Another prompt by 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. It's run by Amy Johnson Crow.
Information on the TopicThis week's theme is "In the Kitchen." So many memories revolve around meals and cooking together. Do you have an ancestor who was a good cook (or maybe a notoriously bad cook!) What about a favorite recipe -- where did it come from or who always cooked it? If that doesn't spring any ideas, what about ancestors named Kitchen or Cook(e)?
I had met my maternal grandmother Janet, but by that point she was in a nursing home and the few times we saw her there she was so doped up on drugs the staff put into her, there was a body but the mind had gone. Due to this fact, I never learned anything much from her.
My mother hated cooking and baking. The less she could do the better. When I was young, she would make homemade bread from scratch but that stopped by the time I hit my teens due to arthritis in her hands.
Growing up, I only knew of 1 grandparent - My paternal grandmother Jean. I used to go spend 2 weeks with her every summer. Sometimes we'd make a few different Polish recipes and others she had in the fridge but didn't look too good - like pickled pigs feet. The Polish recipes were never really mentioned by name, but the last Christmas I had with my grandmother, I knew she didn't have much money but she really wanted to get something for me. I asked her to make the one cookie she made and I loved it. She then asked me if I ment Bow Ties and I agreed. That's what she termed it for us - Bow Ties. We made this other type of donut type of thing and she loved it. To me, it always tasted and looked like Elmer's Glue and not anything ediable.
So growing up we had Bow Ties. I now know others call them Angel Wings. However, the correct name for them is chrusciki or faworki. As you can see by the correct name, they could be a handful for children, which is why she had us call them bow ties. I loved these. After my grandmother passed away, I asked my oldest sister, Theresa, if she knew of the recipe. She said she sat down one time and wrote down the instructions with Grandma when she was making them. She read them out to me over the phone.
This is taken from my electronic recipe book.
I make them now for Christmas every year.
My Bow Ties in 2014.
My Bow Ties before icing sugar in 2017.
However, 2020 was such a messed up year, I didn't get to do it, but I'll probably make them during the year and then at Christmas.
To try and get back with that part of my family history, I've joined some groups online which trade recipes or I look them up once I find out about them.
I think I found the Elmer's Glue donut thing my grandmother used to make. Its now called Kluski; however, the ones she made never looked like the ones in the recipe but everything else matches. Also, she never put anything on them. She put these onto a plate and handed me the plate. It just looked and tasted like glue. I think she forgot to fry them in some butter and onions or put them into a soup.
I haven't tried that one mainly because I remember how it used to taste and it wasn't encouraging.
I have found other recipes I have tried but haven't quite figured them out entirely.
Paczki Polish donuts - very good but takes awhile to make.
My Paczki in 2019.
Paczki - I bought a calendar with recipes in them in Polish so I use that recipe, but here's one online.
Kolaczki Polish cookie - very good but difficult to make the ends meet in the middle
My first try at Kolaczki in 2019.
Kołaczki - These I made in December 1999 for the first time and everyone loved them. I did make a small batch in December 2000 but they weren't as good so I did something wrong.
I spoke to my father about grandma and her cookies she used to make. Even he said that my grandmother wasn't one for cooking or baking. She tried but she wasn't very good at it and one reason why they had to close the grill part of the Bar and Grill they had in Newburgh, NY. However, her mother, Mary, was fantastic my fathe rtold me. He had 2 memories about what he used to eat growing up.
He loved beetroot soup. The technical name of it is Barszcz or Polish Borscht. Upon reading the recipe its very interesting because growing up when we had beets, we warmed them up exactly this way in a pot but didn't add anything to it (again my mother didn't really like cooking and took the laziest way out).
Also, he had fond memories of my grandmother's family making bread with raisins. At one time he also told me it was a rye bread. However, there are 2 different breads he described. One is Grandma’s Raisin Bread or Chalka in Polish. The other is Polish Sourdough Rye Bread or Chleb Na Zakwas Żytni in Polish. I'm not sure which he was talking about, but he said that his uncle's would always be made to go into the kitchen and mix it up with their hands and knead it until she considered it done. I think I would have liked the sourdough rye but not the raisin one.
Then there are the Polish Kielbasa or Swojska and Polish Stuffed Peppers or Papryka Nadziewana in Polish. We don't have kielbasa too often but the stuffed peppers I make a few times a year.
The kielbasa we either cook like a hot dog - grill it or put it in water and boil. Apparently, my great grandfather Adam, who had a corner store in NJ used to have a smoke room and sold kielbasa he made up until he passed away.
The stuffed peppers (usually we use green) I take a throw ingrediants together quickly which annoys people but traditionally how the Polish people do it I'm told. We usually pair the stuffed peppers up with mashed potatoes. My husband loves these.
I have tried the Polish cheesecake, but didn't like how it tasted so I did something wrong. 
The Strawberry cheesecake is in the front when I tried it in 2017.
These are the stories that are sometimes forgotten about. If you don't know if you have any, look some up, give them a go, and then incorporate them into your life.
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