It’s a feast! Holy Day of Obligation!
I have been visiting churches today. Now we are at Veselka, a favorite spot. Never had a bad meal here.
I started with Borscht.
We got Pirogi for all of us.
I had Bigos.
Dessert:
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Oh my goodness, I love all that food. We always ate pirogies in Lent and I make borscht and have made hundreds of pirogies. My borscht must be served with the traditional dollop of sour cream on top. My grandmother made mean cabbage rolls. Bigos look great. What kind of beer did you drink with all of this? I hope an excellent Pilsner. Yum and jealous, just a little…
How would you describe the flavour of borscht? I’ve been tempted to try it for several years, but I can’t bring myself to taste it because I’m too fearful of what I expect it to taste like.
BTW: I wish you hadn’t posted pictures of you perogies, as I they’re probably one of my biggest food vices there is, and absolutely unhealthy for me. I have to completely abstain from them, lest I commit gluttony. No, like Lays Chips, I cannot eat just one, or two or three, and seeing them makes me crave them.
Fr. Z,
In my neighborhood, and at a great restaurant!
@Supertradmum
I hope an excellent Pilsner.
?!?!?! I thought that only people from Saskatchewan drink that? The guy at the liquor store here told me they bring it in during the school year for all the students from Saskatchewan!
Good borscht tastes good. It doesn’t taste like cooked beets from a can or pickled beets, if that’s what you mean. (Not that I have anything against that, but I know a lot of people don’t like canned beets.) It’s like any root vegetable soup, except it’s made from beets instead of potatoes or whatever. You don’t have to have sour cream on top, either, if you’re not a sour cream fan. (Although that’s good.)
If you go somewhere and they have borscht and you’re afraid to try it, you can always ask if they’ll let you try a little sample. If they have faith in the conversion power of their borscht, they won’t say no. :)
Pilsner is traditional Czech lager and we have a town in Iowa named Pilsner, which tells you there used to be a brewery there. It is so small, it is not incorporated. I am not a lager fan, but will drink pilsner to be patriotic and some of it is good, especially with above food. My ancestors on my mum’s side are all from either Moravia or Bohemia. There is a honey pilsner from Newton, Iowa and I have had honey pilsner, but from another brewery. Father Z may know pilsner from the New Ulm Brewery. There a many Ukrainians in Saskatoon who eat the above and most likely, pilsner. I lived in Saskatoon for awhile and loved it. Love all this food….
Looks good, and beautiful. I made soup with cauliflower, potato, carrot, parsnip, leek, onion, cheddar, milk, and roux. It turned out great.
All this food is making me super hungry!
Just got out from Mass for All Saints’ Day and have been fasting since last night’s dinner.
The dessert sure looks good-never had borscht, but maybe I had pirogies once. My brother-in-law’s mother was full-blooded Polish-American.
For the first time in 6 or 7 years (this week) my wife made borscht. She used a vegetarian recipe but threw some beef in it at the last minute. It was wonderful.
Now, today, after looking at all that fine food, I will retreat to a Tina’s burrito.
I’ve never had the pleasure or pirogies, but they look very much like my wife’s hand made Chinese dumplings when she hand-rolls the skins. Next time you come to the Atlanta area, she’d be happy to show you ;)
@Supertradmum
Upon further investigation I have learned that there are two different Pilsners. I am thinking of Molson’s Pilsner. I knew Pilsner was a Saskatchewan thing. *sigh*
BTW, “Pierogi” is Polish. In Ukrainian (my wife’s language) they are called “Verenyki”.
Have you ever had cherry verenyki? Yum…
But… but… !!!! All this talk about the borscht and pierogies.. but didn’t anyone notice??? A GIANT UKRAINIAN MEATBALL! And it’s headed STRAIGHT FOR EARTH!!! We must defend the planet! Everyone… if we can get everyone out there to face the meatball with forks in hand, we can devour it on impact, and save the planet! (Just hope it doesn’t hit on a Friday)
Ukraine is weak!
I see that great minds think alike. Since I still had a whole day to myself after Mass at Holy Innocents ended, and the day was too beautiful to stay inside, I decided I would collect bulletins for my parents to read when I got home. With the beautiful Salve Regina still in my thoughts, I walked to Holy Cross, where schoolchildren (on a holy day!) were being rehearsed to “sing Alleluia!” for a school Mass. [We must have just barely missed each other!] I grabbed my bulletin and fled before it could displace the Salve Regina irretrievably. Then I proceeded to St. Malachy’s (the Actor’s Chapel), St. Paul, which was closed for repairs and had no bulletins, across the lower portion of Central Park which had no churches, no bulletins, and almost had no trees either, St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Catherine of Siena, which also was bereft of bulletins, St. John Nepomucene, one of the few parishes anywhere near me where I haven’t attended Mass of any sort, St. John the Evangelist, Holy Family, St. Agnes, Our Saviour, where I just missed Fr. Rutler’s homily at noon Mass (rats!), Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, St Francis of Assisi, and St. John the Baptist.
“But Andrew! But Andrew! How could you skip St. Patrick’s Cathedral?” Oddly enough I have been there many times, and I have never, ever seen as much as one bulletin there. I long since concluded that they don’t have bulletins there.
Timbot2000: your Ukrainians maybe call them verenyki, but my Ukrainians call them perohi. The difference between galompki and holobtsi is evident, as is that between kielbasa and kubossa, but I could never tell the difference between pierogi and perohi, except on Christmas Eve.
Great photos. Have you tried Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen across from St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church on 7th between 2 and 3rd? it is part of the parish or at least benefits the parish. Its only open Thurs thru Sunday. Great after Mass. [Or perhaps after Divine Liturgy? I think you are talking about the church across from MacSorley’s?]
So jealous! I have the Veselka cookbook but have never been there.
Since you were in Veselka, dear Father, I hope you visited Most Holy Redeemer on East 3rd between Avenues A and B. It is locked, but if you go to the rectory, they will let you in. They have priests actually buried there. The interior of that church is, well, to die for too. They HAD an orphanage up until Roe v Wade. I have friends who were raised by the good sisters there, and they have nothing but wonderful memories of the place. Every time I pass by the old orphanage building (on East 4th, directly behind the church), which is now a community center, I shudder. I know where all the little orphans have gone, and it’s not to good homes, either.
Andrew- you must have been EXHAUSTED! That is some haul. Although there are many of you out there who wouldn’t live in NYC if you were paid, one thing we DO have here is a plethora of RC Churches which are open all day for visits to the Blessed Sacrament.
When my daughter was little, I wanted to explain to her what happened to the Church after Vatican 2. I took her to Epiphany Church on Second Avenue and 22nd Street. You can access this pictures here: http://catholicmanhattan.blogspot.com/2009/08/70-church-of-epiphany.html
Mmm making me hungry! Used to be able to get real Pierogies when we lived in PA.
On the subject of food, planning to try to make Portuguese Kale Soup for dinner tonight. Although real linguica being unavailable in Central Massachusetts, using hot Italian turkey sausage.
That’s right, across from McSorley’s. It ‘s in a basement a few buildings down but you pick up the scent pretty quick. . Small nondescript sign hanging over the stairwell to basement place. Divine Liturgy at 8:30, sausage and sauerkraut at 10:30!