Category Archives: Food

Ellen with an E, Hodgepodge

Thank you to Joyce From This Side of the Pond for our weekly Hodgepodge questions.

1. Do you like your name?s

I have grown into it. I do not have a middle name on my birth certificate.

Are you named after someone (grandparent, etc)?

No. After my older sisters got the more traditional Russian names, my mother decided I’d get a name none of her friends would choose for their children. Ellen is not a typical Russian name.

In Russian, the name Ellen translates to Эллен (pronounced EL-len) when used for an English name.
However, because Ellen is a variant of the name Helen, the traditional Russian equivalent is Елена (pronounced yeh-LYEH-nah), which is often shortened to the nickname Лена (pronounced LYEH-nah)
Лена is what I was called by our Russian family and friends.
Ellen, Ellen, Watermelon. That is something I remember some classmates in elementary school repeating to try to irritate me. 🙂
I also had to correct people over and over again when they tried to call me Helen. I’d say, NO, Ellen with an E.

If you have children how did you choose their names? 

For our sons we chose strong Biblical names, Joshua and Daniel. For our daughter we chose a name from Greg’s heritage and also a strong name, Katherine.

2.  A piece of red velvet cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of blueberry pie? You can only have one…which will you choose?

I’ll go with red velvet cake.

If you could pick any red, white, or blue dessert other than those listed here, what would you choose? 

Fourth Festivities3

I love a good patriotic berry trifle.

3.  What’s a job you’d like to try for just one day? 

I’d like to try being a detective and solving a murder.

4. Any patriotic decor in your home currently or coming up this summer? 

Yes! And I’m on the lookout for more since this is the 250th year of freedom!

5. It’s the end of May, so let’s exercise our brains. Sum up your month with an acrostic using the word MAY. We can do it!!

M emorials beginning and ending the merry month of May with

A wakening buds and weeds displaying a springtime

Y ard that needs attending to!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Memorial weekend scattered many of our family to Texas and Montana, far south and far north! The travelers originated from California or Washington State.

Kathy is our oldest sister and turning 80 over Memorial weekend she deserved a celebration all her own. She was in Texas on her day so our sister, Lana, threw a birthday party for her. Our youngest sister, Lana, lives in Texas.  Both my older sisters (Kathy and Vera) were in Texas to attend our youngest niece’s graduation from high school. The graduation ceremony was on Friday. Our youngest niece is the daughter of our youngest brother who also lives in Texas. Are you following? Anyhoo, hats off to Lana for giving Kathy a very special celebration.

In Texas our friend, Heidi, sat in for me for this ‘sister’ photo above since I couldn’t be in Texas for the events this past weekend. Lana, Heidi, Vera and Kathy on Kathy’s 80th birthday.

Kathy’s kids and grands were all in Montana for a wedding. Our kids and Vera’s kids were in Montana, too, for the annual ‘cousins memorial day weekend’. This group of cousins sent their mom, nana, auntie a special photo greeting for her 80th. There was some face timing, too.

Meanwhile back in Texas…

Our niece, Hope’s graduation ceremony.

Graduations, weddings, cousin’s annual gathering, it was a full weekend! Why were we absent? We enjoyed taking care of our Grands while their parents had fun with the cousins in Montana!

Each of these loved ones got a t-shirt with a photo of a special moment in their history with their cousin Debbee. She turned 50 in May and our DIL Laura was inspired to celebrate her at cousins weekend in this special way.

The original ‘band of cousins’.

Whew! That was a very busy weekend. Our Colville kids made it back Monday evening and our ‘sitting’ duty was over. We shared our time watching over our Grands with our DIL Jamie’s dear mom. She got the evening/overnight duty while and we got the daytime duty. I’m sure our Grands had stories to tell about their caretakers and didn’t hesitate to throw us ‘under the bus’. 🙂

And just like that, May is almost over!

Back to the Beach

Staying in Huntington Beach with my sister, Vera, gives us the best chance to see the Pacific Ocean again. It had been a while since we enjoyed the sea air and the waves. Vera dropped us off at the pier and went on to an appointment and would pick us up afterwards. She lives about 5 miles from the ocean.

Classic morning June gloom even though this was May.

The surfers and the fishermen were gathered next to the pier and on the pier. Only experienced surfers were closer to the pier pilings or that is what the loud speaker on the pier announced with forcefulness!

There is some construction on the pier. A new restaurant is going in about midway on the pier.

Watching wave after wave never gets old.

Looking north toward Newport Beach.

Looking south toward Bolsa Chica.

It was breezy but we didn’t need a coat.

Duke Kahanamoku, three time Olympic gold medalist swimmer, public servant, goodwill ambassador of the State of Hawaii, and considered by many to be the father of modern surfing. In the early 1920’s, the Duke surfed under Huntington’s Pier. In his 70’s, he returned to Huntington Beach to help promote the U.S. Surfboard Championships. For many years the championships were dedicated in honor of Duke’s contributions to the sport of surfing. He will long be remembered for his principles of fair play, good sportsmanship and his gracious aloha spirit.

Main Street in Huntington Beach ends (or begins) at Pacific Coast Highway. We crossed the highway and wandered down Main street checking out some shops. I remembered Vera’s son in law mentioned a new doughnut shop we shouldn’t miss on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). We walked back to the statue and turned left and found Parlor Doughnuts.

 

This is a franchise and if you are in Huntington Beach or another location where they have a shop, we recommend this treat to you. The dough was lovely and the flavors good.

Vera found us on Main street and she parked the car and we decided to have breakfast together on Main Street at the Sugar Shack Cafe before heading back home.

I’m adding my photos of the Pacific from our plane ride home here, too.

Micah 7:18-19

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of your inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 

Our Week in California

Before we parked at the Spokane airport for our flight to Orange County we enjoyed our Linner at the Rusty Moose in Airway Heights which is just a hop skip and a jump to the airport.

We arrived at the Santa Ana Airport in Orange County on Thursday evening May 7th. Our brother-in-law picked us up at the curb and brought us back to my sister Vera’s home in Huntington Beach, where we would be staying for a week. Our sister Vera had been in Arizona and she arrived this night, too, and brother-in-law headed back to the airport to pick her up. BIL lives in Texas and he arrived the afternoon of this day. This Orange county airport had a total of 7 of our family members arriving at different times on this day. We all initially traveled to attend our friends memorial service on Friday morning but after that we filled the rest of our time meeting up all over the L.A. area traversing the freeway system for graduation ceremonies, Mother’s Day meals, birthday meals and farewell meals with different family groups and different venues. Whew!

Our Washington kids were able to attend our Great Nephew’s graduation from The Masters College in Santa Clarita. They drove across Los Angeles from the Memorial Service to attend.

That evening we were treated to dinner at Seasons 52 in Costa Mesa with two of my sisters and brother-in-law. I didn’t take any photos.

Saturday this crew drove from different areas of L.A. and Orange County to meet for brunch at Twoheys. Those of us who weren’t at Jack’s graduation were able to congratulate him in person at this gathering. Some of us were also meeting his bride to be for the first time.

This restaurant moved from it’s original location in Alhambra to this South Pasadena location.

Retro, family-friendly American diner known for burgers & hot fudge sundaes since 1943.

Our church youth group would end up at this restaurant frequently in the 60’s and 70’s. That was when they were still in the Alhambra location. We could down a burger and then have one of their famous sundaes. My choice for a burger was always the Stinko Burger. A plain burger with a thick slice of raw onion. I ordered the same on this day for ‘old times sake’.

Josh and Laura left the 2EE’s gathering and headed straight to the airport to fly home.

Saturday evening this crew met up in Huntington Beach at Mario’s Mexican Restaurant for dinner. My brother Steve and SIL Kelly were able to make it to this gathering, driving out from Moorpark. Our niece Debbee was turning 50 this same week so we celebrated her. The Brother in law who picked us all up at the airport is sitting next to Greg. Me and my two sisters are seated at that end of the table. My brother is next to me and SIL across from him sitting next to our niece Melissa. Our niece Debbee is to the right and her hubby is taking the selfie. There was a two hour wait time for a table at this restaurant (remember this was Mother’s Day weekend) but…our Lenny, Debbie and Melissa are good customers here and the manager of the bar came up with seating for us in 20 minutes! Muy Bueno!

On Sunday, Greg and I attended Beach Bible Church (formerly Evangelical Free of Huntington Beach) with my sister Vera. This was Mother’s Day. This was the same church Greg and I attended when we lived in Huntington Beach in the mid 70’s and mid 80’s. Both of our sons were dedicated in this church. It hasn’t changed much and it is still a Bible believing and Bible preaching church. The service with the worship songs and preaching was balm to the soul.

At some point during the weekend gatherings there was a last minute decision to gather at Vera’s home for a Mother’s Day meal. Our niece Melissa offered to bring the pies and our nephew Ryan made a special gluten free cake for the gathering. Vera and I made the decision to order a couple dishes from a Chinese restaurant close by to make the day easy peasy. The Beef Broccoli and Orange Peel Chicken with steamed rice was just right for everyone.

I wasn’t with any of our children on Mother’s Day but it was nice to be with all my sisters, a few nieces, nephews, BIL’s, one brother and SIL.

Monday was beach day and I’ll save that post for another day.

Our flight home would be on Wednesday morning so our last gathering was on Tuesday night with a skeleton crew. My sisters Lana, Vera, Greg and I had a wonderful meal at an Italian Restaurant in Newport Beach called Sapori.

It was a very nice finale to our time in Southern California.

Vera drove us to the airport on Wednesday morning. Thank you, Vera, for your hospitality and to all our family who drove miles for our gatherings. Thank you, Lana, for giving up your bed for a few nights and for the use of that amazing hair dryer! 🙂

Balancing the Hodgepodge

I think this cake could qualify for my plate of beige food!

A new set of Wednesday Hodgepodge questions have come our way From This Side of the Pond. Thank you, Joyce.

1. What do you make more complicated than it needs to be? 

Answering some of the Hodgepodge questions! 🙂

2. What impresses you? 

Hard working young people.

3. On a scale of 1-10 how picky of an eater are you?  (1=extremely and 10=not at all)

I’ll go with an 8. No liver for me, thank you. Not a fan of raw fish, either.

If you had to eat a meal made entirely of one color what color would you choose? 

Beige or light brown as in a Thanksgiving plate of turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes covered in beige gravy and a beige soft roll on the side. Also…see photo up top!

4. What does balance in life mean to you? Does your life currently feel ‘balanced’? 

A good combination of home life responsibilities, keeping relationships at peace, and adding in some good adventures is a good balance in life. Giving freely and receiving graciously are important, too. Knowing the God who created me and having peace with Him through Jesus Christ gives me spiritual balance and security.

Currently things are seemingly balanced.

5. If you could travel the world for a year what would be your first destination? 

The United Kingdom would be my first and my last destination. It would be amazing to travel all about that Kingdom with that much time. A whole year could be doable if our kids and grands and friends would meet up with us through the year.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

While we were away these three came by our house to water since we were having dry and warm days which isn’t typical for Spring.

This little guy was pleased as punch to find the snacks I left for him and his sister!

Potato Leek Gratin

This is a creamy tasty side dish to serve with a protein of your choice. Everyone in the family enjoyed it.

Potato Leek Gratin

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter and more for greasing the dish
  • 1-1/2 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced uniformly thin.
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
  • 2 large leeks, washed, green tops trimmed, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
  • 1 large garlic clove, minced
  • 2 thyme sprigs
  • 2 rosemary sprigs
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 3/4 cup cheese, grated (swiss or gruyere)

Method:

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Butter a 2 quart round dish.
  3. Toss the potatoes with 3/4 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper.
  4. Layer the sliced potatoes in the dish.
  5. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
  6. Add leeks, garlic, remaining salt and pepper, thyme and rosemary.
  7. Cook, stirring, until leeks are tender and golden, 5-7 minutes.
  8. Add cream, scrapping up browned bits of leeks from the bottom of the pan.
  9. Simmer gently for 5 minutes.
  10. Remove thyme and rosemary sprigs and discard.
  11. Pour the cream mixture over potatoes and top with the cheese.
  12. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes, uncover and bake until the cheese is bubbling and golden, 10-15 minutes longer.
  13. Let cool slightly before serving.
  14. Serves 6-8 people as a side dish.

Rhubarb Pie Roll

This is a shortcut easy pie roll to make with a store bought refrigerator pie crust. I used a rhubarb walnut mixture to fill it but feel free to use other fruit and nut combinations to fill it. You can leave out the nuts if you desire. I’ve added some notes and steps for a better result.

Ingredients:

For the Roll:

  • 1 refrigerated pie crust (I used Pillsbury 15 ounce box)
  • 4 stalks of rhubarb, chopped (approx. 2 cups)
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped.
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons butter, softened.
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Frosting:

  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar (icing sugar)
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 Tablespoon milk

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Lightly coat a baking sheet with nonstick spray or line with parchment paper.
  3. Shred the rhubarb in a food processor. Drain as much of the liquid as you can from the mixture. Keep pressing the rhubarb in a sieve until you remove up to a cup of liquid.
  4. Mix together the cornstarch, walnuts, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. Add the drained rhubarb and mix well.
  5. Place the pie crust on a lightly floured surface.
  6. Spread the rhubarb mixture lengthwise on one end and roll into a log, moisten and seal the ends.
  7. Place on baking sheet with the seam side down.
  8. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Glaze:
In small bowl mix together the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk to a drizzling consistency.

Remove roll from oven and let cool.
Drizzle the glaze on top.
Add sliced almonds if you desire.
Cut into slices and serve.
Yield: 6-8 slices

The roll is still not perfect in appearance but it is tasty and not overly sweet.

Our Extravagant Creator

 

We’ve been working on our own personal part of earth for earth day. God was extravagant when he created earth and all it contains for us to enjoy.

Another Wednesday on this earth and Joyce has a fresh set of questions for us. This is Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. April 22nd is Earth Day…what’s the most ‘out of this world’ place on earth you’ve ever visited? Tell us something about it. 

Greg said, ” When I was ten it was Disneyland.”

yellowstone day one 174

In our adult years I’m going to say Yellowstone or Badlands.

2. A favorite quote, verse, or song lyric with the word earth in it? 

3. What’s the most trivial thing about which you have a strong opinion? 

Where to park at Wal-Mart.

4. What’s your most commonly used kitchen utensil or tool? What’s the last thing you made using that tool? 

I’m going to say my Chefs Knife. I made roasted vegetables for our family meal last Friday and the onions and potatoes and carrots needed to be cut. I also used it to cut ham to throw into our breakfast egg scramble on Saturday. I love a good sharp Chefs knife! I like all sorts of knives.

5. Marilyn (Memphis Bridges) gave me a great book of 3000 questions, and I’m going to try to use one in our Hodgepodge every week. Here is today’s – 

What is your greatest extravagance? 

Our trips lately have been extravagant. Extravagance to me is something above and beyond and luxurious. These days I don’t like to penny pinch when we are traveling.

Nice hotels and nice restaurants are my choice. That is not to say we don’t enjoy a nice pub or cafe mixed in during travel. There was a time when we penny pinched and stayed in some sleazy motels and I have stories to tell.

I also am quite happy to be extravagant with our family.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of the beauty of our earth. I’ll be getting back to our daily travel spots during our Danube River Cruise on Thursday, Lord willing.

Looking forward to your answers this week.

Tiny Tiger is Seven

All the usual suspects gathered for JJ’s Taekwondo/Korean themed birthday party on Saturday at noon. Another amazing cake with a green stripe belt in honor of JJ’s promotion that his mom created.

Two pros helped all of us tie our belts.

JJ showed me his moves.

The food was Korean themed.

JJ enjoyed opening all his presents and he didn’t forget to thank each one of us for his gifts.

There was a high kick contest! I won for low kick!

Last but not least, our Taekwondo pro taught us the 14 moves he is tested on. Everyone was a good sport but none of us got a prize for doing this correctly.

We had glorious sunshine and blue skies for our celebrations.

We moved on to our home for dinner and another birthday celebration.

We celebrated Andrew and by the way, he won high kick earlier in the day!

The weather was beautiful and there was a lot of fun playing ‘tag’ out doors.

We slowed down long enough for a family photo but then played games into the night. We all met up at church on Sunday morning and Addy played a special number during the service, Unashamed by Matthew West. I’m adding the chorus below.

I’m unashamedOf the gospel of Jesus ChristAnd the truth that changed my lifeFor the name above all namesI’m unashamedAnd I will live my faith out loudTake a stand and stand my groundFor the One who took my shameI’m unashamed

After church we all went to our own homes. For some that meant 5-6 hours on the road. Another wonderful weekend celebrating together. We don’t take that for granted.

The weather on this Monday is supposed to be unseasonably warm. We have a couple teens coming to help with our windstorm yard clean-up!

I hope your weekend was good and peaceful and that your Monday is starting out well.

Al Fresco, Chef’s Table and Jimmy’s

This is my River cruise Food post, three of our special dinner evenings and other meals on board the AmaMagna. When you board the boat at the beginning of the cruise you can choose and make reservations at these special dinners that serve fewer folk than the larger Journeys Restaurant. The specialty restaurants are Al Fresco, Jimmy’s and The Chef’s Table. You need a reservation for these restaurants at the dinner hour. Journey’s Restaurant is always open to everyone without a reservation. Lunches are available at all the restaurants except for The Chefs Table. You will never go hungry on a river cruise!

These meals were from March 4th to the 7th.

We were seated alone for the Al Fresco Dinner (which was a disappointment) so I took more photos of the food we ate.

The following night we enjoyed the Sip and Sail hour before our meal at the Chef’s Table. Sip and Sail was a daily event an hour before dinner.

For The Chef’s Table we sat with a couple from Texas. They were regular cruisers.

Here are other fun desserts and savory dishes we had on board.

On our last night we had dinner at Jimmy’s Restaurant.

Weinerschnitzel

Back to the Present:

All our kids are here for the weekend to celebrate. Our Westside kids arrived on Friday. Today is Saturday April 18th, this afternoon we have JJ’s Birthday Party. Tonight we will have a full house for dinner to celebrate our Son-In-Law, Andrew’s birthday, too. We like to pack it in when we are all together. We will be together at church tomorrow morning and then our Westside kids will drive home.

Hope your week has gone well. Thanks for visiting.

 

Easter Monday

We were in charge of the Easter Coffee Fellowship at our church for Easter Sunday. On Saturday we made a trip to Spokane to buy some of the goodies we would be serving. We had a very successful shopping trip at 6 stops.

Our first stop was at Kiev Market in Spokane and they were selling Kulich/Paska (Russian Easter Bread).

I knew it wouldn’t be as good as homemade but it was better this year than in previous years. After we dropped all the muffins, strawberries, yogurt and tulips off at church we had a quiet evening at home before our busy Easter Sunday.

I brought some of our outdoor daffodils inside to cheer up our kitchen space.

I’ve been working on this puzzle and only have the hardest part left.

Josh and Laura served at an Easter Service Saturday night helping with the photo area. They attended services on Sunday with Laura’s brother’s family.

Dan had to work on Easter but Jamie and her mom got this photo at the Easter service at our church. We were busy in the kitchen getting ready for the Coffee Fellowship in between both services. I did not think to get a photo of the presentation of the food tables. We got our photo with our Grands at our Easter lunch at Dan and Jamie’s.

Many Easter eggs were hidden and the kids were anxious to find them.

Ready, set, go!

Everyone had full baskets/bags of eggs and other vessels.

Three cute bunnies.

Dan got home after all the festivities and it was time for a family photo.

It was a wonderful day all around and a good weekend. I was on my feet for too many hours and will be giving them a rest for the next couple of days.

Hope your Easter was glorious, too.