The house is filled with happy shrieks of children, the smell of fresh laundry, and the aroma of a pie right out of the oven. Snow falls outside in large fluffy clumps. I made big progress on my article today. We got an extra turn at church again this week. A book I’ve been waiting for finally arrived straight from San Sebastián.
Winter is great.
Here’s the pie:
It’s actually a zapekanka, not pie. Tvorog, ryazhenka, some coconut flakes, a splash of milk, eggs, sugar, flour. Apples and pears.
It’s about 7 degrees (F) outside and we’ve already had almost a foot of snow in the last 24 hours. We built an igloo in the backyard and my wife took our son tobogganing with his best friend. Chicken wings and pizza in the oven, hockey game on in an hour. Why do people moan about winter so much?
Cheesecake?
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I love this “warm and fuzzy” post. I love it most because you aren’t bragging about your cozy fireplace and how you are kicked back on the couch with a blanket. I don’t have a fireplace and my house–while warm–is not particularly wonderful. But everyone I know is showing pictures of their fireplace–which makes me sick with envy.
We also went sledding today. I was able to get snow clothes at the thrift store. It was their “fill this bag for $25” day. That was the best part of the day! I got Sunday clothes for my son and warm clothes to roll in the snow. Then, we went sledding! And I only bruised my rumpus a little bit. Nothing some ibuprofen and early bedtime won’t fix.
Do tell about the ingredients of your “pie.” Are they vegetables? This dish sounds delightful. I can almost smell it in Missouri.
Just looking at this photo made me want a pie too. 🙂
May you share the proportions in the recipe?
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It’s all by sight. I just dump whatever I have in, beat it with a mixer until I get a desired consistency, and that’s it.
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So zapekanka is the Ukrainian version of kugel (or vice versa). :p
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This makes me wonder. How come I never tried kugel? I know of it but never tasted it. Strange.
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I tend to do a potato and onion kugel (sometimes with mushrooms) but I am familiar with noodle, carrot, broccoli, and apple kugel. You mix it with eggs, add spices and oil. You then cook until it is crisp. My impression is that this is the kind of food that every civilized culture on Earth has managed to develop kind of like the wheel. :p
Part of the fun of kugel is that, as a concept, it is simple enough that any idiot single guy can make. You can then play with things like heat, water, and how you grind the materials for different effects.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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