Serbian Festival

I saw an article in the paper about a Serbian festival. Decided I needed to check it out. I invited Penny and Cecelia to come along. Penny said 'What's a Serb?"

I discovered it is an ethnic group and not just a country. There are Serbs throughout Eastern Europe. They first came to the United States in the early 1700's. In Arizona, the first Serbs were here in the late 1800's. Most came to work the mines. Early Serbian communities were in Bisbee and other mining communities. As mines closed, many came to Phoenix. The first Orthodox Serb church was built in Phoenix in 1958. The beautiful building they have today, was built in 1974. The murals and paintings were added about 3 years ago.

The spectacular inside of St. Sava Church. I had seen the domes of this church in the past as I drove by on the 202 or 143.

Views of Palm Sunday.

The raising of Lazarus.

In Serbian and English.

Painting of Serb people

I had some of their grilled sausages.

 Accompanied by lively folk music.

Penny and Cecelia tried cabbage rolls and baked sauerkraut. We had crepe's for dessert.

As we were eating, whole roasted suckling pigs went by. They were selling the meat by the pound.

Kids and young adults in costumes were getting ready to dance.

Pastries and cookies for sale.

Drum cake.

Making cabbage rolls.

Boys costume. They wear the cutest shoes. They look like elf shoes.

Kids dancing.

 After the kids danced, the woman announcer said: In five minutes, the priest will give a guided tour of the church.
Penny: Weren't they going to give a tour of the church?
Me: The lady just said, in five minutes.
Penny: Are we going to go?
Me: I don't know. Do you guys have time?
Penny to Cecelia: Do you have time?
Cecelia: You want to know what time it is? (looking at her watch)
Me banging my head against the cement. Seriously, love these girls.

Candles in the church, in sand. they have them grouped for general reasons, health, spirit, etc.

The priest. The Serbian Church was one of the original orthodox churches started. In 1040 AD, the roman catholic church split from the orthodox churches. The orthodox churches claim uninterrupted apostolic flow from Christ. Priests can be married. Bishops cannot.

 Christ as ruler.

 Christ as teacher.

Everyone was warm and welcoming. We had a fun day.

Persimmon Bars

I participated in Bountiful baskets last week. It's a produce co-op. You never know what you will get. I got a bunch of pasilla chili's and made chili rellenos. A lot of work, but tasty.

I also got six persimmons. I have never eaten or dealt with persimmons before. I decided I needed to do something today, before they rotted on the counter.

I looked them up on line. I found a recipe for persimmon bars that looked pretty good.

I took the peel off, cut out the core and then put the flesh in the food processor. The recipe called for persimmon "pulp", so that's how I made it. It didn't have a very strong taste and wasn't super sweet or sour.  I understand the oval type persimmons, when unripe, are very sour. I had the squatty kind like above.

Next step, dry ingredients, wet ingredients and pulp. The recipe called for you to put 1 tsp of baking soda in with the persimmon pulp. I did that, and it kind of jelled. Surprised me.

They are baked in a jelly roll pan, which for me, is a half sheet cake pan. After they come out, you glaze them with a mixture of powdered sugar and lemon juice.

They were tasty, but I didn't notice a flavor I would identify as "persimmon". The recipe called for raisins, walnuts, nutmeg, cinnamon, so they ended up tasting kind of like pumpkin bread or fruit nut bread. But I used the persimmons and they didn't go to waste!

Ward Trunk or Treat party 2014

Tonight was the Fall Safety Festival, better known as the Ward Trunk or Treat Party. I enjoyed passing out candy with my friend Penny and seeing all the cute kids and costumes. We had a huge turnout, thanks to having more than one ward in the building.

This cutie is my friend Grace. Her mom made a Cleopatra costume out of a pillow case and gold duct tape!

The Bishop had a black eye and a big P on his shirt. He was a black eyed Pea.

Baby baseball player.

You were supposed to decorate your car if you were handing out candy to the trunk or treaters. I didn't get that far. But the Behunins did an amazing job.

Rock and roll family.

Bumble bee dog.

Aren't they adorable?

He is an identity thief.

He had you put candy in the neck of his shirt. Penny thought we could use him as a piñata.

Bishop's wife was a lunch lady!

She was missing her baby. Her baby was dressed as a spider and she was a web.

My costume and Amy's went together.

My friend Jeff showed up. He waited in line for us to get us food. Good job Jeff!.

He rode his bike there and so had a thing on his pants to keep his pants out of the chain. He said he stopped at QT on the way. The clerk at the store thought it was one of those house arrest bracelets and asked Jeff how long he had to wear it!  Ha Ha!