Russian Cooking Class

The main fundraiser at Maya’s school is a Spring Festival, which combines with a live auction, and raises much needed funds to keep the school doors open. The big ticket items tend to be the quilts, which are made from squares made by the students and sewn by dedicated parents, trunks made by woodworking parents, and excursions put together by the teachers. One of Maya’s teachers, Zhanna, is Russian. She emigrated from the Ukraine about 10 years ago. Her offering for the auction was a day of cooking, where the parents and kids would learn to make traditional Russian food, enjoy the pool at her condo’s clubhouse, and all around have fun.

The day was planned, and finally, Saturday, arrived. Unfortunately the air conditioning wasn’t working, but Zhanna’s handy husband went home and got a fan, which brought some relief to the 95 degrees day, which was especially needed because we were baking. We made a LOT of food, much too much for the number of people who were there. I don’t remember the names for most of it. There was Struedel, made from her mother’s recipe, which was filled with dried fruits, jam, nuts, and smashed up cookies. There was a cold soup, which was delicious, and quite a relief in the heat. There was beef stroganoff (served over mashed potatoes, NOT noodles), beet salad with sour cream and prunes, herring butter, pickled tomatoes, pickled mushrooms, roasted peppers, piroski, and I don’t know what else. It was quite a feast, and quite a fun day. Worth every penny. 😉