Sunday dinner at the Babushka House.

NO BABUSHKA - NO SERVICE.

 bluddy beets and partridge.

"Into the oven you go!" gnarled the knurly-fingered culinarian.

Here's a big bowl of meatballs. I don't know why I think meatballs are so funny, maybe it's the on top of spaghetti song, the losing and the sneezing and the floor-rolling. 

the night kitchen. goodnight drying dishes and knives. goodnight purple iris. goodnight oyster sign. goodnight towel and pitcher from Michelle. goodnight kitchen.

Here's a p.s. on the egg dyeing. Rebecca, Brian and Jen had an abstract easter egg party after dinner tonite. Looks like the tradition will live on.

 Wow this was an extraordinarily easterly inspiredly day today. woke up early to cruise over to The Caning Shop  in Berkeley to purchase a Ukrainian Easter Egg dye kit only to find  an empty nest. Too late .... all gone. sooooooo I bought the last few packets of dye they did have (pink, red, pumpkin and brick) and hoped that I could find my silk dyes when I got home. Since egg shells are made of protein, silk dyes will color eggshells boldly. Detoured to The Cheeseboard. My first trip there and another Wow...cheese, bread, buns and PIZZA...I mean easterly saturdayly pizza to bake when I got home. (delish). Another detour, had to run to Amazon and order the Cheeseboard cookbook . Spent an hour in the attic searching for the silk dyes, only to discover them in the garage. Hooray, let the dyeing begin. Wow, what a holy easterly mess caboodle did I make. Melting beeswax in an electric fry pan, tjanting equipment, electric waxing pen, powdered dye, jars of mixed dye, paper towels, newspapers, boiling water, vinegar, nails and eggs, print-outs of Ukranian egg designs and instructions and I end up with POLKA DOTS, marbles, a little deer, an iron chick, folded, cut sale ads and wondering if I really am Ukrainianly?

okay so I am a sucker for ballpark hotdogs...so to keep that "swing,batter,batter" kid inside of me happy I started making my own sausage patties. These are chicken, apricot, blueberry, but you can add whatever strikes your one, two, three. Bruce Aidells sausage book will give you a solid base and then you can take off running. 

Last night we baked. It's all for the office April birthdays so don't worry about us gaining 10000 pounds or 10000 cavities from eating all these sweet treats. The loaf is mixed from a 1947 family recipe with some added melted chocolate and walnuts on top instead of throughout because I only had about one half of a cup of walnuts in my freezer. Rebecca baked cookies,the orange vanilla chip recipe from Magnolia with chocolate chips instead of vanilla because we were out of those also. The cookies are on a Kim Parker plate whose work inspired the painting. Let's see what I learned from this baking, photoing experiment: buy more walnuts, buy more vanilla chips and live what you love, close-up and personal.

Wednesday evening sunset with three of my all time faves. My dad's name was Anton. My Aunt's name was Anna and my daughter's name is Rebecca. Just saw that now. should I hunt my bookshelves for the rest of my family? 

Here comes the sun. Morning in the garden of good, no evil. Got some bright ideas watching the sun spread its light over the ground like butter on a slice of warm home baked bread, mmmmmm, breakfast.

Teach your children well... this is the dish i came home to today prepared by my sweet potato, Rebecca. Last night, she dreamed about making this Barefoot Contessa recipe as a Top Chef competitor, so today we are having Thanksgiving abbreviated. A roasted turkey breast, this deep dish delight and a bundle of spring asparagus. A dinner for all seasons.

P.S. After eating the walnut bread Glen chose The Girl Can't Help It by Little Richard for our 3:00 Dance Party. I have it on now. When she bats her eye, the bread slice turns to toast.

Glen was wishing for more walnut bread, so I broke out my tried and true "The Garden Way Bread Book" ( yes, the one that was published in 1979...yes, the one that is all crusty from my youthful years of health food freakdom...) and baked 2 loaves of whole wheat egg bread with cinnamon walnut-raisin filling. Can't wait to surprise my guitar playin', cookie bakin', bread lovin' friend in the morning. 

I love the smell of this tea. i carry these packets back and forth to work and then at night when I need some tea i rummage around in my purse and hope there is a lone mangled secret tea stash under all the other crap in my bag. tonite was a lucky night. tearing open one end sends a  flowery perfumey orangey scented waft of relief right to my nose, into my head and around and around and i still haven't even added the boiling water. 

hey, this isn't food...but it's soul food for me. This is my first shorebird carving. My Dad was a carver so I felt compelled to try my hand at carrying on the Stetzko folk carving tradition in his honor. It's a bit bumbly and mis-shapen but I know my Dad would encourage me to keep carving. During an interview about his work, he was asked, "how long did it take you to carve that piece?" His answer was "all my life." I guess I'll keep trying.