Sojka's Call

SojkasCall Best Stuff of 2017 This is the 2017 roundup of best in entertainment, food, travel and whatever I did this year.  this is probably best consumed when stoned or in a weird mood.  If you just watched Jeopardy or the nightly news, then it will not make sense.  So, if you find yourself saying WTF, just tilt your head 5 degrees to the right and it will all make sense.  I promise! I might throw in a worst of this or that somewhere too - some people like that as well and I certainly have a cynical side that should be kept in check.   Let's start with music videos.  Personally, I found this one of the most disappointing years for music vids in recent memory.  The predominance of interactive make-your-own was not my thing.  I like to be entertained with ideas, music, and visuals that are on the edge and not seen before.  So, the list below was put together after much curation and thought and watching lots of stupid ones. ...

In honor of my father, Louis Sojka, who passed away 12/18/2017 I decided to cook one of his favorite Polish comfort foods, stuffed cabbages, which he called golumpki.  His pronunciation was to pronounce the "L" as a "Y".  Phonetically it came out goy-ump'-kee or go-ump'-kee. His version used Campbells tomato soup.  That did not sit right with me because of the high sodium and processing so over the years I have modified his original recipe a little using higher quality ingredients.  Also, when cooking, you can simmer on the stove, cook in the oven or use an Instantpot. Did you know this is a favorite dish at Christmas-time for Polish?  I didn't either until yesterday when looking for Instantpot cooking times and saw that historical side-note. A Croatian friend gave me a cookbook that lists the Croat version as Sarma. Sarma is very similar except they pickle the cabbage head (like a mild sauerkraut) before using. Recipe: 1. One cabbage head with t...