What About You Hodgpodge

1. What’s something blogging has taught you about yourself?

I’m social and I like to meet new people and see and experience new things. Blogging has opened up a whole new world to me with a walking buddy while I was living in Southern California (Willow’s Cottage), tour guides on trips to Canada (Pondside), outings with blogging friends to museums in California (Willows Cottage and Sara), a meet up and shopping trips with a blogging friend from Orange County who is no longer blogging, a meal with another blogging friend in the Sacramento area (Scrabblequeen) Lunch in Kansas with another blogging friend who is no longer blogging. The most amazing impact on my life that came to me through blogging is my association with the Mennonite Girls Can Cook. These nine women have enriched my life in more ways then I can count. I’m so thankful to God for them and the lives they lead in service to others and all the dear friends I’ve met in person or enjoyed by visiting their blogs. I’m ready and willing to meet any more of you who travel to my part of the world.

2. Leftovers…are you in the ‘reheat and eat’ camp or the ‘put them in the fridge until they spoil and then toss them’ camp? What’s your favorite thing to have leftover? What can you not abide as a leftover?

Both. I like small amounts of leftovers but I get tired of some things that linger in the fridge. I really enjoy Stroganoff and tuna noodle as leftovers. Soggy salads aren’t my cup of tea.

3. ‘Me time’…your thoughts?

At this stage of life I have plenty of “Me Time”. When my children were living under our roof “me time” was a rare commodity. I don’t think it’s too healthy to think too much about ME. There are seasons of life where we have more time for self and seasons with less time for self.

4. When people come to you for help, what do they usually want help with?

Emotional support.

5. If your childhood had a smell what would it be? Tell us why.

Cabbage as in Borsch. Marinated lamb cooking on the barbecue. Lots of rice. Sour cream as a side dish. Blintzes swimming in butter and half and half. Good fresh bread. In other words heritage food was the smell of my childhood. My mother’s and father’s love language was providing good eats for their family and others. We would probably be considered poor growing up but one thing we never lacked was tasty food.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Yippee, Yahoo, our countertops are being installed this morning, one week late! Better late then never! In the meantime I’ve accomplished some organizing and thinning out of stuff at this old house with the anticipation of moving next June! No Christmas decorating at this old house yet till we clean up the mess from the new countertops going in. Next week sounds like a good week to get a tree and start decorating.

Thank you to Joyce From This Side of the Pond for asking the questions!

Getting to Know You…

I enjoyed reading Eileen’s Getting to Know Me and Mildred’s, too, so I’m answering the 25 questions.

1. What is your middle name?:

I do not have a middle name on my birth certificate. In my Russian culture I would be introduced as Ellen, Moisi’s (daughter) Bagdanov. Everyone would then know that I was Moisi’s daughter not Ivan’s daughter.

That’s my maiden last name in Russian on my paternal grandparents’ gravestone.

2. What was your favorite subject at school?:

Any class where the teacher made me feel like they appreciated having me as a student especially my English teachers in high school. I enjoyed Home Economics and ended up majoring in Home Economics.

Mrs. Nicolaus was my favorite primary teacher.

3. What is your favorite drink?:

Morning: coffee Cocktail: Gin and Tonic

4. What is your favorite song at the moment?:

Great is Thy Faithfulness

5. What is your favorite food?:

It’s hard to beat a good Ribeye steak or Osso Bucco or Prime Rib. I can’t narrow it down to one. My easy go to comfort food is probably Mexican food but I love finding good Persian restaurants that take me back to my food roots. I’m going to say my favorite food is food!

6. What is the last thing you bought?:

A large angel at Homegoods today.

7. Favorite book of all time?:

Yikes! Another hard one to narrow down. Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter Series.

8. Favorite Color?:

Blue

9. Do you have any pets?:

10. Favorite perfume?:

I don’t wear perfume and if you do please spray lightly. Thank you. 🙂

11. Favorite holiday?:

Easter is my favorite.

12. Are you married?:

Yes, this month we’ll celebrate 44 years!

13. Have you ever been out of the country?:

Yes. Great Britain seven times, Italy (Milan) once, Mexico once, Canada too many times to count.

14. Do you speak any other language?:

I can speak Russian poorly. I understand it better than I can speak it.

15. How many siblings do you have?:

Eight, 4 brothers and 3 sisters.

This photo is from my sister Kathy’s wedding. The groom and best man that are flanking Kathy aren’t part of the my 7 siblings and Dear is standing next to me. All the rest are my brothers and sisters who are now 44 years older! Kathy, Vera, Fred, Ellen, Tim, Steve, Lana and Leonard. The last two are twins.

16. What is your favorite shop?:

Homegoods

17. Favorite restaurant?:

For a nice hunk of meat, Metropolitan Grill. My all time favorite places to eat are Pubs in Great Britain.

18. When was the last time you cried?:

Last week. I cry easily during worship services.

19. Favorite Blog?:

I like a variety of blogs and especially enjoy visiting blogs that don’t bombard me with ads. I’m sad that a few of my favorites aren’t up and running at present.

20. Favorite Movie?:

The older Pride and Prejudice series with Colin Firth. Does that qualify as a movie?

21. Favorite TV shows?:

Great British Baking Show, Alone, Top Chef, Project Runway, Live PD, Survivor, NCIS, just to name a few.

22. PC or Mac?:

23. What phone do you have?:

Samsung 4 or 5 , probably time to upgrade.

24. How tall are you?:

5′ 4-1/2″

25. Can you cook?:

Yes I can and I’m part of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook. My mother was a great Russian cook. Her love language was to cook for others and to feed them. She loved to listen to cooking shows on the radio and try to write down the recipes. Since she didn’t know how to write in English this was a challenge for her. She enjoyed trying new things and inspired all of her kids to cook. The photo above is from our humble home in Montebello at a dinner prepared for the cheer squad by my mom, Borsch, Meat and Potato filled Perishky and Blintzes. My parents modeled hospitality even though they always struggled financially while we were growing up.

Thanks for visiting today. We are hoping our counters will be able to be cut and installed on Monday!

Black Friday

Click on over to the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog to see the easy recipe for these French Toast Rollups that are a fun way to serve breakfast or brunch.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the home of dear friends with so much good food and good cheer. There were 44 of us!

When we came home last evening we noticed several homes in our neighborhood had put up their Christmas lights. It’s time for the “Season of Light”. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5 (ESV)

Today is Black Friday. Are you shopping today?

Game Day Snacks

New recipe up for these Spicy Chicken Roll-ups on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog today.

We had an intense wind event in the Puget Sound area yesterday with trees and power lines down all over the region and lots of branches and leaves. Thankfully our power persevered here at this old house. Thousands are still in the dark today.

Our counters are now scheduled for install next Tuesday, the 21st of November. That will work out well for us since we aren’t hosting Thanksgiving day festivities. I’ll still have to choose a day to have a turkey cooking in our oven after Thanksgiving day.

Happy day to you!

Something Different…

Head over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook to see how to put these Poblano boats together.

My back is a little better today I’m happy to say.

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all our friends in Canada!

Apple Walnut Crisp

Click over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook for Flashback Friday featuring my Apple Walnut Crisp.

I think I’ll use the same recipe using some of our ripe pears. It’s a recipe we enjoy.

Yesterday Dear and I worked hard for several hours moving things around at this old house and taking some things out to the garage to store. Before I could take photos Dear had things moved about. I’ll share some before and after photos soon.

Hello September! We’ll soon be singing that great Beatles tune with these words in the lyrics, “Will you still need me, will you still feed me”.

Blueberry Cobbler

Head on over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook to see the recipe for this cobbler. I like it because you can use frozen or fresh fruit and the cake topping doesn’t get soggy. I made a larger one with a mix of apples and blueberries, too. Serve it cake side up or cake side down.

They say we are finally going to get some relief from our dry days and heat and smoke filled skies soon. I hope so.

Tea at Lovella’s

To get to this lovely setting and presentation it takes lots of planning ahead and sometimes it takes many hands.

All the Mennonite Girls from British Columbia and me, the U.S.A. cousin, hadn’t been together since December. It was high tea time for us to get together again and Lovella graciously offered her home knowing that it is easier for me to get there from the U.S.A.

Can you take enough photos to document all the planning, baking and creating of these beautiful delicacies?

Anneliese baked, mixed and put together this tiered platter of gluten free tea bites for Julie and all of us. They were so tasty and she’ll share the recipe sometime in the future on our blog.

There were eight of us around the table on this day and we sorely missed our two Mennonite Girls from Manitoba. Lovella made these beautiful cookies for each of us and they served as place cards letting us know where to sit.

Some close ups of what we enjoyed.

Kathy made this fruit salad with a nice dressing that she will share soon.

And here is a little glimpse in how it all came together just before we sat down at Lovella’s table.

Lovella worked ahead of time to make the tea come together making pastry puff cones to stuff with an egg salad mixture and other tea treats.

Judy put together a lovely Earl Grey punch that she’ll be sharing soon on the blog.

Bev made some wonderful tarts with basil and other yummy ingredients, bottom right. Lovella also made mini croissants from scratch, rhubarb scones, and plain scones. Lovella provided lemon curd, blackberry preserves and creme fraiche to go with the scones.

When we ate enough of the savory treats Lovella brought out these delicacies that she had also prepared ahead of time for us. Melt in your mouth pavlova goodness!

We had a great time of catching up and taking care of some business for some upcoming events.

I’m very thankful for my Mennonite Girl friends and all I’ve learned and enjoyed since God plopped me into this community. Thank you Lovella for such a lovely time that you thought out and brought together for all of us. Thanks to all the other girls for their contributions to our wonderful time of feasting and of fellowship. It was a sacred time.

2016 in Review July-December

Fourth of July with family, friends and neighbors.

Book launch for Bread for the Journey at Marg’s home in Chilliwack, B.C.

July 30th we received an announcement from Dan and Jamie that they were expecting our first grandchild!

August Book launch celebration at the Heritage Museum in Abbotsford, B.C.

Travels to Dan and Jamie’s to help with projects in August.

Memorial service for our dear friend Dave Dickinson late in August with all of our family.

August/September visits to Eastern Washington and visits here from cousins.

October Western Conference clinched and another trip to Eastern Washington where I was able to hear Baby Bayles’ heartbeat, attend a sign making class and see that beautiful rainbow above.

We found out we are having a little granddaughter!

November day trips and wonderful Thanksgiving gatherings with friends and family.

Early December trip to Canada for our annual MGCC Christmas dinner.

Our 42nd wedding anniversary meal in La Conner at the Oyster and Thistle a day late but just as good .

December 11th our Sounders beat Toronto to win their first ever MLS Cup!

Downtown Seattle for the MLS Championship parade and celebration with Josh and Laura. (December 14th)

Dan and Jamie moved into their new home in weather that ranged from 8 degrees to 22 degrees. Josh flew over to help them move the weekend before Christmas!

Christmas day with all of our kids and then a trip to La Conner with Katie and Andrew to celebrate Katie’s birthday.

We ended the year with a nice chilly walk and then a Raclette dinner at this old house with dear old friends. Sad to say I forgot to take a photo! Here’s the table set in Husky gold and purple even though our dear Huskies lost to the Crimson Tide after a great run in 2016!

Today on New Year’s day we managed to put away Christmas decorations and drag the tree out to the yard waste bin. Woohoo! Tomorrow I will enjoy sitting and watching the Rose Bowl Parade and maybe the Rose Bowl game.

Hope that 2017 is having a good start at your house!

Numbers 6: 24-26

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Marinated Cheese Platter

Click on over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook for the instructions to put together this Marinated Cheese Platter. It’s easy and great for a crowd.

Hope your last day of 2016 is filled with good things and here’s a prayer for 2017…

A New Year’s Prayer

May God make your year a happy one!
Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,
But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;
Not by making your path easy,
But by making you sturdy to travel any path;
Not by taking hardships from you,
But by taking fear from your heart;
Not by granting you unbroken sunshine,
But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;
Not by making your life always pleasant,
But by showing you when people and their causes need you most,
and by making you anxious to be there to help.
God’s love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead.

Anon.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

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