December 27, 2014
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Ouch

Somehow or another I’ve injured my back. I don’t know how I did it. It happened over a period of a few days, and of course I ignored it. By Christmas Day I was being very careful with my movements.

It does not hurt when I’m sitting down or when I’m standing up but it does hurt when I sit down or lay down or stand up – during the transition. Laying down to sleep seems comfortable at first, but last night I awoke with some discomfort in the dead of night and settled for a few more hours sleep in a reclining chair.

I’m convinced it’s a muscle issue, and if that’s the case I’m pretty sure it will improve greatly over the next few days. I suppose if I’m wrong about that, I’ll know it soon enough, and early in January I’ll go see my doctor.

December 26, 2014
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Boxing Day

DSC07395For some, Boxing Day might be about shopping, but for us it’s all about enjoying a laid back day. We took the Newfs out for a good walk – it’s a beautiful day – and in a short while we’re going to a movie -The Imitation Game.

We enjoyed a feast at our house last night. It was great to gather some family together, and enjoy great company over way too much food. It was also a dog-o-rama kind of evening. As well as the two Newfs, we had my brother’s dog Vibe (an adorable border collie) and my nephew Terence’s Rotty, Luther.

4 dogs, 9 humans, loads of food – what could go wrong? In fact, mishaps were minor. There was a lot of excitement, but the four canines got on pretty well and it was a pleasure to host a crazy doggie play-date while attempting to also orchestrate a huge dinner for humans.

December 24, 2014
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Not exactly a carol, but….

I know of just one tune in Old Time music that mentions Christmas, and that’s an old fiddle tune called Breaking up Christmas. This song is usually associated with the Round Peak style (this refers to the particular way old time music is played in the Mount Airy NC area) , so let’s listen to Tommy Jarrell do it up right…

 

 

December 24, 2014
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Uncooperative Cabbages

It wasn’t until after I realized that the cabbages I bought for cabbage rolls were not the most well-suited for the job that I remembered how fussy my mom was about her cabbages. You see, I only make cabbage rolls on the occasional Christmas. Now that I think about it, my mom would make my dad go to two or three stores if necessary to get the right ones. The perfect cabbage is on the small side, so each leave makes a modest-sized cabbage roll. As well, each cabbage has many usable leaves. She could tell the perfect cabbage at a glance.

The ones I bought were really too big, and the leaves thickened quickly as I worked through them. This isn’t to say my cabbage rolls are not going to be good. They will be super-delicious. I do after all know THE SECRET. However, they will not be the uniform perfectly-sized cabbage rolls my mom used to produce every time.

They’re in the oven now, and there they’ll stay for at least 3 hours. The house smells amazing right now. I put a strip of back ribs on top of the cabbage rolls the way mom used to do, and I nested them in a roaster lined with cabbage. That cabbage in contact with the roaster will darken and caramelize and become cabbage candy.

For today my work is done. Time to sit back and play the banjo for a while.

December 23, 2014
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Meat Sticks

Vegetarian friends it’s time for you to surf another part of the web for a few moments because this post is all about meat. Not just meat – it’s about a Polish skewered meat dish called patychky which we grew up calling simply “meat sticks”. IMG_2779

My mom would use a combination of pork, beef and veal for hers, and I started out doing it the same way. One year though, I just used pork and they were so good I never looked back. My marinade is considerably different than my mom’s preparation as well, but the results are very similar. There is a lot of leeway in preparing this dish, but if you follow the basic idea – marinate, skewer, dip in egg, roll in spiced breadcrumbs, fry then bake – it’s hard to go wrong. IMG_2778You need a sturdy skewer for meat sticks. Not to worry. You can get them at Starsky’s. They have them in two lengths – in baskets at the meat counter at the back. Just remember the golden rule for shopping at Starsky’s – go directly to the deli counter and get your number (that’s where you stock up on kielbasa), then continue shopping, returning to the deli just before your number comes up.

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December 22, 2014
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Pierogi Day

This year we’re having a family dinner Christmas Day at our place, and family from both sides are going to break bread with us. Since I’m off work this week and have a little time, I’m going to make some of the foods my mom used to make when I was growing up. While I’m sure family would be happy with a turkey dinner (a much simpler approach), I like to cook from time to time, and I think it will be fun to make some of the traditional foods.

I’m going to start today by making pierogi. One of the good things about pierogi is that you can make them and freeze them (usually in bags of a dozen or so), and then cook them up whenever you want some.

We make potato and cheese pierogi – there are all kinds of other possibilities with

potato, white cheddar and Polish pressed cottage cheese get mixed together to make the pierogi filling.

potato, white cheddar and Polish pressed cottage cheese get mixed together to make the pierogi filling.

filling from mushrooms to braised cabbage or sourkraut to fruit fillings. We always do it with potato and cheese. I use a mix of pressed Polish cottage cheese and white cheddar.

Once the pierogi are made, there are a couple different ways to prepare them. One is boiled with “burnt” butter. While the pierogi are boiling, we cook a little butter until there are many brown spots in the butter. We call that burnt. When the boiling pierogi float in the water, we strain them, put them on a plate, and drip the burnt butter over them. Add a generous dollop of sour cream and you’re good to go. This is the way my mom and all our family made them.

Perhaps more common today is to boil the pierogi, then fry them up with bacon and onions or mushrooms. Also delicious.

I remember when I was a kid, my mom would get together with my Auntie Stella and the two of them would go into pierogi production. I remember that Stella was the fastest pierogi assembler I had ever seen. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but it seems to me she could do two at a time, one with each hand.

My plan is to make pierogi today – an old friend is coming by to help me – we plan to make a lot. Tomorrow, I’m going to make patychky – we called them meat sticks when I was a kid. This is basically pork on a stick. It’s marinated, skewered, dipped in egg, rolled in spiced breadcrumbs, fried and baked. I only make these

Special guest pierogi-maker KR on the assembly line

Special guest pierogi-maker KR on the assembly line

at Christmas time, and I like to think mine are very very good. I taught my sister-in-law Viv how to make them several years ago and hers are also excellent. Finally, Wednesday I’m going to make a roaster of cabbage rolls.

Cabbage rolls made the way mom used to make them had a very distinctive and intoxicating smell. This is because the meat is browned using salt pork. This may not be the healthiest food choice, but it is rare I make them and while you can use a healthier substitute, they just are not the same. I’m sure my brother and my sister will set me straight if I don’t get it just right.

This morning I headed out to Starsky’s to get what I need for this cooking extravaganza. Having had experience at Starsky’s at Christmastime, I left the house early to arrive there just after they opened at 8:00 AM. Good thing I did. By the time I left the store at 8:40, it was already getting busy. By this afternoon it will be silly-busy. The crowds around the sausage counter alone will be over the top.