Category Archives: Heritage

Vareniky the Bagdanov Way ~ Russian Recipe

The Ladies got together to make Vareniky together at my niece Debbee’s house. Look at those cute aprons on Michelle, Melissa, Debbee, Letty, and mom! I want to say at the top here that this recipe is for a lot of vareniky. So you’ll need to do the math and cut it down. This recipe makes about 40 or 50.

Vareniky

6 eggs
1- 1/2 C. half and half
1/2 C Sour Cream
1 T. Oil
3 T. sugar
Flour sifted (at least 8 Cups)

Update! sorry peeps! I forgot the Salt…you’ll need to add 1 Tablespoon of salt to the dough, also.

Extra cube of butter and half and half for sauce at the end…

Sift flour. Make a hole in the center of the flour. Combine eggs, half n half, sour cream, salt, and sugar. Beat until combined. Pour into the hole of flour. Mix and knead adding flour until dough stays together. Dough will be very soft.

Filling:

3 lbs. farmers cheese or hoop cheese
2 eggs
1 t. salt
3 T sugar

Beat all ingredients together until combined.

Roll out flour mixture. Cut circles about 3″ in diameter. Put about 1 heaping teaspoon of the cheese in the center of the circle. Fold in half and pinch ends together then flute with finger. Place the vereniky in boiling water until they come to the surface and float. Drain and cool. At this point they may be frozen.

 

This is what they are suppose to look like. Just remember this one was made by a pro!

 

That’s the cheese mixture in the bowl that you fill them with.

 

This is the boiling step.

To serve, place vareniky into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Melt one cube of butter and pour over vareniky. Heat up half and half and cover the vareniky with the half n half. Bake at 375 degrees until the half n half boils. Serve with sour cream and preserves or syrup.

My family traditionally has these for dessert on Christmas Eve when they get together. They are also a favorite for breakfast. The joy of receiving and eating these treats is always wonderful. I’m going to have to be in L.A. for one of the cooking parties so I can really learn how to make them and enjoy them in the future!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Three Kings Day ~ We Three Kings

 Three Kings Day is celebrated on January 6th, twelve days after Christmas. It is often viewed as the last day of the Christmas season (the end of the 12 days of Christmas).

Also known as The Epiphany, Three Kings Day (Día de los Reyes) is a Christian celebration that commemorates the Biblical story of the three kings who followed the star of Bethlehem to bring gifts to the Christ child. According to the Biblical story, the Three Kings – named Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar – presented the Baby Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Three Kings Day was the gift-giving time, rather than Christmas day. Just as it is common for children to leave cookies for Santa in the U.S., in some regions, it was customary for children to leave their shoes out on the night of January 5, often filling them with hay for the camels, in hopes that the Three Kings would be generous. Children would awake on January 6 to find their shoes filled with toys and gifts.

Also traditional is for families to gather together and share the Rosca de Reyes. The Rosca de Reyes is a crown-shaped sweet bread decorated with pieces of orange and lime. It is filled with nuts, figs, and cherries. Hot chocolate is traditionally served with the Rosca de Reyes.

We Three Kings

(Words and Music by John H. Hopkins, Jr., 1857)

We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

Refrain

O star of wonder, star of light,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.

Refrain

Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, voices raising,
Worshiping God on high.

Refrain

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.

Refrain

Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and skies.

Refrain

Photo Hunters ~ Delicious!

Delicious or as we like to say with a Russian accent Duhliscious!

 

This is the delicious baked treat we had over Christmas and New Years. I will be posting the recipe in the future for my Russian friends who don’t have this recipe (Roolyet) handed down to them.

For more Photo Hunters go see TnChick!

WFMW ~ Persian Salad Dressing

This Dressing Recipe that I got from a cookbook I own called In My Persian Kitchen is fresh and good and always works well for me.

 

1/3 C. Olive Oil

3 Tblsp. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 clove garlic crushed (pressed)

Whisk these ingredients all together and pour on salad greens or a nice cucumber, tomato and onion salad! Enjoy and Happy 2008 everyone!

 

1947 in Iran ~ the Shvetzov and Katkov Families

For my Show and Tell Friday I’d like to share this old family photo. We do not have many photographs with my maternal Grandfather. I love the photos that we do have of him. God blessed these families with a way out of Iran to the United States and blessed them with faith in Him that has sustained them over the years. My little babushka (grandma) as we lovingly called her was a prayer warrior for our family and her friends. I look forward to being reunited with her and meeting my maternal grandfather for the first time in heaven…

 

My mother was a Shvetzov before she married my father. Her brother Paul married Nina Katkov. This is part of the Katkov family and part of the Shvetzov family after my parents had already immigrated to the U.S.A. The Katkov’s and Shvetzov’s spent much time together at many meaningful events through the years in Iran and in the Los Angeles Area in the U.S.

In the front row you have Vera (Katkov), Nicolai Katkov the Patriarch, Manya Katkov the Matriarch, My maternal grandmother Vera (Shergaev) Shvetzov and my Grandfather Feodor Shvetzov, Zena (Katkov). My cousin Alex Shvetzov at my grandparents side.

Top Row: Vasilli Katkov married Zena, she’s holding their oldest daughter Tamara, Nicolai Katkov, Lida (Katkov) Titov, Alexsei Katkov, my Aunt Nina (Katkov) Shvetzov and my Uncle Paul Shvetzov.

Everyone in this photo eventually immigrated to the U.S. from Iran except for my grandfather who was stabbed and killed in Iran. He was a Baptist minister in Iran. My Babushka immigrated as a widow and lived with my aunt and uncle for many years until she got her own apartment a couple buildings away from the Russian Baptist Church in L.A. A few of the other widowed Babushka’s also lived in this same apartment building including Manya Katkov who lived right next door to my Babushka. My family started attending this church when we left the Russian Molokan Church. Only 4 of the people photographed here are still alive. My Babushka’s last days were spent in my parent’s home.

For more Show and Tell head over to Kelli’s.

Our Little Girl is 22 today!

Happy 22nd Birthday Katie!

Photos from Katie’s 1st ~ 21st Birthdays
1st in Ventura with family & friends
2nd in Ventura, California
3rd in Downey, California. She’s pretty happy even with that tiny cake!

 

4th  in Bothell, Washington.

5th in Bothell

 

6th at Baba and Deda’s sharing the day with Aunt Nina and cousin Stephen both born on the 27th too.

7th in Bothell, Washington
7th with family, Titov’s and Spiro’s
8th at Discovery Zone
9th with fam and Spiro’s

 

10th at the Skating rink where your dad broke his wrist…

11th in Bothell (1st rental) with Jamie, Christie, and Johanna

 

12th bowling with fam and Hiller’s

 

13th with Jamie, Kristen, Heidi, and Christie (sorry Christie this was the only photo I had)

 

14th with Jamie, Heidi, Kristen, and Christie (very nice photo this time Christie!)

15th with Kristen, Heidi, Christie, and Katie K.

16th Ice Skating with fam, Katie K, Christie, Heidi, Jamie, Kristen, Brad and Joe
17th ~ fam, TCL crowd, school crowd
18th smaller TCL and School crowd

 

19th ~ the year of the ice cream cake…

 

20th ~ The year of the maple bar cake!

 

21st the Spice Bundt cake and another small crowd with Kristen, Christie, Jamie, Heidi, Ben and fam.

22nd will be another wonderful celebration with Bowling, Tacos and another Spice Cake!

We love you dear Katie and are so happy that God brought you into our lives 22 years ago. May your birthday and everyday be filled with an awareness of who created you and who you are in Him.

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos and is holding them hostage. I’m slowly cleaning up my posts to remove the ugly black and grey blocks that photobucket has inserted instead of my photos.

WFMW ~ Hands On Wooden Nativity

When my kids were little we bought this small wooden nativity set at Disneyland one year. We wanted something that the kids would be able to touch and move around all they wanted without the danger of breaking. It was always fun to see how they would rearrange it after I set it up! We’ve been enjoying it for at least 22 years. The shepherd has lost his staff, one of the lambs only has 3 legs, and the stable frame has cracked and been re-glued. This hands on wooden Nativity still works for us!

To see more WFMW click here.

Christmas Tree Treasures ~ 2007

Welcome to Christmas Tree Treasures hosted by Morning Glory at her blog Seeds From My Garden.

This angel is our Christmas tree topper that we’ve used for several years now.

We put the lights on the tree first, then come the red glass ornaments (a few dozen) When they are all placed we add all of our one of a kind that we’ve collected over the years. This was last years tree. This years is not up yet! We plan to get a shorter fatter one this year…

This was our very first ornament that was given to us as a Wedding Gift. We were married December 6, 1974.

 

The top three ornaments in this collage are the first ornaments for each of our children. 1979 was Josh’s , 1981 was Dan’s and 1986 was Katie’s. The second row in the middle was a very primitive baby Jesus in a 1/2 walnut shell that one of my kids made and I’m sorry to say I don’t know which one.  The camel and Winnie the Pooh are from Josh’s baby stash. The little girls on the bottom right are from Dear’s mother and are a lot older than most of our other ornaments.

 

These are the handmade ornaments my 3 kids made that make me smile whenever I see them. Katie made the angel, Josh made the star and Dan made the reindeer below.

These photo ornaments are all from the same year.  Josh with the baseball theme, Katie with the Angel theme, and Dan with the Soccer theme.

This is one of my favorite wooden ornaments.

 

 

I’m a huge Beatrix Potter fan and I was thrilled to find these Christmas ornaments. Hunca Munca and the Amiable Guinea Pig.

My heritage is Russian and these ornaments were gifts from my brother Leonard.

I added this Russian ornament to the tree last year.

My Christmas tree skirt is usually a Christmas tablecloth that I drape around the trunk of the tree.

Thank you Morning Glory for hosting Christmas Tree Treasures. To see more click here.

I’ve also linked to Katabug who is hosting Fun Monday Show me your  Christmas Ornaments version.

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos I was storing on their site and they are holding them hostage. I am working on updating my more than 4000 posts.

December 6, 1974 ~ 33 Years later

Today is our 33rd Wedding Anniversary!

December – When December’s snows fall fast, marry and your love will last.

Here are 33 things about Dear and Myself since we’ve been married…

1. Dear was 21 and I was 23 when we got married.

2. My engagement ring was an opal ring. We had matching wedding bands. When I was pregnant with our third (Katie) Dear bought me my first diamond ring.

 

3. We honeymooned up the coast of California .

4. Our first home was a 1 bedroom apartment in West Los Angeles.

5. We bought our first house in Huntington Beach in 1975 for $45,000. We lived in Huntington Beach until 1984.

6. In 1977 we took a road-trip to visit extended family and to see some sights. We first stopped in Denver to see Dear’s mothers side of the family. Then we went to Peoria, Illinois to meet Dear’s fathers side of the family. We headed north to the Detroit area. We took a ferry to Canada and headed to Toronto where we found my china from England and added to my set so we would have 12 place settings. Then we headed to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Fun carefree times in a little yellow 1976 Honda Civic.

7. We have three children. Josh was born on Friday, January 19, 1979. Dan was born on Friday, January 16, 1981. Katie was born on Friday, December 27, 1985. (Katie came early she was due in January also!) “Friday’s child is loving and giving”

8. Dear’s professions while we’ve been married were, a Painting Contractor, a Conveyorman at Cal-Mat, A Loader/Operator at Cal-Mat, A hospital Pharmacist, Professional Services at a Biotech company, Medical Information at a Biotech Company.

9. My professions since we’ve been married were, a File Clerk, an Elementary School Teacher, a SAHM, a Playground Teacher, House Cleaning business, Substitute Teacher, SAHM, and now I’m a SAH wife…

10. Churches we attended the last 33 years earliest to present: Grace Community Church in Panorama City, Huntington Beach Evangelical Free Church, Bible Fellowship Church in Ventura, Sunrise Christian Fellowship in Seattle, and Evangelical Free Church Conejo Valley.

11. We took our first 2 camping trips with our boys and some of their cousins before Katie was born. We camped at Refugio State Beach, north of Santa Barbara. Fun times in a tent in 1983 and 1984!

12. While living in Ventura we met our good buddies the Spiros who are like family to us.  Dr. Spiro delivered our daughter Katie in Ventura while he was doing his residency. Their 3 daughters and our 3 kids got along well and are still great friends. After the residency they moved to Washington where Dave joined a family practice. When we moved to Washington for Pharmacy school they adopted us into their family since we were so far from ours. We share many holidays together.

13. Dear’s Father Rex died in 1985 a couple months before our daughter Katie was born.

14. In 1986 we went on a bicycle touring trip in the Wine Country with our friends Dave and Jody and we met our dear friends Bob and Jan for the first time on this trip. (Geyserville to Mendocino, down the coast to Gualala and inland to Monte Rio then back to Geiserville) Oh the tales we can tell. We did not have a support vehicle.

15. We moved to the state of Washington in 1988 so that Dear could attend the University of Washington and then apply to Pharmacy School there.

16. While Dear attended the University of Washington the Husky football team had some glory years and we were able to get student season tickets along with tickets to a Rose Bowl game where the Huskies beat Michigan in 1992.

17. While in Washington Dear’s mother Verna lived with us for 9 years.

18. Our first home in Washington was a 4600 square foot home where we finished a 650 square foot self contained apartment in the daylight basement for Dear’s mother.

19. After moving to Washington in 1988 we made several road trips to California. I was tempted to write a book about driving I-5 from border to border.

20. I started a home cleaning business while Dear was in school full-time. I’ve cleaned a lot of toilets!

21. In 1994 we took the family to Los Angeles and San Jose to experience the World Cup. This was a wonderful experience especially for Josh and Dan (and ELLEN, too)

22. In 1996 we gave our home back to the bank when a serious landslide came right to our foundation and threatened the stability of the home. The costs for shoring up and saving the home ended up being more than we could ever afford. We lost all of our California equity and started over by first renting homes till we were able to purchase a home again. Moving yearly with all of our stuff and all of my MIL’s stuff was quite the challenge.

23. Dear’s Mother Verna died in 1997.

24. One of our memorable family trips was to Hawaii in 1997 after Josh graduated from high school.

25. We rented 3 different homes in 3 years after giving our house back to the bank. We bought our 3rd rental house when they tried to sell it out from under us after only being in the house for a month. We couldn’t face the trauma of moving all our stuff again in such a short time. We didn’t think a bank would give us a loan after we had given a house back to the bank. God intervened for us and the bank did not fault us in their records for defaulting on our loan.

26. Our son Josh was married to Laura on August 25, 2001. We had some wonderful days celebrating with family and friends.

27. Dear and I have had some great trips since our kids have become adults. Our favorites are our trips to London in 2003, Great Britain with our daughter in 2004 and a Walking tour of Great Britain with our best friends in 2006.

28. We took a few trips to Chicago area before and during our daughter Katie’s 3 semesters at Wheaton College.

29. Cars we’ve owned while married: ’71 Datsun, ’70 Volkswagon, ’75 Courier Pick up, ’76 Honda, Buick Station Wagon, ’81 Honda, ’84 Nissan Pick-up, ’86 Toyota van, ’92 Toyota Corolla Wagon, ’74 GMC pick-up, ’99 Camry, ’73 Chevy Pick-up. ’07 Camry.

30. I’m the sports fan in the family and Dear is gracious to put up with me since he is not a big fan of watching sports.

31. Dear is the handiest guy to have around. He has always tackled any hard job around the house and completed it well. He’s an electrician, a plumber, a carpenter, a mechanic, a painter. He’s helped other people out with their projects, too.

32. Dear is a learner and is blessed with lots of knowledge. He is a very wise man and he’s a great teacher.

33. We made a pact when we got married that whoever decided to make the stupid choice to leave, the other of us would shoot them in the back with our 357 Magnum as they walked out the door! We always said to each other and to others that death would be easier to deal with than divorce. Harsh, yes, but after 33 years neither of us has ever thought about walking away from this marriage.

Whew! That wasn’t easy. Thank you Lord for 33 years of mercy and grace in our marriage. And thank you for so many blessings we have received all from your hand. We are especially thankful for a family that loves you and loves us and for dear friends who do the same.

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos I was storing on their site and they are holding them hostage. I am working on updating my more than 4000 posts.

Sad Day in My Family

Today we got word that our cousin Vera Bogdanoff had died of complications from an aneurysm she had a few months ago. She was progressing well but had complications from an infection two days ago. Alex is my father’s nephew, my cousin. They were Molokan like my dad but left the Molokan church years ago to follow Christ more earnestly as did my parents. Vera was one of my relatives on my dad’s side that I could relate to and enjoy whenever I was around her. She will be missed dearly. They moved recently to Texas just before she had her aneurysm to be close to one of their daughters. My parents were just in Texas over Thanksgiving visiting my brother and his wife and they all were able to go to the convalescent home and visit her. They sang songs in Russian to her and she cried and mouthed some of the words with them. It was a sweet time.

 

This is a photo from 52 years ago on their wedding day. They were married in the Molokan church. It is the Molokan tradition that the groom and his extended family gather on the day of the wedding for a blessing and then go to the brides family home to pick her up (this is where the bride leaves her mother and father and clings to her husband) and go to the church for the wedding. There is always a married couple chosen to be the bride and grooms chaperons/escorts (best man and maid of honor type deal) My cousin Alex is in the middle of this photo flanked by my Uncle Bill and Aunt Nora who were his chaperons. I’m the littlest one on the front row with the coat on surrounded by my siblings and cousins. My dad and mom are next to my Aunt Nora in the back. Molokans still dress like this for church, weddings, and funerals.

My parents will be flying to the Dallas area for the funeral. We know that Vera is with her Savior and rejoicing. We are praying for her 2 daughters and son-in-laws, grandchildren and her husband, my cousin Alex who will miss her dearly.

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos I was storing on their site and they are holding them hostage. I am working on updating my more than 4000 posts.