Zucchini Mama

Perogy Primer So the recipe I used was in the cookbook I mentioned, by Mr. J. Hofer. I used his "Never Fail" perogy dough recipe. I mean, I don't understand why people always have six recipes for something, in addition to the "never fail" recipe. I guess people just like to live dangerously--if your perogies might fail does that add a frisson of excitement to the process? I don't like to fail in the kitchen, because when I do I fail dramatically. I'll never live down the gnocchi disaster of '99. This year's disaster is recorded in the eGullet home made marshmallow thread--just call me the woman with the smoking beaters.... But I digress. Eggs, flour, water, milk. And here she is, the woman we've all been waiting for! Notice how thinly she rolls the dough-about an eighth of an inch on a liberally floured surface. This is to allow for shrinkage when they are boiled. We use jam jar lids to cut circles out of the dough. A couple of great tips: Firm up the mashed potato and onion filling so it's easier to handle by putting it in the fridge to cool. Also, use a large melon baller to scoop out tablespoon-sized balls of filling on a plate. Notice how she pinches the middle of the perogy edge first, then the corners, then goes over the whole edge, gently but firmly pinch it together so that the perogy does not open up when it is being boiled. raw perogies A beaming Perogy Diva makes perogy number 55! The parboiled perogies each have their own ripples and dimples unlike the banal similarity among factory-produced imposters. So there we have it! I just have this great image of the large potato masher on a broom stick that Jasmine used in a kind of butter-churn? shaped device to mash up the spuds. She will fill in any of the details I have missed. It was fun, like a perogy bee as opposed to a quilting bee! Here's Ullie with his chocolate hazelnut praline-filled treat from Thomas Haas. Today he turned off all the lights and turned on the Christmas lights and put his toys to sleep under the tree.

Okay, we coaxed the boy out of the house with a promise of a visit to the YWCA Thrift shop. It is just around the corner of Solly's Bagelry, which is a real hub of activity in our local community. If you want to announce an event, you have to put a poster up at Solly's. Solly's has a little basket of beat up toys which Ullie loves and has been diving into since he could walk. Golden latkes with apple sauce and sour cream. Ullie had a grilled cheese sandwich at home before we left, so he had a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin. Monmartre: There are flamenco nights, poetry readings, and funky bands at this neighborhood café. It is in the same block as Mainly Organics where we bought the organic russet potatoes for the perogies. Next up...Perogy Diva!

Our dinner was a partial recreation of this Christmas dinner - no buffalo hump or calf, but moose nose, beavertail, whitefish, goose, potatoes and turnips were prepared in the style of the era. Our drink was rum. We ate at a long trestle table in a room lit by fireplaces and torches. It was cold and snowy and quiet and for a few hours we travelled back in time. ← That's beautiful barolo, just magical. Thank you. Now I'm really homesick. I think I need a glass of wine.

The following is a poem inspired by the barn swallows that escort you to UBC farm as you walk up the treelined road towards its gates. It is inspired by this popular exerpt of a long poem by Christopher Smart called Jubilate Agno. Jubilate Swallow We give thanks for barn swallows for they snatch invisible food from the air for they feedeth on the dreaded mosquito for they are the finest of aerial artists for their flying is dancing for their bodies are sleek arrows for their bellies are sandy orange for their backs are almost black almost blue almost purple for their backs are iridescent for their sturdy nests are the opposite of their delicate nature for their babies have fat yellow beaks for they maketh shelter from mud for they describe the arcs toward paradise for they sew sunlight and shadow together for they are owned by no one and loved by almost everyone for even their squabbling is delightful LDW July 20/05

Thanks makan makan! "Holobshy?" I mean it's always a phonetic approximation of the original text, and even "perogy" gets spelled a couple of different ways. I would love to give you my recipe for chai shortbread. I just use unbleached flour and brown rice flour-it makes them a bit fragile, but I like it. Or you can take any old shrotbread recipe and just add the chai spices, the same way a plain vanilla cheesecake becomes an eggnog cheesecake by the addition of nutmeg, cinnamon, etc. Thanks Genny, please share your Christmas experiences with us!

Thanks Perogy Diva! Ullie loved the Thomas Haas treat you gave him (and so did I!). I really appreciate your help and I look forward to seeing you at eGullet events and around the hood. The photos are cooking right now. In the meantime, here are some more thoughts inspired by UBC Farm: What's the Buzz? UBC Farm's Blackberry Festival This morning I have had one of my favorite meal of summer so far. At $2.50, it was also one of the cheapest! I can't think of a better place to spend a Saturday morning in August than UBC farm, especially on a breezy sunny day like today. The organizers in the Blackberry Festival have created an exciting buzz in the air, along with the bees busily making honey while the sun shines. As usual, I get on the number 25 bus at Ontario and King Edward, and watch the scenery go by until we get to the Westbrooke Mall stop. From there, I head South and enjoy the fifteen minute walk to the farm. The sandy underbellies of swallows flash in the sun and the air is filled with their squabbling and bantering. My eyes search out plump, ripe Himalayan blackberries in the cool shade by the side of the road. The market is busy this morning and throughout the grounds I see families staking out the best blackberry patches and filling up their containers. A woman pumps furiously away on a stationary purple bicycle hooked up to a blender, creating fresh bicycle powered smoothies for the crowd. She is a member of the UBC Bike Co-op, who provide a number of services for cyclists on the campus. There is honey for sale, lavender, containers of freshly made bean salad, UBC farm t-shirts and hats, as well as interesting produce from the Mayan garden, and the UBC market garden. I notice the food created by the Aboriginal Downtown East Side Community Kitchen looks fantastic, so I can't wait for noon to roll around. I also take note of the blackberry cake and pie for sale. I head off to one of my favorite places at UBC farm, which is clearing containing the apiary. The bees are the busiest I've ever seen them, filling the air like fuzzy musical notes issuing forth from the mouth of the hive. I try to phonetically transcribe some of the birdsong I'm hearing: One sounds like "tweedle dee dee, tweedle dee dee, the fly has married the bumble bee." I would love to come out here with a real birder who could help take an inventory of just how many birds make their homes on the farm. So far I have seen robins, hawks, goldfinches, raspberry finches swallows, and today two yellow-green canaries, only slightly larger than butterflies chase each other in the air over a pile of culled timber. The purposeful industry of the bees inspires me and makes me feel a little bit guilty in my role as the passive observer. They awaken twinges of the protestant work ethic guilt deep in my psyche. They pry open those questions I have about my own role and purpose in society. There is also something mystical about bees. I ask myself: who tells them what to do? Do they each have a built in sense of their purpose and role in life, or do they receive orders from some kind of divine voice? Of course, I'm projecting my own burning questions onto the bees. What is the buzz? We love and protect bees. They are peaceful, productive, and industrious. They have a highly organized society in which tasks are divided among the members and change according to the bee's age. They pollinate our fruits and vegetables, thus helping them to bear fruit. Bees create delicious honey and they're great dancers. They are a matriarchal and female-dominant. They will sting if the hive is threatened, but are not usually malicious. As I ponder the bees, I head over to the market stand for my lunch. I asked to try three of the salads offered by the Aboriginal Downtown Eastside Community Kitchen made from vegetable picked right from their garden on the farm. I thought they were each $2.50, but my entire plate heaped with three salads was $2.50 in total! There was coleslaw made of green cabbage and dressed in a tangy vinaigrette with a few fresh blueberries tossed on top before serving. There was a rotini pasta salad with another perfect vinaigrette, fresh raw peas, and tiny crunchy kernels of corn. My favorite salad was the stellar potato salad made with a mayonnaise-based dressing, chopped kale and a touch of fresh sage. I sat in the shade of an elder tree and savored every bite of my lunch. I didn't have room left for the bannock focaccia, but liked the idea of this Canadian/Italian fusion. In the farm center, which houses the site washroom, I literally ran into a chef with some amazing aboriginal face tattoos. I peeked my head in the kitchen, which was redolent with sage, and thanked the workers for such great food. The sunflowers are now out in their full glory, many of them in the deep, rusty colors that are so popular right now. I detected a whiff of smoke in the air, so I headed down the apiary, where sure enough, the beekeepers were at work opening up the hives so visitors could look inside. Apparently the farm rents these hives out to other farmers. It's a sweet deal, because the farmers get their plants pollinated and the farm keeps all the honey. The bees were furious at having their productive day interrupted, but they weren't looking for blood. A few brave souls walked up to the hive without beekeeper's gear, but as the bees became increasingly agitated we were told to keep our distance just in case. My dad said he's had hives with different personalities, some are more aggressively protective than others. The beekeeper showed us a female worker perched on her hand and explained to us that if you get stung, try to gently lift the bee up, so the stinger doesn't break off and continue pumping venom into your skin. Once she had allowed the children watching to have a close look at the bee, she gently brushed it off. It flew away and left a little spot of nectar behind. The beekeeper tasted it and smiled at the sweetness of the insects's gift.

The Perogy Diva has left the building! Could it be Paris? ← No, but I'll give you a hint. It was featured recently in a wonderful blog. You don't have perogies! Call in the Perogy Diva Emergency Measures Squad! JasmineL, a Vancouver eGulleter who used to work at a Vancouver shop called "Perogies, Perogies!" very kindly assisted me this afternoon. Excuse me, I assisted her High Peroginess as she made about five perogies to my one. She used to make hundreds of perogies every day, and knows all the tips. I will explain more once I post the photos after supper tonight. I will let her regale you of the stories of the crew that she worked with. We made 55 perogies, half potato and onion and half rotkraut. Then we parboiled them until they rose to the surface of the water and I will freeze them on saran on baking tray. These will be so good, as Abra says with soft onions, sour cream and freshly made sausage. Kudos to Jasmine, who was brave enough to help out someone she has never met before! That's the spirit of eGullet, bringing people together with comfort food. And yes, she is as beautiful as her avatar. Let me give you one piece of advice: if you ever want anyone from the prairies to do anything for you, they will do it if you pay them in home made perogies. It's like crack for gophers!

Funny that you say that, Zuke. As much as Noah enjoys going out, there are days when I couldn't pry him out of the house with a crowbar. While I type, Noah's examining all manner of small things with his newly acquired magnifying glass. Mmmm, Solly's. It's been forever and a day since I've been there. Have you tried the newer one on Yukon and 7th? Do me a favour and order a jam rugelach and a mushroom knish for yourself while you're there, would you? I need to eat vicariously through you as we'll be on the opposite end of town. ← Yes Moosh, I think Ullie lived exclusively on knishes at one stage of his development. I'm jonesing for latkes right now though, girl! I haven't tried the new Solly's since we live so close to the one off Main. We grab a dozen bagels on Cheap Wednesdays and I stash a bunch in the freezer.

This is where I went for rice pudding on Saturday. The pudding was made with sweet rice, coconut milk, and raisins. I just love the colors they've used--it's such an appetizing environment. The week before, I'd had lunch there and a bunch of "radical vegetarians" were talking about sabotaging a Vancouver restaurant that serves horse meat. I got some great quotes for future shows: "I mean, she's so rude. I'm eating my lunch, and she's talking about how great her horse steak is. I mean, not only am I a vegetarian, but I OWN a horse!" They proceeded to talk about cruelty to animals very loudly through my whole meal.

So while I was dancing about to the music of Sarah Harmer, I cooked some brown basmati rice with green cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon. I threw in some dried unsulphured cherries. I've got to go out and get some evaporated milk to finish it up. Ullie is busy drawing plans for his inventions: a candy making machine that makes jellies and a toy making machine that can make any toy and stamp it "made by Ullie." Thanks for the recipe from Madge, Abra. Your recipe files are a natural treasure! You're a blogger's best helper. New Flash: We have been invited to a neighborhood progressive party and our course is themed "the future of food." Mike thinks we should do soilent greens and Clockwork Orange Juice. Any other ideas? I've got to get my son out of the house and down to Solly's Bagelry. That's going to be the hardest thing I do all day. He's such a little home body. Check out Sarah Harmer's song Oleander-it sends shivers down my spine. lyrics

Pop Quiz: Zucchini Mama once shopped for Christmas presents in this city.

Good Morning! Today is all about the perogy. I am excited to tell you I have a special guest coming to help me out this afternoon whom I will call the Diva of Perogies! If you grew up with the Canadian version of Sesame Street, the perogy song should be running through your brain right now. I woke up to the sound of heavy rain, and the sky is just beginning to lighten out my window where I am looking south. I myself a medicinal papaya smoothie with yogurt to sooth my tummy and I added some special Apitherapy Rejuvination Tonic to it to start my day with a kick. It is made with blueberries and raw honey from Vermont from this apiary:honeygardens. This was the first product I ever ordered over the internet. I so want to visit their operation some day. Are there any eGulleters here from Vermont? That state seems to have some great artisanal culinary products like chocolates and cheese. Okay I've got to go do my mad woman's work out:stretch, strengthen and dance around like a mad woman for half an hour.

Might it be Bath? ← Congratulations cayenne, you win the prize and don't eat it all at once! Glendon'sgiant perogy . Alberta has a lot of statues:giant soul food. Here's one for chrisamirault:giant sausage aka "the big banger". Zuke

Tomorrow I want to make some rice pudding. This summer I spent a wonderfully peaceful five days at the Salt Spring Yoga Center. I was on a personal retreat, and was free to walk around the gardens, take a hike up the forest path, write in my journal, sing, and yes, I actually did some yoga! The people working at the center left me alone, but each took turns preparing three vegetarian meals a day, which we shared. The ritual at lunch and breakfast was that the cook blew on the conch shell to let everyone working in the garden know that the meal was ready. Then we met in a circle around the food, chanted "Ohmmm", and then said "Jai!" or "Victory". This was to show appreciation of the food and to slow people down to prepare themselves for the ritual of eating. However, one day noon rolled around and no one blew on the conch shell. I wandered into the kitchen to see what was happening. A group that met that morning had chanted and meditated for three hours that morning. Intrigued, I watched the ritual from a distance. The ritual which is performed on the morning of the full moon in July is called the Yogi Sadana. A garland of marigold heads hung over a photo of Baba Hari Dass, the teacher who has inspired this particular community. The participants wore white dresses or white shirts. At times two people blew on two conches with an interval of a minor third between them. Sometimes they sang in Sanskrit, sometimes in the English translation. The celebration ended at noon, and as most of the group had been fasting, no one was much worried about lunch. A couple of us who weren't a part of the ceremony straggled into the kitchen in search of something to eat. One of the workers found some leftover curry and rice in the fridge, so we popped it on the stove and heated it up. It was a fun time, as it was a break in the routine, and we considered a moonlight swim that evening and we laughed as we prepared lunch. One of the women who had participated in the ceremony put aside something special for me. When I was handed a bowl of sacred rice pudding, or Prasad, I was deeply touched. The pudding was covered with chocolate chips, dried fruit, fresh grapes and blueberries, and a bright red and orange marigold. The pudding was slightly sweet and comforting, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. And so I've begun my quest for the ultimate rice pudding recipe. The way to do it East Indian style is to cook the rice in milk instead of water, which requires constant attention and stirring. The modified way is to cook the rice first, then cook it further in milk. I may try putting some of it in the blender as well, since the authentic recipe calls for broken rice to start with. I'm also trying out different kinds of rice. I've used red Thai this summer and one day I mixed a bit of whipping cream from Ullie's birthday into the pudding and then topped it with almonds and fresh blueberries: food for the goddess. Next time I'll put some rose petals on as well! additions: chocolate chips, rose petals, rosewater strawberries or raspberries or any fresh fruit nuts: almonds, pecans, hazelnuts seeds: sunflower, sesame, pumpkin spice: green cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise

Thanks Carrot Top. I love your line "Quiet is like air to me." It's only when I go home to the country that I feel I can really soak up the sky, the space, and the silence (when the coyotes aren't howling!) re: Starbucks: It's funny how irony has become the norm in advertising. B.C. in B.C, I think that having a salmon dinner during Christmas has become a very common tradition as a relief from the turkey madness no matter where you live in Canada. We were going to bring a salmon, but it's tricky transporting them. We'd have to get it an extra seat and everything. (Small seats, big salmon.) Miz Ducky, Thanks for the kind words about my poem, coming from a spoken word artist such as yourself it means a lot to me.

Here's the food mill. You can see the pulp and the seeds that remain after the mush is pushed out. On the right you can see pieces of quince that will be simmered in the quince mush. This is my prized spaetzle maker. The dough is elastic and gooey. They are ready in less than five minutes. Mushroom and Lamb Goulash. Because I used such dark stock, the red of the paprika is subtle, but it gives the stew a warm, toasty flavour. The pretzels were the favorite, but I like the chai shortbread best with the spicy tea. I made it with whole spices, skim milk, and rooibis tea.

Yeah, but you cook up a storm every day, Abra. You must have amazing physical stamina. My bacon is achin'. Thanks for the advice on the yogurt. I cook and bake with skim milk yogurt a lot. I read that you can stabilize yogurt for cooking curry, but it involves adding eggs which defeats the purpose of using the lower fat product anyway. So I asked my friends tonight if they had goulash on a regular basis and they said they didn't. I just assumed it was a quintessentially Canadian meal. We had gazillions of variations on the goulash theme when I was growing up. Beans in goulash? No. That would be chili. When we were in this town in Austria called Bregenz, one of the street foods was käse spaetzle made to order with really good local cheese. People ate it as they were coming out of the bars at night. That was amazing. My mom makes it with lentil stew made with a big old ham bone. I love squeezing the dough out into the water. It's so cathartic. So people were asking about prairie soul food and I mean really, you need someone to blog a Ukranian Christmas, because to me, much of that comfort food of my childhood is cabbage rolls, perogies, sausage, etc. My friend Myron from Regina made this amazing dish once--it should be made in upscale restaurants, it's so good. They're called Halushkis or Beet Leaf Dumplings and they are little buns wrapped and cooked in beet leaves, then covered in a cream sauce. When they're done the buns look like they're wearing little green corsets. You need to make them in season when the beet leaves are young--maybe that can be one of my culinary resolutions. I will make Halushkis in 2006. Or better yet, I just get Myron to make them for me! I mean, the Ukrainian weddings in our area were basically miracles performed by the bride who would singlehandedly feed the multitudes who attended her wedding by herself. The Doukabors also have lovely vegetarian comfort food-and make good use of beets. The Mennonites, Norwegian Lutherans-all have their take on using local ingredients. Potatoes are always an important ingredient. Lately I find potatoes really lacking in the flavour department. I find that this is the food where I can really taste the difference between the organic and the chemically dependant. Has anyone else noticed this? Okay, time to put up some photos!

Another Christmas Tradition: A trip down Gingerbread Lane World leader: Well I didn't vote for him! Log Cabin by Northwest Pacific Culinary Academy of Vancouver Eiffel Tower by Ganache Patisserie

Must be Paxton and Whitfield in Jermyn St in London ← Nope, check where they have other stores. Zuke

Okay, the chai spices are steeping, and all I have to do it get changed for the party and finish the dishes. I popped over to Windsor meats looking for interesting sausage, but ended up with four little marinated lamb chops instead. I also bought a half a marinated Cornish game hen for Ullie. The spaetlze was great. The pumpkin gave it a very subtle change in color and very little change in favour, but it's probably slightly healthier version. I hope to post the photos late tonight. I sautéd onions and Crimini mushrooms, browned the lamb, cut off the fat and cut it into little pieces. Then I cut up some cabbage and red peppers, and added it all to the dried porcini mushrooms and liquid as well as some mushroom stock. I browned some Hungarian paprika and added it in. The trouble with sour cream is that Peter is lactose intolerant, so I added some low fat yogurt into mine. It curdles, which bugs me, but what is the other low fat alternative? I fried up the spaetzle, and put spinach salad on the table. I poured a bit of pumpkin seed oil on top and I tell you I was transported to the cuckoo clock adorned walls of the imaginary goulash museum in my mind. We finished off the Freixenet. I'll have to try to get some Zweigelt, because that grape variety is definitely a goulash sort of wine and the goulash is always better the next day, isn't it? Ullie was a happy camper with his hen and noodles, and so was I.

This may also help--Zucchini Mama sat here. Zucchini Mama also enjoyed a quiet moment with P.U. in that city.

Zucchini Mama spent Chistmas here one year getting squiffy on cider with girlfriends. Which city is it? Clue: look in the reflection in the windows.

Oh, pop quiz will ahve to wait, as I haven't put those photos in albums yet. In the meantime, and ad from Christmas future?

Wow--two little jars of jam out of six quince. After having been put through the food mill and cooked for another hour, I put just 1/3 a cup of the honey in it. It's almost the colour and texture of crabapple sauce. The cookies are baked and glazed. I used bits and pieces of chocolate around the house, including some of that spicy Dagoba bar. Now, if I were Ling, I would have put a few grains of fleur de sel on top so they would really have that faux pretzel look. I'm just about to attempt the pumpkin spaetzle. People say that spaetlze means "little sparrow", when what it really means is "little sparrow poop" because of the shape they end up in. Peter's about to come home from work for a bit, eat supper, and then head out again for a robot-building workshop. He's made these little robot insects that are all over the house. I'll go out and get a couple of ingredients. Thanks Pan for the Hungarian soup and stew references. I agree that a goulash should not be tomato-based, only paprika gives it than nice burnt orange-red colour. I was intrigued by the reference to Transylvanian goulash which uses pork and saurkraut. My back is killing me, so I'll reply to other people's comments later when I get my strength back. Until then, I'll devise a short a pop quiz for my next post. Zuke

Okay, so I'm taking a break from the quince marathon. Phew! Three hours later and I'm only two thirds through the cooking process. No wonder people don't make quince jam very often! Now in the recipe, which was posted by ludja in an eGullet quince thread, it didn't say whether to cook the quince pieces and water with the lid on or off. I think I made a mistake when I cooked them with it off, so I added the water back that had cooked off, and cooked the second half of the quince pieces in the strained quince mush with the lid on. It required stirring quite often, so I had to get into a rythmn--wash some dishes, lift the lid of the Creuset, stir the mush. Put some chocolate chip amd almond cookies in the oven, stir the quince, make us grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, stir, clean and bake the pumpkin, stir, bake chai shortbread, stir, and finally let the quince steam for a few minutes while I take a break and come up here and post. Phew! Dear sweet Ullie is listening to books 1-8 of The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne and entertaining himself by making up games. Now I've got to finish the jam glaze the chocolate pretzels, make some chai, and cook the goulash. I was going to say that my trick for chocolate chip cookies is to rough the chips up a bit in the food processor before adding them to the batter. That way there's little flecks of chocolate throughout the cookie as well as the hits of chocolate in the chips. Back to the kitchen to process the quince some more.