Bulbanews 07 2015 en preview pages

W e h a ve o n l y fre s h a n d s a vo r y n e w s!

July 2015 | № 7 (142)

More news and photos at www.tarasbulba.ru korchma@tarasbulba.ru

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SUPERSTAR

Sergey Zverev

The Globe in Your Pocket

Everything I Touch Turns into Gold and Diamonds…

Starting the Morning with a Recharge

NewYork: A SovietFile, a Healthy Nation and Its Personages

Healthy Eating

Women at the Wheel The First Women’s Car Race in1936

Wi-Fi in all restaurants

24/7 food delivery and hotline:

8 (495) 780-77-44 www.tarasbulba.ru

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2 | guest

He worked with Maya Plisetskaya, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Alla Pugachova, and others. He became World Champion and Absolute Champion of Europe. He is a poet and creates very successful collections. He also gives workshops and says that he reached a peak in his profession. Only the sky is higher than he. All this is about the King of Shock and Superstar Sergey Zverev, who gladly agreed to give our newspaper a frank interview.

Sergey Zverev: «Everything I Touch Turns into Gold and Diamonds…»

– Sergey, what is your usual work week now?

Many artists complain of the crisis. Did it have an impact on you?

– No. For me this is a very fruitful time. Yes, it is sad that there is a crisis now, it’s very difficult to live and many people have gone bankrupt. You know, it’s not the first crisis in my life. On the contrary, I’m convinced that this is a favorable time for creativity, love, and inspiration. Now some steps forward can and should be taken. It was during the time of a crisis I became the Absolute Champion of Europe, World Champion, top artist. At the time of a crisis, I also wrote my best hits, created my greatest collections and won. I would say that at this time all the rubbish goes away and I’m prospering. Since everything I touch turns into gold and diamonds, and what I leave turns into sand…

– We know that you like Ukraine very much and that you always praise it. Once you even sang in Ukrainian… What is the secret? Do you have many friends there?

–I have distant relatives in Ukraine. My child’s godparents live there. Relating to my professional life, some of my students are Ukrainians. My colleagues in music and fashion are from Ukraine. Ukraine for me is something inseparable. Since childhood I feel at home there. The thing is that I was brought up in a village, where many Ukrainians lived. Why do I sing in their language? It’s because I remembered what they were singing, for example, “What a Starry Night.” That’s why it entered my repertoire so easily.

It’s like nostalgia for my childhood and homeland.

– How did it happen that you’ve become a fan of the Ukrainian embroidered shirt, the vyshyvanka? Do you have many such shirts in your wardrobe?

– I wouldn’t say I’m a big fan of the vyshyvanka.

Why? Because it is very similar to the Russian shirt.

Our shirt has just a placket and a waist belt unlike the Ukrainian one. It should be noted that from childhood a vyshyvanka for me is casual attire, not festive. I’ve even slept in it. It is very practical

and comfortable. Even now I can wear it instead of pajamas. Very often I wear it at home. Nobody asks me any more why I wear a vyshyvanka. Everybody accepted it and got used to it. On a hot summer day, it’s irreplaceable. You don’t get hot in it in the summer, and you stay warm in it in the cold! That’s why I own a whole collection, a huge collection of vyshyvankas.

– Where do you buy them?

– My fans already know that I have this collection and present them to me. In Ukraine, there are markets with them. For example, in Kyiv there is a whole street with vyshyvankas and Ukrainian folk things. I like vyshyvankas of turquoise and blue colors very much. Some of them were made to order. I have a vyshyvanka with poppies. Since it is handmade, it is very beautiful.

– Our publication popularizes cooking in all its varieties. Could you tell our readers about your diet? What food do you enjoy most of all?

guest | 3

– First of all, I like borsch with buns. It is served with two buns covered with a garlic sauce. However, I order one more portion of garlic sauce, since it’s not enough for me. I eat the top very quickly and then I dip the rest into the garlic and eat my fill… I eat plenty of borsch. Indeed, your waiters witnessed me eating borsch here! Sometimes I can eat up to two servings! Then I like varenyky with potatoes and sour cream. I also like sweet varenyky, which are cooked in sweetened water.

Once I threw a tantrum because my uzvar (drink prepared of dried fruits) disappeared. I spoke to everyone starting with waiters and ending with managers and chefs to get I back. And they did it!

That was great, since I think that Ukrainian cuisine without uzvar is not Ukrainian, but Chinese. Uzvar, varenyky, borsch should be there all the time! By the way, I would like to say that whenever I visit Korchma, everything is incredibly tasty! You are always so welcoming here.

– Still what are your favorite dishes in the Ukrainian and Russian cuisines? Just name two or three dishes!

– No. It’s not two or three dishes…

– Is it more?

– Yes. The first one is varenyky, the second borsch, the third noodle-soup with chicken, the fourth rabbit with potatoes, the fifth uzvar. I also like “dressed herring.” How can a table be laid without pickled vegetables? How? What is this? It’s a pity. I can eat all this at one go.

– Once you said that you were very thin and weak as a young boy. And if not for country cuisine and products, everything could have ended fatally…

– If not for country cuisine, fresh milk, cottage cheese, sour cream, country air, and especially country bread, I would probably not have survived 8th grade.

– Do you sometimes allow yourself to drink 50 g of alcohol? Are there some interesting stories connected with it?

– We have such holiday as All Souls Day. I don’t drink, but if it’s to commemorate the deceased, I will for sure commemorate them and drink three shots, not more. If more, it’s already another day and another holiday, for example, New Year’s or my parents’ birthdays. It happens that I drink in cases where I feel uncomfortable around some people.

Rather than explaining that I don’t drink, it’s better to drink and that’s it. As for the stories… It can be some event. I go somewhere, and there are such beautiful and nice girls. And in the corner far away from me, there is a dull and ugly girl… Sure thing, next morning I would wake up in bed with her!

– Obviously, you are traveling around the world. What cuisine do you like most of all?

– I like Caucasian cuisine most of all. This is because of grilled meat and fish. It’s very hearty and macho food. We can’t do without it. Vietnamese cuisine is grasshoppers, mice, frogs, worms… This is not for me at all.

– Our traditional question is whether you leave tips or not. If yes, then how much?

– Yes, whenever it’s possible.

– What does it depend on?

– Sometimes a waitress puts in a lot of effort and it pays off. She can do everything very well. For example, I was there only twice, but she remembers what I ordered the first time and doesn’t ask me stupid questions. She already knows everything.

What is usually wrong? If you order saying just “black tea and hot milk,” the tea will not be very hot and the milk will be cold or not very hot as well. You should say “I urge you to make me very hot tea. It should be black, well brewed. And please make me unrealistically hot milk.” Only after this everything will be as it should. There are waitresses, who remember everything, they don’t need any explanations. Then you think “she is mine.” I’m also from a service providing sphere. If you make an effort, you will have something, and if you don’t, you will miss the boat. It’s a pity that waitresses have different shifts. You finally get used to a shift, and there is another one. You become disappointed and think that you have to start from scratch again.

– Do you have favorite waitresses?

– I liked one waitress very much. She looked very beautiful. And she worked great! It was incredibly simple. She was like a psychic! It should be said that your guys work very well, both boys and girls!

Taking this opportunity, I would like to wish happiness, love, and prosperity to those people who like Ukrainian food and your restaurants, those who are kind and hospitable! Ukraine, I love you!

Text: Stepan HRYTSYUK

4 | health

Let’s Begin the Morning with a Recharge

The word combination “healthy breakfast” makes lots of people sad and is often associated with something unappetizing. Is it really so? Can breakfast be tasty, healthy, and easy to make simultaneously? Of course it can! And at the breakneck pace of current life you just need to find time for a morning meal. Because breakfast is not only a source of energy, vitamins, and microelements for your body, but it also activates the work of the digestive system and speeds up metabolism. Thereby, you will get a sufficient amount of energy for physical and mental activity and won’t put on excess weight.

Scientists’ believe that the habit of regularly skipping breakfast results in overeating in the evenings and can lead to obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Such health problems can cause an early heart attack.

According to studies, the risk of heart attack or cardiovascular disease for people who don’t eat breakfast is higher by 28% than for those who eat a healthy meal in the morning.

How to get used to eating breakfast and what products are better to choose?

First of all, it’s necessary to try to have dinner no later than 3-4 hours before going to sleep. Then, in the morning you wont’ have a feeling of heaviness. If you don’t have an appetite in the morning, you can make a drink from a glass of hot water, lemon juice squeezed from a wedge, and a teaspoon of honey, and drink it right after you wake up and then you can do your usual work: to take a shower, prepare for work or studies, etc. Ideally, do a morning workout. However, even without physical exercises, 20 minutes after such a refreshing and rejuvenating drink your appetite will appear and you can eat your breakfast with pleasure.

It is considered that morning is the best time to consume carbohydrates since they will give you energy for the whole day and your body will be able to use it up but not store it as fat. The best choice is complex carbohydrates found in porridges, legumes, nuts, vegetables, and fruits. They are gradually digested by the body providing it with energy for a long period of time and keeping blood sugar level stable. Simple carbohydrates included in sweets, pastries, and fizzy drinks, on the other hand, take additional energy for their digestion which can cause the feeling of tiredness and the lack of important microelements in the body.

Here is a list of the healthiest dishes for breakfast:

• Oatmeal (or other porridges) with fruits, berries, nuts, and honey. The porridge can be cooked either with water or with milk. If you don’t have time at all in the morning, you can soak the oatmeal in cold water overnight and before eating you can add various delicacies.

• Fruit salad with nuts, seeds, and honey.

• Fat-free cottage cheese with fruit, berries, nuts, or savory cottage cheese with greens.

• Whole-wheat bread with cheese.

• Boiled eggs, chicken, or fish fillet for more hearty breakfast.

• Vegetable salad with a dressing from olive or sunflower oil, lemon juice, and seasoned with greens.

• Smoothie from vegetables, fruits, or berries with greens or nuts.

• Natural yogurt.

health | 5

A healthy breakfast may also include such products as an omelet, cottage cheese pancakes with sour cream, or light meat dishes. Often, nutritionists advise to drink green tea or juice instead of morning coffee. However, for many people coffee is an inevitable attribute of the morning, which, by the way, contains antioxidants that are quite healthy for our body. That’s why there’s no point in giving it up; you just have to try not to drink it on an empty stomach and don’t overuse sugar. And of course, choose natural coffee over the instant sort.

Scientists think that the best part of food should be consumed in the first half of a day. That’s why it is advised to eat 30% of the whole daily ration for breakfast.

However, if you fail to have a substantial breakfast (no time or appetite), you can have a snack before lunch with the products recommended for the morning meal.

In different countries there are different traditions and views on the proper breakfast. For example, the main products for continental breakfast preferred by many European countries (Italy, France, Belgium, Luxemburg) are orange juice, coffee, and pastries. Though, Germans, Scandinavians, the Dutch, and Austrians try to have a more nourishing meal in the morning. People from these countries eat porridges, eggs, cheeses, yogurts, fruits, and cold meat.

In Africa, the main breakfast components are millet, rice, maize and cassava porridges, eggs, bananas, legumes, tea, and various pastries. In the morning, Asians eat soups, broths, legumes, rice, eggs, meat, and different vegetables and season fruits. Americans can have cereals with milk, a hamburger with coffee, or warm up the last-night pizza for breakfast.

In Great Britain, the traditional English breakfast is called brunch: the meal combining breakfast and lunch. It’s worth noting that this is a set of heavy and greasy dishes usually served to county visitors. Tourists are offered to taste crispy fried bacon, golden brown sausages or home-made sausage, fried eggs, baked beans in tomato sauce, mushrooms and potato patties. It’s impossible to imagine the traditional English breakfast without toast with butter, jam, honey, or marmalade served with tea, coffee, or orange juice.

It is hard to imagine how the English people would look if they ate such breakfast every day. Actually, the Brits allow themselves such a morning feast not more than one time a week, on weekends. And daily an English breakfast consists of good old-fashioned oatmeal, a hard-boiled egg, and of course tea, coffee, or juice.

In other countries (Japan, China, Korea), more and more people prefer to have European breakfast over the traditional one.

What kind of breakfast to choose depends not only on country traditions, but on the health condition and taste preferences of each person. The main condition is that the morning meal brings as much energy, health benefit, and good mood as possible!

Two fried eggs served with bacon, green beans and cherry tomatoes 100 g 210 rub

Tourist’s Breakfast toasted bread, light-salted salmon, cucumber, egg, mayonnaise, slice of cheese; served with new potatoes 250/50 g 290 rub

Milk porridge of crushed spelt wheat 200 g 100 rub

6 | History

July 2 International Sports Journalists Day

July 6 Day of the Mother of God Icon of Vladimir International Kissing Day

July 7 NativityofJohn the Baptists

July 8 Russian Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness Family Day in Ukraine

July 11 Day of the “Three-Handed” Mother of God Icon International Chocolate Day

July 13 Feast of St. Peter and Paul

July 18 Invention of the Relics of Monk Martyr Sergiy of Radonezh

Women at the Wheel

6

“Fast, Brave, Enduring.”

The First Women’s Automobile Race in 1936

july

International Kissing Day

July 21 Appearance of the Mother of God Icon in the city of Kazan

July24 FeastofSt. Princess Olga, Equal-to-the-Apostles

July28 Day of Christianization of Kyiv Rus FeastofSt. PrinceVolodymyr, Equal-to-the-Apostles

July30 International Friendship Day

They were burnt by the sun in the Karakum desert, they got stuck in bogs and sands, they ascended peaks and endured the long and monotonous jolting of off-roading. All this happened in GAZ-A cars that were far from comfortable.

They often broke down and constantly needed to be pulled out from pits and gullies. The 1934 race brought together 45 Soviet women, whose feat can literary be considered as an act of bravery. They participated in the First Women’s Automobile Race in the USSR and covered more than ten thousand kilometers!

On July 30, 1936, it was very hot in Moscow.

People hid in the shade and in general tried to stay indoors. However, there was a lot of activity in Gorky Park. Adults actively socialized, children ran around, there were lots of photo reporters clicked their cameras. It wasn’t just a random day in the park. Right from that park just few minutes later the first in the USSR Women’s Automobile Race was to be started. Forty-five women aged from 25 to 35 ventured upon setting off on a distant journey. They had to drive for more than ten thousand kilometers in GAZ-A automobiles. The route was long and went through the following cities: Moscow –Yaroslavl – Ivanovo – Gorky – Kazan – Ufa – Chelyabinsk – Petropavlovsk – Atbasar – Karsakpay –

Dzhusaly – Yrgyz – Stalingrad – Rostov-na-Donu – Dnipropetrovsk – Kyiv – Minsk – Moscow. That meant that the participants needed to be ready not only for rough roads but even for no roads at all. The women knew this, but they had no way of knowing what severe tests they would face. That’s why they smiled at the cameras and gladly gave interviews to journalists before the start.

Why was that First Women’s Automobile Race organized? There were many reasons. First of all, as it was common in the Soviet Union for women to prove they weren’t the weaker sex but even more enduring than men. In addition, the volunteers had a task to test synthetic rubber tires in the field made by a new manufacturer. And of course, the event had a political component.

History | 7

«Smena 8M» – The Most Popular Camera in the World

The Automobile Race was dedicated to the Stalin Constitution. It was planned that the participants would drive through 500 settlements, meet the locals, and explain some provisions of the Constitution, especially the abortion ban. Later, one of the project participants wrote: “The aim of the race is the political and technical development of Soviet woman.

The name of the race ‘Dedicated to the Stalin Constitution’ shows that its political side is put to the forefront. Along the way, the motorcade was supposed to raise the political awareness of the masses regarding the Stalin Constitution and the Law on the Abortion Ban. A strict record and analysis of tires usage was kept, new manuals and technical specifications for the tire industry were developed.”

The women faced the first difficult challenge while crossing the Ural Mountains.

There they had to pass seven mountain crossings with excessive gradients of 6-7-kilometers in length as well as rapid descents and pits. Then, they had to cope with a total lack of roads in the steppes of Kazakhstan. It was a territory with no evidence of civilization, with no traces of roads or signs. Quite often, the participants had to determine what direction to drive using a compass. Later, they were caught in thundershowers. The cars skidded in the conditions and they had to stop for two days due to the fierce wind. Only on the third day

did they manage to get the motorcade out of the mud.

As the women recalled afterwards, there were areas where the automobiles were stuck in sand to the level of the radiators and that they had no choice but to pull them out with their hands… Of course, Soviet-made cars weren’t meant for that. The automobiles broke down and went out of service, and the women had to use wrenches to fix them by themselves. They did that in the open air and even in the light of headlamps. The average speed of the motorcade was 28 km an hour. Only on very smooth roads could the cars accelerate to 50-60 km an hour, and in certain areas they reached 80 km!

The participants thoroughly recorded all their experiences in special journals.

Later, some of those notes were published.

It’s interesting that the women returned to Moscow on the September 30, which means that they spent approximately two months on the road. Upon their arrival they received a telegram from Stalin: “I congratulate the participants of the Automobile Race on their successful finish. Warm greetings to the winners.” The congratulation of the leader wasn’t neglected. In reply the heroines sent him a telegram where they shortly described their achievements: “What we accomplished is in the power of any Soviet woman. In our country there are independent and strong women. All the doors are open for them…”

Text: Stepan HRYTSYUK

Almost every Soviet family possessed this camera.

Photographers began their careers by taking pictures with it, experienced newspaper correspondents used it for work, and teenagers wanted it for their birthday presents. There are several reasons why this camera became such a beloved gadget of that time. First of all, a Smena was extremely easy to use. Practically anybody could take a nice picture with it. Second, it was quite cheap. In the 1980s, this camera cost only fifteen rubles. That’s why in one of his short stories the popular Russian writer Sergey Dovlatov ironically described the Smena as the only camera that couldn’t be drunk away since it was hard to find a buyer.

Rumor had it that the device was entrusted without worries to even those journalists who enjoyed the companionship of the demon drink.

With all this in mind, it’s no wonder that in the USSR Smena 8M became the national camera and even set the Guinness World Record as the most popular camera in the world. During the years it was manufactured, twenty-one billion of these technological wonders came off the conveyor belt!

An impressive number!

But why was this Soviet invention loved by so many? First of all, the camera was of high quality despite its low price. Pictures taken with this camera were just a little bit worse than those taken with more expensive and professional devices. Even at that time, the Smena was equipped with a flash that synchronized with the diaphragm shutter at any exposure time up to 1/250 seconds. Even today, only advanced reflex cameras have such parameters.

The camera was both light and weatherproof.

In addition, as was already mentioned, it was easy to use. For example, the image focus was adjusted on a distance scale: In order to take a high quality picture, it was necessary to measure the distance to an object. Often photographers measured it with footsteps. Then they would return to the starting point and release the shutter.

Today, Smena 8M is a legend. As in the past, it can be bought for a relatively low price at auctions or flea markets. Although the camera stopped being produced in 1995, there are still fan clubs. For instance, there are numerous websites where the camera’s users post photos taken exclusively with a Smena.

8 | Travelling

New York: А Soviet File, a Healthy Nation and its Personages

The Globe in Your Pocket It is not always possible to predict traffic jams or their real size. That’s why sometimes people miss their flights and other times arrive three hours early. And that day was the thirteenth day of the month! You may or may not believe in the number 13, but when you have a transatlantic flight ahead of you, you start paying attention to such things. On top of that, the cab driver discusses your inadequacy with his colleagues.

Don’t they understand that if I am adequate to them, then I’ll become like them. And they have neither drivers nor workers. If we all become that type of adequate, how will we all get by? I asked him that when he unloaded my suitcases from the trunk at the airport. He answered that he’d never said or even thought about that. That’s understandable since he

is an extremely religious person. I countered that we can look through the messages on his cell phone.

He blushed and said: “I am sorry if I offended you by that.” Offended? I replied that I didn’t take offence.

Because when a mad dog bites a man then the man won’t bite the dog. He’ll just take a stick and put the dog down so that the dog won’t bite others. At that point we said bye to each other. Our nine-hour flight passed quickly and almost without adventures. The plane passed turbulence several times.

Fifty minutes at the New York passport control and one hour after landing, my son and I were riding in a cab. We bought groceries and cleaned up our apartment. We had dinner and then went to bed. The weather is chilly and windy in New York. Sirens of ambulances, police cars, and firetrucks are like alarmclock surprises. They add to the city’s madness, the spices that give this melting pot its fabulous taste.

These ambulance sirens remind the New Yorkers about approaching diseases, old age, and death. Their life is so convenient, full of fun and wealth that they don’t want to give it all up without a fight. I think that is the reason why hundreds of thousands of them participate in the New York City marathon. Millions go to gyms and diet. And the sirens sound louder and ambulance lights blaze brighter. How humanely everything is arranged. If your heart is beating, there is someone ready to shunt it and somewhere there is a molded bullet made specially for it. Indeed, our world is glorious and wise.

My son wanted to have dinner, so we went to a restaurant next to our home. It was Wednesday. The

restaurant was full. The noise was so loud that my inner restaurateur shed floods of tears.

Then we went to Korchma, it was Thursday and it was very crowded. I tasted the dishes and overall was delighted. Even more than delighted. It seems that people who emigrated 20-30 years ago froze in that period of time. Specifically, our Soviet heritage stuck in their memory at the point of the eighties and nineties. You can feel it in their conversations, clothes, ideas about what is right and what is wrong, what is cool and what is not. Maybe they continued to grow as Americans, but the Soviet file hasn’t been refreshed since the year of their arrival. But that’s not my main point. I mean, their cutlets and other dishes from our menu taste like our happy childhood and youth. We don’t know how cook like that any more. This is not something you can teach your chefs.

Our own modernized Soviet file produces its own understanding and it is very different.

On Saturday, a friend of mine invited us to a play basketball with his children. My son also plays basketball. We had a training session with an American coach. It was awesome to watch the children playing. It was raining and the dads found a full-fledged gym in the basement of an apartment block. There was also a huge swimming pool, a fitness center, and a basketball gym. Just like at the American station at the South Pole. At that time I had no idea why they insisted on heating an entire sports palace. Now I understand that they hear ambulance sirens in their dreams even at the South Pole. We had a sports Saturday. Russia beat USA at hockey and

Welcome to our happy team!

We are always happy to welcome young and energetic men and women eager to work hard and to become professionals at what they do. Every focused and enthusiastic employee will get an opportunity for career growth.

A unique feature of our HR strategy is to employ not only the experienced professionals, but also young people, which results in an effective team.

Our job openings: Administrator Cook Hostess Cashier Waiter Delivery operator Bartender Doorman We offer: convenient flexible shifts + free meals + social package + career growth + high corporate culture + competitive salary.

Requirements: nationals of the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, aged 18 to 50. Enthusiasm to work, grow and improve.

Human resources department: Moskow, Aeroport metro station, 3 Chernyakhovskogo St. Phone: 8-926-904-41-54, 8-926-461-21-71 resume@tarasbulba.ru

Note! We are now hiring to work in Korchma “Taras Bulba” restaurants in Kyiv and New York.

Travelling | 9

our team reached the final of the Ice Hockey World Championships.

On Sunday, we played basketball again. It’s amazing how quickly an eight-year-old child gets fit.

Even a day can make a difference if he plays with the right team and with an appropriate attitude. Then there’s no need to push, force, or persuade him. He continues to practice even when other children take a break and rest.

As I am a single parent on this trip, I have to cook, do the laundry, and clean up after my offspring. On Sunday, I made an omelet, but my fruit turned out really well, as a wife of a New Russian said. And I turned stale bread and the remains of eggs into French toast. The success was stunning. In the evening, my son ordered the omelet and toast. But I got off with cottage cheese, strawberries, and honey. Your cooking instinct awakes when you need to feed a dear and beloved person!

Strawberry was served with honey for a quite prosaic reason. We just ran out of sugar at home. But that was the evening. And in the afternoon, we went to the Natural History Museum. Despite the fact that it was Monday, the line was hopelessly long. We even thought of leaving, but we didn’t. Surprisingly, we managed to buy tickets. Some rules were established even there. The museum admittance is general, but certain exhibitions are in separate halls. Your ticket specifies the time slot you have to see each exhibition so that to avoid all visitors going to one place simultaneously.

Of course, it’s great when someone takes care of the details, they indicated the time, the floor, and the hall number and supplied us with a map in Russian.

The line to the ticket office contained two specimens of every kind, like Noah’s Ark. Tourists come to the Big Apple from all over the world. Two German women were standing in front of me. I got used to the fact that there are a lot of gays in New York and

they are quite inconspicuous. Why do I keep noticing them? However, the representatives of the beautiful half of humanity who live together aren’t so obvious.

Well, those two Germans weren’t keen on boys. You could tell by just looking at them, though they had few male features. And despite that fact it was clear that both of them are boyfriends. So, I thought, what should it be called when a girl-boyfriend lives with another girl-boyfriend? The exhibition was about the evolutionary changes of species and in species.

And even in the line you could observe those species’ appearance and behavior.

One day, my friends invited me to a new French restaurant. I decided to buy myself some new jeans for the occasion. While trying them on, I ripped up my underpants on an extremely sharp label. I examined the sharp edges and understood that I got off lightly.

The restaurant was a 15-minute walk from my home.

I was walking in the New York night amazed that this seemingly typical concrete jungle wasn’t boring at all. Nonetheless, it was definitely a city and not a reconstructed village. The restaurant was located in The Baccarat Hotel and was very presentable. You knew it while still on the street by the familiar red boxes with recognizable lettering that towered on the pavement in place of typical New York trashcans.

Some time ago there was a female duo band called Baccara. What happened to them, what are they doing now, the two old ladies famous for their song “I Can Boogie?”

The cuisine was French, the personnel spoke with a strong French accent. The food was delicious, I ate scallops and an entrecote à la Française. Soufflé for dessert. That set cost me $96. We don’t serve such steaks and if we do, they cost a fortune.

As a restaurant-keeper I’m jealous of New York restaurants. Or, to be more specific, of their patrons.

These are the places where you can still meet certain personages. You have an impression that the people at the next table are movie characters. The restaurant’s guests are quite reputable. Expensive suits and ties are not enough, you need to know how to wear them.

Sometimes, it seems to me that our parents don’t go anywhere. Or they simply don’t attract attention with their 80-year-old straight backs or a 75-year-old slim figure. The rich want to live forever, and some of them succeed in it. You can mistake a 70-year-old woman for a 30-year-old from behind. The face gets old quicker than body. However, in the dusk, those women can be quite appealing.

My friend the artist secretly takes photos of people eating in one restaurant. I asked him why he does it.

He replied that he had never met such people before.

“Personages,” he said. Exactly, the personages of the passing epoch. At present, they are out of production.

However, in our country feudal lords with good manners and clean nails were destroyed like China’s books during the Cultural Revolution. Now, the breed is plain, like Mao Zedong’s quotes, and it prevails from the Carpathian Mountains to Vladivostok. Even though we want to be called in different ways, we cannot escape from the breed. Only the strongest survived, and in America the best and the many keep on living. All their breeds survived and if you want to see them all, take a ride in the subway.

And Korchma hosted a party that night till 1 a.m.

It was the restaurant’s second anniversary, and now it is high time we started working. God bless.

Text and photo by Yuriy Beloyvan Find more details about the trips and many other interesting stories on the author’s site www.beloyvan.ru

10 | Personality

She was born into a poor Ukrainian family just outside of Kyiv.

She never received a formal education but was endowed with a rich imagination. She also adored flowers and painted them wherever she could. The outstanding talent of Hanna Shostak (née Sobachko) or “Hanna the Painter,” as she was also called, helped her find her way in life. She received prestigious prizes and awards and her artwork is preserved in many museums.

Today’s column Born in Ukraine is dedicated to this talented artist.

HANNA THE UKRAINIAN PAINTER Hanna Sobachko was born in the village of Skoptsi (now Veselynivka) outside of Kyiv in 1883. The little girl attended school for only two years because from early childhood along with other villagers she had to work on the lord’s fields. It must have been there that she first noticed and then fell in love with the surrounding wild grasses. She especially adored flowers, which she would study for hours on end.

In the evenings, Hanna spun yarn or sat at a loom and helped her mother weave cloth.

While engaged in this monotonous work, the girl would picture in her mind all of the wild flowers she found during the day. She pretended to embellish the gray homespun sackcloth with their unruly colors and fancy ornaments.

Years passed, but her obsession with flower didn’t go away. At the age of fifteen Hanna started painting paper towels with a handmade brush made from ferret’s hair and a split cherry sprig. She also learned to make paint by herself from St. John’s-wort, beetroot, and clay. “If my parents had allowed me, I would have decorated the entire house with cheerful and sad flowers with eyes, noses, and mouths,” she recalled much later. Other villagers gladly bought her drawings to decorate their homes.

In 1910, a wealthy landlady Anastasiya Semyhradova arranged a Handicraft Point on her estate and appointed Yevheniya Pribylska as its artistic director. Yevheniya was very interested in the unusual paintings of the country girl, particularly the works she did for herself. As a result, she introduced the girl to a professional artist who was instrumental in helping her join a Kyiv crafts shop specializing in decorative cloth embroidery. It turned out, however, that embroidering someone else’s design was a boring job for the new employee. So the girl was sent to the workshop’s school and soon started to produce fabric, carpets, embroidery, and murals on the basis of her own drawings. Later, almost all of her artwork was exhibited in St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Paris, and Berlin. And in 1913, a carpet weaved according to her design won a silver medal at the Russia National Exhibition of Handicraft Industry in St. Petersburg and a gold medal in Kyiv.

In 1931, in spite of the fact that she didn’t have any formal art education, Hanna helped decorate the Ukrainian hall for the All-Union

Agricultural Exhibition of the National Economy.

Hanna received the title of honor “USSR Master of Folk Art.” And a year later, she was offered to move to the Cherkizovo township near Moscow in order to work at the Eksportnabivtkan Cooperative Craft Society.

Upon her arrival at the township, Hanna caught people’s attention: she was a plumpish woman with vivid black eyes, and was very active, witty, and cheerful. She wore an embroidered vest and a brightly colored shawl tied in a Ukrainian manner. Hanna spoke Ukrainian so fast, so not only the locals but even her family couldn’t understand her. She couldn’t speak, write, or even sign her name in Russian.

A local woman Lyudmila Kedrina, who graduated from the Pedagogical College in the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk, invited Hanna Shostak to the township council where she was taught to read and write basic Russian.

Hanna’s teacher and new friend introduced her to her husband Dmitriy Kedrin, a poet. The writer’s daughter recalled many years later: “She had surprisingly elastic fingers and slender wrists. My father respected Aunt Hanna very much and always kissed her hand on meeting her.

‘Dmytriy, am I a lady that you kiss my hand?’ she would ask with a blush. ‘Hanna, you have such skillful hands that any lady would be jealous of,’ my father would reply.”

“Aunt Hanna always held a flower in her hands and attentively examined it during our conversations. ‘What a beauty! Everything is so wonderful: both pistil and stamen! Svitlanka, have a look!’ she would implore me.”

In 1965, Hanna won the first prize at the Taras Shevchenko Republican Awards and received a cash bonus in the amount of 2,500 rubles, and her work was presented at a personal art exhibition in Kyiv.

She passed away on December 3, 1965, in Cherkizovo. The whole town came to say their final goodbyes to “Hanna the Ukrainian Painter,” as she was called there. The road from her home to the cemetery was covered with guilder roses and her coffin was carried on cloths embroidered by the artist. She was buried at a local cemetery.

Text: Vasyl Pachenkov Photos from the author’s archive

People and Food | 11

Sobrino de Botin –

The Oldest Restaurant in the World

It is no secret that there is a rating of the best restaurants of the world and every year new establishments are added to this list. Among them are also restaurants that have been holding a top place for centuries.

One of them is, for example, the restaurant Sobrino de Botin in Madrid. It is a very atmospheric and iconic place where, as rumored, famous artist Francisco Goya worked as a waiter, and where Ernest Hemingway spent a lot of time. Rumor has it that one of the tables was reserved for him. He sat there thinking over the plots of his stories. When the Muse came to the Nobel Prize winner, he was writing, and when it went away, he was savoring good alcohol and even making cocktails himself. It could be true since the restaurant opened its doors in 1725 and it entered the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest restaurant in the world.

Sobrino de Botin was founded at a time when the restaurant game rules were not completely established. Initially, it was a hotel built and on the first floor there was a little refectory. It was a tavern with a typical wood-fire oven where the owners cooked food for their guests. The restaurant’s specialty was that its chefs prepared dishes with the ingredients that patrons brought themselves, For example, anyone could buy a cut of steak at the market and bring it there knowing that the meat would be properly cooked. It is difficult to say who exactly owned the first refectory. But according to historical records, its owner was a certain Jean Botin.

After his death, the business passed to his nephew.

It is believed that this is how the restaurant got its present name - Sobrino de Botin which means “The Nephew of Botin.”

Several centuries passed, but the restaurant stayed true to its traditions. Since olden times till today the menu is centered around lamb and baby pork dishes slow-cooked in an old wood-fire oven.

Its other specialty is garlic soup made of garlic, chicken broth, eggs, and sherry.

An interesting fact is that the current oven at Sobrino de Botin is the original one. Moreover, the fire there never dies out and the temperature is always maintained at a constant level. The clients can enjoy the same taste of dishes that were prepared hundreds of years ago. At least, so is promised by the present restaurant owners on their website.

Very interesting are the references to Sobrino de Botin in the texts of writers who frequented it and liked its cuisine. In the almost 300 years of its existence, not only common people but also the elite dined in its halls. For example, this restaurant is mentioned in several novels by Spanish writer Benito Pérez Galdós. There, the author describes it with evident respect:

“Street after street, I began to recognize familiar faces from the distant past, shops which could now be described as historical, pure-bred Madrileñas: poultry shops with live birds, the wineskin maker’s with its huge display hides, the wood turner, the plumber’s with its windows as shiny as items of weaponry in a military museum, the renowned refactory, Sobrino de Botin…”

Another famous Spanish writer, Ramón Gómez de la Serna, dedicated several of his outstanding Greguerías (short statements characterized by an apt metaphor and humor) to the restaurant: “Botin is a wonderful restaurant where new dishes are cooked in old pots”; “It seems that Botin has existed forever, and that here Adam and Eve tried the first fried lamb ever prepared in the world”; “Golden, silver, diamond and even fossil wedding anniversaries are celebrated here, in Botin.”

Now, the prices here are far from low. But if you are a gourmet and want to try a suckling pig in the oldest restaurant of the world, you definitely won’t think about the numbers on the check. And if you are on a diet, it’s better to stay away from Sobrino de Botin. Believe us, that oven-cooked pork smells so divinely that it would be quite difficult to resist the temptation.

Text: Maria KRASNA

12 | news from «korchma»

Dear friends! We are happy to announce that our restaurant chain is launching a big project called Bulba Show!!!

The first concert will be in the cozy MIIT-HALL on July 5! (subway station Maryina Roshcha) Our show will be interesting for all: for a group of friends as well as for a family or a couple!

The concert program includes many surprises and stand-up comedians!

Don’t miss this opportunity to relax in the summer without leaving Moscow.

A warm and friendly atmosphere is guaranteed!

Spend a nice Sunday evening at the show!

Have some fun with your friends!

You can buy tickets at every Korchma Taras Bulba restaurant! e Cat and the Fox’, Children’s encyclopedia, a fairy tale ‘Th puzzles. Look for new issue as well as poems, riddles and crossword BULBA PRESS of the children’s magazine Tarasik by aurants in “Korchma Taras Bulba’ chain of rest

Your kids deserve the best childhood!

news from «korchma» | 13

Korchma in the Sky

We have already proved that we can not only make culinary masterpieces, but also successfully reach other heights.

Employees of the Korchma Taras Bulba restaurant chain have already conquered several of the highest summits of the world, won medals in marathon races, traveled thousands of kilometers in an auto race, and made people happy with their heartfelt songs and dances.

This time, without hesitation we decided to go up to the sky! About fifty courageous people from our big team volunteered to go. By the way, not only men but also delicate ladies took the risk in order to experience flying. Even the weight of the gear – more than twenty kilograms – did not stop them!

Everyone packed their backpacks with delicious food from our kitchen and went to the flying club Volosovo. Then there was a five-hour

training with experienced instructors, an ascent in the airplane, an explosion of adrenalin, and … a free fall.

Each of us spent only two minutes in the air. But what minutes they were! Now we understand why birds like to circle in the sky for hours. We also proved again that healthy and natural food from our favorite restaurant chain can work miracles. Everyone can become a skydiver!

Treat yourself!

Starting in the New Year, the restaurant chain Korchma Taras Bulba will offer an exclusive line of designer T-shirts.

The number is limited so don’t wait too long to buy one for yourself.

This is your chance to stand out!

500

rub.

600 ru

b.

ru 500

b.

14 | menu

menu | 15

We h ave o n l y f r es h a n d s a v o r y n ew s !

www.bulbanews.ru Bulba NEWS has its own website now

We offer only fresh and savory news!

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The newspaper office is open for cooperation! Call us at 8-968-665-12-07 or write to: bulbanews.ru@gmail.com

г.Москва, ул. Пятницкая 14

тел.: 8 (915) 222-15-18 (495) 953-7153, 951-3760

www.tarasbulba.ru

книга-меню

‘Korchma Taras Bulba’

We invite you to visit the new Korchma Taras Bulba restaurant The town of Odintsovo 122 Mozhayskoye Shosse

reveals its secrets!

We offer you a recipe book Not by the salo alone

8 (925) 166-1618 Cremations on the banks of the sacred Bagmati river, “the Sadhu holy drug-addicts” and the bloody festival Gadhimai Mela, the holy Mount Kailash, hermit monks and the Tibetan void celebrated by Buddhism.

All this in Yuriy Beloyvan’s book Traveling to an Alternate Reality…

4 4 7 7 0 8 (495) 7

Ukrainian cuisine – made with love!

Restaurants’ location:

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

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., 8 495 956 55 81

Borovitskaya metro station,

8 Mokhovaya St., 24-hour, 8 962 918 75 38, 8 985 644 85 44

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

You can never forget an adventurous journey.

Unadventurous journeys are not worth writing about. The long-awaited new book

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,

Nepal/Tibet: A Journey into an Alternate Reality was released this December by BULBA PRESS. The book can be purchased at the bookstore Biblio Globus and in the restaurants of the Korchma Taras Bulba chain.

Available now!

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

The town of Odintsovo

122 Mozhayskoye Shosse 8 (925) 166-16-18

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

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!