On Monday Dear and I spent the day with Addy while her mommy and daddy did some shopping in Spokane. Addy loves to be outside so she convinced me to dawn my winter gear and put hers on so we could have a little drive down the driveway. This Little Tykes car worked well on the compacted snow and ice. We had fun and her mommy and daddy were able to shop unencumbered with car seats or strollers. I will admit that this Baba was pretty tired by the time we came home from nonstop play!
We had a little more snow fall on Tuesday afternoon and evening.
The first part of this post was written by our daughter Katie a few years ago. I’m featuring Nadia (babushka) today instead of Moisi for Tuesday With Moisi. The photo above was taken in 2013.
Gimme my Babushka’s cooking and I’ll be content
The sort of Russian/Persian cuisine that my Baba (Grandma) makes… I would be a happy camper for a year with yummy borscht, galupsi, kulyich, syrny paska, lapsha, varenky, shashlik, and a million other treats that I would butcher just as badly trying to spell in English…I can say most of them but they’re sure hard to type. Just make sure you give me a good supply of sour cream, and can I bend the rules to include my Mom’s “green borscht” which is spinach soup we chop up hardboiled eggs in? I was never entirely sure where that soup’s origins really lay…I could never get sick of all the lamb and cabbage and butter filled goodness, heck I even like the Russian candies my Deda (Grandpa) keeps around though none of my cousins do. My mouth is watering already. ~ Katie
Many Borsch recipes include beets in them. The familiar Borsch that we grew up with and that we had at Molokan Church Meals did not have beets in it. Here is my mother’s recipe. Our people don’t pronounce Borsch with a “t” on the end.
Nadia’s Borsch
For the Stock:
1 Seven Bone Roast or Chuck roast if you can’t find Seven Bone
1 onion
1-3 celery stalks with leaves
2-3 carrots
2 bay leaves
5-10 peppercorns
Salt to taste
Salt and pepper the roast and sear it on all sides. Put the roast in a stock pot and cover with water. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Simmer and cook until roast is fork tender. Remove the meat and set aside. Discard the stock vegetables.
Soup Ingredients:
1 head of cabbage shredded (green is what we use)
1-3 carrots grated
1-2 onions diced
1 bell pepper seeded and diced
2-3 stalks of celery diced
1 jalapeno seeded and diced (optional)
2-3 potatoes diced
2 cans stewed tomatoes blended in blender (we have those that don’t like chunky tomatoes)
1 can tomato sauce
1/2-small bunch of dill (to taste)
1 handful of chopped Italian parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1 can of garbanzo beans drained and rinsed (optional)
Saute onion, bell pepper, celery and jalapeno if you are using one until onion is translucent.
Add these ingredients to a blender along with the two cans of stewed tomatoes.
Blend and add them to the beef stock along with all the other ingredients.
Bring to a boil, then simmer until cabbage, carrots and potatoes are tender.
Taste and see if the soup needs more salt or pepper at this time.
The Borsch is ready now.
My mother doesn’t include this in her recipe but when she made borsch at my house once I saw her add a half a cube of unsalted butter at the end. My mother mashes most of the potatoes to thicken up the soup a bit.
You can serve the roast alongside the borsch with a good loaf of bread and of course…sour cream.
I made this pot of Borsch on Sunday and we’re enjoying it again today. I also took a couple of containers to Dan and Jamie’s today. We watched Addy while Dan and Jamie made a trip to Spokane to do some shopping.
For Mosaic Monday this week I’m sharing photos and mosaics/collages of Friday last (2-15-19).
Before we left for the Spokane airport on Friday morning I had the table set and ready for our Friday evening dinner for 6.
We picked up our granddaughter’s granny at the Spokane airport and stopped for lunch in Deer Park on our way back to Colville. The roads were fine for us even with the snow falling in Spokane. We enjoyed a new spot to us in Deer Park called the Salty Dog. At the Salty Dog we took this selfie to send to our granddaughter letting her know that Granny and Baba love her.
We made it home by 3:30 and began food preparations for our dinner together at 5:00. Filet Mignon, roasted vegetables, salad with Persian dressing and a Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake for dessert.
Addy was sporting some new clothes that Auntie LoLo (Laura) sent her in the mail.
Addy loved seeing all the hearts and was skillful in taking them off and putting them back. She has great small motor skills.
We’ve had more snow since Friday and I’ve been enjoying taking lots of photos of birds that have congregated on one particular bush in our back yard. For now I’m sharing these photos for Angie’s Mosaic Monday. I really appreciate you, Angie. You are a great hostess for this meme!
We had a full day on Friday. Thanking God for a safe trip to Spokane and back again. Later this weekend I’ll share some collages and photos from our trip to Spokane and the belated Valentine meal we had at our country bungalow on Friday evening. We had more snow, too, and while I was looking at the new snow landscape in our backyard I spotted this snow creature created by nature.
Hope you enjoyed the special effects and that you smiled.
Knowing that they aren’t starving with all the snow.
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 25:26
Learning from some of my favorite Bible Teachers.
Pausing in the morning and starting the day reading God’s Word and some good devotionals.
Meditating and praying about things I’ve learned and needs that friends and love ones have.
Watching, Knowing, Learning, Pausing and Praying are all the good things that happened and that I’m thankful for this week.
The bonus because it was Valentine’s day yesterday was hearing from my kids and listening to Addy trying to say Happy Valentine’s Day and then enjoying a smoked prime rib dinner at Backyard BBQ and driving home on snow covered roads safely.
It started snowing as we left for the restaurant and is still snowing now so we are in for an interesting trip to Spokane on Friday. I’ll be late visiting this week.
This thoughtful Thursday happens to be Valentine’s Day, too.
Here’s a heart shaped box of handpicked See’s chocolates. True confession: I bought these as a gift to myself a few years ago to fulfill a wish I had in my head for a heart shaped box of candy. Some of the desires in your head won’t be fulfilled by wishing. Truth be told I’m not comfortable with some earthly person knowing the thoughts in my head. Many thoughts and desires aren’t worthy to be known or fulfilled. I’m thankful God is gracious and kind and He will not keep His justified wrath against me. This graciousness and kindness comes to me because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for me and because God called me to follow Him. His kindness transforms me and my thoughts.
Here’s a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I didn’t buy these for myself. I don’t expect flowers on Valentine’s Day or any day. When flowers do get delivered I really appreciate them.
While I type I’m listening to a sermon on Biblical love by John MacArthur. Some of my takeaways: I need to be motivated and guided by self sacrificial love if I’m following Jesus. Biblical love is self-sacrificial love that motivates me to serve friends and enemies in love.
Hope you can accept the love that God has given to you in Jesus Christ.
We got these photos from our dear DIL from Addy’s fun in the snow. I love how her tongue plays a part in her concentration. She loves being outside in any weather. On Tuesday we got piled with snow. It started snowing in the morning and didn’t let up until 4pm. We will have a white covering for a while yet. Our kids in the Seattle area measured 16-17 inches of snow! That is quite the event for Western Washington. Some establishments ended up closing early to let their employees head home. School buses ran normally on our road. February snow isn’t the norm around here and we’ve had light snow until now.
Today for Tuesdays With Moisi I wanted to give you some information on the Molokans, Moisi’s religion before he was born again.
I have some previous posts about the Molokan Cemetery in City of Commerce, California and the Molokans (Milk Drinkers). By sharing these posts I in no way am promoting the Molokan Religion. Some of the traditions are noteworthy but not to be worshipped.
I’m adding some photos I have of Molokan events and the Molokan churches in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The photo above is a wedding photo. This is our uncle Vasili’s (Bill’s) marriage to Nura. Our parents are the chaperones who stood with them for the wedding ceremony. This photo would have been at the bride’s home where the groom comes to pick up his bride from her parents to ride to church with the chaperones for the marriage ceremony and meal. At the bride’s home prayers are given as a blessing to the couple.
This photo above and below are not my photos. Above shows the dedication day of the new United Molokan church in Los Angeles (Big Church).
The photo above is a photo of a Molokan church on Portrero Hill in San Francisco. Some of our families good friends settled in San Francisco and attended this church. Very minimal interiors are part of the Molokan churches. A main table that have had different objects on it. A Bible, Salt and a loaf of bread. Some churches add a book of prophecy. We have heard that one of the small radical Molokan churches in Los Angeles have taken the Bible off their table. Benches are what are used for seating. The male leaders sit at the head and far side of the table. Others sit on benches a distance from the table. Men on one side and women on another side. For meals which are a large part of the church they use benches again and saw horses with flat 4X6 ish planks of wood for the table top that rest on the saw horses. You’ll see an example in the videos below. Long rows of those tables with the benches fill the whole inside of the building and food is passed down the table for the group meals.
In the background of the photo above is a small group of Molokans who came to our mom’s funeral in 2013. Our Pop, Moisi, is standing with our nephew Ryan.
The YouTube videos below are a sampling of what the singing is like in Molokan churches.
To my knowledge there are two distinct groups of Molokans. There are the postoyanniye, “constant”, original Molokans who wanted to keep their distinction from the “Jumpers”. In 1833 there was a breaking away of a portion of Molokans who experienced what is described as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This outpouring resulted in men and women in the church service at different times jumping. Spiritual Jumpers, pryguny, are the group of Molokans our Pop and his family were part of. The Russians in San Francisco are part of the Constant sect and they don’t jump.
Again to my knowledge there are two “prophets” associated with the Jumpers. One is Maxim Rudometkin. His writings are followed by the Spiritual Molokans of Los Angeles (Big Church). Some of these Molokan Jumpers called themselves “New Israelites” with their leader Maxim. They follow old testament dietary laws and also celebrate the feast days, holy days, festivals but they gather on Sundays as their Sabbath day. The group, also known as Maximists, considered Efim Gerasimovic Klubnikin, a divinely inspired 12 year old boy prophet. He prophesied a “coming time that would be unbearable and that the time to leave Russia was now.” During the early 20th century under his leadership, about 2,000 pryguny (Jumpers) emigrated to the U.S., first settling on the east side of Los Angeles. Many seeking rural isolation moved to Baja Mexico, then Arizona, Central California, and some other parts of the West Coast. We visited a few Molokan families on their farms in Kerman, Calfiornia. Maxim’s writings are published in a book that is kept on the central table for worship along with a Bible and the song book.
This was the first church we attended before our pop along with some of his relatives and friends started a Molokan church of their own on Kern Avenue in Los Angeles. The Kern Avenue group celebrated Easter and Christmas but First United Christian Molokan Church (Big Church) did not celebrate these holidays. Our grandfather, Timofey, and our uncle John stayed at Big church and were leaders there. Our brother Fred got married at Big church and is still part of this church but it has relocated to La Habra, California.
When we attended church here there wasn’t a paved parking lot.
Another change from when we attended “Big Church” is the addition of the 60 Fwy in Southern California. It cuts pretty close to the church property now. This property has been sold and this church group now meets in La Habra.
My favorite part of being a Molokan were the meals we shared at those rows of tables along with hot tea. Sugar cubes were set on the tables in small bowls. We kids would always build a bridge of sugar cubes across the top of the tea glass then pour the tea and hot water over them and watch them collapse into the glass. In the videos you might see that glasses and bowls are still used to serve tea. The meals consisted of either Borsch (cabbage vegetable soup with beef stock) or Lopsha (noodle soup). Bowls of whole cucumbers and tomatoes would be passed down the tables and one person would take the knife in the bowl to peel the cucumbers and slice them and then slice the tomatoes and put them back in the bowl. Fresh bread was served with the salad and soup. Then the meat and potatoes that were used to make the broth would be served. I can almost smell the meal and that fresh bread and fresh cut salad. Delicious.
In google searches of Molokans I came across a great article out of Russia about their history. I will share more on another Tuesday.
My mother mashes most of the potatoes to thicken up the soup a bit.
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The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 