In the housewife compendium "Practical Lady" from 1939 you can read about which food you should serve in which dishes:

" (...) For fish use a long and narrow dish; the same for meat, but a bit wider; serve vegetables and jelly in a round dish. Serve salads and stewed fruit in a glass or a lily white mould; serve baked dishes in ovenproof dishes rimmed with a white napkin (...)".

Today we have a slightly less rigid approach to serving food. The kinds of plates and dishes depend on the invention of the housewife. Seashells, trenchers and tiles are only a few ideas for different ways to serve food. I put my salad on the table in a very unusual dish. It looks different and interesting and ... I didn't have to wash the dishes.

Ingredients:
1 big grapefruit
150g of smoked salmon
100g of crabsticks
1 stick of celery

For most of us, mornings are the most difficult time of the day. For me it is more difficult when I must wake up early. I don't like it, but everybody has to cope with daily life. Despite the fact that I try my best to hurry my children up, they don't move any faster. The only effect is a bad temper. I can't wake up without an alarm clock, so every idea which speeds up the morning is worth its weight in gold. One such idea is an idea for breakfast. This attractive and tasty dish causes everyone to eat together gladly in a pleasant atmosphere.

Rolled oats, which we remember from childhood, are a trauma for many of us. I prepared them in a different way. My summer breakfast was a pick-me-up with much-loved strawberries, crunchy nuts and honey. Try this version; maybe you will like it.

Ingredients:
60 g of rolled oats
10 strawberries
40 g of nuts

All children like sausages. Health food specialists are probably shaking their heads again, but sometimes sausages are a lifesaver for tired parents, or a help for those whose children don't want to eat.

I don't come into the second group, because my children eat everything I prepare. But sometimes I'm so exhausted that even the thought of supper is beyond my capability. Fortunately, the quality of sausages has got better and the amount of "meat in meat" is surprisingly high. With a bit of luck, we can find in our shop sausages in which the meat content is 93 or even 97%. Let's buy good quality sausages which are resilient, hard and brown, and not soft and pink after being cut up.

I usually buy Sokołów or Pikok brand sausages, and with them I made today's supper. I would like to share with you my recipe for baked sausages in French pastry and cheese. This dish is excellent – I believe my children - the supper disappeared before I could blink. I'm not sure that my daughter knew how it tasted though – the amount of ketchup was bigger than the rest of the dish.

Ingredients:
sausages
1 pack of chilled French pastry
slices of cheese
milk
oregano

Going to the small village of Rogalin, placed picturesquely on the right bank of the Warta river, we didn't assume that the palace of the Raczyński family would be so impressive. Rogalin, which was counted among the most beautiful places of Wielkopolska, became a centre of political and cultural life in the 70s of the XVII century, when Kazimierz Raczyński, a writer of the crown, the main starost of Wielkopolska, and marshal of the crown in the Stanislaw August Poniatowski court, entertained his guests.

We parked our car in the empty car park and went through the gate. The panache of the courtyard and palace made an impression on us. The compound consists of the main building and two connected outbuildings. Along the courtyards are placed a woodshed, stable, coach house, and servants' quarters.

During the Second World War the palace was the dwelling of a Hitler Youth Movement school, but fortunately there was no lasting damage to the architecture. Its original equipment was heavily depleted. In 1948 this unkempt relic was passed on to the National Museum in Poznań, where an agency was created, which has been working here ever since. The palace compound regained its former glow in recent years with the help of resources of The European Union. It has been possible to visit this place since spring 2015.

Today I would like to share with you a recipe for a truly summer dessert. Strawberries are a promise of the impending holiday season.

The combination of crunchy French pastry with a hint of cinnamon with crème and a huge amount of strawberries looks like a picturesque chaos on the plate. It is difficult to eat it elegantly but the sight of my children's delighted faces smeared with crème and strawberries was invaluable.

A similar dessert was prepared on the morning TV program Dzień Dobry TVN. I think that the inspiration for "strawberry mess" was the French dessert mille-feuille or the more familiar-sounding napoleon.

Traditionally, mille-feuille consists of three layers of French pastry arranged alternately with crème or layers of whipped cream and jam. The top is sprinkled with caster sugar, cocoa or decorated with chocolate glaze.

Ingredients (for four people)
1 pack of chilled French pastry
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of milk
250g of mascarpone cheese