EVE of the WEDDING . . . and Ukrainian Stew

Nooo . . . no pictures of the bride and groom this night . . . even though we did get together with them for a drink in the hotel lounge.

Diana, Bryan, and I  all enjoyed meeting Shannon for the first time. 

Shannon works as an Activities Director with seniors and really impressed us when she said, “Many of them don’t have visitors and so I try really hard to put some fun into their days.”

Chay (Lorne’s nephew) and Lee (Lorne’s brother)

Aline (Lorne’s mother) and DJ (Lorne’s niece)

Chay, Lee, Diana, Eleanor, Bryan, Djamal, Aline

*****

Ukrainian Stew, ZHYTOMYR-STYLE

(Svinina Zhitormirska)

A lovely things about Ukrainian food is how delicious it is even though the ingredients are simple.

        From:  THE BEST OF UKRAINIAN CUISINE by Bohdan Zahny

1 ½ lbs pork

3 tbsp butter

2 cups water

3 tbsp tomato paste

1 onion

1 bay leaf

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

4 ounces fresh mushrooms

1 lb potatoes

1 large carrot

·        Cut pork into bite sized pieces.

·        Chop onion finely.

·        Start oven preheating to 350.

·        Divide pork into 3 batches in large frying pan.  Use 1 tbsp butter to brown each batch over high heat.

·        Transfer browned pork to a Dutch oven.

·        Add water to frying pan and scrape up the browned bits.  Pour water over the pork.

·        Stir in chopped onions, tomato paste, salt, and pepper.

·        Cover and cook in oven for one hour.

·        Slice or quarter mushrooms.

·        Peel carrot and chop into short logs.

·        Peel potatoes and cut into small pieces.

·        Add mushrooms, carrots, and potatoes to stew.  Cover and cook 30 more minutes.

*After it’s done, you can turn off the oven and leave the stew in for another hour before serving.  It will be hot and yummy!