Cultural inspiration

I finally have a moment to tell you about my newest inspiration: my friend's Polish-Canadian wedding. Aside from the bride and groom, the wedding weekend's main feature was the culture and food. Family took me in with great hospitality and kept me full all weekend-long. First there was veal stew with broad noodles, a cod dish in tomato sauce, homemade donuts, kielbasa and Polish sausage, excetera.

The wedding meal was just lovely. Red and rose wine on the tables, along with a bottle of vodka for toasting, and a four course meal followed by a midnight buffet. We had two kinds of marinated herring, prune stuffed pork loin roast, cabbage rolls, and even pierogi. It was all heavy food, and filling, but not overwhelming like you might think because it was homemade and not greasy. The next day we did it all again with an after-party reception with so much food it hurt. I was even given a doggie bag to take on the airplane with me in case I got hungry. When I arrived home, I had sausage, sandwiches, and even wedding cake!

Though I was immersed in this for just the weekend, Irealized the food and hospitality wasn't so different from my own culture back home. And it inspired me to be more creative in looking to other cultures for food and entertaining ideas. I've never cooked veal in my life and there's no reason I can't! It is so easy to get stuck in a rut and make the same old same old for dinner or parties. Why not live a little? Na zdrowie!