Anticipation
Today I’m two days past my baby’s due date, and my Mom arrived a few days ago to support me during labor and to help out after the birth. I still can’t believe that the months went by so quickly. But that was probably because I spent most of the winter in a fog of dreamy pastry-eating and in marathon sessions of sleep.
Speaking of pastry, Mom rubbed my belly a bit yesterday and called it a pączek (a Polish doughnut). I think pączek sounds much cuter than doughnut, like a doughy little woodland creature that darts in and out from behind a tree throwing raisins and orange peel at you while giggling. She didn’t bring us any from NJ, but she did bring us some delicious sweet rolls called bułka słodka from a bakery in NJ.
A bułka słodka from NJ. This one was filled with farmer’s cheese, golden raisins and candied orange peel.
Mom and I went food shopping a little later in the afternoon, and we saw a table of local currants for sale. Three colors: black, red, and white. She got excited about the white currants, which she hadn’t tasted since she lived in Poland (over 30 years ago!). I had only tried black currants, which I actually thought were entirely too tart at the time.
Despite a somewhat steep price, we bought some of the white currants and took them home. After washing them in my new blue mini-colander, we sat down in the 90-plus heat to try them out. Mom made the interesting note that when you first start eating currants, they seem to taste entirely too tart to continue consuming. But then your taste acclimates and they get more and more appetizing – even addicting. Also, she advised that it’s best to put an entire little cluster in your mouth and pluck off the transparent beads like a Roman empress would with grapes.
White currants
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Elenka | September 29, 2009 @ 7:43 am
mmm, currants! these white ones look so nice in your blue colander. i remember the (red) currants we had in italy :)
i’m so happy you & Mom had a nice visit together, and that she was able to revisit something she used to have in Poland…
…and now, your little “pączek” is almost two months old! :)