There are some products which you can't stop eating. For example, crisps, nuts, small cookies and popcorn at the cinema. Notwithstanding how many you put in the bowl, you have to eat everything. Is it the same for you? When we go to the cinema we even try to restrict ourselves. We go up to the counter with strong determination and willpower: I would like a small portion of popcorn and a small cola please." What is the answer? "If you pay 3 zloty more you can get a large portion of popcorn and a medium drink." What do we do? We buy them of course. It is only 3 zloty. So much for willpower. Then for a month we are fed up of popcorn and again we have strong determination that next time...

We know that salty snacks aren't healthy. Too much fat and salt and large portions disagree with everyone. When we plan a home film viewing, we can prepare our own popcorn which is less fatty and salty than at the cinema.

It is easy to make crisps in your own kitchen as well. I propose using kale for this.

Kale is a kind of cabbage. It contains the biggest amount of calcium of all the vegetables, and also doesn't contain oxalates. It is a valuable ingredient in preventing osteoporosis. Kale is a source of phosphorus, iron and ascorbic acid. Among the most popular vegetables only pepper contains more.

Among the movies I have watched recently, "Eccentrics" by Janusz Majewski is like a happy sunray on a grey day. In this picture you won't find any criminal mystery, murders, buckets of blood, or strange creatures. Instead you will find a sentimental return to the Poland of the 1950s, with humour, an affair and a huge dose of rousing music.

Fabian (Maciej Stuhr), an ex-soldier whose post-war fortune had kept him in the west, returns to Poland from Great Britain. He lives for jazz music and tries to share his passion with those around him. It turns out to be quite easy. He forms an excellent jazz band in Ciechocinek. The musicians practise, play concerts, sensationalize and... have fun. The main character is interested only in music and a young English teacher called Modesta (Natalia Rybicka). The question is whether the difficult time of the 50s will allow him to develop his passions? Will we be able to say that they live and play happily ever after?

The movie reminds us about Ciechocinek, a known health resort from the halcyon days. On the streets you can see beautiful cabriolets, and in sanatoriums they hold tea dances, women have elegant suits and smart hairstyles. Slowly in Poland the situation is changing: Stalinism comes to an end and Gomułka's times allow for more freedom and live jazz music. We know that it wasn't a colourful, carefree time, but Janusz Majewski doesn't show us the more dramatic side of Polish life. We have instead the 1950s with a pinch of salt, retro style sanatoriums, tea in glasses, vodka purchased from "under the counter" and toilet paper rationed in public toilets.

Valentine's Day is quite close. Certain people like it but others hate it. Red hearts, sweet teddy bears and tons of Valentine's Day sweets pour out from every shop front. Merchants try to convince us that everything could be a Valentine's Day gift; it just needs to have a heart stuck onto it. This could make the day a turn-off for even the most in love. However, if we were to treat it as an excuse for spending a pleasant day together and preparing a tasty candlelit dinner, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Opponents of Valentine's Day could say that we can do the same every day, and they are right. But if every day, why not on 14th February?

Today I would like to share with you a recipe for an easy but excellent dessert for two. The light sweet mousse from white chocolate goes well with cherry confiture. You may use a different one, but I recommend something that is not so sweet, because even on Valentine's Day too many sweets could be harmful.

Ingredients:
150ml of 30% sweet cream
100g of white chocolate
4 teaspoons of cherry confiture
fruit and peppermint leaves

Valentine's Day is coming. For some of us this is purely about selling commercial products, but for others it is an excuse to rejuvenate their relationship with their sweetheart. Do you know who Saint Valentine (from whom we get the name Valentine's Day) was?

A doctor and priest lived in the III century in the Roman Empire under Claudius II. The Emperor disqualified young men from marrying because without families they were better legionaries. This interdict was broken by Saint Valentine, who performed marriage rites for couples. He was thrown into prison where he fell in love with the blind daughter of his guard, who apparently girl regained her sight due to this love. The Emperor condemned Valentine to death. Before the execution Valentine wrote a letter to his beloved signed "from your Valentine". Valentine was executed on 14th February in the year 269.

I have never been interested in teddy bears with red hearts, but I like spending Valentine's Day in a more romantic way than on other ordinary days. Now that we have children, we prepare a candlelit dinner at home. Maybe you will like my proposal for a Valentine's Day menu. Today I would like to share with you a recipe for a salad with prawns. The next blog entry will be a recipe for something sweet for dessert.

Ingredients:
salad
400g of large cooked prawns
mixed lettuce
1 orange
1 grapefruit
1 avocado
1 fistful of cashew nuts

Valentine's Day, anniversary, surprise dinners... everybody has their special events when they would like to eat something extraordinary. In such moments we often choose seafood. For such people, specialized shops with fish and seafood were set up. A few times a week they deliver mussels, prawns and the most exotic species of fish directly to our table. Unfortunately, in the shop where we used to buy seafood the portions were too big and the prices were not too affordable. But the quality – excellent. You can buy smaller portions in the supermarket or at a fishmonger's.

Regardless of the shop where you buy your seafood, you have a chance to make an impression with an interesting and tasty dinner. Prawns, which I would like to propose to you today, have another advantage: cooking them takes less time than preparing the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients:
500g of cooked prawns
300ml of coconut milk
1 chili pepper
1 courgette
2 onions
1 carrot
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of curry powder