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A story about Kranikan II.
Good kid (We like!) but h e picks apart all of his food before he eats. And I mean ALL of it. All of last week everything was "It's so spicy." He looks at me like he's never seen a fruit or vegetable in his life and asks tons of questions about them.
At first I was really confused and I finally asked Kranikan II what the deal was....
By spicy he means everything has flavor. Not necessarily a bad thing. (For awhile I was all WTF..I use a lot of spices to make dinner taste good..but not necessarily spicy. That and to comment on spaghetti sauce? I buy Ragu 1/2 the time...lol...it's more sweet than anything).
Turns out:
His grandma lives with his family and since his Mom is so busy at work..she does the cooking. Grandma only literally knows how to make 3 things and his Dad is a really, really fussy eater.
So for 21 years of his life he ate nothing but porridge for breakfast, vegetable soup for lunch and pork, cabbage and potatoes for dinner.
I feel quite bad for him. He's been missing out. However, it's been pretty cool to watch him experience new things.
I have never had this experience before. Frenchcan was a foodie and Kranikan I...well he eats whatever I put in front him. (Although he's had everything in the Ukraine except peanut butter and Gatorade).
And if someone can explain porridge to me...that' be great. Kranikan II keeps asking me to make it for him..and I have no idea. I've tried oatmeal, cream of wheat and some other hot cereal brand my MIL thought it was all to no avail. Kranikan I told me he thinks he means a corn mash that you can't even find in the states...but he's not sure either....and he's asked Kranikan II what he means in 3 languages now..lol.
Hope I figure that out soon so Kranikan II stops microwaving his Golden Grahams. 
(I shouldn't laugh, but it's cute..Gross though...whatever... he likes it)
Re: A story about Kranikan II.
Lurker, but I'll throw this out there. Maybe he means kasha?
I'm glad you're enjoying Kranikan II
Not gonna lie, I pop in here once in a while to check for stories!
A quick search brought me this: http://www.healthy-eating-recipes4u.com/cornmeal-porridge.html I wonder if this is close?
Ha! Thanks girls. I appreciate the help. I'll ask him about those. I googled a bit last week, but admittedly I didn't look that far into it.
Exchange students are best. Except for the crazed psycho killer we had a week, they've been great. Some not so much our personality type...but that's not a bad thing. It can be nerve wracking but that's because they work for us and aren't just here for a pleasure trip/school...so that's a whole new set of issues alone. That and I have 2 (one came early, the other leaves later than planned) and it's time to be done. It's fine...but there's one too many people in this house right now.
Could it be this?
http://veggieprairiegirl.blogspot.com/2009/11/kutya-wheat-porridge.html
Different recipe:
Kutya (Sweet Porridge)
Ingredients
Procedure
Serves 2.
Read more: Food in Ukraine - Ukrainian Food, Ukrainian Cuisine - traditional, popular, dishes, recipe, diet, history, common, meals, staple, rice, famous, main, types, make, customs, fruits, country, bread, vegetables http://www.foodbycountry.com/Spain-to-Zimbabwe-Cumulative-Index/Ukraine.html#ixzz1tU0mLwZb
Or, there's this
Another site auggests Lemishky, a buckwheat flour and lard based gruel, or buckwheat cooked with butter, or farina or oatmeal
A recipe for Kasha
http://intlbreakfast.blogspot.com/2010/10/ukraine-kasha-porridge.html
And one for
which looks like polenta to me.
http://www.healthy-eating-recipes4u.com/cornmeal-porridge.html
My husband (he is Ukrainian, born in the states though) - said his grandmother made him Kasha as a child, but he said it was like Cream of Wheat, and they called it Kasha. That probably doesn't help much.
Kutya, which was mentioned earlier is typically served on Christmas Eve (there's this whole 12 course dinner for CE, we do it every year, but only about 3 of the courses, we're lazy!)
Did I miss a post re: "crazed psycho killer"? .....off to look!
It was like a year ago. Long story and take the summary FWIW (I don't mean anything racial or religious by this I promise). We got kid from the Uzbek. Pretty much disrespected me from the time we left the University we picked him up at. He's Muslim and freaked out over ham in my fridge, cornered me in the kitchen one night and said, "I don't eat tomato sauce." Used his religion to get out of work (he was praying like 10 times a day) Wouldn't take work orders from me or H. Tried to get in a fist fight with H as a result. Disrespected my MIL. He slept on piles of blankets on the floor instead of the bed. Left nuts in corners and drawers of his room.
So we sent him back. That's about the jist. He was here between Frenchcan and Kranikan I.
I just threw Kranikan II in the guest room. I got busy and the next thing I know Kranikan II was here. I didn't have the heart to make Kranikan I move and it seemed like work.
He's actually fine with it...and might just stay in that room anyways.
Google is a good idea. I just kind of gave up because the Kranikans both speak Russian, Ukrainian and English. Kranikan I has asked him in 3 languages now what he means and he still doesn't get it...lol.
Has the child experienced pizza yet?
This is awesome that his cultural neighbor doesn't get it either! lol I love these stories. That's so sad about his diet - I'd go insane! He'll never be able to go back to those meals afterwards. Wow, what a difference in his life!
My Pinterest
The Googlesites Paint Bio
Thinking of doing cosmetic updates to a dated home? These were our costs.
I love him already.
And wasn't psycho when you were visibly pregnant?
Very funny, but brings back memories when I first came to the states. I literally was shocked (as a 10 yr old kid) to come to a store and see so much produce, and bread, and food in so many different varieties! and it took a while to get used to Mexican and Chinese (which Chinese is a HUGE hit with the Russian-ukranians due to the salt content) LOL
As far as Kasha- I agree that most of the time that means a cream of wheat. Things are also more "watered down" that the american preparation- so maybe cream of wheat but in a more soupy consistency? and then dump some sugar into it. That was the basic condiment for breakfast.
Buckwheat is also popular- and you can add milk and sugar to it to make it a breakfast dish or just plain (with maybe some salt or salted butter) as a side dish for dinner.
you can grill kabobs and tell them it's "shash-lick"- ALL Russians know that.
AND just as a joke, you should ask kranikian I to send you some "SAA-lo" (basically Ukranian bacon) when he gets back to Ukraine. They take that stuff seriously there. It's basically a national treasure.