What Do We Miss? - Life in Paradise… Without Cheese, Kefir or Mum’s Żurek

 People often ask us:

“Don’t you miss anything?”

Well, yes. We do.

And no, it’s not the lack of snow.

We miss white cheese - the soft, crumbly kind you spread on bread with chives and a pinch of salt. Not available here. Unless you count the overpriced version in an expat shop – assuming they even have it in stock.

We miss kefir - real, plain kefir. Not the sugary yogurt drinks pretending to be kefir. Those are everywhere. But the sour, tangy stuff that reminds you of home? Forget it.

We miss parsley root. Celery root. - Try finding it here. And if you do – be ready to pay more than for a good bottle of wine. Apparently, they're now luxury vegetables.

I miss my favourite coffee - it costs a small fortune here. So I rely on kind friends flying from Poland who sneak a few packs into their luggage. (Thank you, you coffee-smuggling angels!)

And sausage...Thai sausages are… creative. Let’s just leave it at that. So Wlodek started making his own. We can’t smoke it – we don’t have the setup – but we dry it. And it tastes like home.

And yes – sometimes we even miss the weather. During the hottest days, we long for the English wind. And in the rainy season – not the sudden tropical downpour, but a proper summer storm. The kind that cools the air, not leaves it hanging heavy with damp heat.

But you figure things out. You adjust. You improvise. You stop dreaming of the perfect Polish grocery and start celebrating what you can get.

But there’s one thing we can’t replace.

Not here. Not anywhere.

The jokes my son tells that make everyone laugh.

My daughter-in-law’s warm smile.

The dramatic sighs, the tears, the laughter of our granddaughters.

The Sunday lunch at mum’s.

The silly arguments. The hugs.

The ordinary moments with the people we love.

So yes, we miss cheese. And kefir. And celery root. But most of all, we miss our family and friends. 🩷