GB No. 9, autumn 1992
"Mix fresh goose's blood with a tablespoonful of vinegar, to prevent coagulation. Cook some giblets broth with vegetable, season to taste.
Make some egg noodles, cook and drain. Cook some dry fruits in the earlier made broth, then strain and clarify it carefully. Add in the blood and mix well, then bring it to the boil, stirring vigorously all the time". (An excerpt from THE TRADITIONAL POLISH CUISINE, publ. by PWE, Warsaw 1985).
According to a popular weekly "RAZEM", the best quality blood for the purpose can only be obtained by virtue of slitting the throat of a live goose.
The dish, generally regard by the connoisseurs as a real treat for a truly sophisticated palate, happens to be one of President Wałęsa's favourites.
Now, this one really does take some beating...
As far as records are concerned, pH value of 2,5 detected in the rain-water in the Brenna region (the Beskid ¦l±ski highlands) is not a bad one at all, as it closely approximates that of table vinegar; the pH value of distilled water, in comparison, being 7.
The municipal authorities in Poznań are apparently planning, in conjunction with the Austrian company BGI GmbH, to clear 19 ha of forest in the Strzeszyna region, in order to build a proper golf course there.
Eighteen holes instead of 19 ha of forest - not a bad score altogether...
The overall cost of closing down the sulphur mine "MACHÓW", to commence in 1996, has been estimated by the miners themselves at some 2 billion zł (that is, exclusive of the decommissioning of all equipment, closure of certain ancillary facilities, dealing with the attendant redundancy problems, etc.)
Meanwhile, the mine keeps making substantial losses and ca. 1 mln tones of raw sulphur are already on its dumps.
Looks like someone may have got his priorities wrong, or worse still, common sense in "MACHÓW" happens to be in very short supply, as opposed to sulphur...
The "POLKOLOR" factory in Piaseczno, near Warsaw, since 1991 owned by the French company "THOMSON", had been exempted in the very same year, by virtue of a ministerial decree, from making any contributions towards the national fund for the protection of the natural environment, for the next 10 years!
The French company must be simply delighted at the news - it can now proceed to pollute the whole area with lead and arsenic and get away with it scot-free.
It appears to be very much in "THOMSON"'s interest that one Mr Lewandowski, the Minister for Privatization, should hold on to his ministerial brief as long as possible. But, is it still in ours?
Recently the Polish government has lowered the fines for polluting the environment. For instance, the fines for emitting mercury, lead and CFCs into the atmosphere will from now on ca. ten times lower.
All offenders from Cracow and Katowice administrative districts now have even been exempted from the obligatory double rate, in full compliance with the ruling of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, as it transpires.
Now, that the worst polluters practically won't have to cough up any cash, and on top of that, it's all being deemed fully constitutional, one can safely breath in with relief - deeply.
Edited & transl. by Sigillum Ltd.