I’m kinda Polish. As in, I’m about half Polish and I’m from Buffalo. Now, if you’ve never been to Buffalo than you may not know that we have the largest Polish celebration, Dyngus Day. It’s the day after Easter and it involves pussy willows, water guns, and beer. (Girls and boys hit each other with pussy willows and spray water at each other). And pierogies! Potato, cheddar, sauerkraut, filled little dough-pillows of deliciousness. So when we were trying to decide our next potluck theme, it only seemed right that we celebrated Dyngus Day. Better late than never I suppose.
So I made pierogies, If you ever decide to make them for the first time, be prepared for an arm workout. You have to knead the dough FOREVER for it to get nice and smooth. But it’s worth it.
My beautiful ball of dough, after about 20 minutes of kneading…
Now, I must confess, I cheated. I bought a pierogi press on Amazon. But they turned out so darn cute!
Potato and cheddar and a few sauerkraut.
I bought pussy willows (fake, since that’s all that Tampa offers) and water guns. I put the water on to boil and got the water guns ready. Then the storm hit and the power went out! Yes, the power. Gone. Lights off, stove cold.
Fake pussy willows and water guns.
So we put down the water guns (it was pouring out anyway) and pulled the grill in to the garage. Why not cook pierogies and sausage in the garage? We stood around the grill, sweating, drinking beer, cursing the Florida weather, when the power finally came back on! We moved back in to the cooling house and finished cooking.
Polish beer.
And we finally got everything cooked. And it was fabulous.
Pierogies and cabbage rolls, courtesy of Janelle and Pete.
Next stop: India!