Catherine the Great Needs a Diet (The Tsar Blini)

We are starting the Women History Month with an International Pancake Day. If there is a deep philosophical meaning to this coincidence, I fail to discern it, but here is a great woman who loved her pancakes. Well, she loved Tsar Blini, but blini is but a Russian version of pancakes, right? A petite, slender…

Pumpkin Boats

Lovely Carol of https://carolcooks2.com has informed me that October is a National Pumpkin Month. Since I am not on pumpkin track yet, and neither are the stores here, I am repeating an old nostalgic recipe, posted in the B.C. before Covid) era, when cruise industry was booming and our little boat had not been swallowed…

Royal Wedding – Carrot and Banana

I have learned from lovely and well-informed Carol of Retired? No one told me! that today is a National Banana Bread Day. I think combining bananas with carrots will still serve the purpose, Beautiful People. February – the stores are decked out in red and pink hearts, furiously marketing in the name of love. Jewelers…

Coconut Latkes Full of Light

On the second night of Chanukkah, two lights are on, spreading their warmth and glow throughout the house.  We use the old-fashioned olive oil and wicks, rather than candles, as it has been done since that original cruse of oil in the Temple that lasted for eight days (for explanation of Chanukkah miracle of oil, please see But Hannah…

Pardon My French… Toast!

Lovely Carol of carolcooks2.com says that today is a National French Toast Day. I don’t know which nation, but I do have a delicious recipe to offer you, Beautiful People. One of those names that varied from country to country, it was called Spanish Toast in Germany, German Toast in Italy, Nun’s Toast in Spain,…

Mangold Pasta – Feel Like a Roman

I like browsing through recipes online, especially Russian and Ukrainian ones where I sometimes derive comfort from finding old favorites and often learn something new. That’s how one day I came across Mangold Salad. It looked interesting, so I googled it – in English. According to Wikipedia, it was simply Swiss chard. Back to the…

Hawaiian Snowballs

Are you, Beautiful People, watching your woods “fill up with snow”? A great American poet, with an appropriate last name Frost, had, and wrote about it: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening BY ROBERT FROST Whose woods these are I think I know.    His house is in the village though;    He will not see me…

The Scone of Stone

The Scone of Stone was stolen! It was stolen from the most unexpected and the best guarded place, The Dwarf Bread Museum. Of course, dwarf breads were substantially different from our breads; that is, different in substance. In fact, they included gravel as one of the main ingredients. According to the late Sir Terry Pratchett,…

Piano Kids and Chocolate Zoodle Muffins

Today’s Daily Word Prompt is PIANO. In one sentence or less, my son brought the kids on Sunday, we made chocolate zoodle muffins, and then they played piano. Just as accurately, you can summarize Romeo and Juliet: in one sentence or less, they fell in love, their families were against it, then they took poison…

Pyshka – Sweet Roll and a Baby Kitten

Pyshka is a sweet roll, baked or deep-fried, with or without filling, made with yeast or as a quick bread, i.e. yeast-less. Sort of a Russian doughnut with a Polish name (most sources derive the name from Polish pączek  – sweet roll). Another theory attributes the name to Russian pykchat’ which is archaic for deep-frying, but…

Only Good Words for Savory Cupcakes

In a wonderful Russian play of the 60’s about love, kindness, and caring, there was a line that bothered me: “Even a cat appreciates a good word.” I could never understand the word “even” in this phrase  – why “even a cat”? What about dogs? Birds? People, after all? My grandmother, may she rest in…

Pardon My French… Toast!

One of those names that varied from country to country, it was called Spanish Toast in Germany, German Toast in Italy, Nun’s Toast in Spain, Amarilla in South America, and Poor Knights of Windsor in England, with translations of the latter into Swedish, Danish, and some more European languages. The reason for it, presumably, is…