A couple of
weeks ago, we had a great visit with Donald and Karen.
“Do you
still make perogies?” demanded Donald. Last
March, he had started putting some of last year’s potatoes away for me in the
Vegetable Keeper in a one of his fridges!
He also made
Bread and Butter pickles. Looking
sternly at me, he instructed, “There’s one jar for you, one for Diana, and two are
for Nestor.”
Donald said
he isn’t keeping animals now. Only 50
chickens. But he has taken up
bee-keeping. He has two stacks of
hives. One of them has a lazy queen, he
said, but the other stack is doing well, and he has taken honey out twice. Only a couple of bee stings. He said he read a couple of books about it and a friend
told him a bit.
When we got
home, the first thing I made was Scalloped Potatoes. There was a potato sitting in the Vegetable
Keeper in my fridge and I used one of Donald’s potatoes. As I was peeling and cutting them up, I was
struck by the difference in their texture.
My potato was crystalline and white.
Donald’s was much more dense and yellow.
A couple of
days later I made traditional Potato and Cottage Cheese Perogies.
Wow!
What is this? I kept thinking. Perogies
are always good, yes, but, why are these
SOOOO GOOD?!?
Just then, everyone at the table started, “Wow, these are out
of the ballpark.”
Was it the
butter? we wondered. I wasn’t using my
usual brand. Well, yes, the butter was
very good, we agreed. But then, it hit
me.
“It’s the
potatoes!” I said. “I used Donald’s
potatoes and they’re so different. They're much drier . . . and, I guess, tastier!”
In fact, I had had trouble making the perogies
because the filling was so much drier than usual . . . because of the potatoes.
And Donald’s
tomatoes have all turned red so, last night, Bryan made “Five Cheese Pizza”
from THE CALIFORNIA KITCHEN COOKBOOK. Wowsers! J J J
We haven’t
tried the honey yet. Or the onions.
Thanks,
Donald and Karen!
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