I called my Mom last friday to double check who is bringing flour, cilantro, and oranges to the vacation house in the Berkshires. "Um, honey... Can I call you back? The photographer from the Baltimore Sun is here." Oh my! This is serious.When Stephen Henderson asked me if he could interview my Mom and Grandma about borscht, I was terribly excited. Russian food is not often noted by American food media and this was our chance to share one of our beloved dishes. An interview with my Grandma was a bit problematic because she doesn't speak English, but after a little persuasion, my Mom agreed to talk to him. "What does he need to talk to me for? He can get the recipe on your blog," she said. "Ah, but you are the source!" I nudged her on encouragingly. "It's not just about the recipe. It's about people and stories." "What if this is a fraud?" asked my Mom. We Russians are so used to corruption, we suspiciously inspect every piece of news that sounds too good to be true. "Well, then it's some very sneaky food writer that's trying to steal our borscht recipe," I told her. "If he asks for your mother's maiden name and a social security number, don't give it to him :)"
Stephen turned out to be extremely nice, and my Mom had a great time talking to him. Lucky for us, the photographer came a day before we were all leaving on vacation at the Berkshires. This meant that 1) there'd be a picture of my Mom's borscht along with the story and 2) we'd get to eat her awesome borscht on vacation. After the photo shoot, my Mom packed it all up and brought it for us to feast on after skiing.
This was the best trip we've had in a long time. We skied, read by the fire place, sat in a jacuzzi tub, cooked and ate yummy food, baked bread, drank good wine, and slept in (it was such a luxury to feed Sammy at 6pm, hand her over to my parents, and go back to sleep :)
When we got back, we had a wonderful surprise waiting for us -- the borscht article in Baltimore Sun.
P.S. How well do you know Russian soups? The one in the picture is NOT borscht. It's another soup my Mom made for us at the Berkshires. Do you know which one it is? Hint, hint -- it has sauerkraut.
8 comments:
It's schi! (Or schee or schee?) Great article about your mom's borsch.
Hi Helen!
What a great article (and pic of your mom). Definitely the right time of year for barszt. I just moved to the Berkshires from Belmont, and it's nice to know you were here. I've been following your blog for about two years. In fact I am now pregnant for the first time and have been revisiting your entries from a year ago!
My great-grandfather was from Lviv, though Polish. I did Peace Corps in Poland and loved the soups there (sadly I have never yet been to Russia). I've made some red beet soups but I loved the white "bialy barszt" they mentioned and ate it whenever I could. I'm embarrassed to say I only made that one from a mix, though - and am surpised to learn (from the Sun article) that the base is pickle brine...wow.
Cheers,
Alisa
How fun! The Sun is really getting into food lately, they are coming to my house this week for a story on marshmallows!
You have one of the most visually appealing blogs, I love your template design as well as the photos you use for your postings.
As for today's post about Borscht, it reminds me of the year that I lived in Kiev. Our housekeeper made this soup for us at least once a week during the winter.
And thank you for sharing your happy news about your newspaper article, it sounds as if your mother is also a very talented cook. How wonderful that you are able to share the love of cooking with her.
-Suzanne.
Yulinka, you got it. Schi it is :) (Or schee or schee?) I am not sure of the spelling either.
Congrats on the article with your mom. Very cool! Lovely pic! Can't guess the soup. Have you made and posted about it here?
Paz
Oh, the fraud comment is so typical I had to laugh!
Nice picture of your mom.
Helen--What a wonderful article! Also sounds like your vacation was absolutely lovely. And so is your mom.
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