River Boats and Ukrainian Food

Today, I took a ride on the river boat with Tanya and her husband, Vasiliy. The weather wasn't ideal, as it was rainy and got quite cold by the end of the trip, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Tanya and me on the boat

Despite the weather, the river vista was still beautiful. The leaves are just starting to turn.

The boat ride ended (or, well, really reached the halfway point, since we stopped there and turned around) within view of a dam and hydroelectric power plant. Tanya told me it had been there since Soviet times, but had been recently upgraded and made more efficient.

I taught Tanya a new word to describe what this place was during Soviet times: a quarry. Upon further reflection... what a weird word.

Here is a picture of the riverboats that I happened to take last week, on a sunnier day:

After the river boat ride, they drove me around by car so that I could see a bit more of the city. We stopped at the Metro store, which is surprisingly similar to Sam's Club or Costco. Tanya and Vasiliy have a membership there, so I was able to get lots of stuff I needed that wasn't available at the stores near me in town-- a good-quality towel, a tablecloth for my table (embroidered Ukrainian-style-- I will take a picture of it tomorrow in the daylight-- it's so pretty! Definitely something I will bring home with me). There was also other stuff that I was glad to be able to buy in larger quantities since they had a car-- for example, water and toilet paper. Tanya is teaching me a lot about buying food in Ukraine, and cooking with it... and believe me, there's a lot to learn. The dishes are so different, and so is what's available in the stores.

When we had finished at the store, they took me to a restaurant which serves traditional Ukrainian food... and they ordered me basically some of everything, haha.

Varenky (basically pierogies) filled with cabbage, potato pancakes (one order topped with mushrooms and one order with onions and ham), fried potatoes with garlic and dill, chicken shashlyk (shish kabob), pickled vegetables (cucumbers and tomatoes), and some type of Armenian dish that I found suspiciously similar to a quesadilla. To drink- prune compote (the flavor of which reminded me of spiced apple cider) and two shots-- horseradish vodka and berry liqueur. The berry liqueur was not bad. Of the horseradish vodka... I wasn't such a big fan, haha. I thought it smelled (and tasted) like acetone :P Everything was so good! I ate far too much, and they let me have the leftovers, too!

We topped off the meal with a cappuccino.

Only THE PRETTIEST CAPPUCCINO EVER. All right kids, it's time for your Russian lesson. Яблоко (pronounced "yabloko")= "apple"

I must say, I have yet to drink a bad cup of coffee in Ukraine. Apparently barista-ing is a "thing" here, and they have competitions and everything. Last weekend when I was at the Day of the City celebration with Tanya we bought cappuccinos at a streetside stand, and it was by far the best coffee I'd ever had.

Now with a full stomach, I enter a food coma. Time for bed!