The Church Fall Service at the Farm

Hi!
I thought I would post these pictures from our time at the farm. Let me explain - my mom grew up on a farm in Manitoba, and I have some relatives who still live out there. This church, is where my grandparents are buried, and every fall, we like to go out to the Fall Service and have a visit with some of my aunts and uncles. I love, love, love this cute little church - and some years, when there is a choir from Winnipeg who comes out to sing, there is standing room only. People squeeze into the pews, and stand at the back of the church, only moving to let the priest in. The last few years have been pretty good, since a lot of the service is in English, rather than Ukranian. I must admit, it's pretty hard to stay focused when you can't understand what the heck is going on. Stand up, sit down, stand up, kneel. I usually just follow the locals, and do what they do. I must admit, I am not a religious person, in the church-going sense, but I can appreciate the tradition, and the togetherness of the process.

Now, that being said, I must confess. The actual lunch, or "supper" after the service is something I can't stop thinking about all through the morning. The garlic pickles, and the perogies...oh, the perogies. I have never been one for homemade sausages (I can almost hear my husband cheering "yay...more for me!") but I have ALWAYS been a sucker for a good perogy. I have been spoiled, with my mom and some of my aunts making the best perogies around. I have been ruined for the store-bought perogy...I am not even satisfied with some of the local places who DO have some pretty good ones...but still...not.

My husband has fallen in love with the perogy - and he admits that he really didn't even know a good perogy until he tasted my family's cooking. He can't get enough - with fried onions, bacon, and sour cream, of course. However, my aunty has introduced us to eating boiled perogies with fried cream...it's kind of thick and luxurious like alfredo sauce, but very simply done...just cream and a little bit of onion. It's a totally different experience than the sour cream and bacon route, but still oh so fantastic.

Anyways, I am making myself hungry....

As I lay my head down to sleep this evening, I think I will send out a little shout out to my mom and my aunt, who hopefully will will pick up on my mental messaging..."please...make me some perogies."

Jaime