Grandma Ursaki's honey cookies

This post is comprised of a letter and recipe sent by Lois Derges VanDerVelden and a photo posted on facebook (also by Lois).

She sent a scan of a hand written recipe by Grandma Ursaki, which I would have loved to have posted here, but I couldn't get it to post clearly.  I've typed it out as best as I could read it.  Anyone out there have the actual baking time and temperature? 

I LOVE this photo of Lois and Grandma taken in the old kitchen of the home at 506 Victoria Avenue. 

     Lois Derges VanDerVelden with Grandma Otillie Ursaki

I’m sure you remember Grandma’s honey cookies. I have a number of her hand written recipes & came across this one. As I recall she cut these cookies into a couple of different shapes (do you remember what they were?)I tried to adjust it so it was easier to read after scanning. Her script is very distinct & although she was always self-conscious of her ability to read & write it mattered not to me as it was hers from the heart.  Lois

Honey Cookies

3/4 cup butter or marg
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. each cinnamon and ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk
1/4 cup cold strong coffee

Mix butter and sugar and honey in top of double boiler.  Heat and stir until butter is melted and sugar dissolved.  Let cool.  Sift together dry ingredients and mix with butter mixture, buttermilk and coffee.  Chill for several hours.  Heat oven and roll dough to 1/3 inch thickness. (No specification of cutting shapes, oven temperature or baking time.  I'm sure that for Grandma, this seemed pretty intuitive and not necessary to include!) 
Store (cookies) in cold place for (up to) four weeks. 

Finding Ursaki family connections

The following letter and photo were received, by us, from Lois Derges VanDerVelden (whose mother is the late Helen Ursaki Derges). Thanks so much for this contribution, Lois!  I'm wondering how old Grandpa Henry Ursaki was in this photo? He certainly is handsome.

"Uncle Henry Ursaki and my mother's parents . . . Emma Eliza and Louis Ring"  Judy Ring Anderson

Hi Sandra & Mike, Judy Anderson, is a gal I used to work with (years ago) & is now one of my Facebook friends. I always knew we were distantly related but had forgotten the connection.After posting the pic of Grandma & me, Judy Anderson (Ring) responded & then posted the attached picture. I’m sure there are many other pictures of the Ursaki clan somewhere, I haven’t seen many. Grandpa Henry is rather handsome, wouldn’t you say?  What you have initiated has obviously triggered much interest on my part & others. Cousin Lois xo

A Lovely Metaphor

     Here is a pic of Gayla and me (Al Derges)  in July 2012 about six weeks after the amputation of my right leg. I received my first prosthesis shortly after this picture was taken.
      Just to confuse things, I am standing on one leg. Somewhere, way down the road, someone might say that they thought that old guy was an amputee. You can see that I'm hanging on, pretty tightly, and using my friend, Gayla for support. I love the metaphor that this picture presents as Gayla has been my support, literally, figuratively and emotionally.

Family Recipes . . . Thanks, Eileen!

Eileen Pasker Nicholson (bottom right) with sister-in-law Sue Pasker, cousin Sandra Ursaki Hale and cousin Kathy Ursaki

In response to Al Derges' letter (which is posted below) Eileen sent the following note and two of Grandma Ursaki's recipes.  Thanks Eileen!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, dear cousins! 

Plum dumplings are a tradition for our family, too.  We ate the first batch a couple of weeks ago and there’s another batch in the freezer.  I wrote out the Plum Dumpling recipe a few years ago for the friends who give me plums from their trees, so I’m attaching it here in case anyone needs a primer.  We used to roll out the dough like Alan describes, but now my mom and I (and Sue too, right Sue?) just pinch off a piece of the dough and form it around the plum.  Not sure where my mom got that idea but it sure makes the work go more quickly.  Of course if someone had shared the drinking wine idea back then, we wouldn’t have cared how much work it was!!

PLUM DUMPLINGS AND KRAUT PEROGEES

DOUGH:

2 eggs, beaten                                                                       1 ½ cups flour

Scant tablespoon vegetable oil                                         1 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup mashed potato (baking potatoes work best)      1 teaspoon salt

Beat the eggs, oil, and mashed potato.  Combine dry ingredients and add to egg-potato mixture.  Mix all together into soft dough.  Let rest for at least 1 hour. (It’s best not to double this recipe because it seems to change the “chemistry”.  If you need more dough, make two separate batches.)

FOR PLUM DUMPLINGS:

Use Italian prune plums.  Dough recipe makes enough for about 20 plums. Wash plums, and dry each with a tea towel. Set them aside on a plate or tray.  Line a separate tray or baking sheet with waxed paper and lightly flour the paper. Put about ½ cup flour in a small bowl for flouring your fingers as you work.

Pinch off a walnut sized piece of dough, flatten in the palm of your hand, and wrap around the plum, pinching to seal. Flour your fingers frequently as you work.  Don’t worry about getting too much flour on the dumplings, it won’t matter.  Set the wrapped plums on your prepared tray.

FOR KRAUT PEROGEES:

6 slices of bacon                                                  1 cup sauerkraut, drained

1 medium onion, diced                                       1 cup mashed potatoes (about 1 medium potato)

Salt and pepper to taste

Fry bacon until crisp.  Remove from pan and drain on paper towel. Crumble bacon and set aside. (My mom and dad snip the bacon with kitchen shears, before cooking.)

Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat; add the onion and sauté until transparent.  Remove pan from heat and stir in sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, crumbled bacon, and salt and pepper.

Using half of your dough at a time, roll out thinly, and cut into squares.  Put a spoonful of filling on each square of dough; fold over and seal, flouring your fingertips as you work.  Place perogees on a floured, wax-paper lined tray.

TO COOK PLUM DUMPLINGS OR KRAUT PEROGEES:

Bring a large pot of water to boiling.  Don’t crowd - use 2 pots if you are cooking lots of dumplings or perogees.  Add dumplings or perogees gently and boil uncovered until they rise to the top, about 5 to 10 minutes. Be careful not to overcook or they will come apart and become watery.  If frozen, it will take about 20 minutes. 

TO SERVE:

Drain and place in warmed serving bowl.

Top with Buttered Croutons:  Melt ¼ cup margarine and ¼ cup butter over medium heat.  Add a couple of slices of bread, cubed.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until bread is nicely browned. Pour over cooked dumplings or perogees.

For Plum Dumplings:  We like them sprinkled with plain sugar. My dad also likes a little dollop of sour cream on his dumplings.  These may seem like a dessert but in our family, this was our main course – a much anticipated yearly treat during plum season. As kids, we always had contests to see who could eat the most dumplings – you line up the plum pits on the edge of your plate to keep count.  

For Kraut Perogees:  Sometimes I sauté additional onions to top the perogees.  Additional bacon is good too, if you’re feeling really decadent.

Both the plum dumplings and kraut perogees freeze well.  Freeze them individually on the baking tray; then when frozen, put them in a zip-lock freezer bag.  My mom then puts them back on a floured baking sheet to thaw before cooking.

- From Eileen Nicholson and my mom and dad, Alma and Ron Pasker.  We hope you enjoy these recipes.

Happy Thanksgiving/Plum Dumpling Day

The following post is by Al Derges, who's mom is the late Helen Ursaki Derges.  Thanks for the update, Al, and for sharing your Thanksgiving and "Plum Dumpling Day" with us!  We also appreciate the update on your progress with your "new" leg!  

I am having such a great day without pain, second day in a row. I feel like sending out an update about stuff and if you don't mind, I'll just talk for awhile until you get tired of listening or I get tired of writing ...

How was your Thanksgiving weekend?

 We started our weekend, Saturday,  by having Ray and Marissa over for dinner. It was Plum Dumpling day and we have been thinking about this event for awhile. Getting just the right plums took a couple of trips as I brought home some that were just okay and we got better ones. That will teach Gayla for giving me such responsibility for picking great plums! 

  Everyone has traditions and I suppose that we all think that our version of a tradition is special if not unique. The Derges, Ursaki and Dahlman family are the family I know and love and I've come to know more family . Gayla is a Dahlman and my Mom was Helen Ursaki who passed away at the start of this year. Adam married Ashley Teague and with their four children the family extends. It would have been so fun to have them here for the weekend but we, totally, understand that staying home in Spruce Grove is their best place to be. 

 My friend, Jana, who is easily the best Yoga teacher on the planet, couldn't be here this weekend as she was tied up with Yoga training in Edmonton. JanaRosanaDana would have loved to be in our kitchen helping out with the production of Plum Dumplings. My sisters, Lois and Ruth, with Sid and Gary, would have been part of this weekend but they are somewhere in Europe.  We are going to Marissa's folks for dinner on Sunday and then back to our place for Gayla's special turkey dinner with her amazing gravy and stuffing on Monday. 

I'm not sure if I like the tradition of Thanksgiving. I get the whole thing but I don't. It makes me a bit sad that I have to be reminded to say thanks for whatever we say thanks for. I look around and see and feel and touch all the things that I am thankful for and I really don't need a special day or weekend. Maybe I do and maybe I don't. All up, all in, I am so thankful for so much that this note would be so long that you'd stop reading. I tend to make these things longer than I should anyway... in case you haven't noticed.

My current adventure is .. well, ... just that. An Adventure. In the early days, 2008, when it was determined that cancer was part of my life, I learned that it was about to be a journey. I was okay with the vocabulary, that is, "journey". I have learned, since, that "adventure" is a better way to describe what's going on.  I can't ever write clearly enough to describe how my friend, Gayla, took this on and what she has done for me. I have told others the story of how I have become Gayla's science project. If anyone has cancer and looking for help, I'd put Gayla up as first draft choice.   

I don't know if you are current with where I'm at or what I'm doing. There isn't much to report:

 a couple of times a week at Wascana Rehab with Lisa who gives me walking training;

 my personal trainer who pushes me in such a great way, building core strength, working on balance, learning the technique of falling,  doing one leg squats (yikes!), pulling back on this tension band thing, up and down, sideways and every way that sometimes I fart, lifting free weights while holding on to a bench although I tend to tip over kinda' like a cork in water because I only have weight on my left side 

 trying to hit golf balls - sometimes good enough to hit it about 170 yrds and most of the time not falling down as if falling down on grass is a bad thing. I hit 35 balls the other day on the range and set a new record - I didn't fall down once;

 trying to walk with canes.

I don't have any idea, but I might guess,  what brings the thought of THANKS to you or anyone else ... I am thankful for the love that surrounds me every day. When I look around and see what we all have and how we all live, it is pretty clear to me that Thanksgiving weekend is better placed all the time. Every day for that matter.  I am thankful for the vision that I am going to play golf and walk like a regular everyday person, one day soon, and get rid of my crutches and wheelchair. I have moments when I think that the cast will come off and the leg will heal, as if it were broken. And then I come to my senses and realize that it isn't a leg with a cast. It's not a leg anymore.  It just isn't part of me. I'm becoming okay with that.  Learning to walk is easily the hardest thing I have ever tried to do. I CAN do it !! When I can ... when i can ... I can hardly wait to send out the video. 

I had some fun, earlier, with a post to my FaceBook page. It was my attempt at humour and what follows is what I wrote while Marissa and Ray and Gayla were doing to clean up the kitchen. We had a great Plum Dumplings day. 

Here is Gayla & Marissa making Plum Dumplings. This is an old tradition around our house and the first time for Marissa. If just thinking about 3 or 4 thousand calories is against your religion or some other phobia, turn your computer off immediately and go for a run or do 100 sit-ups. Is religion a phobia? Still here? ...ok...you might have made a wild guess that plums are somehow involved but there is more. First of all, make a dough with potatoes and eggs and flour. Throw in a pinch of salt, some baking powder and sugar. Add some milk some where along the way. Then scribble all that together. Get one of those tupperware sheets, sprinkle some flour on the sheet and then open your favourite wine. Roll out the dough on the sheet until you have it about a quarter inch thick which you then cut into strips a bit more than 2" wide. The idea is to get the dough ready to roll around the plums. One at the time. Put the rolled up plums in a big dish and

 when the dish is full, put it in the oven. Oh... I forgot a part. Don't put the rolled plums in the pan yet. Instead, put them in a pot of boiling water and when they float to the top, then .... get them out of there and put the dough rolled plums in the big dish that then goes in the oven. While they are in the oven, you get to drink the wine. In the meanwhile, put about half a brick of butter, maybe more, in one of those pyrex measuring cup things and put that in the oven. When the butter has melted, drink some more wine. Serve the plum dumplings by taking them out of the dish with a big spoon and put 3 or 4 of them on your dinner plate. Cut them up a bit, pour the melted butter over, sprinkle some sugar on top and eat until either you're full or the wine is gone. It's best to have a backup bottle of wine. Tonight, I had 8 of these wonderful treats and so did Razor. Gayla and Marissa had 3 or 4. I'm not actually sure how to make these things but I can tell you that this is one of my favourite dishes of all time. If you really want to know how to make them, I'd suggest that you call Gayla who learned from my Grandma' Ursaki with my Mom watching to make sure that Gayla got it right. We thought about my Mom tonight and had the feeling that she was watching over us with a big smile on her face for keeping a great tradition going. I am thankful that Gayla paid attention. Tomorrow and Monday we have a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. How is your Thanksgiving weekend going? Oh...I forgot another part. When you eat plum dumplings, you set aside the pits so that you know how many you have had. Otherwise, you lose track or swallow the plum pits.

The Long and the Short of It

Here I am, hijacking the Ursaki blog again.  Can't. Help. Myself.
  So. . . there was this gathering of all available Ursaki cousins at my parent's home this summer.  I was somewhere in the middle of the Baltic Sea when it happened and when I saw the posted photos of my cousins and siblings I was so JEALOUS!  The last time I saw Carol and Bruce and their boys was, I believe, when I was seventeen.  We had made a trip out to Regina and they were there at the same time that we were.  If my math serves me correctly, that was (gulp) thirty-eight years ago!  I had to smile when I saw the photo of Carol and my brother, Michael, at the cousins gathering.  They are the oldest and youngest of the seventeen cousins and also the shortest and tallest, respectively!  

Just a couple of weeks ago I was up in Vancouver visiting mom and dad.  We took a little trip together to Lynne (Ursaki) and Brian Selinger's home in Vernon.  Lynne and Brian were wonderful hosts . . . good company, beautiful home in a forest setting, delicious food (I'm still thinking about the plum kuchen, peach pie, grilled cod, roasted free range chicken . . . oh yeah), lots of cribbage, a trip to the farmer's market, a bonus visit from Kathy and Duke . . . it was fabulous.  One evening, Lynne pulled out some old slides and we had a great time looking at old photos of the family.  I sat and took pictures of the slides on the wall with my point and shoot camera.  Some of them actually turned out pretty well and some of them, not so much.  One of the photos was taken at Grandma Ursaki's 80th birthday and it shows Carol on one side of Grandma and Michael on the other.  The long and short of it thirty-two years ago . . . 

I'll wrap up this post with a few photos from our trip to Lynne and Brian's place.  

 Lynne and my mom, Barbara (Bullock) Ursaki

 Breakfast in the dining nook.  I felt like I was staying at a high-end B&B!

 Lynne and me (Sandra Ursaki Hale)

 Kathy Ursaki (Lynne's sister), me, Lynne and my dad, Harold Ursaki

 View from Selinger's back deck.

 One of many cut-throat games of cribbage!  These guys play for keeps.

Dad, Mom, Lynne, Brian, Kathy and Duke

One side note.  The morning after we arrived in Vernon, Brian received a phone call from his sister letting him know that his father had passed away in Regina, Saskatchewan.  We were concerned about being there during such a tender time for him and suggested that we should head back home so that they could make plans and book flights.  He and Lynne were so gracious in telling us that they wanted us to stay.  Thanks so much for a lovely couple of days.

Three generations of Ursaki men

Left to right: Harold Michael Ursaki, Michael David Ursaki and Matthew Michael Ursaki. 

Harold is the six of seven children and fourth son of Heinrich and Otillie.  Michael is the third and youngest child of Harold and Barbara (Bullock).  Matthew is the fourth and youngest child of Michael and Lucia (Sdao). 

 Michael is the youngest of the seventeen grandchildren of Heinrich and Otillie and the only grandson who has the Ursaki last name.  His son, Matthew, is the youngest of the thirteen grandchildren born to Harold and Barbara and also the only grandson who has the Ursaki last name.

So the question is, Matthew, are you feeling the heat?

By the way, this post is actually being written by Sandra Ursaki Hale, Mike's older sister and guest writer for today.  I was just up visiting my family in the Vancouver, B.C. area (I live in Utah) and I took the following photos of my brother in his awesome garden.  Beyond the the family, faith and good friends that he loves, gardening, building, reading, writing, classic autos and classic rock music are his passions.  He can add whatever he wants to that list!  He doesn't love to have his picture taken and loves, even less, looking at photos of himself but I think he's a handsome guy and since he won't post photos of himself (his profile photo for his never- used Facebook account was a snarling dog), I'm going to post some so that you can get to know the originator of this blog. And that, my dear brother, is what you get for giving me the password into this blog!

 Mike grew some amazing pumpkins this year . . . nine of them to be exact.

 His sunflowers grew crazy tall.  Mike is 6'4" and his reach takes him up to about eight feet.  Those are some tall flowers.

That flower has to be the size of a dinner plate!