Vareniki.

A few warm days last week were a real treat for us! We went hiking, bicycling, took a day trip and visited a cavern, soaked up some sun and turned off the heat in the house.
This week the winter is back. The heat is back on, and the jackets had to be pulled out again. But the desire to spend more time outside is simply too strong to resist.

We still went into the woods and visited some old as well as new spots. Playing soccer really helped to keep warm and make the best of a colder day. The other really nice way to make the best out of a gloomy day is to find something free and abundant! That is right up our alley with having the gift for foraging. I mean all the days we have spent fishing, mushroom picking, wild pear tree harvesting, picking wild blackberries and raspberries...

This time we got wild chives. They are bountiful all around the hiking trails and really tasty. While the kids were helping us to pick them they were sucking on the stalks and then we had a very nice garlicky aroma in the car.
We had frozen a batch before and had used the prewashed, precut chives in soups, stews, scrambled eggs, and other dishes. And today we made homemade "vareniki" stuffed with mashed potatoes with fresh wild chives. Everybody helped and the task of hand making the vareniki for a large family was not so overwhelming after all.
It was delicious and what is even better is that we have another batch in the freezer for another day of a homemade yummy lunch.