OLGA KURYLENKO . . . and Ukrainian Chornyhiv Style Borsch

Bryan and I really enjoyed this film.  

The stunning female lead in it is Ukrainian Olga Kurylenko, a  former Bond girl.

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The ingredients include kidneys!

                      page 40 in Bohdan Zahny's THE BEST OF UKRAINIAN CUISINE

          My daughter remarked, "This tastes almost like our borsch."  The ultimate compliment!

May 18 WEDDING CAKE 1974

(Undated: 8 cent stamp:   To Winnipeg:  best guess:  March or April 1974)

Dear Eleanor:

        I am writing about that I did not talk much to Bryan and Diana

I am sorry but I am not very good at talking to all people I run out of what to say that Bryan I am sorry I will make up for it in person I hope he will understand I think he’s a nice guy and besides Dad was at me that I will run you brock talking so long and he said I will not have anything left to say when you come.  There is a lot I would have liked to ask you about the cake 

if its not all right to put only soft icing like you had last time being it will be used up I don’t think it needs almond icing as its nice with only what they put over almond icing but its up to you it will cost less with only one icing I will have to take in first week in May and have it done and it will be over. 

I will try and use the table after Easter as they may be coming less with the kids 

Alines mother is in France having a good time she send the children Easter goodies

We killed a pig this week when you phoned I was in the middle of floor scrubing and waxing the living room everything looks clean I had a rest after I finnish the floors now befor supper had notting to do so thought I will write to you as I haven’t written for a long time

I washed the kitchen curtain and they look good. 

I stoped knitting may try and make few blocks for a quilt I will do in the same pattern like the one  you mentioned you want strips but it all block of strips I hope it will look good I was wondering if those velvet pant to use as a centere block I will make up one block and see how it looks I likely will not have it done till next winter and that after Christmas with so many wedding I don’t think I can do much more than garden and poultry and besides I don’t mind making blocks in summer when I hve time but making the quilt it takes over a week and I do it in Nestor’s room so don’t want it sitting there when some one comes

I phoned Diana tonight but she was out with Bill I am glad she’s having fun Dorthey said she may bring Diana some day

I will have to keep the house in order now not that I don’t but there is days that the kids and men track up my floor But I may wax my kitchen floor tomorrow it needs two coats and its hard the men allways trot in and out mostly when I am working with floor.  But Dad is going to town tomorrow if Diana & Dorthey do go home you write or tell what you would like them to bring from home.

I will close for now Oh I looked at that Deep fryer it has a timer to set and chart on it it can even roast a very small chicken I am sending all my love to you dear & Bryan.  May God bless you both in everything

                                            Love Mother

Nick said why I didn’t wish happy Easter from him to Bryan.

Mom was worried about decorating the cake, which she made, so the icing was added by a professional baker.   I had found the design in a Cordon Bleu magazine.  

MARY’S DARK FRUIT CAKE (for Christmas or Weddings)

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Mary’s Dark Fruit Cake (for Christmas or Weddings)

1 cup butter                                                 ½ cup citron

1 cup brown sugar                                                1 and ½ cup flour

3 eggs                                                            ¼ tsp. baking soda

¼ cup sour cream                                       ½ tsp. cinnamon

1 cup raisins                                                 ½ tsp. cloves

½ cup slivered almonds                            1 tsp. allspice

1 cup currants                                             ¾ tsp. baking powder

1 cup chopped dates                                 ¼ cup orange juice

Bake in slow oven (250 to 300 degrees) until done.

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               This recipe is more detailed than most of Mom’s recipes.  Old-tyme cooks didn’t use precise measurements: as Mom put it, they did it ‘by gosh or by golly’, adding things like flour until the dough felt right.  And they cooked in a woodstove which meant the heat was hard to regulate – not to mention that the temperature gauge on the front was always broken so the cook also had to judge when the oven was ready, once again using that old ‘by gosh and by golly’.

            I had to quantify many recipes by watching Mom and writing things down as she breezed through some complicated procedures.  So, when you see the numbers by the recipes, you should know that those weren’t ever put there by the Mary.  But, if you like things a little more systematic, like me, here are a few more instructions for that cake: 

1.  Grease a 9x9 cake pan and line it with 2 thicknesses of parchment or waxed paper.  Butter the top layer of paper.

2.  Chop the dates, mixing them with a little of the flour.

3.  Add the rest of the fruit, again mixing in a little flour to separate the pieces.

4.  Add the almonds to this mixture.

5.   Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

6.  Mix the spices, baking powder, and baking soda into remaining flour.

7.  Cream the butter and sugar well.

8.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

9.  Add orange juice and sour cream.  Beat.

10. Stir in the flour and spice mixture.

11.  Stir in the fruit and nut mixture.

12.  Bake for 3 to 3 ½ hours.  If the top of the cake browns too rapidly, cover with a piece of aluminum foil.   

Test by pressing the surface lightly with a fingertip.  If the cake feels firm and no finger imprint is left, the cake is done.

13.  Invert on a wire cake cooler for a few minutes before removing the baking tin.  

            

Aunt Nellie's 80th Birthday, 1999 . . . and PRUNE PEROGIES

            In 1931, Nellie went to school, but the year after that the school was closed because there wasn’t any money in the treasury.  So Nellie maybe never even finished grade 4.  She was sent out to work.

          Nellie had to go to work when she was only eleven or twelve years old because there was no school nearby.  She always came home for Christmas except for one year.  That time she cried and cried and said she was for sure coming home for Easter.  Ukrainian Easter coincided with English Easter that year and Nellie did come home.

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            “But she did well with what education she had,” said her sister, Mary.  “She worked in the McLeod Store before she got married and afterwards and everyone liked her.  The patrons liked her.”

            After her husband, Matt, died, Nellie worked for a long time.  She worked in a bakery and she worked as a cook in a hotel.  One day she was at the bus stop in Dauphin when the woman who was running it spotted her. She knew Nellie and she just happened to be interviewing women for a job in the bus stop restaurant.  She didn’t hire the woman she had just spoken to; she hired Nellie. 

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Marilyn said:  when Jim and Laurie took her out for breakfast in Vancouver,  she saw the price for her breakfast and said "What I could have fed all of you for that price.... and enjoyed it!" 

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Manitoba Hotel in Dauphin: gone now in a fire

Sept 19, 2014:  Marilyn wrote

Mom worked here for a year, not sure how long,  This is where the Manitoba Hydro people in the Dauphin area used to go for lunch for the best soup and butter tarts around!  Bill's friend Malte Mosters was telling Bill when they both worked at Teshmond in Winnipeg how he had been taken to this place where he had incredible soup and pastry.  Bill told him he should have stuck his head into the kitchen and talked to the cook as he knew her!
> Nellie left this place when they wanted her to cut corners and stop making soup from scratch and use Bouillon cubes and stop using butter for her pastry!  She said she was not prepared to do this and walked out!

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PRUNE PEROGIES

My cousin, Lily (Stadnyk) Maksymic makes these a lot!

70 prunes = 1 ¼ pounds = almost 600 g

Boil 20 minutes.

Cool.

Stuff each perogy with one prune.