I decided while at the grocery store on the spur of the moment to celebrate my Polish heritage and make some cabbage rolls. Which is funny, since my grandmother never (when I knew her, at least) made anything Polish at all unless Polish people eat a lot of stuff with cut up hot dogs in it, and my mom used to make them sometimes when I was little but never cooks anymore. When you can finally afford that kitchen renovation you always wanted, you’re too old to cook, so my mom has this gorgeous super-awesome kitchen and never has to clean it because they mostly eat breakfast in it and I have a closet with a stove in it that works its ass off every day.
Anyway, my grandpa dropped the “ski” from our name, and not at Ellis Island. In Pittsburgh, where you’d think nobody would give a crap if you had a ski on your name. When my cousin married a very nice man with a ski I thought it would kill him. A few months ago (he’s been dead for two years) we went out and hunted down the graves of his parents - my uncles had been taken with my grandpa and his brother to mow the grass at the cemetery, but they made my uncles stay in the car. Only later did they realize it’s because they might have seen “Domanski” and asked questions.
So. I don’t really know what I’m doing here. I have a recipe that looks really good but I’m having a hard time with the cabbage. I’m stuck with what I’m doing this time, but for next time I need advice.
I’m not really used to doing things that require whole leaves of cabbage intact. The recipe says to boil the whole head of cabbage. The whole head of cabbage does not get done at the same time. At all. The outer leaves were doner than I thought I was supposed to do and four leaves in it was cold. Before that I’d tried taking it apart leaf by leaf and boiling the leaves, but they tore. So I’m stuck leaving the head of cabbage in a terrifying boiling pot and gingerly poking it with tongs every so often and when a leaf looks done pulling it off. Tell me that isn’t the best way, please. I’m going to burn myself and it’s going to be humiliating.
Plus, the way I’m going we won’t eat until midnight.