Polish Festival - Cherry Hill, NJ 9/7/08

I've wanted to go to this for many years. I had heard that the nuns were very sweet, the food was great, and that it was a laid-back crowd. Being Jewish, I also was curious to have a reason to enter the grounds of this provincialate-novitiate at the Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. I've seen the cars lined up and down the road every summer since I moved to where I live now, and wondered what the big deal was. I'm so glad we went!

Even just upon entering the grounds, the nuns were waving and smiling, and giving greetings in Polish. We also noticed that they were running the gambling concerns there! So why not? I agonized and thought of my pal Ellen, as I, with much trepidation and nervousness, put money on several numbers as I tried my luck by spinning...

THE POLISH DOLL WHEEL!


Undaunted after my loss, I then threw caution to the wind as I approached...
THE BABKA WHEEL!


Hanging my head at the crushing blow of losing fifty cents, I decided to blow my wad, as it were, and sighed in resignation as I frustratedly tiptoed over to the...
APPLE CAKE WHEEL!


As you can see, the crowd was restless and had no time for my hissy fits as Brian had to restrain me after losing yet a third time. I did not want to act badly in front of the Sisters, so I agreed to a mood-lifting meal.

We stood in the food line for what seemed like hours, but it was such a beautiful day and setting that it was worth it.





Here's my meal of luscious (and I mean luscious!) potato pierogies and kielbasa (with the sauerkraut scraped off by the accommodating Sister, who seemed to sense that I was THAT CLOSE to the edge after my devastating loss at the Babka Wheel).


Here's Brian's pierogies. I want to note that he also had stuffed cabbage, which he loves, but he inhaled them so quickly that I swear I had no time to take a picture. The pierogies were three for $2.00. I don't know whether that's a good price or a bad price. I do know that they were homemade, fresh and each of us could've eaten more, they were so good.


We then decided to go to the stage area and watch the PKM Polish Dancers from Philadelphia. Here's their website, if you're interested: http://www.polishamericancenter.org/PKMMain.htm

Please don't mind these pictures. It was glary out, but these came out with an awful lot of flashy white in them, and are awfully blurry. Well, it's a camera phone and you get the drift:



Oh, and here is the Nun of Many Hats! She was cool, walking around with three or more hats on top of her headpiece. In this photo, she's taking pictures of people who came up onstage to dance from the audience.


After, we walked over to where they were preparing ribs and fried chicken, but were too stuffed at that particular moment to get any.


I like watching food prep, though, when people are really getting along and nobody's fussing.




I went around to the back of this stand and took a picture of the ribs cooking.


Quite honestly, we went there for the Polish food, and not ribs or chicken, but I like the unpretentious way everything was done there, so I took pictures even of things I wasn't interested in eating that day.

Brian saw a snobby young female reporter from the newspaper he used to work for (who totally snubbed him and didn't even say hello, although they used to talk every day at work!), and I saw this guy with a long ponytail who I decided to take a picture of.



You've gotta be envious of that old guy's wheels to the left of the picture, and most especially the hood ornament.

On the way out, I was a bit fascinated with this table announcing Mass Stipends and had to have that explained to me. It didn't help me any that it was "explained" in Polish on the left side of the umbrella.


And I really liked the look of the shrine behind it, so I took a picture. It looked like such a peaceful spot in the middle of such a busy township...


A few hours later...

We went to what USED to be affectionately known as "The Diner". Well, I know my chicken was dry, and he said his fish was dry, too, but I took pictures and we ate anyway.

I was grateful for the bowl of BBQ sauce, but even that had a weird, too-sweet taste. But this is my chicken sandwich and look at that Kaiser roll. A bit dark.


Brian had the mini-meal which was $8.95, and was fried flounder with mashed potatoes and gravy (he cannot live without it), and coleslaw.


I know for a fact he doesn't like gravy all over it like that. He does the thing with the valley in the middle of the mashed potatoes.

But as you can see, that didn't stop him from eating like there was no tomorrow.


So that meal was slightly disappointing (as was the one before it at that diner), and we've concluded that we're giving my dear diner a break before we go back there again.

But that Polish food? Kocham Cie Skarbie! (Really, that's about all the Polish I know).

It was great fun going with my Polish boyfriend to a Polish festival and eating Polish food! I also want to add that there were many Polish-speaking people there. I noticed buses parked on the side...

Wow...great report...count me in as one Italian who likes Polish food!!!

Thank you for a great report. I really would have loved going there.

Harriet, so sorry to hear of your gambling losses! we all know that baabka tastes even better when you WIN it Tell me, do you think the sisters would sell any food for TAKE-OUT !!!??? HA , loved those signs ! Dawn

harriet1954 -

Thank you for the great review. Enjoyed it.

Harriet

I am too sorry to hear of your gambling problem......err I mean losses

I am thinking you need to go back and try some more that Babka Wheel sounds like a winner, so does the apple cake wheel.

I will have to dig through the boxes of pictures from my childhood, somewhere there is a picture of me at about age 2-3 at that festival. We lived in Cherry Hill, and our neighbors were polish and invited us to attend.

I loved your adventure

A Babka Wheel and an Apple Cake Wheel ?!? I never realized that Polish food overlaps with Jewish food like this ! I'd like to place a few bets , please! (or let me just save a little time and buy the whole babka, okay ladies?)

I love your pics! Most of them are so clear, and the size is perfect!

I love a good homemade pierogie, and they are so hard to find !!
And love stuffed cabbage, as well... and it looks like a special touch to be served by those nuns. I'd love to hear when their next festival is , so I can go pig out there!

Way to go, Harriet! Nice entertaining report!

Ellen, I was thinking the same thing.

Then I remembered that my father was from Poland.

I love a good Babka!

HMM - gambling for baked goods, I LOVE that concept. Now that I think about it, several of my favorite slot machines have food themes (cops and donuts, and one of my favorites - the SPAM slot machine). Now, if they could only figure out how to incorporate food into Blackjack or Let It Ride...

I'm so unlucky...I'd starve under that system!!!

Great report Harriet. The food looked terrific, and the prices seemed to be very reasonable.

I love to go to Church-related Ethnic festivals. The people are always so nice and the food is almost always home cooked.

I usually try to get to one of each, each year: Polish, Greek, Hispanic, and my favorite, the Hungarian Festival in New Brunswick in early June. The food is similar to Polish food, and even though I'm not really that big on desserts, the Strawberry Shortcake there is fantastic.

PS: It was great seeing you again yesterday at the Hot Dog tour, and meeting Brian.

Harriet, Great report. Love those ethnic festivals.

It was a pleasure to meet you and Brian on the dog tour. Already looking forward to the next one.

Whats with the NO TAKE OUT signs. If you try to leave with food do the Nuns come after you.

<<Whats with the NO TAKE OUT signs.>>

I noticed that too. Actually I think it's a good idea. Often people at these ethnic festivals are hogs, they will order like three dozen perogies to go, which not only holds up the lines but causes the staff to run out of food too soon. The Polish festval in Elizabeth is ridiculous because of that. If you don't get there by 11 AM they are out of perogies, and who wants perogies at 11AM?

PS: Joe, Sorry I missed meeting you at the dog tour, I was only able to make the 2nd and 3rd stops, which were near where I live.

The different wheels and the rib-slinging nuns have given me the giggles. Wonderful report Harriet!

Harriet: if you moved the camera up a smidge, we would be able to see a photo of your boyfriend. and how about a pix of YOU?? dying to see what you look like.
great report. love pierogies!
beth

Thanks for a great report Harriet. I'm another Italian that puts away polish food whenever I get the chance, it all looked good to me.

quote:

Originally posted by bethgrd

Harriet: if you moved the camera up a smidge, we would be able to see a photo of your boyfriend. and how about a pix of YOU?? dying to see what you look like.
great report. love pierogies!
beth

My friend Ellen took care of exposing me and Brian to the world in the Hot Dog section...believe me, I'm nothing to look at. My boyfriend's real cute, though.

Hey...Joe and Ken: Big hugs to you guys. It was WONDERFUL seeing you again, Ken, and introducing you to Brian. And dodging the bees in that park by Dee's Truck. Joe: I wish you would've been on OUR bus...the laid-back bus (vs. the rowdy bus). But we will talk more next time!

For everyone: Thank you for helping me turn a Sunday date into almost a photojournalistic whatchamacallit. Brian and I do something interesting outdoors any day we have decent weather - and even when it's not, although we usually end up in a museum if it's bad outside.

I'm having difficulty getting it together time-wise with my and his Hot Dog Tour photos. Brian's are absolutely amazing and he's in the midst of putting together a CD of photos and a DVD of still photos and videos of it.

I'll get caught up on Saturday.

But the next Trip Report, probably, will be from this coming Sunday, when we go to the Arts in the Park at Smithville Mansion in Eastampton, Burlington County, NJ. There'll be music, dancing, ethnic stuff, food of course...and most importantly, you can go inside the Annex Gallery at Smithville Mansion and look at the 32nd Juried Art Exhibit. Why is this so important? Brian is exhibiting his painting there, entitled "Shadows at Batsto":



I'm very proud of him.

Never mess with a Nun! They have rulers and all sorts of tricks up their sleeves. I only made it through second grade of Catholic school. My parents were told I was public school material.

Harriet, you should be quite proud. The painting is BEAUTIFUL!! Brian is very talented, and you are lucky to have each other.

Harriet,

Another fine report. You can never turn down a couple of plates of hearty Polish food after a big gambling loss!

Thanks for the great photos of the festival and the painting.
If they have a polish festival here in San Antonio I'll have to go next time.
Some of the little towns around San Antonio have parish festivals,but never get to go anywhere cause I'm always working every weekend at TJMAXX.
If you get to Milwaukee, they have Summer Fest.All over town they have all kinds of church festivals,etc.Know what you mean about the nuns CCiNJ.When my great aunt, Sister Mary Generose,passed away, they sent us some family photos, her rosary and an old school whistle. She belonged to the School Sisters of Notre Dame up in Milwaukee.They came from Germany to America in the 1830s or 40s.
I remeber us visiting her on a couple of occasions, like when we were going to Alaska, and later from Alaska to Maryland(dad was USAirforce) and us eating dinner with her.The sisters were very nice.

You can not beat the food that the nuns serve.

Thanks again. I've been trying to organize my pictures for my next three trip reports dating back to September 10...and tomorrow we do part of the Lighthouse Challenge!

I swear I have no time anymore.

I think it is great that you make sure you go have fun, with the schedule you keep. You are like Superwoman!!!

polish_buzz


Outstanding Polish festival. Love the photos. Makes me hungry for some fried Polish food. By the way, http://www.polishbuzz.com/ has some nice Polish recipes. Happy eating.

Thanks. I appreciate your compliments. I wonder why this says that the message was flagged as inappropriate? I must've hit something by mistake. Well, if the mods would please remove that, I'd appreciate that, too. Thanks for the recipe link, too, polish buzz.

harriet -

After 5000 Wheel of Fortune shows, maybe they move over so America can start spinning the Babka Wheel...I can hear it now...WWWHEEL OOOFFFF  BABBBKAAA!!!!

Be careful though...I have been emotionally scarred since losing out on a Paczki some years back!