Future Posts

Now that the Ukrainian part of my trip is over I'm going to semi-retire this blog for the time being and I will be posting new Marvel With A Mango posts over to my Use My Camera blog.  It will make my life a little less complicated posting in just one place and it will hopefully help me get posts out a little faster.

As a last post here's an artichoke stand in Athens, Greece about a block or so from where we are staying.  

Cosmonaut Food

While visiting the Korolyov Cosmonaut Museum they had an exhibit about the food the cosmonauts took with them into orbit.  

I always enjoy the story [but who knows if it is even true] that NASA spent "a lot" of money designing an anti-gravity pen that would write in space while the Soviet answer to the same problem was to use a pencil.  I wonder if that same sort of mentality crossed over into their food selection...long story short, I don't think we're talking about high quality Tang here!

The bread rolls look a little better.

Some of it had obviously not aged too well.

And last but not least we have a tube of "drink of cranberries."

Folk Song Singing In The Cafe

While we were having dinner at a cafe in Kolomyia, Ukraine the family at the table next to us would breaking into folk songs every once in a while. Vodka was certainly involved!

 

Possibly My Greatest Food Regret

Possibly my greatest regret and, simultaneously, the best thing that has happened to me was my inability to have a meal at this restaurant.  Laura and I were on a bus headed to Kamianets-Podilskyi and we stopped at this gas station/purveyor of "Pizza Drink Rock &Roll" to pick up some new passengers.  Sometimes I wonder if they sell a special "Pizza Drink" that is a pizza liquefied into smoothy form.  

Sampling Some Ukrainian Beef and Horse Jerky...Yes, Horse Jerky!

I think my statement "I could talk about jerky all day long" from this video might be the truest thing I've ever said.  Here I sample beef and horse jerky we discovered in one of the distant grocery stores in Kharkiv.  The results may surprise you.
    

The Chocolate of Lviv With A Little Barry White

Recorded at Lviv Handmade Chocolate.
     

Another Rotary Dinner

As part of Laura's Rotary Fellowship which brought us to Ukraine, she regularly attends Rotary Club meetings all around the country.  I even tag along sometimes to sit there and look pretty as everyone speaks Russian or Ukrainian.  We recently went to a meeting of one of the Rotary Clubs in Kharkiv and, as is usually the custom, also had a wonderful meal. 

The vodka and wine bottles were front and center throughout the long table.  

There were many, many, many speeches during the meeting and many, many, many toasts followed each of those speeches.  Many of those bottles above were empty by the end of the dinner.  The gentleman speaking in this photo is a retired policeman and it was his birthday.  

The dinner started out with several appetizer dishes which included picked herring and onions.  I felt at home eating this one but it wasn't as good as my pickled herring from Norway.  I couldn't persuade Laura to try this one though.

There was also blood sausage and a bacon-like meat that was very very fatty.

The main dish was plov with a buttery pastry crust that made it sort of like a pilaf pie...along with...

...some beef kebabs...they were as tasty as you would expect.  

And to end the meal there was a multi-layered bread custard dish that concluded things just right.