Slavic Food Festival

A little village about 20 miles from us has an amazing history.  It is Brookside, Al and it is home to the only Russian Orthodox Church south of the Mason Dixon Line.  For the past 27 years or so they have had a Slavic Food Festival.  Rick and I visited one of the very first they celebrated.  We met out friends Danny and Jo Francis this morning and headed to Brookside.

It was a perfect fall day with clear blue skies and chilly temps.  When we got there, there were a few people stirring around and we visited the church first and listened to the Father tell its history.
Then we decided to go next door to get in line for food.  The dinning hall was packed, but the atmosphere was festive and in about 30 minutes we had our food and oh what food it was.

We dined on Kolbasa and Kraut, Holupkic (stuffed cabbage), Halushki (potato dumplings) Piroshki ( meat pies), Pigachi ( potato cheese bread)....there was so much more I can't name it all.  There was Russian tea,  and baked goods and a beautiful quaint gift shop with handcrafted items.  I brought home a small St. Nicholas to hang on our Christmas tree.

The church and the village have an interesting history, if you get a chance be sure to Google Brookside, Al.  St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church.  I think you will find the history memorable. So here we are, me, Jo, Danny and Rick...look at that sky.