The other day, as we were strolling through the Kazimierz section of Krakow, we stumbled into the handmade consignment shop called the Maruna Galeria. Inside, there was a rather interesting soft plush installation by artist Paulina Poczęta.

According to the shopkeeper, the artist started out making little plush creatures from fabric scraps that would resemble her friends. Ultimately, she had quite the collection.

The photos above capture a few of my favorites from the installation, although the first was found via Maruna Galeria.

Maruna Galeria offers handmade jewelery, clothing, and other goods that are made from recycled materials. Consignment costs are pretty low at 5 zł (at the moment, roughly $2.25 USD) so most of the proceeds from the sale of an item will go to benefit the local artist.

Yesterday was quite the culinary adventure. We tried some of the best pierogies in town at Zapiecek Polskie Pierogarmie (Ulica Slawkowska 32). Both the meat and the sour cabbage and mushroom pierogies were tasty. They had a nice firm outer pocket with a savory mash of peppery ground beef inside. The warm sour cabbage filling was equally delicious with seasonal wild mushrooms that you could only imagine had simmered over low heat with onions and prunes.

But, I must uphold the opinion of my family drawn from its strong culinary tradition as well as the satisfaction on our faces and our blue tongues, that nothing compares to the wild blueberry pierogies that my grandmother made for us. The berry inside was fresh and summery, sweetened mindfully to complement the tart wild berry flavor.

I'm really enjoying Krakow a lot more than I expected. There are beer gardens and great restaurants all over the place. The people are warm and very hospitable. It's easy to see how Krakow could be the gourmet mecca of Poland; especially when it comes to ice cream.Last night I enjoyed my favorite gelato staple, hazelnut, while my boyfriend tried the delicious "fruits of the forest" which featured a generous mix of berries and cream.
Now we are off to find the best pierogi in town, which according to this guy is right near our hotel.