Thanks to Jared's thoughtful and fun-loving Mom, our family has a great Valentine's Day every year. Meet Barbara, a.k.a. the Valentine Fairy. She has been at her job for years. Even tiny baby Lia was visited by the Valentine Fairy.
This year, in the week leading up to Valentine's Day, the Valentine Fairy brought the kids a valentine plush bear (who talks!), foam door-hanger crafting supplies, and hair brushes. Nora especially loves this tradition, and checks the porch several times daily as soon as February begins.
The night of the 13th, we found this fruit basket on the front porch. Each piece of fruit had a sticker on it with a cute Valentine message, such as "We make the perfect pear". Lia became permanently attached to the start fruit :)
On the 14th, Barbara put her heart antennas on the shelf, grabbed Dan, and came by for a visit as the Grandma and Grandpa, bearing still more Valentine gifts. Lia and Nora instantly put on their new heart shirts. Porter got a baby fork and spoon set, which is his favorite! He has to have both the fork and the spoon every time :) I feel so blessed to be a part of Jared's family, and extra blessed to live close enough for memories like these to be made.
Jared and I had a Russian-themed date planned for our stay-home Valentine's Day. I thought it would be fun to learn about their culture and make a real Russian meal. Don't ask me why I decided on Russia. Jared was just throwing out countries, and that one sparked my interest. I had a lovely time surfing the internet, in preparation for our date. I discovered that authentic Russian recipes are hard to come by. During the French revolution, many French chefs ended up in Russia, which greatly impacted their cuisine. Try as I might, I couldn't come up with anything doable in my allotted time besides Beef Stroganoff. Luckily, I happen to LOVE that dish, so when I settled on it, it wasn't too disappointing.
This is the recipe I ended up using, after scouring the web for the best of the best. This woman grew up in Australia, but her mother was Russian. She loved her Mother's Beef Stroganoff. As an adult, she traveled through Russia, ordering Beef Stroganoff in every restaurant the country over. She concluded that her Mama had it right. I have to say, she was absolutely right--it was delicious!
http://tanyazouev.com/classic-
http://tanyazouev.com/classic-
This was not a Russian addition to the meal, but can you believe I made that?! It is so easy (otherwise, I obviously wouldn't have been able to do it.), and here is the recipe, in case any of you would like to try it. http://clawsonlive.
I got this recipe from my good friend, Barbie, who guided me a bit, and so I do make a few changes to the recipe. I use fresh ground whole wheat flour, which makes it necessary to add extra liquid and salt. I also add whey in place of some of the water (the amount depends on how much whey I have at the time), which makes it a sour dough--mmmm. You need a dutch over to cook it, but it is well worth investing in one! You must try it and let me know.
I came across this recipe for Winter Russian Salad Olivier, and was intrigued by a picture much like this one:
I got this recipe from my good friend, Barbie, who guided me a bit, and so I do make a few changes to the recipe. I use fresh ground whole wheat flour, which makes it necessary to add extra liquid and salt. I also add whey in place of some of the water (the amount depends on how much whey I have at the time), which makes it a sour dough--mmmm. You need a dutch over to cook it, but it is well worth investing in one! You must try it and let me know.
I came across this recipe for Winter Russian Salad Olivier, and was intrigued by a picture much like this one:
This salad is made with homemade mayo, which is something I've been itching to try for a while now. I was sold! However, I came to discover that this is pretty much your basic potato salad, dressed up with accessories--ha, ha! It was tasty, nonetheless, and Jared actually now prefers it to regular old American potato salad. http://geniuscook.com/russian-salad/
Good times with my Valentine. Love you, JD!
No comments:
Post a Comment