Entries tagged with “Zakopane”.
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Sun 17 Jan 2010
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Cooking Your Way From Krakow to Zakopane - Poland cooking tour.
Happy 2010 Year! We are looking forward to an exciting year of wonderful cooking and sightseeing in Poland this summer and fall.
For those of you busy planning your 2010 vacations to Europe, we recommend one of our three exciting and “delicious” cooking and sightseeing tours to Poland. We offer the best value in 2010 Poland tours, offering not only great sightseeing but also, off-the-beaten- path, hands-on and demonstration-style cooking classes in Polish villages and cities all at affordable rates.
When you book our August 15, 2010 “Cooking Your Way From Krakow to Zakopane” tour, you’ll be joining us at one of Krakow’s best culinary festivals – The Pierogi Festival. We highly recommend this particular tour, especially if you love, pierogi, like we do!
Cooking Your Way From Krakow to Zakopane - Poland cooking tour.
“A Taste of Poland in Mazovia and Warsaw” tour is a perfect way to experience the Mazovian regional cuisine and traditions in depth. And since it’s Frederic Chopin’s 200th birthday anniversary, we’ll attend musical concerts devoted to this beloved Polish pianist. Warsaw’s fine dining and cooking classes with some of Poland’s most talented chefs will for sure make this tour one to remember for a lifetime.
If you want to explore the best-kept secret in Poland travel – the Lower Silesia region in southwestern Poland, join us on “The Flavors of Lower Silesia” tour. Lower Silesia’s capital, Wroclaw, offers beautiful sightseeing and dining.
The Flavors of Lower Silesia - Poland cooking tour.
Our one-day Polish cooking classes offered in collaboration with The Culinary Institute in Cracow are for those who don’t have time for our week-long tours. Learn to cook your favorite Polish dished with Chef Marek Widomski and other Krakow’s famous chefs!
Please give us a call today and learn more about our authentic Polish vacation offers! Let us help you make your Poland vacation plans, we’ll be happy to answer any questions and provide best recommendations. Our goal is to ensure that you have a fantastic time in Poland and want to come back!
Szczesliwej Podrozy i Smacznego!
(Happy Travels & Bon Appetit!)
Tags: cooking classes, cooking in Poland, cooking tours, cooking vacation, cooking vacations, culinary institute in Cracow, Culinary Vacations, food tours, Krakow, Krakow tours, Krakow travel, Mazovia, One-day cooking classes, pierogi, Poland tours, Poland travel, Poland vacation, Polish cooking, Polish food, Warsaw, Zakopane
Thu 3 Sep 2009
Day Four – Wednesday
Wednesday was our third and last cooking class with Podhale region women. We headed to Gronkow village and again after brief introductions got right into cooking.
Cooking with women from Gronkow village in Lesser Poland region.
Making kluski scynane - potato noodles.
Nell showing cooked potato noodles.
Cooking and having a great time.
It was a beautiful, sunny day so again we decided to have our lunch in the outside garden. We set up a small table and covered it with white, hand-made table cloth. It looked festive and inviting!
Setting up our table for lunch in the garden.
We had delicious soup made with fresh Boston lettuce, potatoes, potato noodles, beans with mushrooms, drank herb tea and home-made nalewki – fruit cordials.
Enjoying delicious lunch with women from Gronkow village in Lesser Poland.
Enjoying great regional cuisine and conversation in Gronkow village, Lesser Poland.
Kolacz – the sweet cheese filled coffee cake we made earlier was ready for us as we were finishing our lunch. It looked beautiful and tasted sooooo good! Fabulous!
Beautiful, freshly baked kolacz - a yeast-raised, sweet cheese filled cake.
Kolacz - sweet cheese filled coffee cake.
Having a delicious lunch in Gronkow village garden with out hosts.
After dessert, tea, coffee and listening to Gronkow women singing for us we said our Goodbyes! It was a lovely time in Gronkow and the food and hospitality of Gronkow women will always remain in our memory.
Our guests wanted to spend more time at the beautiful and relaxing Villa Marilor
www.hotelmarilor.com so after cooking class we returned to the hotel. Villa Marilor is a 5-star hotel which was once a small palace and is a historical and an architectural monument.
Villa Marior Palace/*****Hotel in Zakopane, Lesser Poland region.
Villa Marilor Palace/Hotel in Zakopane, Lesser Poland at night.
Blue room at Villa Marilor Palace/Hotel in Zakopane, Lesser Poland region.
A bathroom at Villa Marilor Palace/Hotel in Zakopane, Lesser Poland region.
Swimming pool at Villa Marilor Palace/Hotel in Zakopane, Lesser Poland region.
Sauna at Villa Marilor Palace/Hotel Spa in Zakopane, Lesser Poland region.
For dinner we headed to Karczma Czarci Jar in Zakopane
www.czarcijar.pl . Karczma Czarci Jar offers delicious regional cuisine and great atmosphere in a quiet neighborhood of Zakopane.
Karczma Czarci Jar - a regional restaurant in Zakopane, Lesser Poland region.
Preparing food at Karczma Czarci Jar in Zakopane, Lesser Poland region.
Musicians in regional costumes at Karczma Czarci Jar in Zakopane, Lesser Poland.
On Thursday morning we left Zakopane and slowly made our way back to Krakow and Wieliczka to begin the urban portion of cooking vacation in Lesser Poland. Stay tuned and Smacznego!
Fri 28 Aug 2009
Day Two – Monday
On Monday morning after breakfast we headed out to our first cooking class with women in the village of Rogoznik. The drive from Zakopane to Rogoznik took us through beautiful countryside, we passed several villages on the way, saw many animals: storks among them (which fly to Poland from northern Africa every summer to breed) cows, horses, sheep, goats, roosters and chickens.
Barbara with women from Rogoznik village in Lesser Poland.
Getting ready for a cooking class in Rogoznik village.
First, the women showed us how to make cranberry sauce with horseradish and some vodka and served it with oscypek cheese, the regional sheep cheese, as an appetizer. The cheese was delicious, so fresh and went perfectly with the cranberry/horseradish/vodka sauce.
Oscypek with cranberry/horseradish/vodka sauce.
We tried home made bread, and watched as the Polish women finished cooking regional cabbage soup called kwasnica. This was the best kwasnica I’ve ever had! The smoked bacon it was cooked with gave it the perfect flavor.
Home made bread.
Kwasnica, cabbage soup.
Besides tasting all the wonderful food and drinking home made nalewki, home made fruit and herb cordials, we also had a chance to admire and try on regional costumes which the local men and women wear on special occasions.
Nell wearing regional costume. Looking like a real Podhalanka!
Later we stepped outside and took a short walk to our host’s fruit and vegetable garden right in the back of their house. Fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables are used in their daily cooking where the distance from the field to table is truly only a few yards away!
Enjoying Polish countryside.
Stacks of beans drying out in the sun.
When we returned to the house, topielec, a poppy seed roll, was waiting for us. Fresh from the oven, warm and moist, best poppy seed roll some of us ever tasted. Delicious! We all wanted the recipe and the women shared it with us!
Delicious topielec - poppy seed roll.
Before we left the wonderful women from Rogoznik, we took some time to talk with them about their cooking, farming and life in the countryside in general.
Time for rest and conversation with women from Rogoznik village.
We also had live band playing for us and the women sang and danced to their favorite songs as we said – Goodbye!
Since the weather was gorgeous in the afternoon, we decided to drive to Sromowce for rafting on the Dunajec River Gorge. During rafting we enjoyed excellent views of the Pieniny Mountains and our flisak – men in charge of the raft – who loved to tell Slovak jokes as the trip goes along the Polish-Slovak border.
Rafting on Dunajec River Gorge.
For dinner we visited Bakowo Zohylina reginal restaurant in Zakopane http://www.wyznio.zohylina.pl offering great food and live music every evening, which we really enjoyed!
Dinner at Bakowo Zohylina in Zakopane, Poland.
Delicious trout from Bakowo Zohylina restaurant in Zakopane.
What a great and adventurous day! On day three we headed to Lopuszna village to cook with Maria, who is 82 years old and her friends. Stay tuned and Smacznego!
Wed 26 Aug 2009
Day One – Sunday
After picking up our guests from their hotels in Krakow on a gorgeous sunny morning and before heading out south to Zakopane we visited the Jewish district of Krakow called Kazimierz. Later we decided to stop by the Pierogi Festival (Stuffed Dumplings Festival) going on in Maly Rynek in Krakow for a delicious lunch. Pierogi Festival is a real pierogi heaven! The festival takes place every August and is one of the most popular culinary festivals in the Lesser Poland region. We tried: pierogi Ruskie – with potatoes and cheese, with cabbage and mushrooms, with salmon, with spinach… fried, breaded and boiled. And of course we drank Polish beer Zywiec. It’s a great tasting beer especially with pierogi on a hot summer day.
Pierogi Festival in Krakow, Poland
Salmon pierogi at the Pierogi Festival in Krakow, Poland.
Besides pierogi, a famous traditional and regional sheep cheese oscypek was also available at the festival. Oscypki are often served grilled with cranberry sauce. Later in the week during our cooking vacation in Poland we discovered how oscypki are made by highlanders in their mountain huts called bacowki.
Oscypki cheese at the Pierogi Festival in Krakow, Poland.
Oscypki - regional hand-made sheep cheese.
A sign at the Pierogi Festival in Krakow, Poland.
After enjoying the wonderful food, beer and live concerts at the Pierogi Festival in Krakow we joined our driver, Antoni, whom we later simply called Toni, in his mini bus to begin our short drive to Podhale region and Zakopane. Zakopane is a beautiful mountain town south of Poland famous for the highlander culture and cuisine.
Our guests stayed at Villa Marilor in Zakopane, a spectacular ***** Hotel which was once a small palace and now includes a luxurious spa with swimming pool. After settling into Villa Marilor we all gathered in the evening for a festive Welcome Dinner at Villa Marilor restaurant, met the head chef Stanislaw Adamczyk and dined on local specialties.
Welcome dinner at Villa Marilor in Zakopane, Poland.
Stanislaw Adamczyk, Executive Chef for Villa Marilor in Zakopane, Poland.
Oscypki with bacon.
Szarlotka - apple cake - with vanilla ice cream.
We discussed day two of our culinary vacation in Poland during dinner. We headed to village of Rogoznik on Monday to cook with highlander women in their home but more on that in next post. Stay tuned and Smacznego!
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