it around" this may not be the next big trend.

Poland is a very white country. I am not sure I have seen more than a couple of people who are not Caucasian. So it was obviously The God Of Half Arsed Travellers just giving us some foreshadowing of what we are in for over the next 3 months when 4 Japanese Ladies came in and started chatting away.

"Cold Horse" would be scary next to the stables and "Cold Whores" just seems a waste of money.

We both eavesdropped shamelessly for about 20 seconds and then realised "yeah we're screwed in Japan, we know nothing". I refrained from saying that in a Colonel Klink voice but only just, because I am a bad person that likes bad jokes.

Teeny tiny stack of ribs and steaks for one person.

The restaurant is pretty good. We just grabbed a small meat platter because we are having a traditional soup and potato ball dinner when we get back to the friends house. Ewa says they are some of the better ribs she has had in Poland, nice and firm - not all mushy like the barbecue ones can be.
The Mother of the Friend has decided I look too skinny. Plus Ewa needs to eat more as well to heal her leg. And the children running around? yep need more foods because growing or something, anyway, everyone needs more food.

Shared by two it is manageable

All real meals start with soup. In this case the soup is sausages in a sour soup. Sort of similar to the white breakfast soup with garlic we had on the farm outside Krakow. That one had all sorts of bits and pieces to throw in there, bacon, garlic, eggs, kielbasa etc and it still holds a fond place in my heart for both participation eating and also flavour. It was insanely garlicky though. I like garlic but am aware some people are sad and broken and prefer not to eat it. Poor people.

Fortunately Poland has small bowls for soup. The day they discover those giant blue and white Chinese ones the country will have issues

This soup is not garlicky at all. But it has sausages in it which is great. I am pretty sure the soup base in both cases is from a sour dough bread type starter which they feed to keep going so soup is always a few minutes away.

There is no way in the world that is too many dumplings. Not a chance.

You get to put eggs in this one as well. Just in case you are low on protein. After the soup has set the stage for dinner we had Kluski śląskie. These are a potato dumpling which is boiled and then eaten with a side sauce and side salad.

Somehow she gets away with just having one plateful of dinner. It's sexism I tells ya! Plus she always dumps her leftovers on my plate and then looks innocent. And The Polish Grandmothers Believe Her!

The side sauce was interesting. Yoghurt and herbs. Very much in the style of a Tzatziki which was a little surprising for a traditional Polish cuisine but then if Białystok has traditional Tartars hanging out then I guess a few greeks wandering up to a small village a few centuries ago is not out of the question. And immigrants almost invariably bring their food which gets popular if it is any good. That's one of my favourite things about immigrants actually.
Personally I prefer the Białystok kopetka with fried pork bits as these are a little on the watery side for me but they were still good and we ate quite a few of them. The soup was the star in my eyes though.

Table of shame and scolding, only one plateful consumed!

When starting dinner the number eaten by the daughter of the friend was mentioned as a subtle hint as to how many we should eat. We failed to eat enough to satisfy the demands of the Grandmother in residence but I think we ate enough to make her happy.