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, are offering Ya Tibya Lublu up for sale through their website, and all proceeds will go to improve orphanage conditions.

I was lucky enough to get a copy of this cookbook a couple of weeks ago and I can tell you it is CHOCK FULL of wonderful recipes. My favorite part of the cookbook is the Eastern European section. There are over 130 pages of recipes in that section alone, and the entire cookbook is almost 300 pages long, with recipes that are sure to tempt everyone.

Without further ado, I will share one of the recipes from the book. This is for Salad Olivier, a very traditional Russian salad that all my Russian cookbooks reference.

Traditional Russian Salad (Olivier) (p. 85)

3 med. potatoes
2 med. carrots
1 c. cow tongue, red meat, bologna, ham, or white chicken meat, cubed
1/2 onion, chopped
1/3 cucumber
1 med. apple
2 lg. pickles
4 eggs, hard-boiled
1/3 c. peas
3 T. mayonnaise
2 T. sour cream
salt to taste
green onion and parsley (for serving)

Boil potatoes and carrots and cool. Peel. Cut meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, and cucumbers into equal cubes. Peel, core, and cube apple and add to the salad. Cut pickle into equal cubes and add to the salad. Peel the eggs, cut in half, and set aside the yolk of one egg. Cut the remaining eggs and whites into equal cubes. Add to the salad, along with peas. Mix together mayonnaise and sour cream and pour over salad. Garnish with remaining yolk, green onion and parsley and let sit at least 30 minutes before serving.