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Tuesday, March 30, 2021

BREAD DUMPLINGS

 I wanted to share a recipe from my Dad's heritage with my daughter and her boyfriend, realizing as she approaches her 30th birthday that I've never made this for her!  So, it was pork, dumplings and cooked cabbage.  A true Czech Sunday dinner for us growing up.  

Dumplings were an important element in many of our dinners, and there were quite a variety (bread, potato and fruit to name a few).  Bread dumplings were my favorite and they taste great with pork gravy drizzled on top.  

As for the pork....Frankly, our pork roasts were never my favorite.  They always seemed really dry.  I tried a stuffed pork loin for my dinner.  It was better, but not great.  The bonus was having lots of additional stuffing as a side....and who doesn't love stuffing?

Finally, the cooked cabbage was a favorite of my Dad.  It's so simple, but so yummy.  It's a head of cabbage shredded and simmered on low for hours with a little bit of water in the bottom of the saucepan, caraway seeds and a dash of sugar.  It cooks down and turns a golden brown after hours on the stovetop (the side nearest the utensils in this photo).                    
  Here's my family's dumpling recipe in case you'd like to give it a try.....
You need a very large pot for the dumplings. After the water begins a rolling boil, they take about 20-30 minutes.  My favorite part of this dinner was watching my Grandmother slice them with a length of thread.  I do the very same thing, since it works like a charm!  Slide it underneath the dumpling, bring the lengths up each side and criss cross them while pulling down.


INGREDIENTS:

2½ cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder 
2 eggs 
½ tsp. salt
1 cup milk
3 slices of bread, cut into cubes (original recipe calls for white bread)


DIRECTIONS:
Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a medium size bowl.  Beat eggs, add to milk. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the milk mixture.  Mix well by hand; using a wooden spoon, or even your hands,

Add the bread cubes once the mixture has come together.  Form either one large or two smaller spheres using a lightly floured surface to bring them together. 

Cook for 20-30 minutes in boiling water.  

In case you're wondering how my daughter enjoyed the meal.  She ate it....I don't really see her requesting it again, but her boyfriend had two full helpings of everything.  I love the way that man enjoys a meal!  It makes all the effort worth it.  And, I will tell you, this is a significant effort.  My husband commented how the prep was much like a full out Thanksgiving dinner.  And, there are a whole lot of dishes/pots/pans to clean up too!  

For me, I enjoyed it....I've realized I'm just not a huge pork roast fan.  It brought back wonderful memories for me and a little heartache as well, since my parents and grandparents have all passed....but it's another reason why I like to share these meals, and the stories I shared at the dinner table.  I want to be sure our family heritage is passed along to the grandkids.  

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

FINGERTIP VEIL WITH LACE TRIM

 Generally, when I have a bride that requests a custom veil, I'll order extra of the trims to make another one or two for my shop.  It won't be exactly like hers, since hers was a "one-of-a-kind", but it will be similar.

In this case, my bride wanted a waltz length veil.  I found her this gorgeous venice lace trim for the perimeter to finish off hers then decided to make a fingertip length veil with the same lace for my shop. 

  It's about 2 inches in width at the widest point and has beautiful clear sequins throughout so it shimmers beautifully in the light.  I finished this particular veil with a very delicate thread accent from the comb to the where the lace actually begins.  It was just the right touch to lead the eye from the bride's face to the lace trim.         Fingertip length veils are the most popular, so I know there will be plenty of brides who will fall in love with this one!