Wednesday, December 24, 2014

We did it!!

We were up early to make the chrushcki. It takes a while to do it and we wanted to be done before noon. I like this event. I get a good feeling when I look at my mother's recipe, in her handwriting. However, whenever we use the recipe we end up using more flour in it. Maybe it's because we put in a larger amount of alcohol then she wrote. The end result, however, is always good. Once we roll out the dough it's too sticky so we add more flour.

We started later than we thought we would and after putting the dough in the refrigerator we had a surprise visitor, Maciek. I've known him since he was 13 or 14 years old, in height he came up to my shoulders. Now he is 18 and taller than me. He came over to us to wish us Merry Christmas and bring some cookies as a present that his mother had made. What a GREAT surprise that was.

A young Polish man, 18, who was born in the U.S. but lived in Poland tried 5 times to pass his driver's license examination but for one reason or another could not. He is in the U.S. with his mother visiting her sister's family. He just emailed me that he passed the test in the U.S. on the first try. There are some here who try10-15 times to pass the Polish test and each time they have to pay the fee all over again.

Wigila is usually a happy time but every now and then a little sad news comes on that day. Today was such a day for me. In my earlier years as a musician I knew an excellent jazz pianist, Larry Kersting and we taught music at the same music studio for some years. 20 or 25 years ago he moved to Puerto Rico and we lost contact. Today I was informed that he had passed away at age 70. I have some excellent memories of him so for me he is not really dead as long as I live. I was feeling a little sad but then Maciek appeared and the sadness disappeared.
 
Byli艣my wcze艣nie, aby chrushcki. To zajmuje troch臋 czasu, aby to zrobi膰 i chcieli艣my to zrobi膰 przed po艂udniem. Lubi臋 to wydarzenie. Mam dobre przeczucia, gdy patrz臋 na receptury mojej matki, w jej pisma. Jednak, gdy u偶ywamy przepis ko艅czymy przy u偶yciu wi臋cej m膮ki w nim. Mo偶e to dlatego, 偶e umie艣ci膰 w wi臋kszej ilo艣ci alkoholu to pisa艂a.Efekt ko艅cowy jest jednak zawsze dobra. Kiedy rozwa艂kowa膰 ciasto to zbyt lepkie, wi臋c mo偶emy doda膰 wi臋cej m膮ki.

Zacz臋li艣my p贸藕niej ni偶 my艣leli艣my, 偶e b臋dzie i po w艂o偶eniu ciasta w lod贸wce mieli艣my go艣cia niespodziank臋, Ma膰ka. Znam go odk膮d sko艅czy艂 13 lub 14 lat, w wysoko艣ci podszed艂 do moich ramionach. Teraz jest 18 i wy偶szy ode mnie. Podszed艂 do nas, aby nas Weso艂ych 艢wi膮t 偶ycz臋 i przynie艣膰 jakie艣 ciasteczka, jak obecna, 偶e jego matka zrobi艂a. Co za wspania艂a niespodzianka, 偶e by艂.

M艂ody polski m臋偶czyzna, 18, kt贸ry urodzi艂 si臋 w USA, ale mieszka w Polsce pr贸bowali 5 razy zda膰 egzamin licencyjny swojego kierowcy, ale dla tego czy innego powodu nie m贸g艂. On jest w USA z matk膮 wizyty u rodziny siostry. Po prostu e-maila do mnie, 偶e zda艂 egzamin w USA za pierwszym razem. S膮 tacy, kt贸rzy try10-15 razy tutaj, aby przej艣膰 na polski test i za ka偶dym razem musieli jeszcze raz zap艂aci膰 op艂at臋.

Wigila jest zwykle szcz臋艣liwy czas, ale od czasu do czasu troch臋 smutna wiadomo艣膰 przychodzi w tym dniu. Dzisiaj by艂 taki dzie艅 dla mnie. W moich poprzednich lat jako muzyk doskonale wiedzia艂em, pianista jazzowy, Larry Kersting i uczy艂 muzyki w tym samym studiu muzyki przez kilka lat. 20 lub 25 lat temu przeni贸s艂 si臋 do Puerto Rico i stracili艣my kontakt. Dzi艣 poinformowano mnie, 偶e on zmar艂 w wieku 70 lat mam znakomite wspomnienia z nim wi臋c dla mnie nie jest on naprawd臋 nie 偶yje tak d艂ugo, jak 偶yj臋. Czu艂em si臋troch臋 smutno, ale potem pojawi艂 si臋 i Maciek smutek znikn膮艂