Its still a bit nippy and rainy out in the videk, but that did not stop us from having the first bogracs of  the season. We got in quite late Friday night, so we settled for some Kievski tort Lennard had brought from Kiev that day, and a bottle of Sumegi Birtokbor Evidencia Cuvee 2008 (Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot). The wine won the silver medal at Vinegora in 2009, but I found it watery and weak. It was much better the next evening when it warmed up a bit. A lazy morning including a breakfast of omelets and Hajni's Breakfast Cake with Jeroen's homemade plum jam meant we were nearly comotose until it was time to light the fire for the bogracs. It is not yet tomato season, so we used Aunt Jolanka's homemade wine as a base (reduce, reuse, recycle!), and added chicken, spinach, potatoes and a load of other stuff. Meanwhile, Jeroen also made a great Solyanka soup. We finished off the night with some toasted marshmallows. There was some built-up of crap in the toilet ventilation tube - something(s) had gotten through the screen again. Cleaning it out, I discovered a nest made with loads of moss and juniper and what I initially took as rabbit fur. On closer inspection I realised that it was the ponytail I had cut off in December and thrown over the fence. Birds had found it and incorporated it into a nest in my house!

Hajni's Breakfast Cake
1/2 C. oil
2 C. sugar
3 C. flour
1 sachet vanilla sugar
1 sachet baking powder
250-300g kefir
2 eggs
raisins, nuts or chocolate bits

Mix all the ingredients, leaving kefir for the last. Preheat the oven to
190 degrees C, put the batter in the cake form, bake for 20-25 minutes.
Eat with plum jam.

Jeroen's Solyanka Soup
2 sticks of turkey sausage cut into small chunks
1 onion
2 bullion cubes
4 pickles cut into small chunks
1 Tbs capers
1 lemon
black olives
parsley
1 1/2 litre water
tomato paste

Add sausage to water and bring to boil. Add bullion cubes. Meanwhile fry onion and add tomato paste to it. When boiling, add pickles and capers, then onion mixture. Simmer 20 minutes. Might want to remove excess grease. Put a slice of lemon and a black olive in each bowl and pour soup over them. Sprinkle with chopped parsley on top.