Sunday, February 24, 2008

Great-great grandma Anna Skasko Kucher



Taken from Grandpa Chester's history [speaking about his trips to visit his grandparents, in Pennsylvania, who were Russian Orthodox]:

Grandma made what was called pot cheese. She would wrap the curd in a cloth and hang it in the springhouse to drip. One of our [Virginia and Chester] jobs was to squeeze the cloth and force out the liquid. There was also a smokehouse and Grandpa smoked his own ham and bacon. They sold their surplus milk and eggs. Grandma would boil up a big pot of potatoes and our diet for the next several days would consist of boiled potatoes and green onions mixed with clabbered milk. This was milk that had soured and thickened. We would eat this with thick slices of ham and bacon. We would have thick slabs of homemade bread toasted on the top of the kitchen stove.

At Easter time, Grandma would make big round loaves of bread from a special recipe used only once a year. I remember that she always topped the loaves off with a little swirl of dough that made them look like nesting doves. The bread would then be taken to the church and blessed by the priest. It would then be be taken into the parlor for dinner. Large white napkins were used, and the bread would be broken over the napkins. I know now that this represented the Sacrament of the Last Supper. Every piece of bread and all the crumbs had to be eaten.


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1 comment:

Jessica said...

I love your family history blog. I didn't know that you were interested in family history. This is something I have also worked a lot on since BYU. In my research I've sometimes came across McVey's (even spelled correctly) and thought about you. I also understand how slow the research can go with kids! Let me know if you need any Missouri look-ups!
-Jessie