Food!

There was another birthday celebration at the library this week! In Ukraine it is customary for the birthday person to bring in treats for everyone to share.  This particular birthday had some tea, a desert that was like jelly, pastries, candy, grapes, pork, salo (animal fat) and the sweetest red wine I have ever tasted.  The celebration started at 8:30am.  Not much was accomplished on Tuesday!! 

Last night I went to my friend Tanya's apartment and she helped me make, what she calls an "everything sauce."  It has tomatoes, red bell peppers, red hot peppers, a white root which is spicy but I don't know what it is called in english and a lot of garlic (4 or 5 bulbs of garlic)!

It was very easy to make, all you need is a crank grinder.  Once everything was grinned we added a little salt, mixed everything together and the sauce was complete! You can put the sauce on pasta, salad, bread or anything you want! Last night for dinner I made a breakfast sandwich: bread and spicy sauce with an over-easy egg!

 The finished product! With a kilo of tomatoes and bell peppers I have four jars which will last me several weeks.  Its is wonderful to have something spicy to add to the bland Ukrainian food!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Fishin'

Last weekend I went with some friends to a lake for some fishing! Although the fishing portion of the trip was not as successful as the guys had hoped for, we had a great day!

Apparently the girls didn't have very much faith in the guys' fishing abilities, and they brought lots of food!  Some of the items were: sausage pizza made with a ketchup and mayonnaise sauce, open faced sandwiches with butter, canned fish and cucumbers and an eggplant dish! The main dish was Shashlik which is Ukrainian BBQ!

The Shashlik is prepared the night before so it has plenty of time to marinate.  Last weekend the Shashlik was assembled with lots of onions, parsley, apples, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Yum!

To me, shashlik is a lot like giant shish-kabobs!

For fishing in a "stocked" lake the fishing was a little disappointing.  The guys ended up catching 5 little fish that they took back to feed to cats!  At least the cats had a good dinner!   

A Random Assortment!

Hello!

I know, I am awful at keeping my blog updated! So, I have uploaded some pictures from the last two or three weeks with some captions!

I spent a Sunday on the beach with some friends, the lady in the back left is Natasha, an English teacher who is currently on maternity leave (maternity leave in Ukraine is 3 years!).  She has become a good friend and is also my Russian tutor. Her husband is to her left and the rest of the group are their neighbors.

Last night Natasha and I made tacos with some seasoning that my Mom and Grandma sent in a box.  It was the first Mexican food that they have ever tasted- they loved it!  We also made homemade tortillas which were delicious! (pictures to come :))

One Sunday afternoon I went with some friends to watch our local soccer team play another village's team.   

 A trip to see the Settlement's fire department and fire truck!

I had an amazing day when I went to the Post Office and found out that I had received TWO care packages on the same day! Check out this loot!  Little bits and treats from home are amazing and really can transform a lousy day (the librarians also really enjoy trying American candy)! Thank you to Drew and Mom and Dad! 

 Thursday's are the big bazar days when people selling clothes and household goods come in.  Here is a snapshot from last Thursday! 

I helped Tonya and her mom prepare for some canning.  To me it seems like Ukrainian's can tomatoes every day!  This particular day Tonya was canning tomatoes and peppers.  In the winter, fresh produce is very expensive in Ukraine, so people rely on the food that they grow in their gardens and can in the spring and summer for the rest of the year.  Pickled tomatoes are the most common variety of canned vegetables (yes, I know that a tomato is a fruit).

August 24th marks Ukrainian Independence Day.  The town celebrated with a performance in the center by the Lenin statue which is in front of the Rayon (district) administration building.  There was singing, dancing and speeches to celebrate and commemorate Ukraine's 20 years of independence. Go Ukraine!