Korchma en winter preview pages

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

Winter 2017-2018 | № 8 (167)

More news and photos at www.tarasbulba.ru korchma@tarasbulba.ru Project manager – Yuri Beloyvan

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A Delightful Meal on a Cold Day:

Delicious Holidays at Korchma

THE GLOBE IN YOUR POCKET: A Trip to Magical Switzerland

SECRETS OF A MASTER:

Gordiy Starukh: The Hurdy Gurdy for the Entire World!

NUTRITION TRICKS: WI-FI IN ALL RESTAURANTS

How to Eat Your Dinner and Lose Weight Too

24/7 FOOD DELIVERY AND HOTLINE:

8 (495) 780-77-44 WWW.TARASBULBA.RU

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2 | CULINARY

A DELIGHTFUL MEAL ON A COLD DAY Winter comes with a host of frost, wind, snow, and sleet on its tail. Yet this is no cause for brooding or spending your days inside under the duvet. Winter also brings a whole chain of our favorite holidays. They are both Christian traditional holidays, more frivolous worldly festivities, and fantastic mysterious feasts rooted in ancient pagan customs and beliefs. All the bright colors of the winter holidays come together in a fascinating kaleidoscope of rituals and ceremonies that are traditionally accompanied by celebrations and festive dinner parties.

The New Year is probably the most favorite holiday of all times and people. It has been celebrated since pre-Christian times. However, the date of its celebration was changed after Tsar Peter the Great decreed in 1699 that the country should shift to a new calendar. We now celebrate the official New Year on the night between December 31st and January 1st. We keep to all the European traditions: we decorate a tree, open champagne, eat chocolates and tangerines, we sing and we dance.

The real symbols of the New Year in our country are the Russian salad, the Dressed Herring, the vinegret salad, aspic, red caviar, and a variety of meat dishes. And we still celebrate the old style New Year (January 13th-14th) when we keep to the old pre-Christian traditions: kutya (wheatberries with honey and poppy seeds), twelve dishes on the dinner table (to symbolize the number of months in a year), caroling and grain “sowing.”

A fun office party at a lavish dinner table will make you forget your routine job and help with team building It’s become a tradition to have a New Year’s party not only with your friends and family but also at kindergartens, schools, and work. A fun office party at a lavish dinner table will

make you forget your routine job and help with team building. Korchma Taras Bulba is all about good traditions and will make sure your party is unforgettable. We offer our guests a special holiday party menu designed for family feasts, office parties, etc. Our smart space management in each of our restaurants will allow you to invite as large a party as you wish. Our welcoming staff, our cozy ambiance, and our authentic d cor will help you relax and enjoy the delicious cuisine. But don’t forget to plan your party in advance so that you can benefit from the best tables and the most delicious New Year’s menu.

At least 12 lenten dishes are served…

The winter holidays and parties around a Christmas tree do not end with the arrival of the New Year. The 6th of January is Christmas Eve (also called the Holy Night). With the

appearance of the first star in the sky, 12 lenten dishes are served, including kutya with wheatberries, honey, and poppy seeds. Other customary dishes on Christmas Eve are fish, mushrooms, potatoes, beans and cabbage pies. On Christmas Eve, people used to tell fortunes, perform nativity plays, carol, and entertain friends and neighbors with delicious meals. Christmas Eve was also a time to forgive all offenses and to repay all debts and not to drag them on to a new life.

This is the beginning of Christmastide that lasts for two weeks – up till Epiphany (January 19th).

Christmas table should absolutely feature a kutya, duck or goose On January 7th, all Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas – most probably the

CULINARY | 3

brightest of all winter holidays. It symbolizes the birth of a new life. Everyone can return to childhood again and believe in miracles. According to tradition, on Christmas Day and during Christmastide no one was allowed to work – instead they visited friends and family (even if they were uninvited), wished each other and their hosts all the best, and celebrated at a festive table. The Christmas table always featured kutya, a duck or goose stuffed with apples, gingerbread, and uzvar.

Vibrant, bustling and a lot of fun!

Christmastide continues with a rather paradoxical day of Old Style New Year, which is traditionally celebrated in the night of January 14. This is a vibrant, bustling, and even a little grotesque feast that brings together pagan rites, Christian customs, and folk mysteries. It is also called the Generous Eve or Malanka, or St. Basil’s Day (dedicated to the saints commemorated on January 13th and 14th). The celebration starts with caroling and singing. In Ukraine, they also perform little skits with a goat as a main character, which was worshiped by pagans as a symbol of fruitfulness and welfare. Hosts of the house welcome all guests that come by and thank them for their wishes with sweets and money. It is a lot of fun!

On this day, water acquires healing properties Christmastide ends with the Feast of Epiphany (also called the Baptism of Our Lord or Jordan –the name of the river where Christ was baptized). On the eve of the holiday, on January 18th, people sit down to another lean dinner that includes fried fish, buckwheat pancakes, varenyky with sauerkraut, and of course the traditional kutya and uzvar. This is also a night of fortune-telling.

In the morning, on January 19th, people traditionally take a dip in an ice-hole (it is often made in the form of a cross) and they bring home a bit of holy water. On this day, water is thought to acquire special healing and magical properties. The

festivities end with a cozy home dinner with family and friends.

Your gift will be best with a romantic dinner A less traditional for our country but no less adored holiday is Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Love. It is celebrated on February 14th.

People give each other valentine cards, heartshaped sweets, flowers, and small souvenirs. The gifts could be a sign of friendship or of passionate love. Different countries have their own Valentine’s Day traditions.

In Japan, February 14th is considered a men’s holiday and so gifts are mainly given by women to their men.

These are mostly sweets and chocolates – custom-made desserts are especially valued.

In Poland, there is a tradition of visiting the Metropolitan of Poznan – the resting place of Saint Valentine’s relics. Single people believe that Valentine will help them meet their love.

In Wales, people in love carve a spoon out of wood and decorate it with hearts, keys, and keyholes and give them to someone they like. Such a souvenir is another way of saying: “You found the key to my heart.”

In Denmark, young men send valentines to their girlfriends without signing them. If the girl can guess who sent the card, she should reply by sending them a chocolate egg on Easter.

The main reason behind Valentine’s gifts is to

show your feelings. And such a gift will go best with a romantic dinner in a restaurant. Korchma will be happy to help you turn this day into an unforgettable experience.

A series of winter holidays is a perfect opportunity for a family reunion Holidays are an important part of our life, a component of centuries-long traditions and national culture. Slavs are known to celebrate each occasion with a lavish feast abundant with dishes and drinks, intimate conversations, jokes, singing, and dancing. Korchma offers you all the attributes of a holiday! You can enjoy delightful food and drinks accompanied with entertainment to suit your occasion: dancing, singing, verteps (nativity plays), and much much more. And should you decide to spend the holidays at home, you can always order for delivery home-made meals from Korchma.

A series of winter holidays is a perfect opportunity to gather with family, friends, or coworkers in a relaxed atmosphere, to eat food prepared with love, and to enjoy delicious drinks, to have a serious conversation or to have fun. Korchma Taras Bulba is happy to welcome you to our celebration and we will do our best to cater to all of your wishes.

Text by Olga SINYUGINA

4 | THE SECRETS OF A MASTER

GORDIY STARUKH: THE HURDY-GURDY FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD! He’s 29 years old, he plays in a band and makes professional sculptures. One day, by mere chance, this guy heard the music of an ancient and long- forgotten instrument – the hurdy-gurdy. Its music impressed him so much that it turned his life upside down. He did not have the money to buy the rare instrument, so the Ukrainian adventurer decided to make his own. Gordiy Starukh opened old books and drawings and started making this rare instrument. Hand-made hurdygurdies produced by the self-taught craftsman now perform in Canada, Poland, Japan, and many other countries around the world. In an interview for our newspaper, Gordiy Starukh talked about his passion.

EMPTY POCKETS AS A STEP TOWARD YOUR DREAM I once accidentally heard a hurdy-gurdy play and I felt I should have it because its music put me into trance. But the instrument’s owner was only ready to part with it for $1,500. I was a student at the time and I didn’t have such money.

Despite that, I didn’t give up and decided that I could make a hurdy-gurdy on my own. I contacted the Museum of Music and Theater in Stockholm that holds one of the oldest hurdy-gurdies and asked them to send me the drawing. They were kind enough to take measurements of the instrument and very soon I had quite accurate parameters. I got down to work.

ing one. I thought: “That’s cool, turns out I can make some money on it!” But when the customers came over to look at the instrument, they backed out because it was far from perfect. Now I understand that, but at the time I was disappointed. Still, it did not discourage me. I kept making new hurdy-gurdies and improving my skills along the way.

IT TOOK ME TWO AND A HALF YEARS TO MAKE MY FIRST HURDY-GURDY! When I started making my first hurdy-gurdy, I thought it was easy: just take

MUSIC AND SCULPTURE The first instrument I made was special in that I combined music and sculpture in it. That hurdy-gurdy had a beautiful shape, I carved it out of a solid piece of pear wood. While I was still working in my studio, a rumor got out that Gordiy Starukh is making wonderful hurdy-gurdies.

Some people got in touch with me and said they were interested in buy-

a piece of a log, split it along the fibers, and

start trimming it on both sides. It’s like making a giant spoon. And even though the guys from the kobza (Ukrainian lute) workshop explained the entire process in every detail, it still took me two and a half years to make my first instrument! And I my first instrument I made quite frivolously. I thought it would be a piece of cake for a professional sculptor. But once I started reading specialized literature, studying types of wood that best suited my purpose, I understood how serious it all was.

A SINGING WOOD The perfect types of wood for bow instruments are softwood for the top plate and hardwood for the bottom. And the famous Stradivari did it like this: he took a Carpathian silver fir for the top and Bulgarian spalted maple for the bottom. But just as any genius, he rarely followed the established pattern.

For example, he once bought an entire house because it was full of old furniture. Then he made his instruments out of it and combined different types of wood.

I also use maple, ash, pine, fir, acacia, ebony, and mahogany.

THE SECRETS OF A MASTER | 5

A fragment of Hieronymus Bosch’s «The Last Judgment»

FROM COURTESANS TO ITINERANT BLIND MUSICIANS The hurdy-gurdy appeared in Europe in the tenth century. Each country had its own repertoire and style of playing it. The hurdy-gurdy was used mostly to play entertaining and dancing tunes, and so the church did not favor it much. Hieronymus Bosch even painted a picture where the hurdygurdy is pictured as a sinners’ instrument and they are playing it in various obscene poses. There were also funny situations. For example, when in Germany courtesans were prohibited to openly invite clients to their homes, they would stand outside and play the hurdy-gurdy, thus hinting at their occupation. Because of that, the hurdy-gurdy came to be perceived a courtesan’s instrument.

In our country the hurdy-gurdy was mostly played by old blind musicians that were revered among the village population almost as highly as priests.

They were itinerant musicians who played mostly religious songs.

THE INSTRUMENT FOR MEDITATION The hurdy-gurdy is quite a meditative instrument. In the age of nonstop information flow when we can learn more in a day than people used to learn in their whole lifetime, it becomes a sort of an anchor that helps one get “grounded.” When you start playing it, you stop thinking, your head is empty. Sometimes I would sit down to tune the instrument and completely forget about time and deadlines.

MY HURDY-GURDIES ARE PLAYED IN JAPAN, THE US, AND INDONESIA I have made 38 hurdy-gurdies. The customers who order them are very diverse. They are mostly musicians or collectors who got inspired by listening to this ancient instrument and now want to play it. As a result, my hurdygurdies ended up all over the world: in Japan, in the US, in Korea, and even in Indonesia.

I’M A COSSACK OF MY OWN CAUSE I can’t say that making hurdy-gurdies is my hobby because this craft earns me a living. But being able to do what I want is a component of freedom. I think that is a never-ending pursuit for Ukrainians – to be free. We are like Cossacks of our own cause. I never had a regular job, I never toiled for someone else, and I don’t want to do that. But you have to pay the price for that, you’re always at a risk of instability. Despite that, this risk is justifiable. I do what I like and I enjoy it. Of course, I make mistakes and get disappointed.

But I am also able to look back and see my progress – and I’m proud of it!

Text: Stepan HRYTSIUK Photos: Yuriy HELYTOVYCH

6 | HISTORY

December December 8th – Birthday of the Korchma at Solntsevo Join us for a celebration!

December 15th – Cossack’s Day Come in a Cossack’s costume and get 50% off International Tea Day Come and try to drink all the tea in China!

December 19th – Saint Nicholas Day December 22nd – Birthday of Korchma Taras Bulba at 13/14 Sadovo-Samotechnaya St. December 23rd – Day of Russia’s long-rage aviation December 26th – Birthday of Korchma Taras Bulba at 14 Piatnitskaya St. Join us for a celebration!

December 28th – International Film Day “Camera, action!” – these words mark the beginning of a miracle December 29th – Birthday of Korchma Taras Bulba at 3 Bochkova St. December 31st – Happy New Year!

January January 6th – Christmas Eve January 7th – Christmas!

January 14th – Old Calendar New Year The Circumcision of Christ January 19th – Epiphany January 25th – Tatiana’s Day

CURIOUS FACTS FROM THE HISTORY OF THE WINTER OLYMPICS Between February 9 and February 25, the South Korean city of Pyeongchang will host the most awaited sports event of this winter – the 2018 Olympic Games. Millions of fans will get a chance to follow this spectacular competition between the best athletes of the world. This year’s Olympics will bring together over 2,500 thousand contestants! While the participants are still training intensively for their competitions, we decided to recall the most interesting episodes from the entire history of the Winter Olympics. ment to the 8th Olympic Games. But the success and interest with which this event was met were so great that very soon the International Olympic Committee decided to hold Winter Olympics regularly – every four years.

The biggest curiosity of the 1924 Olympics was a Norwegian athlete Sonja Henie. At the time of the Opening Ceremony she was 11 years and 295 days old! The girl competed in figure skating and took only the last place. Despite that, at the second and third Olympics the young athlete brought home the Gold Medal!

Both Summer and Winter Olympics used to be held in the same year. It was only in 1994 that the Olympic Committee decided to separate the competitions: now the Winter Games take place two years after the Summer Games.

February February 12th – Cheese Fare Sunday February 14th – Happy Valentine’s Day! February 15th – The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple February 23rd – Day of the Defender of Motherland

KORCHMA CHAIN HOLIDAYS Celebrate with Us Every Month 1st day of the month– Gogol’s Day 5th day of the month – Cheese Day 6th day of the month – Father’s Day 8th day of the month – Women’s Day 9th day of the month – Victory Day 10th day of the month – Borscht Day 12th day of the month – Photography Day 13th day of the month – Day of Kindness 14th day of the month – Varenyky Day 21st day of the month – Pancake Day 22nd day of the month – Water Day 23rd day of the month – Men’s Day 24th day of the month – Mother’s Day Friends’ Day (second Tuesday of the month) Cossack’s Day (every third Friday)

THE 1936 OLYMPICS WERE LAUNCHED BY… ADOLF HITLER

THE FIRST WINTER OLYMPICS AND ITS MAIN CURIOSITY The first Winter Olympics was held back in 1924 at the foot of Mont Blanc in the French town of Chamonix. At that time, however, it was nothing more than a “sports week” organized as a comple-

In 1933, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, and National Socialism became the country’s official ideology. The country applied to host the Olympic Games and won the right to organize them. Funny enough, “Doctor Evil” – Hitler’s nickname given to him by journalists – did not fancy that German athletes had to perform and compete against “non-Arians.”

But his minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels convinced him that participation in the Olympics would improve the international image of the Third Reich.

HISTORY | 7

referendum and 62 percent of the population voted against the Olympics.

THE FIRST ARTIFICIAL SNOW AND THE DOWNFALL OF THE SOVIET HOCKEY TEAM It was at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City that artificial snow was first used for ski slopes. Over five million dollars were spent to produce it! Unsurprisingly, most of the athletes did not welcome the artificial surface, but they had no choice as the weather did not provide nearly enough.

Yet, that Olympics will be remembered in history for a different reason. It brought an unexpected victory to the hockey team of the USA that consisted only of college players over the legendary USSR team that brought together world legends. The unknown rookies managed to beat the champions 4:3!

The sensational American success broke the 16-year-long domination of the USSR in the Olympic hockey tournaments. Historians still speculate how that happened.

Yet racial scandals could not be avoided entirely. It is said that the President of the International Olympic Committee Henri de Baillet-Latour told the fuhrer that the signs in the Olympic city saying “No Jews and dogs are allowed” does not fit the ideology of the Olympics. He received a response that he should not be teaching hosts how to protect their home. After a long discussion, the notorious signs were taken down.

On February 6, 1936, the Olympic Games were launched in Germany. Hitler himself gave a speech at the Opening Ceremony. The audience met his address with applause and loud cheering.

“My skin started to prickle when thousands of people started chanting ‘Heil Hitler!’ I got carried away by the overall excitement,” wrote much later the wife of an American skier Albert Washburn.

FINANCIAL TROUBLE AND BOYCOTTING THE OLYMPICS The Winter Olympics that took place in 1976 in the Austrian town of Innsbruck were originally supposed to be in Denver, USA. But due to financial trouble the Americans declined from hosting the sports event. The residents of Denver protested against the Olympics. They were furious that the local authorities planned to spend three times as much money for the Games than was originally planned. As a result, the city held a

NO TO WAR: THE OLYMPICS IN LILLEHAMMER The most “peace-keeping” Games were the 1994 Olympics in the Norwegian town of Lillehammer. That was at the time of the Sarajevo war, which was put on hold for the period of the Games! This achievement is attributed to the International Olympic Committee’s President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Before the Olympics, he appealed to all the conflicting countries to cease fire. The parties involved in the military conflict listened to the call and no blood was shed during the event.

That Winter Olympics was also significant for our country. It was the first time that former USSR republics entered the competition as independent states.

BURAN: THE LEGENDARY SOVIET SNOWMOBILE

It’s a curious paradox: by the beginning of the twentieth century humanity had invented self-propelled machines that could move on the ground, on the water, and even in the air. Only snowy expanses remained unconquered. There was no technology that could help people conquer snowdrifts and snow-wreaths. Despite the technological progress, people still used horses, deer, or dog sleds to travel in the snow.

The official start of snowmobile history is 1916.

That is when the first patent for a “vehicle with tracks in the back and skis in the front” was granted in the United States. However, that was also the end of the grand plans since the first snowmobile looked a lot like a regular automobile with skis attached to its wheels.

Naturally, its performance was very poor: it could not pass through difficult terrain, it was hard to drive, and it wasn’t reliable. That is why it never went beyond the testing phase.

A real snowmobile manufacturing boom and high consumer demand started in the US only much later: in the 1970s. Dozens of companies took up producing such vehicles. As a result, they sold over half a million vehicles in 1971 only.

A vehicle that could easily climb up snowdrifts was desperately needed in the USSR, especially in Siberia and the country’s northern areas. When the Canadian company Bombardier brought six of its snowmobiles to Moscow and had a test drive at the Hippodrome, it was met with great enthusiasm from the audience and it turned into an opportunity for Rybinsk Motor Factory. Its representatives convinced officials to allocate funds for the development of a new product. The Soviet engineers’ ambitious goals received support from the Ministry. They worked fast, they produced a few successful prototypes, and in February 1973 the State Committee made a decision to start the mass production of the Buran. By the end of that year, the factory put out the first thousand Soviet snowmobiles.

Back then, the Buran was a breakthrough in engineering. This vehicle started to gain more and more popularity. Snowmobiles from the first consignments were delivered by air to the research station North Pole 22, and they were purchased by large farms and even by individuals. To be able to do that, you had to be prepared to splurge. For example, in the 1980s the Buran cost about 2,500 rubles while a new Zhyguli car would cost you 4,600 rubles.

8 | TRAVELLING

A TRIP TO MAGICAL SWITZERLAND Snow-capped rocky mountains, clear-blue lakes, and air so thick you could eat it with a spoon – this is all Switzerland. It is beautiful, comfortable, but very expensive. It impresses with its industrious and reserved people who pay attention to every detail. The Swiss love their country and never stop improving it.

THE MOUNTAINS To come to Switzerland and to never go to the mountains is equivalent to being in Japan and never trying sushi. Moreover, the Swiss Alps are super comfortable for both beginners and experienced hikers.

Every town or village has a tourist information office with detailed maps and guidelines. You can select your itinerary depending on how much time or skills you have.

Moreover, wherever in Switzerland you might be, you will find plenty of road and trail signs. They have a unified design – all of them are yellow, and even if you get lost in the high mountains, you will still be able to find your way with the help of these signs.

Most popular routes are paved.

And even though the mountain infrastructure in Switzerland is no less inferior to the transportation one, the Swiss never stop improving it or adding new hiking trails. I was even more surprised to find public toilets in remote areas. What’s more, the Swiss somehow manage to keep them in perfect order.

INDUSTRIOUSNESS Overall, the passion for their work and attention to detail can easily be an object of national pride of Swit-

zerland. Before starting something new, the Swiss make a detailed plan and follow the instructions very carefully. No one is afraid to tell their coworkers that they have done something wrong or have not completed all 100 percent of their job.

No one here will accept the popular Soviet formula “it’s good enough.” If the Swiss take something up, they need to make it perfect.

That is why they regularly renovate or improve things in Switzerland. No matter whether it’s big Zurich or small Brienz, there’s always some repair or renovation work going on. How perfect could it be, you might ask. But there is no limit of perfection for the Swiss. The utilities

companies try to arrange everything to the best benefit of residents. For example, if a part of a railroad is under repair, the trains are replaced with a bus service that matches the train schedule to the minute, and there is a special crew at the railway station that guides passengers to their buses.

TRANSPORTATION The Swiss transportation system deserves a special mention. Tickets for all types of transport in Switzerland can easily be bought on this website: www.sbb.ch. By the way, this is the most visited website in Switzerland; it is widely used by

both students and retired people.

The system will calculate the time, cost, and number of transfers needed to get to any destination. The tickets are sold without a specific time of boarding so that you can use them at any time of day. The tickets are expensive. For instance, a regular railway ticket from Zurich to Lausanne will cost you over 70 francs. I paid the same price for my low-cost flight from Warsaw to Basel.

Yet the Swiss never pay the full price. There is a convenient discount system in place. For example, almost all citizens of Switzerland buy a 50-percent discount applicable to all types of transport. And those who travel intensively during the year have an option to buy an annual subscription for all kinds of transportation. The cost of this subscription is enormous not only for Ukrainians,

TRAVELLING | 9

but also for the French or Italians: 3,000 francs.

The Swiss railway can take you anywhere. Especially because there are villages high up in the mountains that can only be reached by train or by cable car – no cars or buses go there. If you’re looking for something even more exotic, you can travel in Switzerland on water – there are comfortable passenger ships used both for tours and to carry passengers to different towns along the lake’s shore.

THE PEOPLE It’s not easy to understand the Swiss. At first glance they might seem cold and reserved. They will still seem that way at the second and the third glance. The thing is that they need some time to get to know a new person, to get used to him or her and to make up their mind. But after a little while, they no longer appear independent and individualistic and demonstrate a rather different side of their character. And yet, do not expect from the Swiss the same Slavic openness and hospitality: they won’t invite you to their home, and they won’t change their plans for someone else. They don’t make exceptions even for their closest family. And if you want to come visit a Swiss family, you should negotiate the day, the time, and the duration of your stay at least a month before your arrival.

On the other hand, the Swiss gladly help tourists out, and hitchhiking in this country is a real pleasure.

On my numerous travels in Swit-

zerland I rarely had to wait on the roadside for longer than 15 minutes.

The drivers who most often pick up hitchhikers tend to be young people or immigrants. But there were a few times when I got a ride from local farmers, especially in the mountains, and from respectable seniors in their expensive cars.

THE TOURISTS The locals sometimes joke that Switzerland is too expensive even for them. That is why the Swiss spend their vacations in Spain or in Italy where everything costs much less.

But in Switzerland one is amazed by the large number of Asian tourists – Chinese, Japanese, Koreans. They are the biggest contributors to the Swiss tourist industry. They stay in the most expensive hotels, they pay full price on the train, they climb

the famous summits. For example, to climb the Jungfraujoch (3,454 m) will cost you over 120 francs. But high prices do guarantee exclusive comfort and quality service.

If you’re looking for something else other than mountain hiking trips, you will find another attraction that is free of charge – the local lakes. The water of Swiss mountain rivers and lakes is amazingly clear and bright, but suitable for swimming only in summer.

THE CUISINE If you decide to try traditional Swiss cuisine, you should absolutely try raclette and roesti. Raclette is an amazingly easy dish that requires only boiled potato, hard cheese, spices and a variety of side dishes – pickled cucumbers, mushrooms, or olives. To make it, you

need to melt the cheese on a small table-mounted grill – available in every home. After the cheese melts, it is scraped off over the potato, and the dish is ready. Swiss families like to make raclette for Christmas. The roesti, however, reminded me of our potato pancakes – they are made of boiled potato with a bit of cheese, meat, or fish.

Another traditional Swiss dish is cheese fondue.

The most popular alcoholic drinks in Switzerland – as everywhere in Europe – are beer and wine. You can also find a lot of beverages made by local producers. However, a bottle of Swiss wine will cost more than an imported wine from France or Italy.

The locals are no longer surprised by that. They just shrug and say: “This is Switzerland.”

Text and photos by Halyna CHOP

10 | CULINARY

HOW TO EAT YOUR DINNER AND LOSE WEIGHT TOO Our desire to be beautiful is a terrifying force that makes us spend hours in the gym, limit the intake of fats and sweets, and stop eating after 6 p.m. It’s hard to argue with sports and cutting back on junk food, but the draconic rule to starve in the evening is questioned by many nutritionists.

Very few of us go to bed at 9 or 10 p.m. And the time period from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. is quite long and requires a lot of energy. The body which is devoid of a nutritious “boost” is in a permanent state of stress, and this is later compensated by the craving for fatty and sweet foods as fast sources of calories.

Not a lot of people are able to keep to such a regime for a long time. What they get as a result is a breakdown and they regain all the weight that they had worked so hard to lose.

Our body needs nutrients, vitamins, and microelements not only in the morning and in the afternoon, but also in the evening – and in quite large amounts. Breakfast and lunch simply cannot satisfy this need. This causes fatigue, stress, and health problems.

By abandoning dinner, people subconsciously try to eat more at breakfast and lunch. And eating a large amount of mostly incompatible foods is harder to digest – it stretches out your stomach and brings a feeling of heaviness, which can later cause gastritis and other gastro-intestinal diseases. That is why nutritionists recommend eating in little servings 4

to 5 times per day. This way your stomach will stay healthy, and nutrients will be ingested and your nerves will stay in order.

Besides, the way a human body works is that the gastric juice and digestive enzymes are constantly and regularly produced, which is signaled by a natural feeling of hunger that appears at least every 3 to 4 hours. To stay healthy and to keep losing weight, your meal regime needs to match this cycle. Otherwise, your body will be interpreting an unsatisfied feeling of hunger as a danger signal and will try to store for a rainy day the fat reserves we’re trying to get rid of. And small intakes of food distributed evenly throughout the day will maintain your metabolism and won’t allow it to slow down.

Abandoning dinner will naturally let you lose weight but the majority of studies show that it’s not fat you’re losing but the muscle mass. However, consuming lean protein food and vegetables for dinner will let you get rid of fat faster and more efficiently.

The idea is that the deficit of calories and nutrients will be compensated by the body’s own reserves, and

the first to be tapped in will be proteins. On the contrary, if you intake enough protein but an insufficient amount of calories, the body will start using fat.

The human body is always in need of energy, but during sleep it needs less than during work or playing sports. Weight loss through refusing to dine after 6 p.m. only happens at the cost of decreasing a total daily calorie intake. But it can also be cut down by making each meal less copious. At the same time, most nutritionists agree that breakfast and lunch should be more substantial while dinner should be much lighter. But you should still eat it.

The best option for dinner is lean meat or fish or a boiled egg with vegetables on the side. This combination of food will digest easily and will bring the most benefit if consumed 2 to 3 hours before going to bed. And if you have a craving right before sleep, your best solution is non-fat cottage cheese, kefir, or yoghurt. Dairy products are rich in calcium, which is best absorbed during the night.

Being smart with your dinner without such extremes as fatty foods at 10 p.m. or completely refusing to eat after 6 p.m. will let you wake up in the morning fresh and rested, and it will also help you stay healthy and lose weight without stress.

Text by Olga SINYUGINA

LEGEND | 11

«I HAVE A GREAT DREAM: TO STAY ALIVE…»

COMMEMORATING VALERY ROZOV This November, the life of a legendary Russian extreme jumper Valery Rozov was tragically cut short. The base jumper crashed when wingsuit jumping from a Himalayan mountain.

We express our condolences to Valery’s family and friends, he was a true role model for many people, he was also a friend of our restaurant chain and he motivated all of us with his achievements. For this newspaper’s issue we collected some of the most illuminating quotes from Valery Rozov’s lifetime interviews and prepared a chronology of his most outstanding records.

ON FEAR Fear is harmful only if it affects your motor skills, when it stiffens you. If this is not the case, it’s alright.

You come up to a cliff, you look over the edge and you take a step into the void – that is always stressful. But this stress can be overcome if your sanity is intact. You start seeing the same things from a different perspective. Because if your objective is to constantly fight fear, you will achieve nothing but a nervous breakdown. The self-preservation instinct is more than just the horror you feel before the

abyss, it is rather a tool that enables you to tap into your experience, willpower, and skills in a most efficient way. That is why this instinct – or fear, if you will – helps you be more responsible for the decisions you make.

Fear is a great counselor and supervisor, fear is your friend.

ON DEATH The band Spleen has a very good quote about it: “People in Leningrad and in Rome believe that death is something that happens to others…”

There are many people who, despite their hobbies, believe that death is not something that can happen to them.

Getting older and more experienced, you start to realize that you are no different from others, and something might happen to you – fast, unexpected, and simply. And when you realize that – not abstractly but on a very personal level – then you become more insightful and more attentive to things.

ON DREAMS My greatest dream is to stay alive, to grow old, and to see my children grow up…

ON BASE JUMPING One of the most intriguing things about base jumping is that you have very limited time for decision-making.

You’re falling, you open your parachute… And if something goes wrong, you’re basically one breath away from the next world. There is nothing you can do. If a skier is caught in a fierce avalanche, he can still hope for a miracle. We have no chance. Several times my equipment malfunctioned. But I

ACHIEVEMENTS: • He was a first man to jump with a parachute into the crater of an active volcano in Kamchatka.

• In 2012, Rozov flew from the Eurasian continent to the island of Sakhalin. For his jump, he chose the narrowest part of the Tatar Straight – 7.3 km in width. The athlete jumped from a helicopter at 4,00o meters and reached the landing site in front of the lighthouse in Pogibi settlement in just two minutes.

• In 2016, Valery Rozov broke the world record for the highest base jump (7,700 meters). The daredevil jumped from a Himalayan peak Cho Oyu at the border of China and Nepal and was freefalling for 90 seconds before he landed on a glacier 6,000 meters above sea level.

• Valery made the highest base jumps on five continents: 2009 – Elbrus / 4,650 m (Europe) 2010 – Ulvetanna / 2,650 m (Antarctica) 2015 – Kilimanjaro / 5,460 m (Africa) 2016 – Cho Oyu / 7,700 m (Asia) 2017 – Huascarán / 6,725 m (South America)

overcame those situations and moved on. You can hardly ever forget those experiences, but you can try to distract yourself. I had this stupid situation when I jumped during strong wind and failed to land. I was blown into a mountain river. The parachute was filled with air and dragged me downstream for about fifteen minutes. My hands and feet went numb. I thought that was the end of me! But I was lucky, I managed to catch hold of a snag. It saved my life.

12 | NEWS FROM KORCHMA

CULINARY WORKSHOPS

FOR CHILDREN

In Rus little children were taught how to cook. The children, especially the girls, always helped the mother when she baked fragrant bread, pampushky, or made cabbage rolls. They not only tried on the adult’s apron, but kept a close eye on the cooking process and the proportions that were used. After a while, a skillful cook and then a protector of the hearth and home grew up to help her mother. Centuries went by, but the tradition didn’t disappear. It is vigorously cherished by the Korchma Taras Bulba restaurant chain of home cooking in Moscow. Each Saturday and Sunday experienced chefs work for free with children of all ages, teaching them in workshops.

They can knead dough and make varenyky with their own hands, bake a cake or fry cheese pancakes and try out a lot of other interesting recipes.

Fortunately, there’s no other place in Moscow with such rich cuisine as Korchma; therefore, there are a lot of dishes to try out!

Teachers are sure that when parents open the world of cooking to their children they impart a range of good skills to them. First of all, this is the development of imagination and new discoveries, especially when your child is 2 to 4 years old. In this period children like mixing, sieving, and kneading. If it is like a game and under the supervision of a senior men-

tor, it’s very hard to overestimate the activity. Moreover, as a result we easily get simple shortcrust cookies or pies and for a child it is a double satisfaction. You will agree that there is nothing tastier than a dish cooked by yourself!

Second, strange as it might sound, when children cook it teaches them assiduity and numeracy. Because to be a good cook it isn’t enough just to

have good taste. It’s necessary to have a sense of proportion. That’s why it is always interesting for children to measure something out or to weigh something independently or to roll out the dough by themselves, to shape muffins or cut a funny figure out of the dough. This focuses their attention and teaches them to follow specific logical actions to obtain a result.

Third, the advantage concerns the

very parents. While your child is engaged in this fascinating activity, you may relax in private and taste all the variety of dishes at our restaurants.

Having enjoyed tasty food and drinks, only at Korchma you’ll understand how important the culinary art is!

Only few restaurants possess it and we are among them! Therefore, bring your children and open up new horizons for them!

PRIZES: 1st prize:

5,000 rubles 2nd prize:

3,000 rubles 3rd prize:

2,000 rubles

We started organizing a monthly photo contest. The conditions are quite simple. You just have to take an interesting picture in any of our restaurants and post in on social media with a geolocation. Your profile should be open and the picture needs to show that it was taken

in a Korchma. Winners will be selected every month. The more likes you get, the better your chances are. Participants who gain the most votes will get valuable prizes and their pictures will be published in our newspaper.

NEWS FROM KORCHMA | 13

Dear friend

Celebrate the New Year with Korchma Taras Bulba And you will be happy in 2018

WWW.TARASBULBA.RU

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

14 | MENU

MENU | 15

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По старинной традиции после встречи Нового года в кошельках большинства россиян остаются только отпечатки пальцев. Новый год – как моя тёща. Встречай, не встречай, всё равно припрётся. Составил список новогодних подарков и решил, что разругаться со всеми намного дешевле. Как показывает статистика, самые пьющие страны: зимой – Россия, летом – Турция и Египет. Интересно, в тот момент, когда повар жарит мясо, смотришь на это, и у тебя полный рот слюны. А у вегетарианцев тоже так, когда кто-то рядом газон косит?

Cautio�!

Reading books may change you!

Change for the better with us.

4 4 7 7 0 8 (495) 7

Ukrainian cuisine – made with love!

Restaurants’ location:

В ДРУГУЮ РЕАЛЬНОСТЬ

НЕПАЛ

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

ПУТЕШЕСТВИЕ

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,

ПУТЕШЕСТВИЕ

НЕПАЛ

64 Leningradskiy Prospekt St., (499) 151 9011

Baumanskaya metro station,

23/41 Bakuninskaya St., +7 (495) 956 55 81

В ДРУГУЮ РЕАЛЬНОСТЬ

Borovitskaya metro station,

8 Mokhovaya St., 24-hour, 89037965141; 89856448544

Leninskiy Prospekt metro station,

37 Leninskiy Prospect St., (495) 954 6466

Maryino metro station,

163/1 Lublinskaya St., 8 (495) 349 78 09

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

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

Smolenskaya metro station,

г.Москва, ул. Пятницкая 14

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

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

Tsvetnoy Boulevard metro station,

13/14 K2 Sadovaya-Samotechnaya St., (495) 694 0056

Chekhovskaya metro station,

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

Yugo-Zapadnaya metro station,

6 Borovskoye Road, (495) 980 2051

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Vystavochnaya metro station, of 1905 year,

27 B1 Shmitovskiy Passage, 24-hour, (499) 256-4660

The town of Odintsovo

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

Loo� for th� boo�

of th� Korchm�

i� al� restaurnt�

“Tara� Bulb�” chai�!

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