More GOLDEN WEDDING . . . and . . . Perogies/VARENIKI with Meat Filling

Oct 15^th 1981       (from Shoal Lake, 17 cent stamp)

        Dad is watching Baseball so I don’t have anything to do so wrote letters one to Ukarian and one to Marion’s mother* thanking her for the lovely picture.  So thought I would write to you dear as its your birthday soon.

I have found room for everything it may not be in right place but its away. 

Tomorrow we are going to Brandon to see your cousin Martha Fred’s daughter

she has not long to live and Verna told she’s very sick so we will go and see her being Karen is going anyways.

I want to Thank you both for such a nice time** and thank for bringing food it was a great help.  And you worked very hard here only little help.  And I was such a grouch I hope you for give me.

 I have rested up on Monday  Tuesday we went to a funeral stayed for dinner too. 

Today I sewed up the cushion was going to make the inside cushion but found out I need feather thicking so will get tomorrow

I picked over the tomatoes gave Matt ½ pail red tomatoes and will make tomatoe juice on Sat with the other half pail.  I don’t have much more green ones.

There is a lot of auction Sales  We may go Oct 26^th to one at least I want to Dad says no but I may preswade him to go.

The men were hauling barley to town today and will tomorrow.

Karen took Tracey to get her tooth pulled as the new is through and the baby tooth did not want to came out. 

Next Monday we will kill the old hens and on Wed the ducks with the geese will have to wait as they are not ready.  Matt is going to start killing his geese but he will use the plucker as he will not save the feathers but I want feathers so we will do it by hand.

I have Dutch Irises I was going to give them to Diana but I forgot now I will have to send them.  Oh yes you forgot nail sissiers do you want me to send.

I will Close for now thanking you again for every thing expecialy for the dress and hat I will have to get you something nice.

May your day be happy and cheerfull. 

Give the baby a big hug from me

The happiest of birthday             Love Mother

*********

P.S. "Marion's mother" :  Marion Bantrock married Mom's brother, Wes.  

***********

P. P. S.   nice time**:  This was Mom & Dad's Golden Wedding Anniversary!

A lot of relatives from Dad's side at this table.  Note the little lady in the black hat.  I think that's Tsyotsye.   The lady in glasses on the left is Teenie Showdra.  At the end of the table Bill Stadnyk and his wife are beside Lorne and Lisa.   Gerald Leschyshyn's wife, Val, is wearing large glasses on the right. 

Uncle Wes and Aunt Marion (in pink) are on the right.  

Aunt Florence's son, David, is in left corner.  Diana is dancing with Stuart.

Jim Z is dancing with Aunt Florence, Uncle Mike Makar is dancing with Aunt Katie, Naomi is dancing with Steven, Aunt Nellie is dancing with ? ********

P. S. -- The onion should weigh about 8 ounces.

            -- Add 2 tsp oil or lard when frying the bacon pieces if the bacon is very lean.

            -- I made a few perogies and found the filling was very bumpy and apt to push through the dough.

So I ground the filling in the food processor to make it smoother.  It still had a lot of texture. 

If you're going to freeze some, boil them for only 3 minutes.  

The ones you're going to serve right away should be boiled 4 to 5 minutes.  

They were great!

There is enough filling for one batch of Mom’s dough.  For: Pyrohy main recipe: 

 http://eleanorstadnyk.blogspot.ca/2012/06/perogiesvarenikipyrohi.html

LAREDO WEDDING . . . and Greek Ribs

Saturday, October 8, 2016

 Loops of ribbons in pink and white festooned the house. 

For the arriving guests, appetizers included eggs stuffed with ham, mayonnaise, and cheddar. . . 

with Zombie Essence cocktails followed by white wine.

Kepler is ready to bubble over!

Moving vows . . .

Family . . .

Toasts, planned . . .

Toasts, extemporaneous!

  

Party . . .

A wonderful celebration topped off with . . .

The WEDDING CAKE:  Ice cream cake with gummy bears!

******

“For all that shall be – Yes!”

(Dag Hammarskjöld)

***********

 Greek ribs and a corn salad were plated before a hot dog roast  :)  

GREEK RIBS

Olive oil

Oregano

Onion salt or powder

Garlic salt or powder

Lemon pepper

Lemon (optional)

Pork Side Ribs

*start oven preheating to 350.

* put ribs on broiler pan.  Brush with olive oil.

*Sprinkle ribs with oregano, onion salt, garlic salt, & lemon pepper.

*Cook at 350 for 35 minutes.

*Turn over ribs and sprinkle with oregano, onion salt, garlic salt, & lemon pepper. 

*Cook at 350 for another 35 minutes. 

N.B.  The ribs in Laredo were thicker than at home so I cooked them another 20 minutes and Nicole wanted them darker so she returned them to the oven at 400 for a further 5 or 10 minutes.  In other words, cook these to your taste.

*Squeeze lemon over top (if desired) or just serve!  Yum!

GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY . . . and Ukrainian NACHINKA

October 14, 1931:  wedding of Nick Stadnyk and Mary Leschyshyn

I found a paragraph about Mom and Dad's wedding in FIFTY YEARS YOUNG by Marion S. Turetski. 

The book says that The Holy Ghost Ukrainian Greek-Orthodox parish in Petlura, Manitoba was founded in 1931, and

 “The first wedding performed in the newly-formed parish occurred six months after its incorporation.  Nick Stadnyk and Mary Leschyshyn exchanged wedding vows at the sacrament of matrimony by Father D. Leschyshyn at the home of Marianko and Annie Bantrock on October 10, 1931.” (page 11).

 

The correct date is October 14, 1931.  I think the error  stems from the date chosen for Mom and Dad’s Golden Wedding Anniversary. 

             

October 10, 1981:  Golden Wedding Anniversary

For the newspaper:

FAMILY PICTURES

Mary & Nick with their 7 children:

(L to R) Diana, Eleanor, Nestor, Donald, George, Anastasia, Matthew

Matt's family

Anastasia's family

George's family

Donald's family

Eleanor's family

the Gang

 The Ceremony:  

   

THE BRIDESMAID:  Mom's sister, Nellie

THE DINNER:  Look for another blog later on :)

 THE TOAST:

The DANCE:   also in my next blog :)

The RECIPE:  Mom wrote this out for me when she and I were planning a banquet.

To Laredo, Day 3 . . . and Soup with BREAD DUMPLINGS

Hi Everyone, It was great to hear from Bryan, right?

We agreed that I would write up Day 2 which, of course, never happened.  I will just mention, however, that Bryan, to my surprise, changed the route we had agreed on, because, for some reason, he thought it would be a good idea to go through Montrose.  The last time we went that way it was a summer trip and I said never again that time!  It’s a scary road with steep cliffs and hairpin turns posted at 15 mph speed limits.  To be fair, it's also spectacular and takes you to a ski resort. Also, the town of Ouray is really cute.   

Anyway, here’s his report on how that worked out on Day 3:

The rain eased up when we passed through Montrose at 7:20 a.m. on October 3.  The trees in the valleys and up the slopes were in fall colours.

As we drove along the narrow, winding mountain road we passed through Ouray and realized that we had travelled it once before.   By the time we reached Silverton the temperature had fallen to 3 C,  the rain had turned to sleet, and snow lay along the road side.  There are no shoulders or railings.  Eleanor noticed a sign, “Buckle up in memory of-”.   

   

(Needless to say, there was no way we were going to make it to Bryan’s destination -- Amarillo.  I suggested an alteration: Roswell, New Mexico.)

We booked into a not-so-great Motel 6 and walked to a Mexican restaurant, El Tapatio.  The evening was quite warm.

We made a note to take the highway through Moab in the future. 

(P.S. I just read in a magazine called OUTSIDE that the little town of Silverton on that narrow, mountain road "throws the best Fourth of July party in the Rockies" with "the best fireworks for hundreds of miles". Before the fireworks, you can "Hike three and a half stupid-steep miles to Ice Lake where wildflowers bloom psychedically."  It also suggested you stay afterwards at "stylish Benson Lodge".) 

********

I never travel without remembering that Mom always ordered soup when there was a food stop. 

Chicken soup was one of her favourites.

I have blogged the Chicken Soup with Dumplings that Mom used to make. 

The recipe actually came from Dad's family.  We all loved it.  

http://eleanorstadnyk.blogspot.ca/2012/12/chicken-dumpling-soup-nick-stadnyks.html

Here is one I’ve found that has a softer dumpling. . .  very nice; even though Dad’s Lump Soup was still declared the winner.

CHICKEN SOUP with BREAD DUMPLINGS

            Based on HOMEMAKER’S magazine, November 2004

4 cups chicken stock

4 ounces finely chopped onion (or half a medium onion)

1/8 tsp pepper

1 bouillon cube (optional)

Salt to taste

Cooked chicken from making stock (if you have it)

½ cup milk

2 cups finely diced white bread, crusts removed

2 tbsp minced fresh parsley or ½ tsp dried

¼ tsp salt for dumplings

¼ tsp pepper for dumplings

1/8 tsp nutmeg for dumplings

1 egg

1/3 cup flour

*Bring chicken stock to boil with the chopped onions in a large covered saucepan.  Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Turn off.  Taste for seasoning.  If you like, you can add the bouillon cube now for more flavor.   Let stand until 15 minutes before you want to serve. 

*Heat milk to hot and pour over the bread in a medium bowl.  Let cool.

*Add parsley, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to the bread bowl.  Let stand until 15 minutes before you want to serve.

*Beat egg. 

*Using a fork, mix egg into the bread bowl.  Then mix in flour with the fork. 

*Add cooked chicken (if you have any) to the stock.  Bring stock back to a boil.  Drop tablespoons of dough into broth.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Yum!

BRYAN'S POST and . . . Polish BUCKWHEAT GROATS instead of Rice

Hi everyone! 

And a special Dzien dobry! to my blog visitors from Poland as I’ve noticed there have been a lot of you, lately.

This post is going to be a treat because it was written by my husband, Bryan, while we were on the road to Laredo:

DAY ONE

After packing up our Rav4 the night before, we began our trip but not before picking up coffees to go from McDonalds.  Oh yeah, and sausage McMuffins.

The sky was overcast but the sun was struggling to shine through. 

The line up at the border crossing was very short and, by 8:45 a.m., we breezed through onto the I-5 South.

While I drove, Eleanor read aloud from four different books including:

Sienkiewicz’s WITH FIRE AND SWORD,

W. Pitkin’s history of stupidity,

and, for comic relief, Kitty Kelly’s book THE ROYALS.

We took Interstates #5, 90, 82, and 84.

My plan to reach Boise, Idaho, fell about 100 km short.  Instead we stayed at a surprisingly nice Motel 6 in Ontario, Oregon. 

We were able to walk over to a Country Kitchen restaurant for supper.  The walk turned out to be the best part.  Okay, the onion rings weren’t bad, the locally brewed IPA had character, and Eleanor liked her ribs.

******

Sadly, my camera stopped working just the day before we left :(

*******

BUCKWHEAT GROATS

     from Jean Karsavina’s Polish Cookery section in WOMAN’S DAY
ENCYCLOPEDIA of COOKERY, Vol. 17

1 cup groats

1 tbsp butter

2 cups boiling water

¾ tsp salt

• Heat butter in a large saucepan.
• Brown groats while water comes to a boil in a kettle.
• Add salt and water.
• Reduce heat immediately.
• cover and simmer until done, about 25 minutes.  Stir once or twice to prevent sticking.

OR:  Cook, covered tightly, in 350 degree oven.

Kepler liked the groats!