American Male looking for pen pal.

Hello Ladies and Gents.

First time poster here. I'm looking for a pen pal to share some experiences from Poland. A little backround about myself: I'm a 31 yr old male living in Florida, USA. I've always enjoyed but clueless about the polish heritage from my grandparents (they lived outside Chicago land area and now deceased). Just recently my parents came to visit my home in Florida, and whipped up the most delicious food. It consisted of ground beef wrapped in cabbage and in some sort of tomato type sauce. My mother said it was a recipe she got from my grandmothers cookbook. This kinda made me a little sentimental inside when I thought back to when I was young and visiting my grandparents house. I used to call the "Jaja" and "Busha". I have no clue what those terms mean, but I was told that they are polish. Anyways, I'd love to hear from some authentic Polish people to learn more about the country my family was from. I'd especially like to hear from some polish ladies that cook. Maybe even exchance some secret recipes that I could whip up here in the states.

Hope to hear from someone. :)

Hey from Florida, I'm also a Polish person living in St. Augustine, Florida. Jaja means grandpa and I'm wondering if you actually mean Babcia, Babci, Babka, or Babki, which all mean a form of grandma. We used Babci. Okay, I just found your translation. This would be an American translation and its actually spelled Busi or Busia. The food you were eating is Golumkie (spelling). I have a Polish Cookbook, which has all the "old recipes" in it. Are you full Polish or just part. I'm part. My Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother were both from Poland. I joined this site in hopes to finds my relatives still living over in Poland. Were are you from Florida?

Golumkie we writing Gołąbki what literally mean pigeons.

Busha it is part of Babusia the same as Babunia diminuitive form of Babcia = Grandma.

Jaja (pronounced) we writing Dziadzia It is diminuitive form of Dziadek = Grandpa.

We also have word which we writing "jaja"
But polish writen jaja (pronuonced yaya) means eggs or balls.

Regards

I know Golumkie as being stuffed cabbage in America. Were does pigeons come in? I really wish I would of took Polish in high school. I really didn't think it was important back then because I was around my family who spoke both English and Polish. I'm only the second generation in America. Unfortunately, I can't speak... JaJa is what we called my grandpa and Babci is what I called my gram. When I become a grandma that is what I would love my grandchildren to call me because people in America don't know what it means unless they speak Polish or they are Polish!

i'm sure you can make "pierogi", yuuummmyyy, i had some for lunch today and they are easy to make but time-consuming!! do you guys like "bigos"? yuummmyyy this is more work but what a pleasure later ;-)

Oh my I love my Polish food. When I go back to New York, I go to my Polish Deli and load up~! We buy sausage and all the other good stuff to bring back to Florida.

Wow, so I suppose it was Grandma and Grandpa that I was saying. Thats interesting. Thanks for the insight. I'm from the Jacksonville region (what a small world).

Well since you seem to have some knowledge on polish food. I got a couple questions for you. Did you ever have family get togathers during the christmas time where they would serve around this sort of wafer slice that everyone would eat? What is that called? I'm Roman Catholic and the only way I could describe it is very similiar to the eucharist.

sure, it's called "opłatek".

Hey i am not polish but i sure can cook very well. I'm from and live in the Caribbean

Hey, Florida guy. During the Christmas holidays, you can go to St. Augustine at the Cross gift shop which is located on the Mission grounds. This is located off San Marco Avenue. Across the street from Dairy Queen. They carry it. On the back of the envelope it has the story of opłatek. I used to have my Dad send it from New York. I just happened to go in there one year and found it. Yes it is a very small world. Maybe one day we'll run into each other. I used to do alot of work in Jacksonville. Now, I just go up there for pleasure. We actually are going to the Landing next Friday for my niece's big 21st b-day.

Thanks again. You seem so helpful. I might have to make a special trip down to St. Augastine to check that out. It would be nice to carry on some of the tradition I experienced growing up. I hope you have a GREAT time down at the landing. I always had a blast. I used to go to a bar there named Huey's. Don't think its there anymore and I stopped going to The Landing a while back. Don't get your poor niece too drunk. I can still remember my 21st birthday and it was a doosy.

We have a limo, so we don't have to drive. I promise we will be good too her! The old Polish way!

The old Polish way!!! May God have mercy on her soul.