Our Travels

In late September and early October, 2010 we had a wonderful visit to Europe.

We were in six countries:

Belgium

Luxembourg

Poland

France

Switzerland

Germany

To see a video of our memories from this trip, click on the picture of us at the Baltic Sea.

In September, 2011, we enjoyed another visit with the Matwijewicz family at their home in Poland, as well as several days of being tourists in Berlin.

While were visiting our Polish friends, we met one of their neighbors, the Pastor of a Spirit-Filled Protestant Church. Pastor Miron Paszun invited us to attend a midweek service at their small church, and later, we were invited to attend a home-group meeting. Of course, everything was spoken in the Polish language, and we are unable to understand Polish. Several of the young men of the congregation came to our rescue, and did a commendable job of translating important items into English for us. Remarkably, we felt at home during the service there, and we had the feeling that even though the language was different, we were among Christian brothers and sisters. It was gratifying to be among people who are serious about their faith, and who had some of what we considered deep discussions. The church’s website is: www.kzczluchow.pl .






		Karpatka Cake from Thanksgiving Dinner, 2011

			Dough Ingredients: 1 Cup Water 1/2 Cup Butter 1 Cup Flour 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder 5 Eggs

To see a video of our memories from this trip, click on the picture of Joyce driving the East German Trabi at the DDR Museum in Berlin.

One of the more valuable things we learned about on this visit to Poland is Karpatka Cake. Our friend Tadeusz’s mother delivered one to us by riding her bicycle from the town. Since we learned about this delicious, rich cake, we have made several of them. We have done an Internet search for recipes, and we list, below, the one we have finally used. Incidentally, Grandma Matwijewicz’s cake had both pineapple and sweet cherries that seemed to us to be “spiked”, and we have made the cakes with both pineapple and without fruit.

Filling Ingredients:

2 Cups Milk

1 Cup Sugar

2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

2 Tablespoons Flour

1 Cup Butter

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1 Cup Dried Pineapple Pieces (Optional)

1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar for dusting

Instructions:

Dough:

In saucepan heat water. Dissolve butter in water, then add flour and baking powder. Mix by stirring with only a wooden spoon, and then boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in partially beaten eggs. Continue stirring until the dough becomes a thoroughly mixed stiff ball. Divide the dough into two equal portions. Spread each half of the dough into an 8”x12” baking pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool on racks. Note: For ease of removal from pans, line the pans with parchment paper.

Filling:

Put milk into a 2 quart microwaveable container. Microwave on high power for 3 minutes. In a small bowl, mix together sugar, cornstarch and flour. Add dry ingredients to hot milk, and stir very well. Microwave for another 1½ minutes, and stir well. Microwave for yet another 1½ minutes, and stir well. Microwave more if needed for mixture to boil and thicken. Stir in butter and vanilla. After the butter is completely melted, stir in dried pineapple, if desired. Allow to cool completely before placing the filling between the 2 cake layers. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours before serving. Dust with powdered sugar as cake is being served.

In July, 2013, Kama, the Polish Tatra Mountain Sheepdog delivered 11 more puppies. We made the trip to visit our friends and the puppies, but went on to tour Berlin, and to visit our friends who live near Munich.

Click on the picture of the rainbow over Berlin to see the movie of memories from this trip.

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