Kielbasa, challenging times

So, I've been a terrible blogger for the last nearly 10 days. I have an excuse, really! Busy time at work (manuscript revisions due imminently, undergrad research posters due), plus at home. Julie's grandma was moved to a nursing home recently, and we've been to Cleveland to see her... which brings me to happier news--tonight's dinner.

Cleveland, as you may know, has a large Polish-American community. And, having worked in politics nationally for a time, I got to know some of those Polish Democrats, including some from Cleveland. As it turns out, one of those friends' family own Jaworski Meats, the best butcher/meat market in Cleveland. Years ago, I was at a party at the family store in the old Polish village. When we tried stopping by a couple years ago, the store had been closed down due to crime in the neighborhood, and moved to some suburb. Lacking time, we didn't track it down. On Saturday, en route to a non-descript suburban nursing home in Cleveland, we exit off of I-71, and there's the store, on our right. Naturally, after the visit to grandma, we had to stop a the store. As it turns out, Nikki's dad was there, said "hi" to him, and he got me in touch with Nikki--who I hadn't talked to since probably 2003 or so.

Even better, we brought home 3 lbs. of homemade kielbasa and a bunch of handmade pierogi from the shop. Ate some of that tonight, in fact. It's the most lovely spiced kielbasa you could hope for. Lots of garlic, some juniper hints, I"d say, and goodness knows what all else. And the pierogi were among the biggest I"ve seen--some stuffed with kraut, some with potato and cheese. Yum! Had a nice beer with it, and life is good.

We also had to stop for dinner in Cleveland; we thought we'd try to get reservations at Lola, a top-rated place wiht an emphasis on pork products. Sadly, no luck on short notice. We tried to stop at their bar for seating, but also, no luck. So, we went across the street to Saigon, a nice Vietnamese restaurant, and I'm SO glad we did. Good prices, great food. Pork egg-rolls were just right, and the baked/stir-fried squid was simply amazing! What flavor! And pho for the main course -- that's beef broth with thin slivers of beef, rice noodles, bean sprouts, lime, peppers. It's the best I've EVER had -- subtle, delicate, WOW! And, best of all--they had "33" beer--a Vietnamese beer with fascinating fruit overnotes--lychee and guava, if you can believe it. No, it's not sickeningly sweet fruit beer--not even a fruit beer at all. Just a regular ol' beer with amazing flavor. Get it if you can.