BIRTHDAY DINNER

AUGUST 10

These halushky are easy to make and a nice accompaniment for beef stroganoff.

POTATO HALUSHKY (serves 4)

Prepare these early in the day and then reheat.  They're even better!

1 ¼ pounds potatoes

1 egg

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 cup flour

1.       Boil potatoes until tender and mash (or use potato ricer).

2.      Fill stock pot ¾ full and set to boil. 

3.      Beat egg. 

4.      Mix egg, salt, pepper, and flour into mashed potatoes.

5.      Shape dough into one inch balls. 

  

6.      Add 3 tsp salt to rapidly boiling water in stock pot.

7.      Set draining spoon and a large pan of cold water beside stove.

8.      Melt 2 tbsp butter in a bowl and set aside.

9.      Drop half the dumplings, one by one, into the boiling water.  As soon as the dumplings are in, time 2 minutes.  Stir gently once just to get halushky to lift off bottom.     Do not cover.

10.  Test a dumpling to see if it is tender.  Lift them with draining spoon and drop into cold water. 

11.  Remove dumplings immediately from cold water into a colander and then into the bowl with the melted butter.

12.  Repeat with remaining dumplings.

13.  Serve hot with sour cream or a meat with a cream sauce.

·         Do not dump dumplings from boiling water into a colander as they are quite fragile. 

To reheat:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put halushky in covered casserole and heat for 30 minutes.  The bottoms will brown and look and taste great!

BIRTHDAY CAKE

August 10 

Mom never forgot a birthday . . . if we were home she’d bake a cake . . . if we were far away she’d send us her love.

                                                                        ********************

This is the recipe for a cake Mom made for us over and over again:

MARY STADNYK’S CRUMB CAKE

2 cups flour

¾ cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 cup sour milk (or ¼ cup vinegar added to ¾ cup sweet milk)

½ tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp powdered cloves (or allspice)

1 tsp cinnamon

¾ cup raisins

¾ cup currants

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease 9x9 inch square cake pan.
3. Rub flour, butter, and sugar together to make crumbs.
4. Take out 1 cup of the crumbs and set aside for topping.
5. Mix the remainder of the crumbs with the egg and then the rest of the ingredients.  (blend well, but no beating is necessary)
6. Pour mixture into cake pan and cover with the reserved crumb topping.
7. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes.  (Test with a toothpick to see if it comes out dry as ovens differ.) 

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When I was a little girl, I used to pinch bits off the delicious topping of Mom’s Crumb Cake.

UKRAINE: FIELD and MONASTERY

Pilgrims to the Pochayiv Lavra visit the baroque cathedral to see the 1597 Mother of God icon and the “footprint of the Virgin”.   

Women must cover their head, knees, and hands.  Men aren't allowed hats or shorts.

                                      Pochayiv Lavra is a large and beautiful Orthodox complex.

                                                          Pochayiv Lavra from a distance

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Savella says that “While millet is rarely used in Canada even by Ukrainian cooks, it is an important cereal in Ukraine.”  (p. 226)

Instead of rice, potatoes, or pasta to accompany a meat dish, you would not be disappointed by :

CARTER’S MILLET  (Serves 6)

If serving to company, prepare this ahead of dinner and then reheat just before serving.

 From Borshch to Blinis by Catherine Atkinson says that carters on the steppes of Ukraine cooked this over an open fire.

1 cup millet

2 cups water (or stock: vegetable or chicken)

¼ tsp pepper

4 slices bacon

1 tbsp olive oil

6 ounces onion

½ pound mushrooms (about 9 button mushrooms)

salt to taste

1.  Rinse the millet with cold water and drain.
2. In a saucepan, bring millet, pepper, and 2 cups water to a boil.  Cover  and simmer on very low heat for 20 minutes  or until water is absorbed.
3. Slice the onion finely and set aside on a plate. 
4. Slice the mushrooms. 
5. Fry the bacon until well-browned and remove from the pan.   Chop the fried bacon and return to the pan.
6. Add the oil, onion, and mushrooms to the pan.   Sauté for 10 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring the whole time. 
7. Stir the millet into the onions and mushrooms.
8. Taste for salt.

To reheat:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Put the millet into a covered casserole.   Heat the casserole for 15 to 20 minutes.

                                                            *********

Leftover millet mixed into a macaroni salad is surprisingly delicious!

MIZERIA of CUCUMBERS

August 7, 1989:  Mom wrote:

“Donald and George are swathing wheat.  They have done a lot as they are going with two swathers. 

It was hot today but not near as it was last week and before.  At least it was cool in the house.”

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   A field in Ukraine (July, 2004) 

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 My sister-in-law, Aline,  is picking cucumbers now.   This would make a good side dish for a hot day in August, Aline:

MIZERIA (Cucumber Salad)  Serves 4 

1 large cucumber  

Fresh dill

2 tsp white wine vinegar (or more if desired)

1/3 cup sour cream

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1.  Run the tines of a fork down all the sides of the cucumber if the skins are tender; otherwise peel off the tough skin.
2. Slice the cucumber finely and set aside.
3. Chop ½ cup dill.
4. Mix together dill, vinegar, sour cream, salt, and pepper.
5. Just before serving, stir together cucumber and sour cream dressing.
6. Garnish with a sprig of dill.

UKRAINIAN PIONEER MORNINGS

MORNING RITUAL for MARY STADNYK (as a child on a homestead)

1.       There was a bench with a basin and a towel was hanging on a nail:

Wash your face and hands in a basin with warm water that was heated in a big pot.   Everyone used the same towel but you changed the towels often.

They also had a wooden tub bought at Pikoff’s store in Rossburn.

2.       Say prayers on your knees by a table in front of icons.  Cross yourself 3 times and say the Lord’s Prayer and one to the Virgin Mary.  (It was not everyone at the same time.  Each person did this when they got up.)

3.       Breakfast:  always oatmeal porridge or cornmeal or cooked rice with milk and sugar.  You put syrup or honey on bread (never toast) and even the children drank tea.  Hardly any milk was drunk.

(Sometimes sour milk was drunk in the evening with dinner.)

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                                                L-R:  Ivan, Eleanor, Larry, and my brother


When I was growing up, Mom used to make a big pot of oatmeal porridge which we had with milk and cream, of course.  

                                             I always liked the brown crust that was at the bottom..

One day, Mom told me that when there wasn't any milk, they used to eat porridge with butter.  For a long time after that, I wouldn't eat porridge any other way!

                                                                ****************
My cousin Marilyn comments: "Yes, I remember Breakfast at grandma's and the prayers.   My father loved porridge every morning, the kind that took forever to cook, and I remember that brown crust!"
                                                                                            **************

Now, it's all about healthy eating, and this is the yummy oatmeal Bryan makes when we want something special:

SPICED OATMEAL   (low-salt:   2 servings)

2 cups water

½ cup chopped dried apples

1/3 cup raisins

2/3 cup rolled oats

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

¼ tsp salt

1.  Put all the top ingredients in pot and bring to a boil.  Cover & reduce heat to low.
2. Cook for 5 minutes.
3. in each of 2 separate little microwavable dishes put :  2 tbsp maple syrup
                                                  and 1 tbsp chopped walnuts
4. Heat the syrup and the walnuts.
5. Serve oatmeal.  Each person adds their own syrup/walnuts and milk.

BABA LESCHYSHYN

                                    ANNA LESCHYSHYN :  Dec. 22, 1887  -  January, 1960

Anna’s father’s name was Myron Leschyshyn.     

Anna’s mother’s name was Maria and she had red hair.

Anna’s birthplace:  Poberizhi Village near Stanislaw (Ivan Frankiw), Ukraine

Anna's Relatives in Ukraine:  Her cousin Yulia and Yulia's grandson, Roman.

  Anna's Education:  Grade 4 (considered very good for girls; most at that time had nothing)

  

                Languages:  Ukrainian, Polish

      Anna and John were vey distant cousins, but Anna’s family was wealthier than John’s.  They had good land whereas John’s land flooded.  Anne’s mother had a house servant.

 

One man told Mom that there wasn’t a prettier girl in the village than Anna.  She had hazel eyes and hair that darkened from blonde to brown.

Anna didn’t like embroidery.  She preferred looking after the horses.  There was a community pasture so the horses had their front feet hobbled and she held the ropes while they grazed.

Anna was engaged to someone in the army, but John came home from the army ahead of him and courted Anna with songs.   Anna liked John who was a very handsome man with brown eyes, dark hair, and a blond moustache. 

Anna’s family liked John’s mother and were impressed with him.  “A bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush.”  So they talked her into dropping her fiancé.  

 

Anna and  John were married August 2, 1906. 

John emigrated to Canada alone about 6 months later.  He saved enough money to go back to Ukraine in 1911.  He intended to stay in Ukraine but the Austrian army called him up again.  He didn’t want to go back to the army so he returned to Canada, this time with Anna.

When they left Ukraine, people were putting in gardens, but when they got to Canada, it was all snow and ice.

 Anna immediately made up her mind she wasn’t staying but she was pregnant and decided to wait until the baby came. 

My mother, Mary, was born October 2, 1912, at the house of friends because John and Anna didn't have a house yet. 

In 1913, in the fall, John applied for a ship card for Anna to return to Ukraine even though she was already expecting another child, but his application was returned.  No one was being allowed in or out of Canada because of the war coming.

Anna never returned to Ukraine, but she never learned English.

 

Anna’s gravesite:  Petlura, Manitoba

                                                Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Ascension  

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 Mom said that Baba was a good cook.  More about that at another time.

GEDO LESCHYSHYN

                                                John Leschyshyn:   July 7, 1888 - June, 1960

 John’s parents:  Basil or Wasyl Leschyshyn and Mary Pueda (pronounced Pooyda)

   Mom thought that Gedo’s dark complexion may have come from a gypsy grandmother.

John’s birthplace:  Poberizhi Village near Stanislaw (Ivan Frankiw), Ukraine

                              This house is on the site where Gedo lived before he came to Canada.  

                                                           John’s Education: grade 8

                                               Languages:  Ukrainian, Polish, German, English

                  This is Gedo’s niece, Maria, and her 10 year old granddaughter, Bohdanka.

John's Trade:  in Ukraine: 

-          Weaver

-          Served in Austrian-Hungarian army

  

            In Canada, John was mainly a farmer, but he was also the unofficial vet in the district.  He had a special needle for sewing up ruptures in little pigs and for when he castrated steers and pigs.  He used creveline? to wash knives and cuts.

            To make money during the winter, John paid an inspector for a permit to cut long poles of tamarack.  He would go to the reserve one day and, two days later, after he trimmed the poles, he took them to Shoal Lake to sell to storekeepers and anyone else who needed wood for stoves and heaters.  He got $10.00 a sleigh-load -- about a cord of wood: 8 feet long piled 4 feet high. 

            John was always a trustee on the School Board.

            John supported the Conservatives and then, in 1935, the CCF.

            John was friends with councilors, the reeve, provincial politicians, and members of parliament so, because nobody else knew English or could keep the books, he was a Secretary at civil elections at the office of the election committee and at provincial and Dominion elections.   (He was paid $25.00 for the federal elections.)

 

John’s gravesite:  Petlura, Manitoba

                                    Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Ascension

UZVAR  (Dried Fruit Compote)

In From Borschch to Blinis, Catherine Atkinson (Page 84) says  “Uzvar is served on Christmas Eve and also at feasts at which the dead are honored.”

A mixture of dried fruits (apples, apricots, pears, prunes, raisins) is cooked with some water to soften the fruits.  Then honey and lemon are added.

My cousin Marilyn asked,  Do you remember this dish from Christmas Eve dinner? It ended our feast, so refreshing, served cold!