To Perishky or not Perishky

I don’t know what’s going on, but lately, I’ve been having this very odd need to make a lot of Mennonite food.  This shouldn’t be odd, really, because for heaven’s sake I am Mennonite.  We've got Bergen's and Thiessen's and Wiebe's in my background...And I married a Mennonite - that's Penners and Sawatzky's, oh my.  That’s a full-on Mennonite heritage right there. 

But I’ve never really made so much of the Mennonite food apart from cottage cheese verencki and farmer sausage and the one time I made rollkuchen. 

So I’ve been thinking about making borscht for a few weeks now.  Who knows why – I have never even liked borscht. 

All those church lunches where they served borscht and buns, saints preserve me, those were a trial to get through.  And the countless pots of borscht my mom made….the only way for me to get through those was that my dad would promise me that I could have whatever change was in his pocket at the time if I could finish by borscht within the next minute or so.  There was always one quarter in his pocket.  He obviously came prepared to the borscht meals but I never clued in to that and always hoped to find more, I mean, I would see numerous times when he would have a whole pocket of change.  I would always be hoping to get the jackpot, but no, ever only the one quarter. 

So last weekend, I actually made borscht.  I bought a shank bone and followed the recipe from Mennonite Girls Can Cook.  The only difference was that I used purple cabbage instead of the traditional green which turned the potatoes purple.  My mother in law came over for dinner and I served my borscht and yes, I even made fresh buns from scratch.  Does it get more Mennonite than that?  Well, maybe if I had made zweibach….but that seemed like too much work so it was just the plain buns for me.  My mom in law really liked the borscht and so did Aven; the kids, not so much.  As for me, I can’t say that I loved it, but in truth, I did like it.   I even took leftovers for lunch for the following week. 

So mom and dad….next time you come for dinner….hahaha….you get borscht and buns!  I’m not sure if you’ll be happy about that or not.

And now, now I’m thinking about what to feed Aven for lunch during the week.  He doesn’t have access to a microwave because he’s out on a construction site and he really is not a big fan of sandwiches.  So today I sort of hit upon the idea of Fleisch Perishky.  That’s meat pockets to all you Non-Mennonites out there. So of course I went to the source of all good Mennonite Recipes, Mennonite Girls Can Cook, and found the recipe.  Then I saw the recipe for Fruit Perishky and thought those looked delicious….so you know what I’ll be doing all weekend, right?! 

Next thing you know, it’s a steady diet of rollkuchen, borscht, verencki,  plumi moos, platz, kotletten, ruhrei, and perishky. 

Is this normal?  Am I normal?  Or maybe a little crazy.   Probably a little crazy.

Maybe this has something to do with my Opa being sick.  I didn’t really ever have an Oma that made all sorts of yummy things – my mom’s mom lived out Winnipeg and so I didn’t see her so often and if she did make those yummy things, they couldn’t really be sent by mail.  I wasn’t ever a super fan of the only cookie that could be sent – Honig Kuchen. She’s gone, now, anyhow.   My other Oma died when I was very little and the woman who became my new Oma, while she makes a lot of Mennonite dishes, I don’t really recall her food other than her zweibach – a bag of which I received for my last birthday which was a very welcome gift.

Both sets of Aven’s grandparents are out in the prairies, although his original Omas are no longer with us either.

Once my Opa is gone, that’s kinda it for me as far as Opa’s and Oma’s go.   Maybe this food thing is an instinctive way for me to somehow cling on to a heritage that’s getting farther and farther away with each generation.   A way to pass on something to my kids.   

So, I guess I will make my perishky and and borscht.  We’ll serve rollkuchen and raboose (watermelon) in the summer…

Maybe other recipes will find their way to my stove or oven…but one thing I can guarantee I will never make is the ikra (shudder).

This and That

Gosh, this year suddenly feels like it’s speeding by.  June always goes by in a blur, filled with recitals and other school-year end activities. 

Miss H has lost her second tooth, now.  It flew out last Sunday – she’d wiggled it to death and then pleaded with Aven to pull it out.  He tied the thread and gave it a good yank.  Well, the tooth came out, but it whizzed right by his ear and since we were outside, landed in the grass.  We still haven’t found it.  But Miss H wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy explaining the situation and asking for “$5 or more” still for the tooth.  I reminded her that the Tooth Fairy had written in her last little note that she gave the most money for the first tooth lost only and so maybe H should be careful that she’s not sounding greedy.  “Oh, you’re right!”  she said.  She grabs her note and crosses out the “or more” part and writes in “or less.”

The toothfairy came that night and left a toonie.  No note (because I didn’t think she would be losing a tooth last weekend!) and when Hope saw it she was mightily disappointed that it wasn’t a fiver. 

Aven thinks she won’t be quite as impatient to get her next tooth out now.  J

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about our camping trip that’s coming up – our first family camping trip!  We’re heading out for two nights and well, since we had no camping stuff at all – like I’m talking not even a propane stove - we’ve had to buy it all new.  So we’ll be putting up all our shiny new camping stuff like the newbies we are, but I’m sure we’ll get the hang of things quickly.  I’m already making lists of stuff to bring, the menu, grocery list, etc.  I’m EXCITED!  I think it will be an amazing time…and hopefully it doesn’t rain.  

Our little man is alternately frustrating/heart melting.  He holds his hands up to be picked up in a big hug and he says softly in my ear “You my mommy.  Me your son.”  This little one is our snuggler.  Our toucher.  He has to know where everyone is all the time.  You can see him look around periodically, no matter what he’s doing and take an inventory of where everyone is and what they’re doing.  If someone’s not home, he must ask occasionally to reaffirm that this person is where he thinks they are.  “Daddy at work?”  “Daddy come home soon?”  “Where H?”  “H at Brownies?” 

At night he is drawn like a magnet into our bed.  We carry him back to his own bed when he falls asleep and 20 minutes he’s back.  We’ve basically given up on trying to force him to stay in his own bed and pray that this is something that he will just naturally grow out of.  Aven despairs that even if M gets a football scholarship to a school in the States, he won’t be able to go cause it’s too far from home!  We’ll cross that road when we get to it. Lol.

Lately a neighbour boy has been coming over in the morning on Wednesdays and Thursdays and our nanny has been watching him as well for a few hours.  This has worked out so well for everyone, but especially M.  He has never had someone come over just to play with him, so he gets so excited when this little boy comes over he.  When the doorbell rings he runs up to the door, flings it open and says “Come in my friend!” 

This weekend we have Aven’s work barbeque to attend.  Attendance is not optional for this event.  I had forgotten about it and rsvp’d affirmatively to a birthday party that H had been invited to then had to reverse the response.  Miss H had been devastated that she would be missing the party because it was at Chucky Cheese – her favourite place and somewhere I avoid at all costs – but she got over it once Aven mentioned there was to be a prize draw at the bbq. 

Tonight we’re having salmon for dinner.  I love salmon.  I’m trying to make my family love salmon.  So far no luck.  We’ll have it tonight barbequed on a cedar plank – yum – if the rain holds off that is.  Otherwise it will be baked in the oven. 

The last time we had it, M refused to eat any of it and if even the tiniest bit got mixed up with his other food and somehow ended up in his mouth he put out his tongue and carefully picked off the offending bit.  And then the next night Miss H asked what we were having for dinner and M broke in anxiously “Not salmon.  No not salmon, right?”

Shaking his head and looking at me for confirmation.  Hahaha.  Poor kids.  Such torture I put them through.  Miss H will eat the salmon and I think she actually doesn’t even mind it.  As long as I don’t serve it too often.

I heard once on a radio show how a mom, whenever her daughter was upset or stressed out, she would give her salmon and broccoli as ‘comfort food’ in the hopes that this would be what her daughter would turn to later in life instead of the typical high fat / high sugar fare that typically constitutes comfort food.  I wonder if it worked.  I can’t imagine it, can you? 

I’m also thinking about M’s birthday – it’s not coming up til August, but I usually start planning it in my brain around May.  It’s goofy I know, and totally not fair to H because after spending 3 ½ months planning every detail of M’s birthday, I’m usually partied out and don’t have the energy to plan hers which happens three weeks later.   

…so for M’s party – I think we’re going to do a picnic in the park that’s close to our house.  We’ll have picnic food and play games like potato sack race and duck duck goose and we’ll do a lemonade bar – a great idea I saw on Savvy Mom.  The cake will look like a watermelon….oh boy oh boy. 

I’ve even got the party favours already!  Heehee I had to snap them up when I saw them cause they were just PERFECT!    You’ll find out what they are when I post pictures…in August.

Other than that, I will attempt to post a little more frequently and maybe even get a picture or two up.  Over and out.