Home Sweet Poland

Yesterday my man/friend and I went to a restaurant here in town that is known to be the best Polish restaurant in town. It's clear across town, so we nearly had to pack a lunch to go. Houston traffic, for those who are unaware is a nightmare. We had found this restaurant a while ago in our search for things to do in Houston, but had never made it. It's on our never ending list of things to do, places to go and things to see. We went now because near it is the Polish market where we could buy real homemade Polish delights like pierogis and Kielbasa. You see, every year on New Year's Day we invite our friends to come over for a Polish feast. It's something Mike's mom had always done and I wanted Mike to be able to continue his family tradition even though we are no where near our hometown. I searched for recipes for pierogis, bought whatever kielbasa I could find and made stuffed cabbage, and baked bread. I am not the Polish cook my mother-in-law is. Being 100% Polish and being married to a Pol, she does things without even thinking that I can not even begin to imagine. I have to remind myself that for being English and Irish, I do OK.
In the restaurant we ordered the sampler platter for two which turned out to be a cookie sheet sized Polish extravaganza that could feed a family of six. Meats, potatoes, sauerkraut, all heaped on the platter put in front of us with a warming candle. We sat in Polonia Restaurant, just the two of us, since we were there on their down time about 3:00 pm just staring at the mountain of food and taking in the smells. I watched my beloved husband relive the flavors of his youth. I sat back in my seat watching Michael try everything they had put in front of us. He savored every bite, stopping once to tell me about how he could taste the same exact same flavors as when he was a child at his grandmother's house. He smiled as he talked, looking into my eyes as he spoke quietly about his family and their unique traditions. Just seeing him enjoy the food so much made me happy. I could have sat there all day long just watching him. The lovely blond woman who waited on us asked if she could bring us anything else. She spoke with a heavy eastern European accent. "Are you Polish?" I asked. She nodded and I told her about Michael and his family. She smiled as she picked up our dishes and disappeared back into the kitchen. Stuffed to the gills, we went and paid the check and headed out to the Polish market down the street. Michael accidentally missed the entrance and entered through the exit and laughed as he said, "See? As a Pollock I had to do that!" We laughed at his goofiness and headed into the market where we saw people standing in line at the meat counter. Nearly everything was imported from Poland. The people working the counter spoke Polish as did most of the people waiting in line. Michael and stood listening, as the hoard talked back and forth ordering up their goods. As ethnic as Cleveland, Ohio is, I had never encountered this, where most of the people spoke Polish. I do not think I ever heard conversational Polish before. I watched fascinated and listened as they spoke their native language back and forth. We walked the isles and looked at everything from Polish candy to cookies to spices to syrups to meats to pierogis.
After we were done browsing it was time to do some serious shopping for the Polish feast on New Year's. We bought horseradish, real kielbasa, and enough pierogis for the masses. We tried to talk to the girl working behind the counter but I could see she did not understand us. We paid for our groceries and headed back to the car excited about our rare find, making plans to come back when we could. Who knew moving to Houston, Texas would garner us an opportunity to hang out with Polish immigrants? Neither of us saw that coming, that is for sure.
There are things about being away from home and our families that has been really tough. Being away from Mom's homemade Polish cooking on New year's has been one of the toughest. The delicious hearty fare on a cold Ohio day is one of the finest pleasures we used to enjoy. We haven't been home for a holiday since we left seven years ago. That part, not seeing or being with family is really tough. Finding this restaurant, this little gem of authentic dishes, surrounded by the Polish language, the rich, sweet smells of Polish food, well, it does not make up for being gone all the time, but for a few minutes we got to close our eyes and think about home. It was almost like being in Mom's kitchen on New Year's day.