Slovak Homemade Cakes

Beets are next!

Pickled beets with horseradish is another traditional Easter side dish that goes really well with ham and all the other meat dishes. We make this fresh few days before Easter. Once again very simple recipe. I made a small amount, only used 2 beets. Wash 2 medium beets really well, cove with cold water in a deep pan, cover and bring to a boil. Simmer on low-medium covered for 1 hour or until beets are fork tender. Meantime prepare the pickling juice. For this small amount you only need 1/3 cup of vinegar, 1/3 cup water, 3.5 tbsp sugar and 1/4 tsp of caraway seeds or Aniz seeds. Combine in a pan and bring to a boil. Sit aside and let cool down completely. When beets are done, drain and let cool down. Then use a fine grater to grate beets. If using fresh horseradish root, cut a small piece off, peel and grate on the same grater. go easy with horseradish, it's potent. Mix in a deep bowl. Strain your pickling juice to get rid of the seeds, they are there only to give it nice fragrant smell. Pour it on the beets, you don't have to use all of it. Mix, transfer to a bowl, cover tightly with a lid and store in the fridge. Should last for about 4-5 days.

Don't forget to put your boots in the window tonight. Make sure it's clean and shiny. St. Nicholas or Svaty Mikulas as we call him, is coming tonight. Hope nobody finds a coal or potatoes in the morning. I still remember what a horrible threat that used to be for us when we were little. Be good or you get dirty coal instead of sweet treats. We made sure to clean our boots really well and couldn't wait to wake up in the morning. We usually got enough sweets to last us for a while. I always carefully divided my candy over many days, while my brother ate most of them by the end of the day. We used to get some better brand candy and chocolate from St. Nicholas than we would have in the house during the year. what a treat it was to get a Twix or Snickers or Milky Way bar! It used to be very expensive when they started selling them in Slovakia. A bag of raw peanuts in the shell used to be a big thing to get. Shelling peanuts is in my mind forever associated with Christmas time in Slovakia. And bag of mandarin oranges too! What a fun memories we have. Do you still celebrate St. Nicholas and what do you give your children? Since my son has enough sweets in the house, we are going with Hot wheels cars, glow sticks and a precious Kinder Egg (that is not available in USA so a hot commodity)