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November 2013 | № 11 (122) Do not miss: November 1 Birthday of ‘Korchma’ on Profsoyuznaya Street November 28 Birthday of ‘Korchma’ on Mokhovaya Street

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korchma@tarasbulba.ru Project manager – Yuri Beloyvan ruk_proekta@tarasbulba.ru

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More news and photos at www.tarasbulba.us

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Djivan Gasparyan is a living legend on the world music scene

Janusz Leon Wiśniewski: “I will never sink to pornography“

Italian Cuisine Fish Diamonds, Frutti di Mare, and Melon with Prosciutto

THE GREAT COOKS Georges Auguste Escoffier: King of French Cuisine

DELIVERY OF HOMEMADE UKRAINIAN FOOD AND HOTLINE

www.tarasbulba.us

(212) 510-75-10

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2 | guest

Djivan Gasparyan:

“I pawned Stalin’s watch to buy beer and meat puffs” Djivan Gasparyan is a living legend on the world music scene. He is a self-taught musician who celebrates Armenian culture and the duduk around the globe. He has played with Boris Grebenshchikov, Michael Brook, Sting…

He is the author of musical scores for dozens of movies, and his Gladiator theme won him a Grammy Award.

Djivan Gasparyan was born in a small village outside Yerevan into a poor family, but he proved that talent and perseverance can work miracles. In an exclusive interview to Bulba NEWS, he talks about his tours, collaboration with famous composers, and his sad melodies.

He also recommends Ukrainian borsht as a hangover cure.

About him: “I have always dreamt of composing music for Djivan Gasparyan. I think he’s one of the most brilliant artists in the world.

He produces a one-of-a-kind sound which lingers in your memory.”

Hans Zimmer, composer for Gladiator.

“Gasparyan turns all his performances into captivating, melancholic, passionate, nostalgic and reverential dramas.”

John Pareles, The New York Times “Emotional engagement with this music is so strong that the slightest ambient noise appears to be a profane desecration of the confidential relationship between the audience and the artist.”

The Los Angeles Weekly

– We know that you prefer to be called Uncle Djivan and people around the world call you that.

We are grateful for the opportunity to meet you since you are on a very tight touring schedule and very difficult to catch – your duduk plays live in the US, Europe, Japan… How often do you play at home, in the former Soviet Union, in countries like Russia, Ukraine, or Belarus?

– I do my best to be able to perform here. During the Soviet time, it happened much more often because we had to accomplish a plan. I remember we were obliged to give two or three hundred concerts every year. We toured all the Soviet republics.

Today, naturally, I can go wherever I want to. I have a manager who makes the arrangements for me to perform. In the last decade I toured Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus quite extensively. It brings back memories because in the past, under the Soviet Union, we used to be one family. Now each country has its own character and ambitions. There are lots of political undercurrents, I don’t want to go into all that…

– Where do you perform most of all? You do travel around the world…

–That would be Japan, Germany, Italy, France.

I live in the US because I own a house there. It’s where my children live. I have dual citizenship: US and Armenian; I can live wherever I want (smiles). I like people and don’t discriminate and they love me back. I am welcome everywhere, not just in Armenia.

I have a story for you, however unbelievable you may find it. I once had three concerts scheduled in Japan: two in an indoor concert hall and one in a garden.

The stage was roofed, but three thousand seats were in the open air. I had to play there, but suddenly it started to rain: one of those downpours that they get in Japan. So I’m sitting there, drinking my tea and thinking, “No one will turn up in such weather…”

Then the director comes and says, “Uncle Djivan, we are starting in 20 minutes!” So I ask, “Hasn’t the concert been cancelled?” He says, “It has been sold out!” Then I enter the stage and see a whole throng of people with umbrellas. They stood there under umbrellas for two hours and listened to me play!

This is an incredible story. It still gives me shivers.

But many people don’t even know my name. That’s mostly in Russia, I’m sort of a celebrity in Europe and the US… – It would seem fame didn’t come easily to you?

– That’s right; I have played twenty thousand concerts. I have more than two thousand records in different countries. I’ve composed music for over forty films: Italian, German, Russian, American. I was even invited to Turkey to play in a movie. Eighty percent of Armenian films that feature the duduk is my performance. I have won four UNESCO medals, a Grammy, and the WOMEX Award, which, by the way, has no second or third prize, there is only one winner…

– What kind of award is it?

– It is believed to be the most prestigious award in the music world. The trick is that all musician compete together, they are not divided into categories

guest | 3

where violinists compete with violinists… That contest brought 1,800 musicians from 70 countries. But I won it. And I received a 600-yearold statuette. When I returned home, everybody was hugging me and crying… I collaborated with the best artists in the world: Sting, Peter Gabriel, Andreas Vollenweider, Boris Grebenshchikov…

– You won your fame as a young boy… Can you tell us the story about Stalin’s watch?

– It was back in 1947, it was my first performance in Moscow.

I remember Stalin well; he was sitting, holding a glass of wine in his hand. He liked my recital so much that he gave me his Pobeda watch. I didn’t save it though, I was young and my friends kept nagging me, “What’s the use of a watch, Djivan, come one, sell it!”

There were four of us. It was in the years of postwar famine, so I pawned the watch to buy four beers and four meat puffs. We had a blast.

– How old were you when you first played the duduk?

– I was eight and I’ve been playing ever since. I taught myself by listening to older masters play. Later I graduated from the conservatory, but I first learned to play it on my own.

– I’ve heard that you haven’t parted with your duduk for forty years. Is this true?

– Absolutely!

– Is it your lucky charm?

– Actually, I own many instruments and I cherish each and every one like my own baby, because each instrument sounds different. I alone can tell the difference. Look (he pulls the instruments out of his bag), I have three duduks.

They are the same pitch, but they sound different. They are made from an apricot tree. It takes time to make them.

The wood needs to dry on its own, and it takes three to four years to dry. Then you let it float in water and you drill holes in the lighter part – the upper part that surfaces to the top. These are professional instruments, not the souvenir ones that you can buy for $10-15 a piece. I’ve been playing this duduk for forty years, this one for twenty, and this one fifteen.

– Why does it have to be the apricot tree?

– Because other trees can’t sound like that. I’ve tried and tried but all in vain. Perhaps because an apricot fruit has been a symbol of Armenia from time immemorial. But Georgians also claim their rights to it, as do the Turks.

But if it’s so, where are their musicians? If it is your instrument, there surely have to be musicians!

– Uncle Djivan, how did you record the music theme for the Gladiator movie?

– I received an invitation from composer Hans Zimmer whom I hadn’t met before. I went to Hollywood and brought my duduk with me to the studio. So he says to me, “Djivan, I know your deal very well. I know that you need a drink before you play…” And I say, “That’s true.” I can normally have a shot or two. So Hans says, “I have a surprise for you,” and I guessed it must be a bottle of good cognac. We stepped into a room and, indeed, there was Armenian brandy and fruits waiting for us. The composer started telling me he was writing music for Gladiator a n d

offered me to play it. I agreed, I said, “Why wait, let’s record it right now!” He looked at me in astonishment, but he agreed.

There was also this girl in a studio, a very tall, beautiful girl with blue eyes. She had to sing, no words, just her voice. So I’m sitting in one room, and she’s in another. I’m playing and she’s singing. She’s singing so well that I start wondering how she could improvise so promptly. When we finished I saw she had been crying. She told me, “My mother is Armenian and my father’s American. When the Turks were persecuting us, my family fled to the US. When I was listening to you, I remembered the story my grandfather told me…” She was crying and I felt tears swelling in my eyes too… And Hans said, “Now, Uncle Djivan, this is an Armenian film.”

What can I say, life has passed me by like a day. I have barely had time to open and shut the door. Like a minute… People need to learn to be kind, to stop hurting one another, to stop being angry… Naked we come into the world and naked we leave it…

– Why are all your melodies so sad?

– It must be the Armenian soul, because every 50-80 years Armenian people were persecuted, murdered, and robbed. Once Armenia used to be a large country, now it’s very small – no more than three million people. It’s probably less than that now…

– Have you tried Ukrainian food on your stay in Ukraine?

– I like the red Ukrainian borsht. It’s famous around the world. Even when I return to the US, I ask for it at home. I like it with sour cream! It’s a very good hangover cure in the morning after a party (he laughs).

– What hard drinks do you like?

– I like good cognac. But if it’s unavailable, I can settle for vodka. But everything tastes different these days. Everyone is chasing profit and foregoing quality. As long as it sells! But we should be careful about what we eat. Synthetic could be shoes, sweaters, or pants, but food should be good and natural. You cannot make business on bad food. Unfortunately, only a few people understand this – most just want to earn money. Money is evil. It kills.

Text: Stepan Hrytsiuk Photo: Yuriy Helytovych

4 | Personality

Janusz Leon Wiśniewski:

“I will never sink to pornography” This Polish writer is known to any booklover. He served as a sailor on a fishing fleet, then graduated from university, then received two doctoral degrees – in IT and chemistry. He works in microbiology and likes to think of himself as a scientist rather than a writer. And yet his first novel, Loneliness on the Net, became a European bestseller and the film based on the book was a box office hit in Poland, which left all Hollywood productions far behind. The writer has been to Ukraine and Russia several times. When asked how he succeeds in so finely depicting female psychology, Janusz Wiśniewski replies, “I have always preferred listening to women, they are far more interesting storytellers than men…” The journalists from Bulba NEWS met the writer during his visit to Ukraine and talked to him about women’s hearts.

On his occupation

I am not a writer by training, I have not studied humanities. I hold a master’s degree in physics, a PhD in chemistry and a habilitation in information technology.

On the kinship between Ukrainians and Poles

I appreciate all my readers who spend their time on my books because I realize that I will never be able to repay them. I am not surprised by the popularity of my books in your country because the souls of Ukrainians and Poles have so much in common. We both are melancholic and we both drink lots of vodka. Well, maybe you drink a bit more. We know how to stir a revolution, but then we have no idea what to do with it. We love each other with all our hearts and we like telling people about that love.

Our poetry is similar – romantic and exalted. For me, writing for the Poles and writing for the Ukrainians is practically the same thing. If my books are successful in Poland, they are very likely to be read with enthusiasm in Ukraine.

On sexual relationships

I wouldn’t say that I emphasize sexual relationships too much, even though I think they are a very important aspect of communication. People who love each other have to touch each other, don’t they? I know something about chemistry, and I know there’s a special chemistry between a man and a woman, or between two women, or two men. I am quite liberal with gender in my books. I think my plots would lose much of their momentum if I didn’t introduce sexual relationships. But maybe I’m writing about it from a different perspective. Maybe I’m looking at it as a brain or physiological activity. But overall I hardly dedicate more space to this topic than other writers. And I surely don’t do this for the sake of sales, for the sake of a bigger audience. For example, I didn’t even intend to publish my Loneliness on the Net. But I am quite adamant about one thing: I will never sink to pornography.

On the filming of Loneliness on the Net

I find it hard talking about the film because I am friends with Witold Adamek who produced it. He didn’t give his email in the closing titles after the premiere, and so all the criticism came to my address. The viewers now think that I am to blame for all the bad things in the film. But Witold Adamek produced the film; he was in charge of casting. He chose the music score, which I find very beautiful, it was written by a Scandinavian composer. Witold Adamek was a Stalin for this film, and there was no one brave enough to tell him he was doing something wrong. It’s a brilliant movie because Adamek is the best cameraman in Poland. He saw his world

in a viewfinder. But he made a bad adaptation of my book. People wanted to come to theatres and cry, instead they were falling asleep. If you ask me whether I like that film, my answer would be a certain “no!” But he can be justified, he was adapting a bestselling book, which is always difficult.

Four million readers had their own vision of the film, but very few were involved in the filmmaking. But the book still can be adapted brilliantly, and I saw it done… The Russians did it. Since 2009, a St. Petersburg theater has staged a piece called Loneliness on the Net. I thought it would run for some three to four month, but four years later the play still enjoys full attendance. A curious fact is that the staging was done by another Pole – Henryk Baranowski.

On his book The Repeated Fate

I have another book published in Ukrainian. It is called The Repeated Fate. It was my second novel, which came out right after Loneliness. I know it well enough – no matter what I write now, I won’t be able to repeat the success of Loneliness, my bestseller. It left a metaphorical tattoo on my body. With every new book I’m trying to remove it, but it keeps resurfacing every time. This text is an even more beautiful love story. Yet it will always be eclipsed by the Loneliness love. The Repeated Fate is a very Polish book; it takes place in a small village at the bottom of the Tatry. It’s a story of five brothers scattered around the world. The protagonist is one of the brothers who is still living in the mountains. This is a story of human fate, of our failure to resist destiny. A story of self-dedication to someone else and of the right to one’s own happiness. The novel is a bit philosophical thanks to its female character. If you ask me which female protagonist is my love, it would be the woman from this particular novel. She’s an older lady, who prays on

Personality | 5

a rosary with one hand and types text messages on her cell phone with the other. She’s full of humor and wisdom; she’s very modern in some respects.

Seventy-five percent (I just adore statistics) of this character was based on my own grandmother; her words, her proverbs, her mottos strike you and make you cry simultaneously. I wouldn’t be Janusz Wiśniewski if I didn’t introduce a bit of science into the book: I have dedicated my life to science.

I only write books during long nights at home. I am lazy enough to say that the world of science is the only world I know well. One of the brothers from my novel is a scientist who works in Washington, Warsaw, Gdansk.

He studies molecules of emotions in the brain. It is a very interesting and topical novel. It’s also a Polish-Ukrainian novel because it reflects a Slavic way of thinking.

On Facebook with the Son

That’s a very interesting book and I’m often asked about it because it is so controversial. There was so much indignation about it in Poland. I indicated my mother as a co-author, even though she died in 1979 and could not possibly have co-authored it. But she lives on in my mind, in my heart, in my thoughts. So if she hadn’t been one of the authors, the novel would not have come to be. It’s a surreal story in which I place my mother in hell and talk to her. I am a physicist who believes in God, but I defy the model consisting of heaven, hell, and purgatory. That’s why I am a little distant in talking about hell. I put my mother there because I’m convinced it would be a nice place to meet interesting people. Or rather the souls of interesting people. She asks them questions I would like to ask them.

My mother was born on the 20th of April in Berlin, she was German.

Her third husband, my father, was a Pole who had spent several years in a German concentration camp. This is already quite surreal family history.

Besides, my mother was born on the 20th of April, the same day as Hitler.

The book opens with the celebration of the Fuhrer’s birthday in hell, because there is no bigger celebrity and bigger sinner than Hitler. Then my mother meets other people. She meets Yesenin who had six wives and married the last one without divorcing his previous wife. Mother asks him if he hanged himself in the hotel in Petersburg or did someone make him do it. She meets Marilyn Monroe and asks her about her sexual life with Kennedy. Since she is in hell, she is interested in its counterpart – heaven, and so asks God numerous questions. She asks him why he keeps silent, about his view on paedophilia and his priests on earth. It is a very anti-clerical book and I don’t recommend it to anyone. But the novel has a lot of earthly things in it, because when my mom gets bored she listens to the confessions here on earth. She knows all about people’s sins. CNN, Facebook, and Wikipedia are also in hell. So, in fact, this is a book about earth, not hell, and that there’s not much difference between the two.

TEXT: Stepan Hrytsiuk

Quotes: He resembles a rose. A rose that always has thorns. We mourn the sad fact that roses have thorns or we could just as well celebrate the fact that its thorny stems bear beautiful flowers. That’s important. That’s most important. People don’t expect roses for their thorns…

It is not the most important thing in the world to go to bed with someone, it is much more important to wake up together and make each other a cup of tea.

THE BEST UKRAINIAN CUISINE OF KIEV

Welcome to Korchma in Kiev!

A free tour of Kiev after lunch in Korchma!

Men are so vain that they expect to meet only beautiful women even on the Internet.

Crying is best when no one can interrupt you. It brings you consolation.

Men are weird creatures. They are afraid of the dentist’s, of going bald, or their phone being out of reach.

Yet they are least afraid of the state of degradation that can lead to their irreversible extinction.

Kiev, Pushkinskaya Street 2-4/7 Phone: +38 (044) 270-7248, +38 (093) 342-3868

6 | Calendar

November 1

Birthday of ‘Korchma’ on Profsoyuznaya Street

November 2 Men’s Day

November 3

Day of Ukrainian Engineer Corps

November 4

Day of Railway Workers of Ukraine

November 5

Day of Military Intelligence of Russia

November 7

Day of Military Glory of Russia (anniversary of the military parade on Red Square, Moscow, in 1941)

November 9

Guinness World Records Day Day of Ukrainian Writing and Language

November 10

International Youth Day World Science Day Police Day International Accountants Day

10

November

Folk Calendar for November The folk name for November is “leavesmuck.” It is the last month in autumn. This is the time of leafless trees, cold winds, and early dusk. In November peasants used to sell the products of their harvest at markets and fairs. They were especially generous on the day of the great martyr Saint Paraskeva, also called Pyatnytsia. Fairs were not only market places but also sites of entertainment. They featured bear-leaders with trained bears, organ-grinders, and street performers.

Folk sayings in November In November, the first lasting snow falls overnight.

If on the day of Theotokos of Kazan (November 4) the sky is crying, the rain shall bring winter behind.

If November 4 is rainy, winter will come soon.

Snow or hail on November 5 means that after Matrona’s Day the winter will persevere.

If November is sunny and the weather is dry, the next year’s harvest will be at risk.

Sunny clear weather in November is a sign the temperature will start to drop.

Thaw on November 8 means a warm winter and spring.

Snow on Dmytriy’s Day means a late spring.

A November day may start in rain but may well end in snowdrifts.

Mosquitoes in November are a sign of a mild winter.

Mass appearance of tomtits near houses on November 12 is a true sign of the cold’s coming.

Police Day November 12

Security Professional Day

November 13

International Day of the Blind

November 14

World Quality Day Russian Sociologist Day

November 16

Day of Radio, TV and Communication Workers of Ukraine

November 17

Day of Russian District Police Officer International Students’ Day

November 19

Day of Hydrometeorological Service Workers of Ukraine

November 20

pea soup with smoked meat and croutons 250 gr. – 220 rub.

World Children’s Day

November 21

World Hello Day Day of Tax Officials of Russia International No Smoking Day

November 24

Mother’s Day in Russia

November 28

Birthday of ‘Korchma’ on Mokhovaya Street

November 4 The day of Theotokos of Kazan

On this day, Christians worship the miracle-working icon of Theotokos of Kazan, which is one of the most revered icons in the Russian Orthodox Church. According to a legend, after the fire in 1579 destroyed half of the city of Kazan, the Theotokos appeared in a dream to 9-year-old Matrona and commanded to dig her icon from under the ashes. The girl obeyed, and on the spot where the icon was discovered, a nunnery of the Theotokos was later built. Its first nun was the very Matrona.

Weddings are timed to the feast of Kazan icon. “Who gets married on the day of Theotokos of Kazan will find happiness,” people believe.

Calendar | 7

November 6 The Theotokos of Sorrows

SALAD OF EGGPLANTS AND TOMATOES 200 gr. – 260 rub.

On this day, the Orthodox Christians celebrate the day of the miracleworking icon of Theotokos that is called “Consolation of All Sorrows.” It depicts Our Lady surrounded with people possessed by infirmities and sorrows, together with angels performing their good deeds.

In Rus’, this day started gatherings of girls that lasted throughout the winter. When they got together, the girls did some handicrafts and entertained themselves with singing or talking. They worked by the light of a torch; therefore, the very day was often called the “Lighter.”“Russian lighter is a girls’ delight,” people said.

November 7 Grandfathers’ Weepings On this November day, nature weeps – either with rain or snow. People started to weep all along. They initiated the ritual of lamentation, called Grandfather’s Weepings, when they commemorated their departed relatives and friends.

Everyone was obliged to go to the cemetery, tidy the graves, and light a church candle.

Besides, there was a custom on this day to help orphans and unfortunates who had a tough life.

STEWED RABBIT MEAT WITH VEGETABLES AND CREAM 310 gr. – 590 rub.

November 17 Stay in on Yarema’s Day

Our ancestors believed that on this day people should stay home, avoid going out to the yard, and beyond the fence all the more. The violation of this rule was fraught with the danger of meeting evil spirits and getting yourself in trouble. “The outskirts are haunted on this day,” people said. The weather was in line with the general feeling, “It is whirling and stirring up beyond the threshold.”

Source: www.calend.ru

CAKE “POPPY” 175 gr. – 210 rub.

Doktorskaya Sausage or GOST 23670-79 Everyone born in the USSR must remember well one of the most popular products of that time – the Doktorskaya Sausage, which wasn’t easy to come by. And every one of us must have wondered about the origin of this strange name. In today’s column GOST, we will try to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s.

The story began back in 1936. Those were scanty times when the huge country was struggling through famine.

Meat was in short supply. Rumor has it that in such conditions the government, in fact Joseph Stalin himself, ordered the development of a cheap and high-calorie product. The honor to undertake such a challenging task fell upon the Anastas Mikoyan Moscow Meat-Processing Plant. Their nutritionists developed the sausage composed of prime beef, pork, eggs, dried milk, and high quality spices.

Everything was produced on the highest level and was in compliance with the state quality standards.

Primarily, the Doktorskaya Sausage was intended for “sick people who undermined their health as a result of the Civil War and tsarist tyranny.” The combination of ingredients was thought out to the smallest detail.

Thus, 100 kilograms of the sausage contains: 25 kilograms of prime beef 70 kilograms of semi-fat pork 3 kilograms of eggs 2 kilograms of cow’s milk Naturally, back then no one resorted to flavoring agents or other harmful additives; only starch and cardamom in minimum amounts were added.

Producers also avoided piquant spices.

Besides, the sausage contained minimum amounts of salt and fat. In other words, it was a high-quality dietary product.

It was good for people suffering from liver and stomach conditions. Moreover, Doktorskaya was “prescribed” for people with anemia and fragile health exacerbated by previous diseases and injuries. In a word, the doctor’s orders.

In the course of time, the ingredients started to change. More starch, flour, and even soy substituted meat. Nowadays, hardly any nutritionist would prescribe the “Doctor’s sausage” for medical treatment.

8 | Travelling

Italian Cuisine: Fish Diamonds, Frutti di Mare, and Melon with Prosciutto Two years ago, when I first set foot on Italian soil, local dishes induced a stressful flavorful explosion in my consciousness, stomach, and established lifestyle.

“At 7 p.m. the stomach washes the dishes” I tried to defend myself from croissants and pastries with sandwiches. Moreover, I tried to get my darling husband to do the same. The breakfast battle, which at first I used to win, I lost in no time: on the first Sunday when we went to have breakfast in a café. Sunday breakfasts in a café became a family tradition, while the daily morning sandwiches were replaced with baked goods. I took a fancy to sweet-smelling croissants with crispy crusts, pastry cream, apricot and raspberry marmalade, and pastries with apple slices.

It was easy for me to make adjustments to my breakfast, but I still haven’t come to terms with late Italian suppers.

“What’s with the stoking of the stomach two-three hours before midnight?” I never fail to rebel, expressing my disapproval to my husband. “Don’t you know that at 7 p.m. the stomach washes the dishes, and then goes to bed?!”

I quote an excerpt from Manuela Gretkowska’s wisdom. “Everything that goes into it after this time is deposited on the body in the form of fat rolls.”

But there were some evenings when I turned a blind eye to my own principles – like this one.

Fish Diamond At the beginning he put on a fish show for us. The waiter quickly changed one fish with another on the tray, saying funny comments about their peculiarities. I wanted to savor a flat flounder, but Marcello and our Italian friends Claudio and Stefani preferred a huge fat, unknown to me, fish – one for all four of us.

“I guess, that’s enough. I’m taking the rest away,” the waiter makes a joke, having placed patata fritte (french fries) and a carciofi (artichoke) salad on our plates. The big fish – the main regale of our dinner – is left

whole on the tray. The vivacious Italian waiter starts to skillfully debone it. He places a huge fish eye on the first plate. I hoped that this plate was not for me. But it was fate. The waiter gives it to me. Before hiding the eye under a pressed lemon (in order to have it not spoil my appetite), I politely ask my Italian friend whether I must eat it. Well, I need to know whether this is a Mediterranean delicacy that I have to savor.

She answers that she never eats it. I won’t eat it either: a fish’s eye is probably to decorate my plate like an accessory?

Like a precious gem?

Like a diamond?

So, I safely hide this diamond not only from strangers’ eyes, but from mine as well. The only thing I know is that it is somewhere under the remainders of the lemon pulp with the crust…

Ukraine in numbers The island of Khortytsia is the biggest river island in Europe.

It is up to 12.5 kilometers long and on average 2.5 kilometers wide. The island’s total area is almost 3,000 hectares.

Ukraine is the biggest country situated entirely in Europe. It occupies 0.41 percent of the world’s land area.

Travelling | 9

Healthy diet – one, two, three My Italian is a great believer in a healthy diet. I am too. Our concepts of a healthy diet, however, are different.

His cautionary attacks do not change my mind about seafood. I consider it very healthy. I can’t resist all the grilled shrimp, mussels in shells cooked in a wine garlic sauce, octopus, and other marine delicacies . Seafood, referred to by the Italians as frutti di mare, joined the list of my favorite fruit delicacies. In this case – of the sea. Pizza with seafood, spaghetti with seafood, risotto with seafood – my soul and stomach danced together in celebration. I ate – and I couldn’t eat my fill. The burning fire of my passion for sea fruits was transformed into a hearth of calm delight after Marcello’s lecture on “How to Eat and Do No Harm.” It turns out that the marine minnow is inherently devoid of such an important organ as a liver, so it absorbs all kinds of muck from the bottom of the ocean and deposits it in different parts of its spineless bodies. And we consume all those waste products.

First, while cooking seafood at home, I taught myself to search for the black traces of dirt in the shrimp and mussels and clean it from that “evil.” But even the time spent for this process was not enough to tame my abnormal seafood appetite. Only later, after eating at a Chinese pizzeria where I was served pizza with uncleaned seafood, which deprived me of my pleasure of its consumption, did I start eating frutti di mare at a frequency that would not harm my body – once a week. Italian cooks, of course, are not Chinese, and they approach their dishes with responsibility and skillfulness. Though, I’d better not overuse it.

Gustative surprises The Italians are true masters of combining the uncombinable, and surprisingly, with their new dishes as well. For two consecutive years now in the summer heat I gladly eat melon with prosciutto. And I never forget the time that I first tried it.

We were having lunch. Marcello slices a melon, wraps the slice with the pink transparent prosciutto, and bites it with delight. I do the same.

For me this is an experiment of taste. I

The map found in the village of Mezhyrichia, Rivne Oblast, dates back more than 15,000 years. It was carved onto a mammoth’s bone. This is the oldest map ever known to scientists.

The longest spit in Europe is the Arabat Spit in the Sea of Azov. Its length is 115 kilometers.

freeze, surprised by the unconventional combination of meat and the irregular berry (how the melon is called by the experts of the plant-fruit-vegetable world). It is unusual. At first I’m not sure whether I like it or not. I guess I do.

Almost painlessly pies were replaced with pasta, pilaf with risotto.

Cooking of the latter was added the list of my culinary hobbies. I was pleasantly surprised to have discovered the unusual taste of pasta with beans dressed with hot sauce. Pizzoccheri, however… I still don’t enjoy it. But I wrote about this in my “Mia Italia.”

What is pizzoccheri and little about pasta An anecdote about the topic “Why are Italians both fat and thin, even though they eat the same noodles?

- Because the thin ones eat them crosswise and the fat ones lengthwise...”

“Do not cook lunch today, I bought something,” my beloved Italian husband calls me two hours before lunch time.

For lunch Marcello comes with a plastic bag-present from his cousin who owns a store with ready-to-eat meals. My husband pours out the contents of the bag onto a plate and places it in the microwave for a minute.

This was a blend of “something” with grey finger-like noodles. As I ate the dish, I could taste potato, cabbage, and melted cheese.

“What’s this weird dish?” I ask.

I don’t quite like the taste: Ukrainians would never blend noodles with potatoes!

“Pizzoccheri – pasta of buckwheat and wheat flour,” he answers. “You don’t like the taste?” he sees my grimace.

“Sort of...”

I have tried pizzoccheri and decided that the taste probably takes time to enjoy – similarly to the taste of olives.

Many years ago, when I first tried black olives, I nearly got sick. I was a guest in someone’s home, sitting in the middle of the couch, and on either side of me were other guests. I had an olive in my mouth, and I didn’t know what to do with it. Finally, unnoticed for the others I spit it out into a napkin. It took me a long time before I started to enjoy the taste of olives. And the time for me to enjoy pizzoccheri has not come yet.

Text and Photo: Olesia Olendiy

A 1,300-yearold tree in the Yuzefin hole, Rivne Oblast, is considered to be the oldest tree in Ukraine.

10 | news from “Korchma”

Beauty, Smile, Dance Girls from “Korchma “Taras Bulba” competed for the title of the best

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ountless songs and legends praise the beauty of Ukrainian girls. Nowhere in the world would you find such pretty girls as in Ukraine.

The staff of “Korchma “Taras Bulba” chain of Ukrainian cuisine restaurants decided to prove this fact once again. They organized a beauty pageant of a slightly unusual format.

To gain a prize-winning place, in addition to walking before the judges in national costumes, the girls needed to demonstrate a charming smile, good posture and high spirits. They also showed how graciously they could dance! A particular attention was paid to the originality and aesthetic design of a flower chaplet that traditionally adorned a girl’s head. It wasn’t only an adornment, but also a talisman that protected her beauty from the evil spirits.

The contestants could have excited jealousy of world-known top models! Embroidered shirts, poppies and chamomiles in their hair, necklaces and bright sashes were beyond competition. It was as if the energy and symbolism of Ukrainian national clothing inspired the girls to win. They smiled sincerely, danced and joked.

news from “Korchma” | 11

www.tarasbulba.ru

Winners in the ‘Smile. Posture.

Mood’ nomination:

1 – Vira Stoich (restaurant at Petrovka Str.) 2 – Yulya Kuzmych (restaurant at Bochkova Str.) 3 – Vita Churikova (restaurant at Velozavodska Str.) and Kateryna Karnaushenko (restaurant at Borovske Highway)

Winners in the dance nomination: 1 – Restaurant Nametkino 2 – Restaurant at Profsoyuzna St. 3– Restaurant at Bochkova St.

ruk_proekta@tarasbulba.ru

composition

mineralization 1-2 g/l chemical composition of water Sodium+potassium (Na+ K+) Chlorides (Cl) Sulphates Hydrogen carbonates Calcium Magnesium

mg/l 4.5 3.5 4.6 95 77.2 20.67

12 | news from “Korchma”

THE NEW YEAR A ship will sail the way you name it, you’ll spend a new year the way you celebrate it. These truths were established long ago. The chain of Ukrainian cuisine restaurants ‘Korchma ’Taras Bulba’ invites you to celebrate the next 2014 year of the Horse in a welcome and pleasant company.

You can book an individual table or a separate hall. You can celebrate the winter holidays with your friends, workfellows or relatives.

A wide choice of delicious homemade dishes prepared of ecologically pure products, Ukrainian hospitality and a high quality service will make your New Year holidays really unforgettable.

Visit us and you won’t regret about your choice!

To make a reservation, please call: (212) 510-75-10

THE VERTEP Devil, Herod, Death, Angel and Young Shepherd… Every year in the beginning of the winter these characters return to announce the Messiah’s birth. The ‘Korchma ’Taras Bulba’ restaurant chain traditionally organizes the Ukrainian Vertep.

More information will follow.

Did you know…

Ukrainian engineers with the Antonov Design Bureau designed an aircraft with the largest carrying capacity in the world – the An-225 Mriya. Initially it was designed to transport spacecraft.

Ukraine has the largest tract of primeval beech forests (Zakarpattia region). This is a unique site in the world.

the great cooks | 13

Georges Auguste Escoffier: King of French Cuisine

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here’s hardly another person who did more for the development and modernization of French cuisine than Auguste Escoffier. The culinary expert became “the king of chefs and the chef of kings.” Among his clients were heads of states, such as Edward VII, Wilhelm II, and many popular cultural figures. Most foodies have not the slightest idea that traditional elements of restaurant life and classical recipes are his inventions. He changed the restaurant life and skilfully maintained the interest in food. Read more about the interesting life of the great chef in the Bulba NEWS magazine.

Georges Auguste Escoffier was born on October 28, 1846, in a small village outside Nice. As a young boy, he showed good aptitude for art, but largely because of his father, the boy did not become an artist. When Georges turned thirteen, his father sent him to his brother, who owned a small restaurant.

It was there, among pots and pans, that he started to learn the ropes of his future profession that later would make his name world famous.

For several reasons, however, the young man didn’t stay long at his uncle’s restaurant. First, his culinary talent grew by leaps and bounds. Second, before long he became unhappy with his salary.

The future genius was convinced that he deserved better. That’s why he didn’t want to work there.

He packed up his things and in 1865 found a job at the fashionable restaurant Le Petit Moulin Rouge in Paris. He worked there until the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war. Escoffier enlisted as an army chef, and when he returned from the war, he

The oldest educational institution in Eastern Europe is the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (1615).

The shortest main street of all the capitals of the world, which is also one of the widest and most beautiful streets, is Khreshchatyk Street in Kyiv. Its length is a mere 1,225 m.

opened his own restaurant in Cannes and called it The Gold Pheasant. Most probably the newly made businessman was doing not very well, since after Cannes he moved to Monte Carlo and started to work at The Grande Hotel. It was there where he met Cesar Ritz, the future king of a restaurant business. One of them had great talent, the other a grip on money and a business. They soon became partners and founded a chain of well-known hotels with branches all over the world. At that time Escoffier moved to London. Funny, but he had such a low opinion of the local cuisine that he even didn’t care for learning English and translating the menu into it. By all means he popularized his favorite French!

In England, the chef created several masterpieces. For example, the dessert Peach Melba named in honor of the Australian singer Nellie Melba (ice cream served in a half of a peach topped with raspberry sauce). After a while it became even more popular than the very actress! A great success was the dish with strawberry and sherbet, called in honor of the French actress Sara Bernhardt. The other one was Meringue, always served with vanilla cream and candied white roses with purple petals.

Moreover, Auguste Escoffier was the first to create and introduce the à la carte menu that allowed dishes to be chosen from a list. He also introduced the service à la russe, in which food and drinks were served in courses, not simultaneously, as before.

Then the chef ran kitchens at passenger airlines of the German company Hamburg-Amerika Lines. He met the German Emperor Wilhelm II, for whom he cooked a lavish dinner. Just after this the Kaiser said, “I am the emperor of Germany, but you are the emperor of chefs!”

Even financial success and fame didn’t lull the culinary genius of the chef innovator. Together with his colleagues from the Gourmand League he established the tradition, which suggested that people from different cities of the world on the same day tasted the same menu, made by Escoffier. In the first such “plot” participated four thousand people and in the last one more than ten thousand in 147 cities.

Georges Auguste Escoffier also published a recipe book where he included about five thousand of his own recipes. By the way, it is popular nowadays and is translated into dozens of languages. This publication is considered to be the best guide to classic cookery in the world!

The following facts testify the chef’s fame: the school at the Ritz Hotel in Paris was named after him and a museum was opened in the house where he was born.

Text: Maria Krasna

Recipe

Peach Melba You’ll need a cup of sugar, zest of one lemon, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and three ripe peaches. For the sauce you’ll need 450 grams of raspberry, lemon juice, and caster sugar. And of course don’t forget about ice cream – it’s better to take a vanilla sort.

Place a liter of water, sugar, and thickly grated zest in a saucepan. Bring the syrup to a boil, stirring at a steady pace to help the sugar dissolve. Halve the peaches and remove the pits. Place the fruit in the syrup, add the vanilla extract. Let them simmer for five minutes, then remove the sauce pan from the heat and allow the fruit to chill in the syrup. Later take the peaches out, peel them, and place them on a plate with a pit upwards.

Mix the raspberry, lemon juice, and sugar in a blender, pass through a sieve, and discard seeds. If desired, you can pour 2 tablespoons of raspberry liqueur. Stuff each half of the peach with ice cream and pour the raspberry sauce over them.

The largest men’s monasteries in the Orthodox Church are called lavra. Only six monasteries in the world have this status.

Three of them are located in Ukraine.

14 | menu

menu | 15

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Работник ГИБДД застал жену с любовником, но за 3000 рублей закрыл глаза на этот инцидент.

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NO SMOKING!

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Едут в поезде еврей и украинец. Украинец ест сало, еврей – сушеную таранку. Украинец интересуется: – Шо ты ешь? Шо там есть-то? Еврей объясняет: – В сале ничего нет, кроме жира, а в рыбе – фосфор, который очень благотворно действует на работу мозга. Украинец заинтересовался и говорит: – Давай меняться?

– Ну давай! Съел украинец таранку. Естественно, не наелся. Смотрит, как еврей его сало с удовольствием уплетает, и говорит: – Сдается мне, ты меня надул. Еврей отвечает: – Вот видишь – работает. Всего одну рыбку съел, а уже умнеть начинаешь.

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Veal in Donetsk style

4 4 7 7 0 8 7 (495)

The dish is quick to cook. If you don’t have much time, this recipe is right for you. The veal can be served with mashed potatoes. The meat is juicy and oregano brings up its special flavor. Feeds 5 people from the following ingredients.

Ukrainian cuisine – made with love!

Restaurants’ location:

MOSCOW, Aviamotornaya metro station, 6 Krasnokazarmennaya St., (499) 763 5741

Ingredients: • Veal – 750 g • White flour – 100 g • Oregano – 20 g • Egg – 4 • Vegetable oil – 150 g • Salt – 10 g • Ground black pepper – 5 g Cooking method: Wash the veal, remove all tendons and cut into 1 cm thick slices.

Tenderize, season with salt, pepper and oregano.

Coat in bread crumbs on both sides.

Dip into beaten eggs on both sides.

Fry on both sides in vegetable oil, then cook in the oven until ready.

Your dish is ready to be served!

Avtozavodskaya metro station, 6 Velozavodskaya St., (499) 764 1532

Akademicheskaya metro station, 16/10 Profsoyuznaya St., (499) 125 0877

Alekseyavskaya metro station, 3 Bochkova St., (495) 616 6754

Airport metro station, 64 Leningradskiy Prospekt St., (499) 151 9011

Baumanskaya metro station, 23/41 Bakuninskaya St., (495) 956 5580

Borovitskaya metro station, 8 Mokhovaya St., 24-hour, (495) 644 8020

Krasnye Vorota metro station, 47 Myasnitskaya St., (495) 607 1762

Leninskiy Prospekt metro station, 37 Leninskiy Prospect St., (495) 954 6466

Novokuznetskaya metro station, 14 Pyatnitskaya St., (495) 953 7153

Novye Cheryomushki metro station, Nametkina St., 13 г, (495) 331 4211

Smolenskaya metro station, 12 Smolenskiy Avenue. St., 24-hour, (499) 246 6902

Tsvetnoy Boulevard metro station, 13 Sadovaya-Samotechnaya St., 24-hour, (495) 694 0056

Chekhovskaya metro station, 30/7 Petrovka St., (495) 694 6082

Yugo-Zapadnaya metro station, 6 Borovskoye Road, (495) 980 2051

Vystavochnaya metro station, of 1905 year, 27 Shmitovskiy Passage, 24-hour, (499) 256-4660

KIEV, “Teatralnaya”, “Zolotye Vorota”,“Kreschatik” metro station, 2-4/7 Pushkinskaya St.,+38 (044) 270-7248

VEAL IN DONETSK STYLE 150 gr. – 340 rub.

Look for this taste treat in our menues!

Certificate of registration PI № FS 77 — 19940. Circulation is 5 000 copies.

357 West Broadway, NYork City, NY 10013 phone: (212) 510 75 10

Laskavo prosymo!