The last few days have been a flash-back to camp and a great time to see some fruit.
A few of the counselors from Novorossyisk and the neighboring capitol Krasnodar who worked together at the English Camp decided to do a reunion with a purpose. They rounded up kids from the area who had been at camp and invited them for a reunion weekend in Novoross (which is the cool way to say Novorossyisk I've learned) full of fun, games, and meaningful conversation.
So we get about 20 of the kids together, a genius idea of my fellow counselors, and start the day off with a photo scavenger hunt around town. Some of my favorite clues were "flying cat", "twins", "a guy wearing light-blue shorts", and "a bald woman". Our team won, not that anyone cares. Except me.
After the hunt and a lunch at Subway, the crew headed off to the beach. I had English Club that evening so I wasn't able to go to the beach, but later that night I met up with the crew at Andree's house, where I stayed a couple days before heading off to camp. There, we had a big dinner and talked about camp, what they liked and didn't like, and if they were going to camp in August. About half of them were, which is awesome; they just loved English Camp so much they wanted to go.
Over tea, Andree began having a more serious discussion with the kids. I must confess, I was talking to his parents while this was going on so I'm not sure exactly what his topic was, but it ended with an invitation to come to the camp director's church the next day.
The counselors and three of the kids went to church; Andree and his wife came and greeted us all warmly and were really happy to see us and the kids, and happy that we'd had a reunion.
Then, it was time to bowl (of course). I happen to hate bowling, but oddly enough, just like baseball, I was one of the better bowlers by virtue of having done it a lot. More kids joined us, and we spend the rest of the day bowling and playing air hockey.
Around 5:00 it was time for most of them to head home or go back to Krasnodar with some of our counselors. Many of them are really excited to come to Logos camp in August, and those that aren't going promised to come to the winter session of English Camp. Overall, it was a great time of outreach to these kids, and a really good follow-up to the camp. We're already planning the same kind of follow-up for after Logos.
On another note, I spent the rest of the day whipping up ladoshki (ладошки) which are like small pancakes only way better; "ladoshki" is plural. I love them. I ate probably 15 last night and then felt really awful but still content. Here's the recipe. Remember, this is Russia, so nothing is really approximate, you may have to adjust the quantities, but I'll do my best.
Babushka's ladoshki:
3 C buttermilk, or sour whole milk
2 eggs
2-3 C flour
1 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP activated baking soda (get your TBSP ready over the bowl, then add hot water to it until it all fizzes and melts, then dump it all in)
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBSP veggie oil
A pinch of salt
Mix the milk and eggs together in a bowl, and then add the dry ingredients. Mix until the batter is smooth. It should be somewhat loose and not unlike pancake batter.
Heat a pan over the stove, cast iron works best, and pour in some veggie oil about 1/4 in deep. Take a big table spoon and spoon the batter into the hot oil. The ladoshki should be about the size of a cookie (I can't think of anything better; the size of a coaster maybe?) Try to spoon your batch pretty quickly so they'll cook at the same time. You can fit maybe 5 or 6 in a pan at once.
When the bubbles on the top of the ladoshki stop popping, it's time to flip them. The bottom should be brown. For whatever reason, they cook faster after you flip them, so keep a pretty careful eye on them. When browned on both sides, move them out of the oil onto a plate. Repeat until you've used all you batter.
The best ways to eat them are with preserves (my Russian mama Tanya makes apricot preserves that I'm just crazy about) or sweetened condensed milk. Russia is the only place where you can say "hey, lets have a tea-party" and all you guy friends are chomping at the bit to come, but that's what happened last night. Our friends came over and we all had tea and ladoshki out in the gazebo.
Bowling. Ladoshki.
Пока ребята, Russian Jane
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