Sunday, April 8, 2012

Warsaw Famous Chef!

I am alone this Easter and yet I still wanted to make something "traditional" for dinner to celebrate the day. Growing up, my dad always made a kind of borscht "stew" for Easter so I thought I might try to recreate that but in a healthier way. I began my search for that Polish cookbook that doesn't see the light of day too often! I went digging through my recipe drawer and got all the way to the bottom when I discovered a plastic baggie with several note papers in it with my father's handwriting. I was puzzled...I didn't remember that he gave me his Golabki recipe. He always made it a big secret and would never give it away and yet somehow, here is was! My tears appeared as suddenly as the recipe and I felt terrible that something so precious had remained in the bottom of the drawer for god knows how long. But then I had this thought: things we are given at a certain point in life seem less significant and they stay in that position until we are in a place to see them differently. I took the discovery as a sign that I should make golabki instead of borscht--so off I went to find the ingredients and began the laborious process of preparing the cabbage leaves for stuffing. Everything went smoothly until I had to roll the leaves so that the stuffing would stay inside. Outloud, I confessed to my dad that I had obviously not really been paying attention to his rolling process when he thought I was! I promised to make this one of my new missions in life--perfect the cabbage roll!
Well, his sense of humor was in tact when he called himself "Warsaw famous chef" so I dried my tears and kept my humor in tact in making these golabki. The Universe has been talking to me this week and I have been listening... but I didn't expect this message or this recipe. I am so thankful that the conversations continue.