sometimes telling stories and trying to explain my experience in russia just isn't enough. i want people to really get a good idea, to feel it, to taste it. SO, i hosted a russian evening at my apartment in park city. i made several traditional russian dishes, put up a bunch of russian souvenirs/decor (including my USSR space program propaganda posters), and dressed in my furs. i also wrote out in russian (with english translation) labels for all the food and drink and put a slide show of some of my photos showing a sampling of my life over the year+ i was there. it was a fantastic time. i'll let the visuals speak for themselves.
me in my fur hat and vest. both are polar fox. and both are real.
the spread. clockwise from center top: Droba, a great russian eco vodka from birch trees, my homemade horseradish-honey infusion, mors (homemade cranberry compote/drink), pickles, pickled veggies, boiled potatoes, brown bred and butter, olivier salad (potatoes, carrots, peas, egg, pickles and mayo!), and in the middle, an americanized khachapuri! that is a really fabulously tasty salty cheese bread from georgia. it was one of my favorite dishes over there...all of the internationals were obsessed with it. then i have a few decorations sprinkled around the table...a little matryushka stacking doll, a mug from the railroad, and a straw "winter doll" from the maslenitsa celebration i attended last spring in moscow. it is a celebration to say goodbye to winter, and welcome in the spring, and also happens right before lent, so everyone gorges on blini's and honey-fermented beverages.
and then everyone wanted to try on the fur hat....
i think people walked out with a little better idea of what life was like for me over there...just a tiny sampling, but enough to give them a greater appreciation. pretty much everyone appreciated the horseradish vodka. :) and the khachapuri. you can't go wrong with melty cheese and buttery pastry. so maybe we aren't as different from each other as we think...
No comments:
Post a Comment