Her Fifteenth Birthday

Our youngest daughter celebrated her fifteenth birthday three days after youth camp was over. Being a "people person" she very much wanted to have some friends over and a Ukrainian meal.


On the plate, clockwise from top are: fried chicken, the American exception and contribution, vinagrette, (a beet, potato and carrot salad), varenki (piroshki or pirogi) with mashed potatoes inside, green onion and egg salad, fried squash, and a bite of fish salad. Missing from the picture are the garlic rolls. She helped me a lot in the kitchen and by the time the first friends arrived we were halfway close to being ready.
The real challenge for me, was the dessert, a Ukrainian layered cake. This is a Napoleon cake and has 11 layers. It's my second try and turned out a lot better than the first when I got the directions completely in English!!

Part of most birthdays are flowers. This is one rose out of a group of three that Lena received. (An even number of flowers is allowed only for funerals.
Happy birthday again, Lena! We love you and are glad you're such a friendly part of our family!