Dzien Dobry!

Look I'm learning Polish!  Well...not really.  I have started using Rosetta Stone and have not completed the first lesson.  Dzien Dobry means "good day" pronounced jane dough-bray.  I am uncertain if I like the teaching style used by Rosetta Stone and if I am going to really learn the language from it. I really just want to be able to say a few phrases like "where is the bathroom?", "where is the hospital?", "do you speak English?", Hello, Goodbye, and "may I have some water please?".   I know I am going to have to able to communicate with my child so maybe I will add "are you hungry?",and "are you thirsty?". 

Sean has had a good laugh at my expense as I am trying to learn Polish.  I have expressed huge amounts of frustration at the computer screen over my poor language skills.  I feel like I am just mumbling and not speaking anything.  Maybe I will just take a photo dictionary with me!

So what has been going on with the adoption otherwise? We are getting ready for the second meeting with our social worker tomorrow and we are waiting on a few more documents to be sent to us.  This meeting with the social worker is getting us closer to having our home study complete. YAY!  I am much less stressed about this visit.  Probably because I know what to expect this time.  As I have said before I just want to get past the paper chase and have our dossier in Poland.  Now I am sure when that happens I will be complaining  that I just want to be matched with my child. Then after that I will just want to meet my child. Then I will want to be home with my child.  It is just a vicious cycle!!!!  

"I know God won't give me anything I can't handle.
I just wish he didn't trust me so much"
--- Mother Teresa

Learning to Teach

I have been researching Polish history and culture so that we can teach our child about his/her heritage.  So this week I tried my first Polish recipe for dinner. So many of you are wondering what I attempted and how it turned out. But first let me say this I will be the first to tell you that I am not going to be trying out for Iron Chef in my life. My husband is a much better cook than I am(but he is really messy). So with that said I am super proud of myself with how my first attempt with Polish cooking turned out.

AWESOME!!

 If you not sure what your looking at the half-moon shaped things at the top of the plate are Pierogi. Pierogi are dumplings that are stuffed with potatoes or other various fillings.  I made my stuffing with potato, cheese, and onion. Pierogi was actually fairly easy to make and absolutely delicious.  The recipe is below and please try it out and experiment with different fillings.  

 

Pierogi Dough Recipe:
(source: About.com  Local Pittsburgh By Albrecht Powell, About.com Guide)

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 large egg

1/2 cup of sour cream(plus extra for dipping)

1/4 cup softened butter cut into small pieces 

     Mix together the flour and salt. Beat the egg then add all at once to flour mixture. Add 1/2 cup of sour cream and softened butter and work until dough loses most of its stickiness(about 5-7 minutes). Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes or overnight.

     Roll the dough on floured surface until 1/8" thick. Cut circles of dough 2" for small or 3" for large pierogi. Place a small ball of filling on each round and fold the dough over forming a semi-circle. Press the edges together with a fork. Boil the perogi a few at time in a large pot of water until done( about 8-10 minutes they will float to the top). Rinse in cool water and let dry. Then pan fry pierogi in butter.

Filling:

Ingedients:

4- 5 large redskin potatoes

1 large onion

8oz cheddar cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Peel and boil potatoes until soft. Saute onion in butter until translucent and soft. Mash together onions, potatoes, cheese, salt and pepper. 

Some tips: put potatoes in the crock pot before you leave for the day so when you get home they are done and ready to mash.

if the pierogi doesn't want to stay together you may need to make an egg wash and brush the dough to help it stick together.

i used the same skillet to fry the pierogi as i did to saute the onion i just added more butter and it gives more onion flavor if you like that sort of thing.