Pyrogy Day

In my mother's well-splattered recipe book, they are spelt pyrohy. My Polish family members spell them pierogi. Canadian groceries stores tend to spell them perogy. In any case, one of the days before Christmas is usually dedicated to an assembly-line production of the tasty potato-based dumplings. This year, with just my parents and myself in town, the assembly-line was a bit smaller on Christmas eve. Nonetheless, well over 70 pyrogies were produced and subsequently enjoyed. Many are frozen so that they last longer than a few days.

Purple potatoes grown in my parents' garden are peeled and boiled not thirty feet from where they grew. The purple potatoes, or Royal Blue, are the official insides of the Psutka Pyrogies.

My mother chops onions for the insides of the pyrogies.

My mother uses a glass to make the circles that are the outside of the pyrogies. My mother is English and actually received the recipe, which is unique in that it uses a potato-based dough, from a Ukrainian friend. Her ability to make the eastern-European dish greatly pleases my Polish father.

Purple potato innards are mixed with cottage cheese and onions and are wrapped into the outer dough.

My mother fixes a flawed pyrogy that will otherwise explode in the boiling process.

My father minds the boiling pyrogies while my mother prepares the dough.

Boiled pyrogies are laid out on wax paper to prevent them from sticking while my mother brings over a tray of uncooked pyrogies ready to be boiled.

I wasn't much help this year, as I recently bought a new camera and am learning the tricks. My parents still did well. I'm hoping to have some more photojournalistic moments soon while in Calgary, but a short documentary on how to make pyrogies will have to suffice for now.