uhm, why Pierogie?

We sort of came up with our own affectionate name for baby before we find out the gender. I've had friends call their unborn baby "sweet pea" "bean" "peanut" etc. Where does "Pierogie" come from, and what does it mean??

Well for starters, I'm Polish :) My parents immigrated over from the motherland and I grew up speaking Polish for most of my childhood and even though we don't really speak the language very much anymore or eat as much traditional food as I was accustomed to, it's still a good portion of who I consider myself to be.

A pierogie is pretty much a pasta shell filled with anything under the sun. My favorite flavors are "ruske" ("russian": potato and cheese, pretty much mashed potatoes), strawberry / blueberry (these are more of a dessert) or ground meat. My mom once told me that while visiting our family in Poland, I asked my pra-babcia (great grandma) to make me banana pierogies. She obliged, but I don't think the result was what I was hoping for.

Making pierogies can be a time consuming task. If you don't have a KitchenAid mixer, you have to kneed the dough by hand. Then, roll the dough out and use a cup to cut perfect circles. You fill each circle with your filling, fold it in half and press the edges together. Kind of like a ravioli. Then you boil them, and if they are a main course style (the potato or meat variety) you may also pan fry them with onions and/or bacon.

I don't really know why I'd choose to call my unborn child after my favorite food in the world. But it's cute.