Christmas Eve

I wish that this Christmas Eve will bring for you gifts of happiness, good health & joy !

May your holiday season be awesome as a Winter Wonderland!

Merry Christmas !

Jo at Serendipitous Stitching has an Advent Calendar and I am door #24. Thank you for the privilege! All doors are very important in the calendar but the #24 is the last one. We've made it! It's Christmas!

The night before Christmas...the most magical time of the year. Time when animals talk in human voice (right on midnight) and people have power to influence the whole next year. When I was a little girl my mom always made sure that I was a "good" girl. According to the old saying: "As goes Christmas Eve, goes the year".  So just to make sure I will have enough stitching time I will stitch today, to make sure I will have enough study time I will study (just an hour or two), and I will put a very nice makeup and do my hair early in the morning so I look good the whole next year. I will not do any unnecessary housework (why bother, it's a waste of very precious stitching time!).

I'm not superstitious at all, am I?

Merry Christmas my friends!
Evalina

Christmas Eve food - dish # 2

Today I'm sharing with you my favorite recipe of all times. I love herrings and I'm making this dish not only for Christmas Eve but on many occasions during the year. It is so simple, all you need is a jar of pickled herrings, sour cream, red onion and a dash of sugar.

Slice onion very fine (or chop it very fine) and mix in the bowl with sour cream and a dash of sugar. You can add a couple of tablespoons of white dry wine if you like. Add herrings to the mixture, decorate, grab a glass of champagne (another favorite of mine) and bon appetite!

So long my friends,
Evalina

Christmas Eve food - dish # 1

Christmas is just around the corner, lets talk about food. I will start series of Polish traditional recipes for Christmas Eve.

One of the twelve traditional meals served during a Polish Christmas Eve Supper is always "Kutia". (The tradition of serving Kutia is spread to other Easter Europe countries as well.) Here is the recipe from the "Ukrainian Daughter’s Cookbook" from the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada, Daughters of Ukraine Branch, Regina, Saskatoon. There are more complicated versions of "Kutia", but the basic recipe is the same. It should be sweet. The wheat celebrates the staff of life and the honey represents the spirit of Christ. 

2 cups wheat
3 quarts water
1 cup poppy seed
2/3 cup of sugar
1/3 cup honey, dissolved in ¾ cup hot water
½ cup chopped walnuts, almonds, or pecans

1. Dry the wheat in an oven at 250 F for one hour, stirring occasionally. Wash and soak in cold water overnight.
2. Next morning, bring wheat to the boiling point; simmer for 3 to 4 hours, until the kernels burst open.
3. Scald the poppy seed and simmer 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and grind with either a mortar and pestle or a food processor using the finest setting. Set aside.
4. Combine honey and sugar in hot water. Set aside.
5. Before serving, add the sweetened mixture, poppy seed and the nuts to cooled, boiled wheat.

I did not have Kutia for over 20 years, I'm making it this year! I'm not sure where in the Yukon I would find wheat or poppy seeds but I'm going to check some Polish Delicatessens - hopefully  they will be able to send it.

So long friends,
Evalina