What I Love – Our Neighbors, Sauk Prairie WI Photographer

I used to be a big city girl back in Poland. I loved it and didn’t even consider changing it and moving somewhere else. And then life happened and several years ago we bought a house in a small town Wisconsin. And it turns out that I LOVE our life here. So much so that when I sometimes visit my family and friends in Warsaw, after three weeks or so I am ready to go back to being a small town girl. One thing that makes our life here special are amazing neighbors. Last week I had the pleasure of celebrating with some of them a very unique occasion. Two of our neighbors were turning 95 on the same day! There was a tea party, cake, lots of wishes and laughs. Carroll and Shirley are incredible, inspiring and so full of joy of life. I have to mention our another wonderful neighbor- Phyllis, who is in her 90-ties as well. She spends winters in Florida, playing tennis regularly. She is coming back home next week and we are looking forward to having her around during summer months. Hopefully one day I will be like them… Maybe there is something in the local water and in the fresh air of small town living …

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Spring Break in Galena, IL – Prairie du Sac, WI Photographer

One of the favorite things that we love to do as a family is travel. With a pile of audio books from the library and a destination in mind we are ready for a road trip. We’ve gone as far as New Mexico, Utah or Virginia or as close as Galena, IL. This picturesque old town, just two hours away was our spring break destination last week. This wasn’t our first time there, but if you happen to visit it you’ll see that it’s easy to fall in love with Galena, with the beauty, the history and keep coming back. During our brief visit there, we found time each day to take to the hilly and windy back roads and enjoy the emerging wonders of Spring – green shoots and flowers everywhere, and even admire birds soaring high over the mighty Mississippi. Hopefully the images below inspire you to spend a few days in this cute town as well, you won’t regret it

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A Day With Grandma – Lifestyle Photography, Madison WI

Once a month or so our family drives to Appleton to spend a weekend at Grandma’s. Now that Grandpa is gone she lives by herself and, even though she keeps herself constantly busy, she truly enjoys every visit. Our kids love going to Grandma as she always has something fun for them to do. Even when there are more cousins visiting at the same time, Grandma can magically keep them all happily occupied. With seven kids of her own she has a lot of experience how to entertain young minds And whatever it is they are doing there is always some learning involved with it, too. I’ve been thinking about documenting Grandma doing her everyday activities for a while now. Last Saturday turned out to be a perfect day to do it. So I just followed Grandma with my camera and captured her doing her normal everyday stuff. Hopefully one day Sonia, Alek and her other grandchildren will appreciate an opportunity to see and remember how it was… I know I would love to have this kind of photos of my own two grandmas, as I spent a lot of time with them and felt really close. But now only some beautiful memories remain along with just a couple of pictures.

This desk used to be Grandpa’s headquarters. He used to spend entire days behind it listening to his multiple amateur radios and keeping an eye on everything that was going on in the house. Now Grandma starts her day here by reading a newspaper… and the radios are still going on in the background. She has too much on her to do list to spend a day at the desk so after a cup of coffee she moves on…

 

When we (or somebody else) visit grandma she always has some banana bread or a pie to share. Everybody leaves her house with a small baked good wrapped in a paper. Last weekend was no different. When there are kids around they are involved with the baking as well.

Genealogy is one of Grandmas hobbies and passions (she has quite a few others as well). Everybody is admiring all the names, dates and stories she remembers about all past and present family members. On Saturday she found some time to make corrections on a calendar which includes all birthdays and anniversaries. With 12 siblings and seven children of her own the number of relatives is impressive…

When we leave there are always two things that have to happen. First Grandma will give us some goodies to take home (this time they included fresh daffodils and banana bread) and then there is a photo by the car that she takes of each family that visits (taking pictures is also her hobby )

We are looking forward to many more weekend visits yet to come…

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WPPI 2012 – International Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas

Another WPPI convention in Vegas  is now behind me… It was a very eventful week, full of networking with photog friends from different states and exploring a huge photo trade show. But for me,  learning came first. This is what I love about photography – there is always something new to learn, it never stops, and you can always grow and get better.

This year I focused my education on lighting, posing and learning about the art of running a photography business. This usually is the most challenging part for those who loved photography so much that they decided to turn it into a career. It takes so much more than taking beautiful images to run a successful, profitable business that can support your family. This is my goal, I am committed to achieve it and I know that the knowledge I came back with will help me with that… I am so glad I was able to attended quite a few classes delivered by successful photographers who are happy to share their knowledge and experiences with others.

The trade show was another draw for me. I enjoyed the chance to meet and talk with my vendors and see, feel and touch what they offer. After reviewing several great new items, I am excited to share these new heirloom quality products with my clients this year.

Below are a few images of some most inspiring speakers I saw this year as well as the Vegas Strip in the early morning hours (the only time I had an opportunity and energy to stroll there )…

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A Little Summer in Winter – Sauk City, WI Photographer

2011 was definitely a year filled with travels for our family. Winter finally arrived with some snow to Wisconsin and we just came back from an amazing trip to much warmer parts of the world. Hopefully the warmth we soaked in will last until the spring Visiting the Caribbean was on my wish list for a long while and recently we had an opportunity to cross that off. Well, actually not fully because we all definitely want to go back and see more but I am so happy and grateful to be able to see a small part of it. Beaches lined up with palm trees, clear blue water, interesting sea shells, snorkeling in coral reef, swimming with the rays, tropical jungle, exotic animals, new cultures… the list could go on and on. The kids called it an “epic vacation” and  the only thing I regret is that I didn’t have any decent waterproof camera. I am a little ashamed to admit that most of our water related adventures were captured only with a single use plastic point and shoot. I haven’t developed that film yet Here are a few images from the islands taken when there was no risk of getting wet…

After returning back to New Orleans we stayed a little longer there before heading back home. This was just enough time to see The French Quarter, full of beautiful old historic buildings, iron balconies, artists, eclectic shops, great food and and of course live music. A few hours wasn’t nearly enough to experience it all but it gave us a taste of that amazing city.

I was trying to set up the camera for a photo of my family when a kind passerby offered to take that picture for me. One of very few with me in front of the lens Thank you!

I am sure we will be back in New Orleans to explore more. And on the way back (while driving 60m/hr ) I was able to capture this last Louisiana image…

What I Love – Kombucha – Learn How To Make It – Prairie du Sac, WI Photographer

Today I would like to share with you how to make kombucha. This is not really a photography related topic, but one very close to my heart, as I used to teach workshops how to make this special drink. And of course I will include some images as well We’ve been drinking kombucha regularly for several years now. I think this is one of the things that helps us stay healthy during the colder months.  It is also one of the best thirst quenchers during hot summers. Kombucha is a naturally fermented drink made of tea, sugar and special culture called “scoby”. Because of the fermentation, it is full of health benefits, probiotics, vitamins, enzymes and more. It is also very easy to make at home at a fraction of the cost of store bought bottle. If you’ve never tried it I encourage you to buy a bottle, and who knows, you might like it so much that you will want to learn how to make your own. This recipe below will help you with that. Besides, with the holiday season just around the corner, home brewed kombucha in a nice bottle makes a great gift as well as a conversation starter Aren’t these pretty?

This is what you will need to make kombucha:

• Large stainless steel pot (at least a gallon or larger). Stainless steel, enamel or glass work well. Aluminum or teflon coated pots are NOT good.
• 12 cups of filtered water
• 1 cup of sugar
• 5 teaspoons of loose tea or 6 tea bags. Plain black or green tea is good. Sometimes I like to experiment with flavored teas but you have to make sure that they don’t contain any oils or artificial flavoring as these are not good for the scoby.
• Scoby and about a cup of previously brewed kombucha as a starter. This might be the most challenging ingredient to obtain… You can get in touch with me as I always have some extra ones or search Craig’s List. You may also grow your own scoby from scratch by using two bottles of plain store bought kombucha. If you choose this method just use less water for your first batch. In kombucha circles your first scoby is called “the mother” and the new ones it produces are “babies”
• a glass gallon jar
• piece of old t-shirt and a rubber band
• plastic straw
• several glass bottles with plastic caps (not metal!) or ceramic flip tops. I use old lemonade or grolsch beer bottles. You can also buy EZ-cap type bottles at a store with beer brewing supplies.

How to make kombucha:

1. Wash the pot and add 12 cups of filtered or spring water and bring to a boil. You’ll need only 8 glasses if you are going to grow your own scoby.
2. When it boils, add 1 cup of sugar, stir it well to dissolve and boil 5 more minutes.
3. Turn off the gas, add tea to water, cover and let cool down to room temperature. I usually do this step in the evening and let it cool overnight.
4. Pour your sweet tea from the pot into a clean glass jar, add your scoby (the mother) and some starter kombucha. If you don’t have a scoby then pour two bottles of PLAIN (not flavored) store bought kombucha. Never add a scoby to hot sweet tea – it will kill it.
5. Cover the jar with cotton cloth and secure with a rubber band.
6. Put the jar in a place where nothing will disturb it and leave it alone for about 5-7 days. You may look and admire how your new baby scoby is growing on the surface, but don’t stir or shake the jar.
7. After 5 days you should see a new scoby on the top and you may start testing your kombucha to check if it is done. Just slide a straw by the side of the scoby and sample. It will have a vinegar smell and semi-sweet taste, like apple cider. It may take from 5 days to two weeks to brew kombucha. It depends on the room temperature, how thick was the scoby and how much starter you used. Always wait long enough so that the baby scoby is at least 1/8in thick. This is how it should look, see the lighter layer on top? This is a new baby

When the kombucha tastes good to you, carefully remove the scoby (mother and baby) put it in a glass container and pour a cup or more of kombucha over to protect it and cover. Now you can make a new batch with it, give the baby to a friend or put in a fridge until you are ready to make more (we usually have two or three gallons brewing at the same time). You can separate the scobies or keep them together. As you can see here,  it turned out I had 4 layers of them. More would be too many, it was time to get rid of the bottom ones.

 You may now drink the kombucha straight from the jar but it tastes MUCH better if you first bottle it. Pour kombucha to the brim into glass bottles. You may add some flavoring now: pieces of fresh, frozen or dried fruit, ginger, lemon juice or our favorite – mint sprigs. Cap the bottles and leave at room temperature for 2 to 5 days. This will make kombucha deliciously fizzy. Keep an eye on the bottles though because if you leave them too long they may explode and you’ll have a nice kombucha pattern on you ceiling… This happened once when we added too much fresh apple juice I hope you’ll find these instructions easy enough to experiment in your kitchen and brew your own kombucha at home or at least buy one bottle in a store and try it if you’ve never had it before. Happy brewing!

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Fall Colors, Captured – Sauk Prairie, WI Photographer

Leaves are all gone and the snow is right around the corner. I thought I would share with you a few images that I captured back in October. Here are some last beautiful Wisconsin fall colors, my barefoot hikers and mysterious berries we found while hiking. They looked tempting, delicious, juicy and very big (2in in diameter). However since we didn’t know what they are, we just left them on the tree. If you do know if these are edible, please share and I will tell you where to find them next year

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What I Love – Soups – Prairie du Sac, WI Photographer

First snow is here! Seems so sudden and unexpected. I don’t feel ready for winter yet… I believe though that everything happens when it’s supposed to so it’s probably a good thing. After a very busy fall season it’s time to slow down, refocus, think, plan for the next year and… cook more You may not know this about me — but besides photography I have a very strong passion for natural, healthy, sustainable living. And cooking is a big part of that. We get as much as we can local, and in season. We cook almost everything from scratch. When I think about it, I actually don’t like spending a lot of time in the kitchen and cooking is definitely not my passion. I do it however because I know that when we eat healthy we stay healthy. When I prepare something it’s either not that time consuming or made in big batches so it lasts for a few days.

Soups are my favorite. Yes, it does take time to clean, chop and prepare everything from scratch but then we can enjoy the results for at least 3 days and freeze any leftovers for later emergency meals. All my soups are made from fresh veggies and always very thick, almost like a stew. This gives me a peace of mind that my kids get their servings of veggies. A bowl of warm, homemade soup is what they eat almost every day after coming home from school.

Living in rural Wisconsin makes it easy to find great sources of fresh, organic food. We’ve been members of a wonderful CSA farm – Roots and Shoots, LLC and this is where we get most of our veggies from, as well as fresh eggs and pastured chickens.

Cool weather is a great season for beets, a very popular vegetable in my native Poland. Here many people don’t know what to do with beets so I thought I would share a Beet Borscht recipe with you. In Poland basically any soup with beets is called borscht, the recipe below is for Ukrainian borscht. It’s a lot of chopping and dicing, but food processor helps and the results are well worth it.

Here is what came in our weekly CSA share (besides lemon and leeks), a perfect combination for borscht. Thank you, Heidi! The recipe follows below.

Borscht ingredients:

• 3-4 beet roots or a bunch with leaves
• 2-3 carrots
• piece of cabbage
• several celery stalks
• 1-2 onions
• 28oz can of tomatoes (crushed or diced, I use our frozen tomatoes that I chopped and cooked in the summer)
• apple
• lemon juice
• some leafy greens (beet greens with stalks , parsley, dill or swiss chard)
• broth or stock and water (half and half)
• salt and pepper, maybe teaspoon of sugar
• bay leaves (4-6 dried)
• marjoram (2 tbs dried)
• allspice (10-15 dried berries)

If you normally don’t use these spices (for me they are a staple for every soup) you may  buy just very little of each from bulk jars at Whole Foods Market or a local coop. Our favorite is Willy Street Coop in Madison. It will cost you just pennies.

Optional ingredients (I always add something from this list, too):

• sweet potato
• leeks (1-3)
• parsnips (1-2)
• piece of celeriac (celery root)
• rutabaga
• turnip
• can of beans (any kind)

Now this is how you make borscht:

• Chop/shred/dice everything (food processor works best)
• Sauté onions and leeks in a big soup pot in some olive oil, covered, on low heat (at least 10 min)
• Add cabbage and sauté some more (covered, at least 10 minutes)
• Add a can of tomatoes and all root veggies (chopped) and sauté covered until all the veggies are a little tender. This is how it will look:

 

• Add enough water and stock (so that everything in the pot is covered and there is still room for remaining veggies), drained beans, herbs/spices, salt and pepper. I always have my own stock that I make from scratch and freeze in quart yogurt containers. But you may use store bought broth or even bullion cubes (make sure they don’t have MSG, though – it’s not good for you).
• Bring to a boil and then simmer on low for about 10 min.
• Add grated apple, chopped stalks and  leaves and juice from half lemon (or the whole one), simmer covered for additional 5 min and it’s done!

You may use a hand held blender several times but it’s not necessary. Borscht tastes delicious with a tablespoon of cream (and looks beautifully pink, too) I’ve heard on NPR that this is one of the most nutritious soups ever! I am not surprised, beets are extremely powerful. I truly hope that this will inspire you and you’ll find the time to try this recipe. Especially if you have had some kind of childhood trauma involving canned beets  I would love to hear back comments from your experiences. Let me know how it goes and if you have any questions – feel free to ask.

Enjoy! And stay warm

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Moja Polska – My Poland

I’ve been going through over 1300  images I took in Poland thinking, “What else would I like to share with you here – perhaps Warsaw’s landmarks? or everyday Polish life? maybe nature?”.  Then I realized that the most important reason for me to keep going back are the people. It is my Polish friends to whom I still feel so close,  even though time and thousands of miles keep us apart. The internet helps us stay connected through all these years but there is nothing like getting together face-to-face. And the connection I felt during these meetings was as strong as if no time had passed at all.  Dziekuje, ze jestescie gdzies tam daleko, ale jednak blisko And if you’d like to see more what Warsaw looks like I invite you to visit an album “Warsaw, Poland 2011″ on my Facebook page. Enjoy the trip!

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Homeward bound – leaving behind our Polish diet…

Here are a few of the Polish foods we sampled over the past month. Some are quite typical, which is why I chose to display this arrangement. From kotlet schabowy (breaded pork cutlet) to a bread shop display (the kids sometimes preferred Polish bread with butter instead of dessert) see for yourselves the joy of food in Poland. My favorite is the Polish table spread (which includes a few bottles of coke or “cola”).  Coming back home to the USA, we will continue to choose and make the healthier Polish foods; while leaving behind a few of those less nutritious comfort foods of my childhood (lard with bacon pieces on dark bread anyone?). Until we return again…

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