Saturday, February 13, 2010

Pierogi Party!

Today was a little crazy! We left our house by 8:30am (and by "we," I mean my mom, my four siblings, and myself) to go make pierogi at our aunt's house! I'm a quarter Polish, and grew up with Busia, my great grandma, always always always cooking something! It was either halka (the most delicious bread) or her famous apple pie (always served with neopolitan ice cream) or pierogi (just because) or kluski soup (made with left over pierogi dough) or just jello and cool whip (which was always kept in the freezer). Busia lived to be 98 years old, and she's probably the most incredible person I've ever met.

She passed away about three years ago, but for the last couple years of her life, we decided we should probably learn to make pierogi for when she's gone. So she taught everyone different parts (I'm the dough maker!) and we teach each other. Every year, even now, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas, neighbors, everyone gets together and we make as many pierogi as we can, since you can freeze them for later. Last year was over 500! This year we cut down a bit, but I at least made some extra dough to make kluski!

Oh, and as is the case with all Polish grandmas, there is no actual recipe. You just figure it out. Which I find super exciting. Especially since I'm still the only one who officially knows how to make the special dough. I've been training others, though. Oh, and here's the thing. I've had other pierogi that are made from scratch by other Polish grandmas and whatnot, but I promise you this: ours are the best pierogi I have ever tasted, and I am so proud of that!

Today was full of other fun surprises and adventures, too. First, my grandma brought me this vintage apron to wear and keep. Busia sewed it, and she embroidered little bunnies on the bottom! How cute! Today we also celebrated my cousin Ben's 17th birthday. It was really exciting because my aunt made this special chocolate cake (Ben unfortunately is allergic to basically 95% of all food), and it was delicious! Who knew you could substitute applesauce for eggs? But it was exciting because it was something yummy that Ben could eat. And then we came home to celebrate my dad's birthday. He's 51, but we still joke that he's still 40 because my sister Ciara used to always draw pictures of my dad wearing a t-shirt that said "40" on it since she was in kindergarten. Ha! So we had some carrot cake for him! And then Mia and I made an animation for his birthday. She was really into it at first, but you can only do so much with a three year old that didn't have a nap and spent the day helping make 200 pierogi.

Daniella, Sami, & I

Mia was so proud of making her first pierog :)

Ciara. Concentrating.

Daniella!

Not quite everybody.

Mom.

Ciara.

Daniella, Sami, & Mia

McKenna cutting out the circles of dough.

Mia, me, & Sami

Sami, me, & Mia

Sami, me, & Mia again

Mia Rose

I am not afraid of a little mess.

We go through a lot of eggs and a 25 lb bag of flour.

Mia & I wear headbands.

Me & Mia

Oh, and Sami & Mia took a break for dress-up.

They even found a wig!
Making kluski!

Ben's yummy cake!

Ciara & I are pretty awesome.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

1 comment:

Thanks for reading about some things I made today! Feel free to leave a comment here; I love hearing from you!

Love, Michaela