Marmish

Thanks for sharing not only yourself, but your students as well.

Cevapcici are cigar shaped sausages usually cooked on a small grill. The Mister says they used to grill them behind the bar during dances at the church hall.

ah slivovitz... it can do a number on your head if you aren't careful. did they have any burek or cevapcici? guess i'm going to have to do some this weekend How do you do your cevapcici? I've only tried once, and was only somewhat successful.

Hristos se roti! My husband is Serbian. We celebrate Orthodox Christmas together, and "American" Christmas with my family, and "American" Christmas Eve with his family at his German grandmother's. Thanks for the link.

I am so jealous. 42 whole minutes to yourself? We don't have a lunch room for the lower school so everyone eats in their classroom. It is by far one of my least favorite parts of the day. Wednesdays we can go out, if we don't have a meeting. I am planning on it tomorrow. Well, theoretically 42 minutes to myself. Since all my prep time is first thing in the morning - a real blessing as I am NOT a morning person - I usually have a pile of stuff to do by lunch. But it is my time, with no kid responsibilities. Today, for example, lunch was an evaluation meeting with the principal, coordination of two field trips, one to a play and one to the Art Institute, meeting with another teacher regarding same, and mailbox cleanout. Hmm. I ate some cheese during the next class. Where do you go when you go out?

Congratulations on your sushi success! That's fantastic! Last year when we studied Ancient Greece, my teaching partner and I brought in spanakopita, tyropita, feta, agjar (sp?), roasted red peppers, bread, and I made saganaki in an electric skillet for about 50 kids. I gave a little talk about each item, telling what to expect it to taste like, and how it would be eaten in the home, really emphasizing that these are the things our (mine and my partner's) families eat. They tried everything, and liked most of it, although not everyone was converted to spanakopita or feta. Saganaki was hit even without the flames. Opa!

Do you get to leave for lunch? I eat with my kids four days a week. (groan) Yep. I teach middle school, so the bell rings and I am free for 42 minutes. 46 if you count passing time. We pay aides and part time people for lunch duty. Occasionally, a teacher will pick it up because they need extra cash, but then they don't have a lunch. You couldn't pay me enough to do lunch duty.

There is definitely always food in a school! The two weeks before Winter Break you couldn't move for all the chocolate, candy and cookies around the place. Even on a regular day in my building there is a snack stash in the library and in the office. Whenever you have a rough day, there are several sources of chocolate to smooth it over. We also are fortunate to have many good cooks and bakers on our staff so that there are often leftovers in the lounge from parties, or things brought in just because someone (usually me) tried a new recipe. The cherry on top is that right across the street is a little grocery stuck in a time warp, Ed's Way. They have horrible produce, but will make you any kind of sandwich you want at the deli for $2.89. All the women who work in the deli must have had teenage sons, because the sandwiches are huge.

I also want to make yogurt - the thick, Greek style. I have so far been partially successful in that I made yogurt, but not the kind of yogurt I want. I have a Greek friend's mother's recipe. I hope to take a field trip soon to watch Mama in action. Buying imported yogurt is getting expensive.

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is Christmas day breakfast. We travel now, and are with my husband's family for Christmas Eve, so we return to my parents late at night. The next morning we get up and have breakfast together. The menu is always the same, sausage, bacon, apple pancakes and cider sauce, juice, coffee, potica and poppy seed roll. Then we clear the dishes and open presents.

Please elaborate on the 12 dish dinner. Thanks. This is how the traditional Ukrainian Christmas proceeds, all the dishes are not served at once, more like a tasting menu: 1. A wheat berry, honey, and ground poppyseed pudding (this is one of my favourites!!!) We make huge batches of it just so that I can enjoy it for the following week . 2. Borscht, a beet and vegetable broth soup with lots of dill and pepper served with mushroom dumpligs (my grandfather uses a wild mushroom mix and forms them into almost the size of tortellinis, so each bowl gets about 4) 3. Pierogies With a variety of fillings, including traditional potato, cabbage, mushroom. We like to add in caramelized onion ones, and blueberry and sour cherry ones for dessert. 4. Wild Mushroom Sauce To be served with all the main dishes 5. A white fish dish We like to either use turbot, sole or snapper, do a basic egg wash, dipped in herbed breadcrumbs, drizzled with garlic oil and then baked or pan fried. 6. Cabbage Rolls We make these with a both a buckwheat and plain rice filling. Of course both with lots of onion and dill. 7. White Beans This is more of a side dish that can go into either the soup or with the fish. 8. Rye Bread It must be rye, I like the one sprinkled with poppy seeds and with with caraway seeds in it. 9. Cloves or garlic Everyone must consume one clove of garlic through the dinner, either minced into the soup or just whole. I rub it into my pieces if bread throughout the night. 10. Dried Fruit Compote We make ours with dried cherries, apricots, plums, raisins, currants, peaches, pears, apples sweetened with a bit of honey and fresh orange. 11. Poppy seed roll Light white batter rolled around a thick poppyseed filling. 12. Prune filled fritters and cookies. Of course, this is what my family does, but every family has a slight variation on the dishes that they serve and additions. Overall, it is a gorgeous evening surrounded with family and friends. Thanks, Larry. That sounds wonderful! I am curious about the cabbage rolls. Do you use green or pickled cabbage, and what else goes into the filling? I am used to Serbian style cabbage rolls (sarma). Thanks.

Please elaborate on the 12 dish dinner. Thanks.

I make a few of my mom's traditional Christmas cookies, plus a few new favorites, and usually one or two new ones each year. They include: butterhorns lemon bars - which I think I am replacing this year with a lemon shortbread glazed bar cookie 7 layer bars Martha Stewart cranberry orange and espresso sables one of the winners from the Chicago Tribune holiday cookie contest a few years ago - the dough has cornmeal and coconut in it, and the filling is coconut and dried cranberries, rolled and sliced. These are my favorites, I think. pretzels filled with caramel and dipped in chocolate I give most of them away as gifts to friends and coworkers. This year, I am baking less, but also made limoncello. My mom starts in October and freezes them. Her chest freezer has practically nothing else in it but cookies by now.

http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/restaurant.com/ http://www.restaurant.com/

We also have a pug and a half (one is a Boston Terrier/Pug Mix). Kirby and Milo. On occasion, I volunteer for the N. IL. Pug Rescue. I also once made the acquaintance of a tiny pug named Ruby, who was the runt of her litter and full grown would fit in your pocket. Congrats on your pug! They garner lots of attention wherever they go.

I have used one recently. I spent $10 I think, for a $25 gift certificate. There weren't any restrictions, except alcohol maybe. I was a bit nervous about handing the waitress something I printed off my computer, but there were no questions or problems.

I love Nuevo Leon! I first ate there on a field trip. I took a class for teachers called Chicago's Cultural Treasures. It was 1 week long and we visited a number of museums and theaters. The best part was the daily lunch arranged at an ethnic restaurant. We also ate in Greektown, though I can't remember where, and one other place that I can't recall. La Hacienda de los Fernandez in Addison in front of the Marcus Cinema on Lake St. makes tortillas on the premises. The flour tortillas are like eating clouds. You can watch them being made through a glassed in area adjacent to the kitchen.

Yes. Absolutely. I prefer mine done in the oven, but will microwave a few slices in a pinch, especially if they are being added to something else versus being eaten alone.

Yeah, crumbs in the boobies tickle, don't they? You don't want crumbs in the cleavage at 75 mph. Not to mention the looks you get from truckers and SUV's as you try to fish them out.

I often get something on my shirt, although it's usually from cooking and not eating. I think I've done a fine job, and then my husband points out something I have leaned into, splattered, or otherwise schmeared on myself. I have to check the mirror or pull my shirt out to look because I can't see it over the mountains. But in a rare occurrence, crumbs from the raspberry square thingy I bought at the coffee shop and tried to eat while driving on the Tri-State tollway did tumble into my cleavage. Luckily, it went straight through. That's not fun at 75 mph.

what she said! there is just something about a BLT that really hits the spot. Mmm. BLT's. That's what we're eating all weekend. How about grilled pizzas?

I don't have anything to say about shoes, but please be extremely cautious about using your debit card online. You don't have the same protections as with a credit card. I use my debit card constantly when I shop, but never online.

Yep, books still get covered. But now they usually buy stretchy fabric covers at a couple of bucks each. We also get tons of free paper book covers from cereal and candy companies with their advertising all over them. They aren't big enough and tear easily. I save all my paper bags and take them to school at the beginning of the year to teach my kids the "old fashioned way". They last longer. But the very best is wallpaper.

12 for me. I love Culvers. Unfortunately, they just built one within about 2 miles of my house. Now we go all the time. So much for the diet. Everything we have tried there has been good, except maybe the pork tenderloin sandwich. They have a flavor of the day custard which definitely is a great marketing tool. When they first opened by us I was trying to get my husband to go every other night. Fortunately for the waistline, the flavor of the day novelty has somewhat worn off.

My husband is Serbian Orthodox and is first generation Serbian-American, so we had the whole orthodox wedding including the Serbian band. Did I mention I was raised Southern Baptist? The church has its own hall and the women all cook. We had sarma (cabbage rolls made with pickled cabbage), pork chops, roast beef, some kind of pasta - probably rigatoni, potatoes, green beans, salad, the best fresh baked bread, probably another veggie I can't remember, and delicious plates of sweets all served family style. All that, plus beer and wash for the bar, linens and silver for only $10 a plate. In 1996. For the rehearsal dinner, there was roast pig, potato salad, lots of feta, roasted peppers and I can't remember what else. My MIL kept complaining because whenever she left the kitchen, I covered up the pig's head.