Творожная пасха / Cottage cheese paskha

Now when the main Easter celebrations are over I can get back to blogging. I can honestly say: this Easter was the best ever! I am very happy that everything I planned to cook worked out, my family enjoyed it and we all had a terrific day. 

As I mentioned in my previous post on Easter kulich, Good Thursday I was also making a paskha (пасха). It is a traditional Easter dish (‘Easter’ in Russia is also ‘Paskha’) made from cottage cheese - its white color symbolizes the purity if Christ and also the joy of the Resurrection. There is also a version that the paskha ingredients (cottage cheese, butter, sour cream) represent to Russian peasants the wonderland where there are ‘milk rivers and kissel shores’ (compare this image to the Promised Land). Paskha is a symbol of joy, life in paradise and blessed Eternity.

Пасхальный кулич / Easter kulich

Ready Easter kulichs

This is my first Easter in the States, and it is very exciting. First, Easter is one of my most favorite holidays, second, it is my first time celebrating it in a non-Orthodox country and also combining two different traditions. Quite a challenge! I am not used to all those Easter bunnies (they are cute, I admit) and egg hunt but I am dying eggs, baking ‘kulich’ (Easter cake) and making cottage cheese ‘paskha’. Those are essential elements of Easter dinner back home, and of course I wanted to make it here and also introduce Dave and the kids to this tradition.

Kitchen globalization: Russian beetroot salad and nachos cheese sauce

When Lent is almost over and real spring (summer for me) is already here in California I realized I never made Russian beetroot salad aka “винегрет” that has been one of me all time favorite winter vegetarian dishes. My Russian friends may want to skip this part of the post, but for my foreign friends it might be something interesting: this is an easy recipe from ingredients you always have in your fridge/pantry and it is pretty satisfying. I’d probably put it under the ‘comfort food’ category.

Birthday Cakes

Princess Cake for Trinity

Actually, I am not a big fan of baking but I am sure nothing express love better than a homemade cake, and when it comes to birthday parties a cake is a must. Last weekend we celebrated Trinity’s 11th birthday, and of course, I made a cake for her - it was all pink chocolate & vanilla princess cake topped with multicolor sprinkles and a Tinkle Bell candle. Trinity totally loved it, and it made me very happy. Mission accomplished.