Essay

  • Essay,  Food,  Travel

    Carpathian wild & foraged food

    Inevitably during our day trips we get to this place where the paved roads end, gradually becoming gravel, occasionally concrete blocks for stream forging, only to dissolve into paths that might end at the last house before the dark wall of the woods. Or, you might find yourself picking up an asphalt road on the other side on mountain. The seasons are spectacular, if unpredictable, for those on the lookout for a quiet drama, for those with no expectations, those determined enough to venture out there in any weather, even when told there is ” no mushrooms this year” because it is too try, or too wet, or too many…

  • Essay,  Travel

    Photo essay: Kraków

    I came a long way in my approach to travel as it was during the last few years. Obviously, 2020 put an abrupt end to it all. All of a sudden my mantra became “work with what you have”, or better yet, improve it! Let’s face it, it was not a choice, it was a necessity. More on that later. It allowed me to evaluate my entire photo collection and to move away from essentially just collecting them and always looking to the next trip, to working with what I have, and distilling what I want, moving forward. It was a turning point when I settled, with intention, on telling…

  • Essay,  Food,  Holidays

    Home for the holidays

    Home for the holidays, as in “staying” not “going”, “making” not “buying”, “planning” not “head-spinning”…The year of the pandemic brings on a different kind of Christmas and a deeply personal story. Call it looking for a silver lining, perhaps, but this is the celebration of the handmade, the slow, and the meaningful. The celebration of small measures, imperfection, joy of finishing a project started few months ago, or another two weeks ago. Brings the memories of collecting color tin candy wrappers all year long with my Grandmother to wrap large walnuts to hang on a Christmas tree on December 24th. The memories of cutting straw and delicate tissue paper for…