The cooking class was held at Metropolitan Market.  Lesa Sullivan, who taught the Armenian cooking class I attended at PCC Natural Markets, was the chef. She also generously donated her services at a pittance. This cause is near and dear to her heart as well since Lesa’s husband is of Armenian descent. Lesa was also very close to an Armenian family during her younger years growing up in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The fabulous menu included:

• S’rj: spiced Armenian coffee


• Sarma: rolled and stuffed grape leaves


• Lentil soup


• Matzoun: Armenian yogurt


• Armenian Pilaf: pasta, rice, and chopped apricots


• Bourma: sweetly spiced rolled phyllo dough dessert

Nineteen participants rolled up their sleeves and then got down to business rolling Sarma and Bourma, and stirring lentils while sipping S’rj and munching on snacks of lavash, Armenian flatbread, and Soujuk, Armenian sausage. I saw a room full of smiles, heard a constant stream of laughter and smelled the intoxicating fragrances of Armenian cuisine.

When the class ended, and after we cleaned up, Lesa gave me a special treat: two pint-jars of Matzoun.  Matzoun, Armenian yogurt, is sour firm and thick. I am a yogurt aficionado and Armenian yogurt, in my somewhat biased opinion, is the crème de la creme. When I was visiting Yerevan, Armenia this past September, I got to eat some of the best darn yogurt I’ve ever had. Yogurt for breakfast with sliced fruit. Yogurt served as a ‘side’ to drizzle on top of dolma and sarma rolls. A refreshing minted yogurt, called Tahn, was chilled with ice and water and offered as a drink to pair cool down the heat of spicy Lamajoun (Armenian pizza).

One interesting thing about yogurt is that it takes yogurt to make yogurt. That’s not so much of a problem today, when plain yogurt purchased from the supermarket provides the necessary bacterial starter. But that wasn’t always the case.

Being an organic substance, getting the first yogurt starters into the United States in the 19th century was no easy task. There was absolutely no way for the immigrants to simply bring their needed starter through American customs. But American customs agents greatly underestimated Armenian ingenuity.

The essential ingredient for turning milk into yogurt is a complex set of bacteria that basically takes over the medium (milk) and transforms it. The bacteria can live for a period of time under less than ideal circumstances. Knowing this bit of information is essential. Savvy Armenian émigrés would dip some fresh white handkerchiefs into a mixture of water and yogurt before they sailed for America. The handkerchiefs were then line dried and neatly folded into their luggage. Once they were safely through customs and settled into their new homes, they would simply soak the linen in some warm milk, reactivating the culture, and make their yogurt!

I could hardly contain my excitement as Lesa nestled the pint jars of yogurt into a small carry-out container, wrapping a dish towel tightly around the twin treasures to prevent my precious cargo from too much jostling. They sat and “cured” on my counter at home for twelve hours and are now chillin’ for a few days in the fridge. I can’t wait to dive in and enjoy my homemade Matzoun.

All in all, it was a wonderful way to while away the afternoon. The class, the cuisine, the companionship, and the cause: it all made my heart soar.

Matzoun (Yield 3-1/2 cups yogurt)

• 3 cups organic heavy cream or half and half


• 1 package yogurt starter or 3 tablespoons cultured yogurt

Prepare your yogurt maker according to manufacturer’s instructions or have ready a small insulated cooler, warm, damp towels and glass jars. Wrap the jar in the warm towels while preparing the yogurt. Heat cream in a saucepan until a thermometer reaches 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from heat and whisk in the starter or yogurt. Fill your yogurt making container according to the manufacturer’s instructions or fill the glass jar with the cream (or half and half). Wrap the warm towels around the glass jar and tuck them into the insulated cooler (if the towels have cooled, you can toss them in the microwave or your dryer to gently rewarm them). Close the cooler and gently place it in an out of the way place that’s a tad warm (like the top of the fridge) for 8-12 hours. Test for desired thickness; if it’s not to your liking you can let it go another 8-12 hours. Cover and refrigerate. Yogurt will stay good for up to a month and will continue to sour as it ages. When you are ready to make your next batch of Matzoun, simply take 3 tablespoons of your remaining Matzoun for a ‘starter’ and begin again.

Want to read about more tantalizing treats? Check out Wanderfood Wednesday. And, keep an eye out for upcoming weeks in Pampers and Pakhlava, where I’ll share more divinely delicious Armenian recipes.

Pelmeni are a Russian national dish. These dumplings are made from a filling wrapped in thin unleavened dough. We are using a minced meat (beef and chicken) mixture, but Pelmeni can also be made with ricotta cheese or potato filling.

My comrades in Pelmeni are all members of FRUA-INC. FRUA stands for Friends for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption. The ‘INC’ is, in my case, the significant acronym since it spells out, “Including Neighboring Countries.” FRUA is an international parent support network for families who have adopted or are in the process of adopting from the former Soviet Union. These republics include Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Krygyzstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Tadzhikistan, as well as Russian and the Ukraine.  FRUA families have also adopted children from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and other Eastern European countries.

This is the first time I’ve participated in a FRUA event, although I’ve been receiving the newsletter for the past year (and even contributed an article about Armenia in the October edition). Two women, one Russian and one Ukrainian volunteered to show us how to make both Pemeni and Kotleti (a Russian hamburger) so that we could share this favorite cuisine with our kids.

Of course our kiddo will hail from Armenia, not Russia or the Ukraine. While the cuisine from Armenia is distinctly different from that of much of Eastern Europe, our child will share the common bond of being adopted from that region of the world, so I wanted to check out what a FRUA event was like.

The Kotleti and Pemeni were pretty darn tasty. We ate the cute little dumplings and burgers we made with a side salad of tomatoes and peas and some yummy Kasha (which I’ve been jonesing for since leaving the event).

Shortly after we finished our meal, our gracious hostesses put out a ‘fishbowl’ with numbers in it on the table in front of us. We each pulled a number and then took turns selecting a Russian food gift item from a box on the table.

Hanging out with a bunch of women who have been down the path I’m on was the highlight of the evening for me. We chatted about how we all went crazy during the waiting period, the insane amount of paperwork required, and all the uncertainties and changes to the process along the way.

About eight of the women already have their kids (some have reached their teen years, in fact) and each shared their unique adoption journey. For the three of us who are still “ladies in waiting,” it was comforting to hear these women express the same doubts and anxiety that we feel while we wait and wonder, “Will it ever happen?”

As I drove home, I thought about the evening. I definitely had more in common with some of the woman than others. I could imagine scheduling a “play date” with one or two. That’s always how it is in a group. You connect better with some folks than others.

One thing is crystal clear. These women, adoptive moms all, have walked in my moccasins. This is my tribe.

In 2007, when the U.S. signed the Hague Convention Treaty on International Adoption a minimum of ten hours of parent education was required. Most adoption agencies increased the number of required hours to twenty.  Hopscotch Adoptions, our agency, bumped their standard up to 35 educational credits. “The more you know, the more successful you will be,” is a quote from our agency.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m pro-education. My Bachelor’s degree is from Cornell University and I have a Master’s degree from Stanford University and the University of Washington. I spent over twenty years in the field of training and development. I worked at a community college for five years and taught a class at the UW for over a decade. And, I love to learn.

Study hall
That said, when I took a look at what was required of us, in addition to everything else we needed to do or collect, I felt a bit faint. First, Children’s Home Society, our home study agency required a two-day, ten hour class, ‘Adoption Orientation.’ Then, before we would be able to receive a referral and travel abroad, for Hague and Hopscotch, we needed to do the following:

• Choose a pediatrician familiar with the care of internationally adopted children (1 credit)


• Locate an early childhood intervention program or other services (1 credit)


• Arrange appropriate child care, if applicable (1 credit)


• Complete an infant/child CPR course (1 credit)


• Join a local international adoptive family support group and/or an internet international adoptive family support group and/or meet with a family who adopted internationally (1 credit)


• Complete the these online courses through Adoption Learning Partners:

1. Conspicuous Families (1.5 credits)


2. Let’s Talk Adoption (2 credits)


3. The Journey of Attachment (2 credits)


4. Finding the Missing Pieces (2 credits)


5. Cope with Grief and Loss (2 credits)


6. Adopting the Older Child (2 credits)


7. Medical Issues in International Adoption (2.5 credits)


8. Eyes Wide Open (4.0)

• Read ‘Raising the Adopted Child’ by L. Melina (2 credits)


• Read ‘Adoption is a Family Affair’ by P. Johnson (2 credits)


• Read ‘I Love You Like Crazy Cakes’ by R. Lewis (1 credit)


• Read ‘A Blessing from Above’ by P. Henderson (1 credit)


• Read ‘Boyra and the Burps’ by J. McNamara (1 credit)


• Read ‘Through the Stars and Moon and Night Sky’ by A. Turner (1 credit)


• Complete culture and heritage education (3 credits) by doing any combination of the following:

1. Watch a videotape or movie about the country, history, culture (1 credit)


2. Read a book or take an online course on the country, culture (2 credits)


3. Study a language tape (1 credit) or take language lessons (2 credits)


4. Attend a class or workshop on the some aspect of your child’s heritage (2 credits)


5. If you have not before, attend a service of the primary religion of that country or your child’s religious heritage and talk with members of that group (2 credits)


6. If you have not before, attend a cultural or artistic event in your community related to the cultural heritage of your child (2 credits)


7. Make a visit to your child’s country (3 credits)

Dear reader, I’m willing to bet you skimmed through that full-page educational summary list, didn’t you? Completely understandable. As for us, skimming was not an option.

Teacher’s pet
We attended Children’s Home Society ‘Adoption Orientation’ in August of 2007. The training was held in Tacoma, about an hour south of where we live, so we turned the two day class into a mini-getaway and booked a room at the Hotel Murano. Hotel Murano had lovely glass art exhibits housed on each and every oh-so-sleek-and-hip floor. Big Papa and I took turns calling out a floor number on which to stop and explore.

There were four other couples at the class and we were the only couple not adopting from China. We did our best to be good students, listen closely and throw ourselves enthusiastically into the role play activities. The highlight for us was the one thing not stipulated as required on the course agenda, a visit from Julie and Patrick with their adorable two-year old daughter in tow. They’d adopted Devi a year ago from India. I tried to imagine, wistfully, that one day this would be us, sharing our trials and tribulations with other hopeful adoptive parents-to-be.

By the book
As far as completing Hague and Hopscotch requirements was concerned, locating a pediatrician and intervention services was a snap. Adoption support groups are in abundance these days. There is a Washington State chapter of FRUA-Inc (Friends of Russian and Ukrainian Adoption including neighboring countries) and our agency offers an invitation only Yahoo chat group. Reading the kid books was a fun pre-snooze activity for Big Papa and I, and while the adult books took a bit longer to read through, we managed to find our way from cover to cover.

The online classes were another story. While I want to believe we’ve finally entered the age of effective and interesting online learning, the reality is that many of these courses are a snooze. We did enjoy the personal stories from adoptive kids or their parents that were occasionally included, but for the most part, the material was anything but riveting. We let months elapse between the eight courses until finally we decided to power through the remaining few classes. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that ‘Eyes Wide Open,’ the last online class, was twenty chapters long…twenty nifty little courses rolled into one! Our eyes were indeed wide open and rolling up in our heads. After we finished that course, we broke open a bottle of champagne.

A+
I can finally say that the end is in sight and ‘graduation day’ is just around the corner. We’re signed up to take an Infant/Child CPR and First Aid class. By October 2009 we’ll be able to bandage an owie and pop a chunk of cookie out of a choking child, all important skills to be sure.

That leaves one last element to our educational journey, completing three credits of cultural education. We’re excited as all get out to check that off, since we picked the last option on the list, “make a visit to your child’s country.” Armenia, here we come!