Cooking From Scratch

could also be a metaphor for my life in Ukraine. I ask around town, become more confused, research online, decide to do it, mess up a few times, learn from my mistakes, mess up again, and realize it'll never be perfect but no one is looking for perfection anyway. Peace Corps gives all its volunteers in Ukraine a cookbook that is a compilation of recipes from previous volunteers in Ukraine (PC has been here for 20 years) because it's hard to find a lot of variety at local food stores and to live within our living stipend. Almost always, I end up making my food from scratch. I cook a lot of eggs/frittatas, rice, beans, potatoes, pasta, pizza, and I'll add in some in-season or canned vegetables. However, my absolute favorite thing to cook is blinchiki! It's pronounced bleencheekee with stress on the first "ee" (блинчики in Russian).
Blinchiki is a Ukrainian/Russian dish and is very similar to crêpes. Compared to the Ukrainian/Russian crêpe-like dish called blini, some tell me blinchiki is smaller and thinner, some tell me blinchiki is made with yeast and are more like mini pancakes, while others tell me blinchiki is the exact same as blini and is just used as a loving nickname. This is a good example on how I can never get a definitive answer from a Ukrainian, I'm going with the last one though (blinchiki, blini, potato, po-tah-to). The first time I tasted this fried goodness was my first day of training when my host mom cooked it with farmer cheese (similar to cottage cheese) and raisins inside, I was in heaven. When I moved to my new home after training, one of my coworkers showed me how to make

Mmm nutella

blinchiki using her recipe, so I think it's a pretty popular dish here. There's so many filling options: chopped fruit, jam, nutella, nutella and chopped fruit, honey, mushrooms and cheese, tomatoes and cheese, any kind of meat and sour cream. I don't think I'll ever get tired of making it, I'm up to about 20 times, and the ingredients are fairly inexpensive. Here's my blinchiki with rasberry jam inside that perfectly fits inside one of my baking pans so it's easy to make a bunch and then save them for later in the fridge.

Recipe (makes around 8):
Preparation:
Get out a big bowl, a whisk or fork, mixing spoon, a ladle or shot glass, a spatula, an 8"-ish diameter skillet, napkins/paper towels, a large plate, a serving plate (I use a baking pan). Then prepare your stations; put your batter bowl close to the stove top, place a napkin or paper towel (with extras nearby) on a large plate with your prepared fillings next to it, and your serving plate.
Ingredients:
2 eggs, 3 teaspoons of salt or sugar (sugar if it's a dessert, salt if it's a dinner), 2 cups of milk, 1 3/4 cups of flour, lots of oil, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 tablespoon vinegar, margarine or butter (optional), and your filling
*if you're out of milk, an equal mix of water and buttermilk works too (or just water for us PCVs)
Very detailed steps:
1. In a big bowl, beat 2 eggs completely.
2. Add sugar/salt.
3. Add 2 cups milk and stir everything together with a mixing spoon.
4. Gradually mix in flour until the texture is soup-y (depending on the milk you may not need all the flour) and there are no clumps. You should feel a little resistance when you stir but still pretty drippy when you lift up your ladle or spoon. If you accidentally add too much flour, just add more milk. For a healthy twist, use a 3:1 mix of white:rye/wheat flour.
5. Above your bowl, pour the vinegar onto your spoonful of baking powder so it works its magic and over flows into the bowl. Stir thoroughly.
6. Gently fold in a tablespoon of oil.
7. Start heating your pan on high heat, the key to perfect blinchiki is a very hot skillet.
8. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of your skillet, if it puddles it's too much. I usually re-oil the pan every other one.
9. Use your ladle to add one spoonful (2-3 tablespoons) of batter to your skillet. Filling up a 1 ounce shot glass also works. As you're pouring, swirl the batter around to evenly coat the bottom. I usually end up raising one side of the skillet and moving it in a circular type motion so the batter spreads out to the edges but at the same time is very, very thin.
10. Once it turns a slightly darker color (15-30 seconds depending on heat and thickness), flip it with your spatula.
11. Let the other side golden (15-30 seconds), then use your spatula to pick it up and move it to the napkin/paper towel plate. The napkin/paper towel soaks up excess oil and I usually replace it with a new one every third blinchik. Also, I always eat the first one as a taste tester and because it never turns out looking as nice as the rest (and because I'm a fatty).
12. Repeat until the batter is gone and remember to re-oil your skillet every other blinchik.
13. While a blinchik is frying, add your fillings to the last completed one. Then roll it up like a log and place it on your serving plate, leaving the napkin/paper towel plate station free for the next one. For thicker fillings, fold the top and bottom inward before rolling it.
14. Enjoy! They taste best if you eat them immediately. If you know you're not going to eat them immediately, spreading a thin layer of margarine or butter on both sides keeps them softer longer. You can also sauté them in your skillet with a little butter after they've been refrigerated.