I am going to a barbeque tonight to celebrate the 4th of July. No doubt we will have traditional BBQ foods - hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, etc. I am bringing the devilled eggs, natch. It's my specialty as a born-again Southerner. (How many devilled egg plates do you have? That's a sign of how much of a southern lady you are..."

Anyhoo, although there will be no Russians at this party beside my son, the concept of BBQ is not at all strange in Russia. The Russians have a very special kind of BBQ, actually: Shashlik.

Shashlik is a kebob with origins in the Middle East,... more

So - yesterday I posted about our overabundance of plums. In my search far and wide for some way to use them all up I have come across this recipe for Plum Butter. Strictly speaking this is not a Russian recipe, but it is a Polish recipe, but since Poland and Russia have so many elements of their cuisine in common I think it's fair enough to post it here.

I'm hoping I can make this with the type of plums that are on our tree. I have no idea what kind they are. They sure aren't the kind you buy at the store, nor are they damson. I've looked all over the 'net but haven't found a thing. I guess... more

At our new house we have inherited an ancient and incredibly prolific plum tree. We weren't really sure when it would start to drop its fruit but now that it has begun there's no doubt: we've probably got 50 pounds of fruit growing on that tree and not enough mouths to eat all that it's giving us.

I asked the former owner what to do with all the fruit. She said that this particular kind of plum is not good for preserves, since its fruit is very watery, but I could make jelly or other recipes with them, provided I cook fast. We've already discovered that we either need to eat them... more

I don't know about you all, but in North Carolina today it is POURING rain. Leftover tropical storm, I guess. It's also only in the 60s, which is weird for this time of year. We've had an extraordinarily cool spring here in North Cackalacky.

Today would be a good day to make soup (if I weren't already making bbq in my crock pot). I thought this recipe sounded good, and I like the name of it: Meat Soup with Pickles. Gets straight to the point. It's from Ruscuisine.com.

· Ingredients... more

When Little J visits the salad bar, this is what he wants: a boiled egg, beets, and anything with sour cream. He's funny. He loves a beet. He also knows that when he eats them they stain his lips red so he always asks me to "wook at my wipstick." Cute.

Can you tell that kid is from Russia? Beets, of course, are a popular vegetable in Russia as they store easily, are a colder weather vegetable, and are chock-full of nutrition. We mostly have dark red beets in our grocery stores in the US, but I know from my more adventurous gardening friends that they come in many... more

I have a little cooking dilemma this weekend. My sister and her family are in town and Sunday night we are having a family cookout. What's the problem, you ask?

Everything! I answer!

My mom and step-dad are vegetarian, I am gluten intolerant, my brother-in-law is a serious foodie, and my oldest son as well as my husband are picky as all get-out.

What to cook?

I thought about shrimp and grits (minus the shrimp but plus some sauteed onions and peppers for my parents) as a possibility. My sister and her husband are visiting from San Diego, which no doubt has... more

Last week I posted about a wonderful cookbook that Lisa Finneran, an adoptive parent, created to raise money for children in Russian orphanages: Ya Tibya Lublu. "Ya Tibya Lublu" is Russian for "I Love You." Food=Love, Love=Mother, Ya Tibya Lublu=great gift for a mother with children adopted from Russia.

And no, I am not getting a kickback from this organization! All of their profits go towards the orphans in Russia. When you order the cookbook (from arkangels.org) you can give an additional donation to the organization. Wouldn't... more

I have a confession to make. I just sat at my computer, ate a mess of potato chips, one of my husband's frozen peanut butter cups, and followed it with an orange (my lame gesture at eating healthy) and a glass of water. Oh, the bloat! And I still plan on eating lunch in an hour.

Not good. Bathing suit season is coming! (Note to those of you who are waiting to adopt: once you have children you CANNOT just tell people you aren't fond of swimming, which was my long-used strategy before children. You must accompany them into the water, and you can't do this in your capri pants.)

My... more

When I went to talk to my older son's class last week about my book, I asked the children to give me feedback about my presentation. I want to do more of these types of talks to kids and I don't want to bore them. They told me they liked it and that it wasn't boring, and they also told me they wanted to know more about life in Russia and life in the orphanage (the teacher asked me to focus on how a book was made...so I had only glossed over Russia and orphanage life).

I told them a little bit about life... more

The Russian words for "I Love You" are "Ya Tubya Lublu." Little J wasn't speaking when we adopted him, so I never heard these words from him, although now that he can talk he says "I wuv you, Mommy," all of the time.

Awww.

In this case, Ya Tibya Lublu is also the name of a cookbook recently released by Lisa Finneran, the founder of Arkangels, a non-profit dedicated to raising money for and improving the conditions of children in orphanages in Eastern Europe.

Finneran, along with several celebrities and other organizers,... more