Paska

This is my fifth year making paska for Easter morning!  I'm not sure if I had paska at other Mennonite churches before I came to North Fresno. But I definitely remember having paska on Easter morning at Sunrise service (and John Wall still makes it)!  It has a distinct taste from other sweet breads that our family has come to recognize with Easter.  It makes me happy to cook foods that you only get once a year...and also reflect a piece of our cultural and religious heritage.  I decided this year to photograph my steps.  Since making paska takes a long time, my lighting changed continually through my kitchen window.  Kinda fun to experiment as well!

I can't claim this recipe.  It comes from Hedy Pletz, and can be found in our church cookbook, Another Spice of Life.

Set 1 package of yeast (2 1/4 tsp) to rise with 1/4 cup warm water and 1 tsp sugar

Scald 1/2 cup milk.  Mix it in a bowl with 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 sugar.

Add 2 TBSP honey with 1/2 cup cold milk.  Mix the cold milk mixture, the hot milk mixture, and the yeast mixture together in one bowl.  Set aside until bubbly.

In the meantime, separate 5 eggs.  Thanks Jill and Adam for sharing your eggs with us this week!  

To the five yolks add 1 cup sugar, 

as well as 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 tsp cardamom (aargh, the low light wouldn't let me focus).

Beat the 5 egg whites in another bowl until peaks form.

Soften one cup of butter.  Mix together the yeast sponge, the butter, and the egg yolk mixture.

Then fold the egg whites in too.

All folded in!

Add 5 1/2 cups of flour.  You'll need to mix it in by hand so you don't beat out all the air from the whites.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a few turns just to make sure it's all incorporated.  Add up to 1/2 cup flour as needed (but the dough WILL be sticky).  Cover and set to rise for 3 to 4 hours until doubled.

Done with it's first rise.  Separate into half for two loaves...or one loaf and 3 littles.  

Set to rise again, one or two hours until doubled.

Done with their second rise.  

Bake in a 350 oven for 30 minutes (although watch the little ones...mine only went 23 minutes)

While the bread is cooking make a butter frosting by whipping 6 TBSP butter with 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla. Then add 2-3 TBSP milk to reach desired consistency.

Our family MUST have the round colored sprinkles on top as well!  

All done!  

Hope you have a wonderful, blessed Easter, celebrating the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ! 

 He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Isaiah's 2nd birthday

This past weekend we were able to celebrate Isaiah's birthday!  The two things Isaiah LOVES right now are Curious George and playing outside.  So we decided to have the party in the front yard with lots of "stations" (i.e.. things George would be curious about).  Audrey made cute signs for each station stating "Be Curious about..." drawing/bubbles/painting/etc.  Because Isaiah still naps, we had the party in the evening.  Because it was in the evening, we had to serve dinner.  Because I wanted to enjoy the party, we ordered Mexican food from Bobby Salazar's.  It was a great choice!  We ate dinner.  The kids had a great time playing in the yard afterwards.  We sang to Isaiah and had him blow out his candles and the kids ate their monkey cookies they had decorated minutes before.  He opened a few presents and we called it a night!  We still can't show pictures of Isaiah on-line but here's a few of the other party guests!

Audrey and Annalise

Violet's gorgeous artwork!

GoGo!  Isaiah's name for Gabe...too cute!

Jaime and Cruz enjoying the reading station!

Marcy helping the kiddos decorate their cookies.

Monkey cookie masterpieces!

Nia loved the chalk!

Enjoying some dessert!  And what's a monkey party without bananas?

Our garage...decorated for the party!  

I was so thankful for all of the wonderful help making it a party to remember!  Although our family has wonderful memories of the day we brought Isaiah into our home, and many of the past (almost) 11 months, we don't have any memories surrounding his actual birth day, or 1st year birthday.  I realized yesterday how much of celebrating my childrens' birthdays (in my mind, at least) includes reflecting on birthdays past (as well as their actual delivery day).  This birthday celebration didn't include that...couldn't include that.  I don't know what it was like the day Isaiah was born.  I don't know what time of day he was born...morning, noon, evening?  Was it cloudy that day or sunny?  Spring in Fresno is so unpredictable.  I don't even know how much he weighed.  The thoughts got a bit overwhelming yesterday of the "what I don't know" category, bringing tears to my eyes, until I decided to distract myself and browse on Facebook.  And what did I see?  A wonderful family, close to my heart, but far from my house, celebrating the day that their daughter came into their home after spending the first 5 years of her life in China!  The smile on beautiful little Lyla's face made my heart sing for joy and reminded me that all I have is now. I can spend time praying that God's grace abounds and His peace rules over Isaiah if he ever feels sad that he doesn't know these things.  But we will make good memories now!  And celebrate the love we have for each other and the grace God gave to us so that we could have this wonderful family!

Thank you, Lord, for Isaiah!  He is a gift!  Help us to cherish him for as long as he lives in this house!  Thank you for allowing us to celebrate his birthday, making fun memories that he will remember as he grows older!  

And thank you to those of you that celebrated with us, both near and far, through kind words, prayers, gifts, and more!  We are so grateful for the many wonderful people that help us raise Isaiah!

Braces!

Yesterday Audrey got her braces put on.  Neither Randy nor I ever had braces so we really didn't know what to expect for Audrey.  Luckily, Audrey has 2 close friends that already had theirs put on a year ago so she felt ready.  She did great!  Thankfully, so did Isaiah!  The orthodontist office has a little movie room where he was able to sit, eat some snacks and be occupied (somewhat) by a television.  I also brought lots of books, cars and toys!  We have been so pleased with the service (she's been quite a few times over the past two years for X-rays, consultations, and the like) and would highly recommend this orthodontist, Dr. DiCiccio.  We don't get any discount if you were to get your kid's braces done there some day.  But if you tell them we referred you Audrey does get little prizes!

So after a long morning at the orthodontist, Audrey finished her day at school, went to Peach Blossom practice (it's an oral interpretation festival at Fresno State in a couple weeks), then to softball practice!  What a trooper!  Then home to do homework before changing into "dressy" clothes for a night out with Mom!

We went to dinner at Panera where Audrey enjoyed some mac n' cheese and a muffin.  She originally picked a brownie and after one bite realized it's be too hard to chew.  The manager was very gracious and understanding to let us exchange it for a softer goodie!  After dinner we headed to Saroyan Theater to see West Side Story!  She really enjoyed it, although I think it was a bit slower than Audrey expected, and also a bit hard to understand the girls' accents in a few parts (Audrey was a bit lost at the America number).  At the end Audrey said, "Well that was a wierd ending."  I had to remind myself she's never read Romeo and Juliet much less would be able to recognize the connection between the two!  Note to self: take her again (or rent the movie) after she does read the play (Freshman year?).  Either way, it's all good exposure to the arts!  I hope to do many more nights of musicals, plays, and concerts with my girls as they grow older!  In fact, this was the first time Violet showed some disappointment that she didn't get to come...next time!  Not that I don't have a husband that loves to come with me to though; he was a bit disappointed himself he couldn't see this production.  I guess we need to make it out to the theater more often.  If only it wasn't so expensive!  

Thanks for all of you that checked in on Audrey yesterday and today!  Seeing her with braces made me realize how old my daughter is getting.  I can only imagine how grown-up and beautiful she'll be when she gets them off in two years.  Don't worry though, she already knows that dating's off-limits 'til 16!  And no kissing 'til marriage, right?