Problem with this title is I am probably going to get a million hits but there are no recipes attached so move on…..

Cabbage Rolls, Perogies and Kolbassa sausage.  The fundamental Ukrainian specialties.  My sister married a Ukrainian and I was introduced to these items early in life.

We have learned to make our own Cabbage Rolls but for Perogies and Kolbassa we have always purchased.  Perogies can be bland but there is a network of stores that promise The World’s Best Kolbassa.

For many years in the various places where we lived, there would be regular fund raising events where local Ukrainian women would sell their home made items.

It has been many years since we were able to attend one of these.  Lets face it there are not a lot of Ukrainian farmer families in Oakville Ontario or for that matter on Vancouver Island.

You can imagine our excitement when we saw a notice in the local paper last week that the Comox Ukrainian society would hold a sale of “home made” Ukrainian specialties at the Comox Mall on Saturday morning.  We learned from friends that this is an annual event (which we had not seen before) and they sell out quickly.

This Saturday Pat and I went early and even then there was a lineup to the small set of tables.

I was initially disappointed because there was not a single lady in a Babushka or wearing a print dress behind the table.  They actually looked like regular valley women.

Never-the-less we bought some cabbage rolls and perogies and a Kolbassa.  I was further disappointed when they produced the Kolbassa from a box of pre packaged and vacuum sealed sausages from some meat company.  Only afterward realized the meat company was a small specialty company in Saint Paul Alberta.  Lets face it outside of getting a Kolbassa from Kviv Ukraine, you cannot get more authentic than St Paul Alberta.

We had some of the cabbage rolls tonight and they were wonderful.  Granted Pat can make just as good but she spent a lifetime augmenting the recipe from one she acquired from a friend at the Ukrainian cultural festival in Toronto and uses pickled cabbage from the recipe used by her Grandma Sullivan.  Not the store brand frozen cabbage rolls.

Great meal and more to come.