We had another wonderful party today. Our friends Kate and Casey came up to visit their family in Wisconsin, and made some time for us as well.
Kate and Casey have a beautiful two-year-old girl, Olympia, and Kate is currently eight months pregnant with their second child, a boy. My sister-in-law Julia and her husband Adrian, who also came here today, are expecting their second child as well, although they haven’t found out the sex. Are you the find-out kind?
Now, because Jacob and I were hosting and cooking the bulk of tonight’s meal, I literally haven’t had the chance to grab my camera. Thankfully, Kate brought hers and snapped these:
My sister-in-law, Julia, with her outrageously awesome tomato-and-cheese platter. The tomatoes are from her garden, mainly heirlooms.
Julia, among her other gifts, has a wonderful eye for presentation.
Pretty maids all in a row: Penny (Julia’s daugther), Olympia, and Josie. They are eating and clearly liking these cookies.
The kids’ table! My kids are the ones facing away. Note how Cyrus is wearing cut-off long johns as shorts. Now that’s Viroqua.
Also, an important PSA: Kate is a wonderful writer and has a blog that she shares with her sisters and sisters-in-law. The girls write beautifully and entertainingly about growing up in our neck of the woods and about their lives in Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, and Texas. By all means pay them a visit!
On a different note, I am thrilled to no end that nobody ran screaming from the eggplants.
I also served some freshly-churned blackberry ice-cream made with the berries my husband and kids picked across the road at our neighbors’ this morning. I used the recipe from The Commonsense Kitchen by Tom Hudgens, a former Chez Panisse chef.
Tom’s cookbook is fabulous, by the way, and because Tom is my internet friend, he got his publisher to send me two copies to give away on this blog. Stay tuned!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Am I blind? I’d love to read Kate-and-sisters’ blog, but I don’t see a link for it. Can you share?
Joie recently posted..Dear Charlotte
You are right, I forgot to include the hyperlink. Will do when I get to a computer. Thanks for pointing it out.
Hi Sofya,
What a treat to find your site. I was looking for a borscht recipe like my grandmothers (Ukrainian) and you popped up. I’m a recently retired guy who is suddenly way into cooking; I love it. I’m going to make your borscht in the morning. Do you happen to make pierogy’s (we call them petaha) or golubsty (we call them holubche)? I made golubsty today and it was only passable . Incidentally, my wife Patty is from Siren (flower in Swedish) Wisconsin. My grandparents both from Ukraine. Well, I’m sure your busy and it’s ok if you don’t have time to answer.
Cheers,
Phil
Hi Phil, you bet I have a recipe for golubtzy and what we in my part of the former Soviet union call “pelmeni” (cousin of pierogy, yes?). Here they are:
http://girlsguidetobutter.com/2010/10/russian-cabbage-rolls/
http://girlsguidetobutter.com/2010/02/russian-pelmeni/ (double the dough to make it enough for all the meat)
Here’s the entire archive for Russian and Azeri foods:
http://girlsguidetobutter.com/category/recipes/russian-and-azerbaijani/
Try also:
Natasha’s Kitchen
Sassy Radish
Russian Mom Cooks
All of the above have fantastic recipes from the former Soviet Union’s republics.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sofya