She still cooks.

And there is even a new book.

I've been sniffing around a volume called Olive Trees and Honey; A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the World.

I haven't had a chance to peruse extensively yet, because I went directly to the borscht.

See, E had decided to make borscht a few weeks before and it came out watery and tasteless. So, the first step in Russian Jewish cooking for me, call Mama! She asked why I was cooking borscht, as it was 10,000 degrees outside. I told her it was cold borscht. She then instructed me to boil an egg, boil a potato, have some sour cream, traditionally some chopped cucumber...

-BUT, Mama, how do you make the actual BORSCHT!?!

-You buy it, of course!

Yes, reader, you heard me...my mama, along with cousin Olga, Eric's parents, and all Russians I know buy their cold borscht in glass jars that look like this:

This couldn't be! I had organic beets from the CSA, and I was on a mission! I reviewed some recipes on the internet, but when this  book arrived from Amazon, I was so pleased to read their entire BORSCHT SECTION!
Of course, I can't ever follow a recipe properly, but very strongly based on this book and conversations with my mama, I present:

Cold  Borscht
It's light, refreshing and tasty.

2.5 lbs of beets. I prefer smaller ones, think they have nicer flavor.
one large onion
either: sour salt/citric acid OR lemon juice OR apple cider vinegar - to taste - depends on the flavor you like. I use about 3/4 teaspoons of citric acid, or 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
kosher salt, about 2 teaspoons
sugar, I use 3 heaping teaspoons. you could also use splenda, but I think this small amount is just fine
fresh ground pepper

garnishes: hard boiled egg, sliced or roughly chopped, chopped cucumber, sour cream or greek yogurt (make sure it isn't non-fat, that won't give great results. I would try to use at least 2% or even full fat for this), chopped dill and a boiled potato, peeled and chopped.

Peel beets and cover with water in a pot. Add in the onion, whole. Add the citric acid, if using. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 45 minutes, until they are soft. Add the salt, sugar, pepper and lemon juice/vinegar if you are using those. Cook another 10 minutes. Remove the beets and taste the liquid. If it tastes thin, then raise the heat and let it cook down and the flavors concentrate (that is the step I am doing right now!)
Meanwhile, chop or shred the beets. If you have a food processor, that would be a great use of it! Return then to the soup liquid, discard the onion.

You can serve this hot or cold.

Hot, add a few cubes of boiled potato, a dollop of sour cream or full fat greek yogurt and chopped dill.

If you serve it cold, you can include chopped cucumbers as a garnish, as well as some sliced egg. And all the stuff above.