It's that time of year again. I'm not talking about that turkey coma that overwhelms you when one eats too much on Thanksgiving. I'm referring to the time of year that my family and close friends indulge our cravings for PIEROGI.

I am POLISH and I've always found it hard to find a good pierogi locally. The ones in the freezer of my local grocer never quite make the grade. Thankfully, my mother happens to be a great pierogi maker who likes to SHARE her food in addition to our Polish traditions.

Twice a year she arranges an all-day pirogie making event and invites the crowds.  Her home is transformed into an assembly line with a station for each step in the pirogie process: roll, cut, stuff, boil, cool, dry, seal, label. She preps the main ingredients in advance and friends and family drop by all day long to help assemble. Whether it's for a quick taste-test or putting in a full day's work - our motto is the more the merrier!

As usual, I was the primary photographer of our event. I enjoy capturing all the moments of the day and using Kodak Gallery's Premier Service, it's easy-peasey to publish photos to my own Gallery webpage.  I use this to share our tradition with everyone including those who couldn't attend.

When I wasn't snapping photos of the plump, polish treats, I was performing in the kitchen as 'Chief Boiler'. This distinguished title put me in front of a pot of boiling water all day with responsibilities including  1)ensuring the pirogie achieve the right color and 2)do not sit in the water cooling bath for too long. This role is better fit for me than the short stint I did as 'Junior Level Stuffer' last year. The pirogie community accused me of purposefully producing too many 'holey' pirogie and demoted me. The holes occur when the dough is too thin to be stuffed with a HEAPING pile of goodness. I never saw an issue with my performance because we EAT what fails quality checks, but I didn't fight it!

When planning the event, I usually share photos from years past using the Kodak Gallery. This way a novice knows exactly what they are getting themselves into! It also builds excitement about what *new* filling FLAVOR to try in addition to our traditional Sauerkraut and Potato & Cheese.  Since our group can't even agree on the SPELLING of pirogie, it's not surprising the 'what to stuff' debate is intense. To assist fair voting practices, I setup a 'Flavor Poll' on my blog as the official voting mechanism.  Cheeseyburger was the winner beating out some WILD flavor ideas like Steak-n-Potato, Smashed Garlic Potato and Buffalo Chicken.

All in all, we had a FUN and successful event! We made over 325+ pirogie which sent everyone home with tasty treats and rich Polish traditions. The new photos are already up and it is enjoyable to read the comments from everyone. I'm glad I put photo titles on all of them to help tell the story for those who didn't attend. How else would I explain the pictures below? Side effects of assembly line work: one starts playing with their food (devils tower sculpture) OR seeing things in their food (yoda).

Do you have any fun, tasty food traditions to share?

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