Maria Paprocka Skalska (3 Aug 1904 - 19 Aug 1982)
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| Maria Paprocka Skalska, Kraków early 1950s |
The highest praise that anyone in my family can get goes something like, "That's almost as good as Babcia's!" Meaning, that whatever you cooked or baked is pretty darn good. My Granny or Babcia, which is grandmother in Polish, was an amazing cook and baker who had a regular encyclopedia of culinary delights in her brain. It was all there, hardly ever put down on paper, and it was a rare person who could duplicate a dish just the way she did. Frustrating for the rest of us for sure, but imagine my delight when I found this gem among some papers. A recipe for Placek Panieński, a delightful cake, spread with jam and then topped by meringue...one of my favorites (which now is a bummer since I found out I am allergic to egg whites!)
I knew Granny for an all too short six years, from the age of five to eleven, but in that short time, she left an everlasting impression upon me. She is one of my "girl power" icons that I have looked up to all my life...the other two being my two moms.
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| My "girl power" idols Zofia Skalska, Maria Skalska and Helena Skalska mid 1950s Poland |
And it isn't that she did anything super feminist or anything. It's actually the opposite. She was the perfect homemaker, which today is an occupation so often derided and sneered at. Yet in her quiet fulfillment of age-old duties prescribed to women, she exuded a power and strength that I only wish I could have. I don't recall ever hearing her complain, and never knew her to be in bed sick. In fact for the week or two that she was in bed before she passed away, I was sure it must be a joke and that she will soon be up and about again.
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| Maria Skalska, Kraków1944 |
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| Maria Skalska, Kraków late 1940s |
But back to her cooking. During WWI, when she was about twelve years old, her parents died from consumption? or perhaps the flu? which caused the family, already in dire straits, to disintegrate as a unit. The four younger children of the family were placed wherever a place could be found with priests and nuns. Emilia, her older sister by 5 years, and Mania (a sort of nickname for Maria) were placed with some Daughters of Charity nuns (Zakonnice Szarytki) who were training young girls to be maidservants. I assume, that is where she learned to cook, and she continued to do so for her family (she always lived with Emilia even after Emilia and Tadeusz were married) for the rest of her life. She didn't much like to share her kitchen, but in Poland she did allow Zosia to learn from her, but not so much Helena...not until later after she joined Helena in the United States in 1974. I regret that I did not have an interest in cooking and did not spend time with her when I could have, but you know kids...they have to play with their toys!
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| Maria Skalska, Kraków early 1950s |
Only now do I realize that when she died, I was about the same age as she was when she had been orphaned, and yet I had never paused to think how much that must have affected her...until now. I can not imagine the upheaval, pain, and fear that she must have endured. Yet, as I knew her, one would have never known what she had gone through...orphaned, two world wars, and emigration to the US at the age of 70 to start anew! She was so kind, loving, and grateful, I think is the word I seek. Humble is another.
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| Maria Skalska, Kraków 1960s |
Thoughts of her cooking evoke comfort and security, something which I now see she had very little of in her early life. To this day, one of my most favorite meals is sznycel (something like an aussie rissole), mashed potatoes, and hot beets with sour cream. The other meal which evokes sheer Granny coziness...especially on a cold day...one of her white buttered rolls with Polish ham and a cup of hot cocoa. Doesn't get better than that!
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| On vacation at the Aurora Hotel in Asbury Park, NJ, summer 1976 Sabina Potaczek, Marian Potaczek, Renata Adamowicz, Maria Skalska |
Granny would do a weekly bread baking for us, the recipe for her amazing brown bread always only in her head. In fact, her bread became quite famous when, while we were living at Jasna Polana, the estate of Seward and Barbara Johnson (of Johnson & Johnson), Basia insisted on having a weekly baking for herself! It's funny how at the time we never think to take a photo of an everyday item or occurrence, so I have no visual proof of the delectable nature of her bread, but I do have a photo of Mania with Basia Piasecka Johnson's mother!
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| Mrs. Piasecka and Maria Skalska, Princeton, NJ 1978 |
If I could have anyone over for a dinner party, I know that Granny would definitely be one of the people at the top of the list, with my two mom's being close seconds. What I'd want to know most about are her early years, of which I know so little. I can only remember snatches of stories that she used to tell about, like hiding under a bridge while Russian officers held a conversation above her, and trying to cross a river on horseback and realizing that the water was so high that the horse had to swim...but alas she did not know how to swim! Or the mischievous girl who let the nun's pigs out for some reason...perhaps to get back at them for something?
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| Maria Skalska, at Jasna Polana, Princeton, NJ 1978 |
Granny had spunk and courage, but most of all, for me, a young girl who had lost her own mother at the age of five and who subsequently was assimilated into a new nuclear family, she provided comfort and warmth and stability through the simple acts of cooking and keeping house. Ever behind the scenes, Maria Paprocka Skalska was a weaver of the cloth of life in one of the most tangible ways possible...her legacy was that of the comforts of home and I think it would please her to know how much she defined that for me!
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| Spunky Granny, playing cards with the guys (Kazimierz Potaczek on right) Princeton, NJ 1978 |
Next week's topic is "In the Census," where I will discuss one of Mania's sisters...
She was also an amazing storyteller. I still remember listening with rapt attention to her stories when she put me to bed at night. I did everything in my power to keep my heavy eyelids from closing...and then as the story ended I'd be wide awake again begging for another one. This could go on for quite some time. She was also a woman of extraordinary courage.
ReplyDeleteShe was a woman of extraordinary courage. During World War II, the Gestapo came knocking. They were chasing a bandit and were searching all the apartments in the building. She opened the door, when the Gestapo officer addressed her in German, she replied that she did not understand. Another one stepped forward, and speaking Polish, explained that they were looking for someone who had been seen entering the building. "There's no one here," she replied, "but come in and see for yourselves." They spoke amongst themselves, saluted, and left. I can only imagine the relief she felt once she heard the sound of their heels diminishing and finally the front door closing behind them. Because the man they were looking for, a friend of our grandfather's and a member of the resistance, was lying, wounded, in the back bedroom, Our grandparents tended his wounds, bandaged him up gave him a change of clothes. That same evening, he escaped via the rooftops,
ReplyDeleteI just want to add, for those who may not know, had the Gestapo found the man in their apartment they would have either shot everyone on the spot of sent the entire family to the death camps. Can you imagine the sang froid required to not give away the slightest bit of fear?
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