Swinoujscie, Poland

We leave Copenhagen from the central train station. We want to catch the 13:45 ferry from Ystad, Denmark to Swinoujscie, Poland, a five hour Baltic crossing.

We need to change trains in Malmo, but the first train is 25 minutes late. We stumble around the unmanned train station and finally figure out that the trains from Malmo to Ystad run every 30 minutes.

They have good food on the ferry. In Swinoujscie we take a taxi and cross a river on another ferry. There is no one at our hotel when we finally arrive at 9 PM. A citizen helps us to go to a nearby hotel and get our keys for the room we booked.

The food here is really good. The center pot is Bigosh, which is mostly kielbasa and red cabbage. It's hard and slow to cook and hard to find according to Mrs, Phred.

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium cabbage;
• 4 cups of sauerkraut;
• 1 can tomato paste;
• 1/2 lb bacon sliced;
• 1 lb pork diced (any parts that can be sautéed is good);
• 1 lb Kielbasa sausage sliced (optionally substitute with a quality sausage from your butcher);
• 1 large onion diced;
• 2 cloves garlic minced;
• 1 bay leaf;
• Optional salt and pepper to taste;

Preparation

1. Cut your washed cabbage in thin slices and boil until tender in a pot.
2. Boil the sauerkraut in another pot in about 2 cups of water. Strain and keep the sour water aside.
3. Sauté your diced pork in a pan with some cooking oil (lard, coconut oil or butter are good), then set aside.
4. Sauté the bacon and sausage with the onion and garlic.
5. In a large pot, combine the cooked cabbage, sauerkraut, sour water, tomato paste, spices and your cooked meats, onion and garlic.
6. Let simmer for about 1 hour.

It's a beach resort town on the Baltic a couple of miles from Germany and Penemunde. It has changed hands a lot over the years.

Potato pancakes with sour cream and smoked salmon.

Polish goulash soup. Good stuff. a lot of pepper.

Good weather.

Kielbasa!