Leftovers of Love

Cheese, Potato & Cabbage Pierogi
My grandmother (Bobbi) is Ukrainian (which makes me one quarter Ukrainian) and part of her holiday tradition is making pierogi: cheese, potato, or saurkraut filled pockets of tastiness. This year, my Aunt Sharon, Aunt Carolyn, and my cousin Lauren helped out. I reaped the benefits.

This week, I was quite disturbed to fall off the cooking wagon due to an extreme cold that hit Boston. Normally, it being cold outside doesn't prevent me from cooking up warm and tasty comfort food inside, but I also woke up one morning on the wrong side of the bed with a hacking cough and a bad night's sleep behind me. Thus, every day this week I have been bundling up, walking the 15 or so minutes to and from work, swallowing knives, and coming home to a warm apartment and little to no motivation to do anything more than lay on my couch and heat up cans of soup. By Thursday I was pretty much out of soup, so I looked in my freezer. Lo and behold, what I found was a true Christmas miracle. The homemade Ukrainian dumplings that Bobbi had sent me home to Boston with were hanging out there begging to be eaten. Sometimes, it turns out that cooking for one means letting the ones who love you give you leftovers that you can keep in your freezer.

To cook them, I boiled them first, and then tossed them with butter, salt, and pepper in a skillet. I left the kitchen for a moment and they got a little crispier than anticipated, but they were still delicious. It is true that the best gifts are homemade and edible. Thanks, Bobbi.

[Will post a Pierogi recipe shortly or at some point in time, but wanted to get this post up so everyone knows I am still alive and kicking.]