Ukrainian Cuisine and Cold Flashes

[Nick's comments are in brackets.]

Last night was fun. We went to a very traditional Ukrainian restaurant downtown [, called Schekavitza. The food was authentic Ukrainian and very good. It was pricy by Ukrainian standards. The 4 of us ate for about $120]. It was almost like Disneyland. Everyone was in these costumes and the decorations were covered with kitsch and cows and Christmas ornaments. I had borsch soup and lovely appetizers. [Nick had banush, which is like grits with cheese and pork. It was great.] Claire had chicken Kiev, Colin and Nick some kind of pork dish [Colin's was pork wrapped in bacon. Nick's was Pork in a potato pancake]. Their favorite spices so far are garlic and dill. Musicians sang and played the accordian. Like I said, we somehow morphed back to the Epcot center, but hey, we love Epcot! [Except that big golf ball thing. We still threaten to take the kids onthat ride again if they misbehave. Yawn!]

[Here, FYI, is the entrance to our flat.]


Another real adventure here is getting ready. Basically, the apartment is cold. We must be almost fully dressed to stay warm and there is barely any hot water.

We cannot figure out the hot water heater that is above our stove. [Actually it is to the right of our stove. Also, the stove reminds me of our old gas stove. you have to uses start the gas then light a match. I had forgotten about that]. We think the gas ignites and heats the water pipes. But this doesn't last. We just get a flash of hot water and then it goes back to being cold. The plumbing is backwards too. Hot is Cold and cold is hot etc. Guess what? Claire no longer takes long showers!

Last night we left the bunson burner running on the stove and it really did help warm up the apartment.