Yesterday it was snowing quite a bit! It was these big flakes that were really coming down, so it sort of felt like a lazy day and took me a bit to get going. We had planned to go ice skating at 4 pm, so I sorted stuff and got out the boys stuff so they could go, our ice skates and drove over in the snow to the rink! We had alot of fun! We skated about an hour and there was about 2 in. of snow on the ice in the hour we were skating. They had cleared it right as we got on, so that was alot of snow! After about an hour and half though, my ankles were killing me and today, I sure feel I worked the muscles in my ankles! Wow! The boys loved it, and took to it like they have been skating all their life. They sure are Russian! <p> After a brief rest period I got started on my cooking for Sat night dinner and Sunday’s food. I do not like to cook on Sunday, so if I make food on Saturday then i don’t have to.
I started a pot of borcht by browning bits of round steak chopped up small in a bit of olive oil and adding water to make the broth. I made the roll dough for the Bierocks and got that rising and baked the rest of some Snickerdoodle dough I had made for the boys as a snack while skating (I made some before we went). I next browned a little less than a pound of ground beef in a cast iron pan and added more than half a head of cabbage, salt and pepper and dash of Tabasco. This was my filling. I made several bags full of these as well a braid which i added some cheese too as well and a loaf of bread. <p> Next I added my potatoes to my broth, thinly sliced cabbage and simmered until soft. <p> F. mentioned he would really like a Russian vinegarette salad, which contrary to it’s name, has no vinegar in it. I had everything, beets, carrots, potatoes, pickles, onions, salt and oil so started those boiling for the salad. <p> Finishing up the Borcht, I sauteed the onions, then added grated carrots, then grated beets and finally a can of tomato sauce and water and added it to the pan with dill and salt. <p> I was tired when I was done, but F. helped me clean up and we went to bed with a clean kitchen! It was nice to pull the food out to eat today with no cooking and I got to read a book. It was called Lady of Milkweed Manor by Julia Klassen. It was a very different sort of book, about a vicar’s daughter who was with child out of wedlock back in the early 1800’s I think. I learned alot of history about wet-nurses…wow! Did you know that even Jane Austin was sent away for the first two years of her life to live with a wet nurse in the country? Yeah…<p>
Tomorrow, the two younger boys are going to visit a friend and hopefully it goes well and we may do it on a regular basis. It took me a long time to get the van all ready to drive this morning as the snow was pretty deep on the ground and the wind had blown and frozen ice all over it. I scraped and scraped and yet still drove very slowly to church as I could not see out the best, but enough! I guess that is why garages are nice! The doors were frozen shut and the sliding one did not want to open very well until it had warmed up. I am loving this weather! It has been such a long time since we had a real winter and I am so glad this one turned out to be real.