Cruschiki day

 There are many variables to Cruschiki Day  (Polish Bow Ties.)

 I have to be in the mood

I need to have had a good night's sleep

The sun has to be shining 

It helps if the sky is blue

The weather has to be warm enough so I can fry them outdoors with the portable hot plate on a table

It's iffy about having the girls here to help.  I want them to learn and daughter wants them to learn but when they are here I can't cut the recipe in half because they eat a large proportion of the dough raw and Elizabeth is standing nearby waiting to devour the finished product.  If they are NOT here and I don't tell them I made them then the half batch can be enough for Easter.

Today it was spur of the moment, all of the variables were in place, so I proceeded without them.  Besides, it's not like when they were little and needed to do something on a Sunday afternoon.  They are quite the busy girls now.

After my grandma died it was many years before I found a recipe for Cruschiki.  This was decades before Pinterest.  Word of advice, if there is something you make that the family loves or is traditionally served on a holiday, WRITE IT DOWN and pass it to someone.  Many a phone call has been made between me and my brother with the question "did you ever get the recipe for..."  and now I seem to be the holder of some recipes from PH's mother and aunts, and get an occasional query.  Just the other day in fact PH got a text, "Do you have Marcella's cole slaw recipe?" 

When I was a kid I would go to my grandma's house on Good Friday when she started cooking for Sunday. I remember watching her.  I learned a lot by watching both her and my mom while they cooked.  Busia would roll the dough out and say it has to be paper thin, you don't want an al dente bite when you eat these.

I roll them, slice them with a pizza cutter and when I turn them into the bow tie I stretch them even thinner.

They are supposed to bubble on the ends and rise to the surface immediately.   

After they're dusted with powdered sugar and you eat them, they are supposed to fall apart at that first bite and the powdered sugar should be all over your shirt.  If they're done right.