from mama to daughter

This post was contributed by Asya's mama.

My own mama Jenya (Asya's grandmother) was an architect and an urban planner. In the former Soviet Union when the food was scares and variety did not exist she applied her creativity to building beautiful table settings and dishes. From her I inherited the special delight of setting the table as if you were ready for a still life sketch. By the way, she became very good at drawing still life watercolors later in her life (the skill I did not inherit!).

Quick Jenya's fresh cabbage salad:
You need one average white cabbage, salt, sugar, dill.

1. Discard top damaged leaves and cut cabbage into quarters lengthwise.
2. Chop cabbage finely cutting across the leaves leaving the core and the thick parts around it.
3. Sprinkle some salt and a little bit of sugar on the pile of the cut cabbage and squeeze it with your hands until in releases juice and becomes softer. Do not overdo or it will become soggy!
4. Chop dill and mix with cabbage. You may add oil, mayonnaise, vinegar, pepper or actually anything you fancy will 'decorate" this basic Soviet Era delight!
Experiment!