Easter preparation

Hosting the holidays in my family are split between my youngest brother, a cousin and myself. Easter is one of my dinners. We will have a Polish dinner. My father was Polish. My mother English, Irish and German, but we always celebrated with my father's family. Not many of them are left but they did instill in us the Polish traditions of Easter and Christmas time. My blog's name actually comes from my "buscia", my Polish grandmother. She was a very stubborn Polish woman. Not in a bad way, my mother always said it with affection. Buscia was widowed very young and had to raise seven children on her own by taking in laundry. She ran a tight ship out of necessity. When I was young I evidently was a very stubborn little girl and my mom called me her "little buscia"

I make a broth we call borscht, but a modified white recipe. It is made with water, butter, eggs, onion, vinegar and flour. (tastes much better than it sounds) Placed on the table are Polish sausage, ham, hard-boiled eggs, and horseradish. Each individual fills their bowl with these items and then the broth is poured on top. My husband, has come to love it, but my children prefer the table ingredients without the broth.

Tradition is big in our family. We also will put my mom's potato salad, sauerkraut(with just a touch of brown sugar), deviled eggs, and green bean caserole on the table. My mom is no longer physically with us, but her touch is everywhere.

One of the fun things we do, is pick eggs. I will dye about 3 dozen. Enough for all of us to play. Everyone chooses an egg and picks an opponent. You then tap matching ends. The shell that doesn't break is the winner. You pick the top and the bottom. If it ends in a tie, the sides of the egg are used. There always is one egg amongst the group that will not crack. My aunts and uncles growing up in the Polish neighborhood would compete with the other children. Winners took the eggs home. I hear my uncles use to cheat and shellac the outside shell of their eggs. The cracked eggs are then used for the deviled eggs and soup. Sometimes it is very interesting to have a little bit of blue or pink(from the dye) egg in the borscht.

Lot of work, but I love it. Only thing missing will be my son. He is currently living in Austin and won't be able to attend, but I did send an Easter basket.

Happy Easter everyone!

I'm Back!.......

.....and just in time for Weird Object Friday!

















I originally started this blog on a dare from my friend, Margaret. I spent this morning getting "blogging" instructions. I am a internet neophyte and definitely needed some help. Margaret participates in an ongoing competition entitled "Weird Object Friday"--well, here is my entry. Except I have no idea what my weird object is. When my father-in-law passed away I found this in the backyard shed. I would appreciate any input as to its identity. Margaret and I thought it might be something to do with Morse Code. Pat, my father-in-law, was in the Navy during WWII. He was also a physicist. Any ideas????