One of the most favorite moments from my childhood was when Mom and I baked together. It didn't happen very often... She was always busy, always working. Even though she was technically a stay-at-home Mom, her sewing business sometimes required up to 12 hours of her attention every day. She's an amazing seamstress (made both mine and my sister's wedding dresses) - not a talent I picked up from her...
She is no Paula Deen but when I was younger, the overpowering aroma of our baked creations made me the most proud daughter... I still remember her old, stained, ripped kitchen apron. Ironically, somebody who could sew anything from a swimsuit to a fur coat, could never find time to make a new apron for herself...
She rarely baked pies. The only one I really remember was her famous sharlotka (apple pie) made with foraged apples. We always looked forward to the apple season. Occasionally, once in a blue moon, she would make a berry pie of some sort but most of the time we just couldn't afford it.
I remember more "practical" meals like pelmeni (meat-filled raviolis), blini (crepes, often with delicious fillings also) or pirojkis (filled hand pies):
Pirojkis were always my favorite. We made them with a variety of fillings - meat, eggs and rice, sweet cinnamon apples, chicken, potatoes or potatoes with mushrooms, and my first choice forever - cabbage:
We would spend hours in the kitchen making fillings, assembling them all together, giggling and gossiping... Those precious moments were rare and that's why I treasure them even more.
And now I'm building memories with my boys...
What are your valuable and treasured memories about the most influential women in your life?
What a lovely post!!! Your mother sounds great!! And that bread looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteThank you, my friend! I really miss my Mom. She's truly amazing!
DeleteMy mum, who sadly is in the late stages of dementia, was brilliant at everything she did. She could sew, knit, bake (anything), cooked great dinners and she could grow anything and did. She taught and helped my with a lot of the crafts I do today. (except crochet, grandma taught me that) I can't grow anything either, carrots are my nemesis.
ReplyDeleteLena you can sew, you made those lovely cushion covers so the next thing to make could be a simple skirt. What do you say?
Carolx
Hahaha, I can sew simple things :) I just don't have her vision. She could take any piece of fabric and whip out something amazing. You should see the dresses she made us when I was a kid, all out of old clothes or scraps. I'm lacking fantasy in this department or, maybe, just too scared to make a mistake and destroy an expensive cut of fabric... I do have a skirt on my mind this summer :)
DeleteYour mum sound amazing and very talented, but all you need to do is buy a simple pattern you like/love and then buy (from a charity shop/thrift) a huge pair of jeans to cut down or a long dress with lots of material in it (depending on the pattern style). A simple skirt would only have approximately four pieces. Go on give it a go.
DeleteCarolx
I was just thinking the other day about when I was young (before starting school) making pies, bread, and other things with my mother. I remember it was just the two of us. Then I wondered how she managed that with me because she had three other kids and a bedridden mother that she was caring for. She was/is a remarkable mother.
ReplyDeleteSounds like your Mom is wonderful and so strong to raise all of you and to take care of your sick Grandma!
DeleteI think cooking is one of those things that bond people, for sure. I remember a lot of that, especially pizza nights. We very rarely had pizza, and it would take a long time (dough from scratch, hand-shredded cheese from blocks on an old block shredder, cubbing ham). It was a lot of fun, except that once the sauce was in the pan, it was all hands off. We could only sit and watch from a distance (tomato sauce splatters like crazy under a lot of heat, and the oven was open fire, so kids off). Those were the simpler times, for sure... ditto on the cakes. We had no involvement, until it came to transferring cake batter to the pan, and the fight for the cake batter container began. We'd lick those suckers clean! Imagine 5 kids fighting for an empty pan... ha. For all the differences we had, I still think she was most remarkable bringing up all 5 kids with no outside help (we only had 2 "babysitters" maybe 5 times in all that I can remember).
ReplyDeleteI love this post! My memories of cooking with my mom are quite different. My parents have pictures of me at 2 stirring pot, so I do not remember not messing around in the kitchen. By the time I was about 10 I was pretty proficient at cooking and could get a meal on the table. Mom was not a very good cook and did/does not like cooking so we struck a deal. Any day I would cook dinner, she would sew anything I wanted. We continued that deal until I left for college. ( Smart move on my part. Whatever Mom made even had finished sleeves and could almost be worn inside out. Like your mother, Lena, Mom made our swim wear, all lingerie, All clothes and our wedding dresses)
ReplyDeleteTo this day she is not a good cook, but she and Dad come to my house at least once a week. Dad calls it his "flavor fix"
Very sweet post! I remember the women in family always caring for their families through cooking or sewing clothing and quilts and doing handwork like embroidery or crochet when they had time to sit down,
ReplyDeleteMy mother was always working too, she raised all four of us singlehandedly ... and as an immigrant no less. I will never forget sometimes when it rained we would make "hand" cookies. She would make a simple cookie dough, roll it out, and then I would place my hand on the dough while she traced around my hand to cut out the shape. I loved it, and even though I don't remember what it tasted like I remember my mom using what precious spare time she had by doing that with me, just she and I.
ReplyDeleteWhat precious memories!! Those Pirojkis look delicious. Can you share a recipe?
ReplyDeleteI miss my Mom and Dad so much. Thankful for the memories and good times, but life isn't the same without them.
Oh those look sooo good! Would LOVE a recipe! Love it when you share your childhood memories.. mine aren't as sweet, so I leave them in the past where they belong.
ReplyDeleteMy mom was always working too - she was a writer of children's stories and house-wifely magazine articles so when I came home from school she was busy typing and we weren't to disturb her. She managed to supplement my dad's meager income and therefore could supply things we wouldn't otherwise have. Like music lessons, anew washer and dryer, a TV, etc. my mom WAS a pie maker, we were lucky to have a huge garden thanks to my dad's green thumb, so there were all sorts of berries for pies. But we also used to go into the countryside and pick elderberries etc for pies. My mom made the best pie dough, I think I have the recipe hidden away somewhere..
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