4.5 hours, 800uah, and 35 kilos later

Grocery shopping is an ordeal here. Not merely for the fact that without a car you can only shop for as much as you can carry by hand from the store front to your front door, but also for the sheer amount of time it takes.

Each week I normally fetch water from the kiosk twice - that's 22 liters of water and 18 minutes per trip.

I normally go to the grocery store two or even three times per week- weights vary. On a milk run I'll stalk up on about 8 liters of long life milk and try to avoid buying other heavy things like flour or meat and cheese at the same time.

If you go to the grocery store any time after 4:30pm - you can figure on standing in a very long line of people for at least 20 minutes. The standing in line is compounded by the fact that you never know really what line is shortest because the practice is to go, find a place in line behind someone - tell them you are behind them and then go run gather up some more groceries.

Today I visited Metro, the European version of Sam's Club or Costco. Metro is a once a year adventure for us as we don't have our own card and while not extremely far for us - it is a bit out of the way. The advantage of metro is that you can find some things there that are very hard to locate in other stores and some things will save you some money, but you do have to watch and calculate prices.

So I set out, hiking backpack, regular backpack and two grocery bags in tow. 3.45 hours and 800 uah griven later, I emerged with 35 kilos distributed between the bags. a 7 minute walk (amid stares) to the first bus stop (fortunately the end of the line so I could grab the out-of the way back corner. Then at my bus stop it was another 10 minute walk to the apartment.

Shh - just between us

Earlier in the summer my mom sent us a Meest package (the only reliable way to send things to Ukraine - my inlaws have been sending things post (no meest in the UK) and not even the marshmallows made it!) Among other things, the package contained a Betty Crocker 40th anniversary cookbook. Not only does it have great recipes (no more running back and forth to the computer to track down recipes) but it also has helpful hints and historic information inset above the recipes. The caption for apple pie read: "An apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze" I told that to Alister and gave him a kiss and a squeeze and he was horrified - not at the kiss and the squeeze but at the idea of Apple pie with cheese.

I, however, had a broader mind - for years my favorite apple dessert growing up was Wenatchee Crumble - a scrumptious fall dish with a cheese, flour, and sugar crumble topping. In fact, Alister had probably even tried it, and liked it, when he came to Thanksgiving dinner with me at the Peace House in Philadelphia. Having been reminded of the joys of spiced apples and cheese - I couldn't remember why I wanted to make an apple pie in the first place, and quickly whipped up a Wenatchee Crumble instead.

And Alister like it.

From my mom's kitchen (via somewhere else) . . . .

Wenatchee Crumble

Wash, pare, & slice enough apples to fill a lightly buttered baking dish/pan about 2/3 – ¾ full of apples. (I make the slices across the short quarter of the apples, as it is easier to stir in sugar and cinnamon.

Sprinkle 1-1½ cups sugar, 3 tsp. cinnamon, and ½ tsp. salt over top. Add 2 Tablespoons lemon juice plus 1-2 Tablespoons water. (More lemon & less water if apples are like our delicious in the states.) Gently stir through apples. May cover & freeze at this stage.

Topping* – Stir together 1 cup flour, ½ cup sugar, ½ tsp. salt; add 1 cup Amer. Cheese (I use cheddar) and ½ c. melted butter. Mix all ingredients together. Spread evenly over apples.

Bake 30 - 35 min until apples are tender at 375F

*This amount is for an 8” or 9” square pan. Double for a 9 x 13 pan.

Most cheeses go well with apples. Swiss would probably be acceptable. Would advise against mozzarella.

Harvest

My balcony garden has been harvested.

Plant tally:
1 healthy stalk of cilantro
7 small, but yummy tomatoes
7 celery stalks

The celery here is differnt from american celery - it does grow big and fat - but rather stays lean and is a little on the tougher side, but it still added nice flavor to a pot roast I made the other night. The rest I'm putting up in the freezer.

I don't think I'll do the indoor garden thing again - maybe just for herbs.

Before . . ..

After . . ..

My Tomatoes	My Celery

Ukrainian Canning Supplies

After several more hours of fruitless searching I've concluded that there are no pictures to be had on the internet of Ukrainian Home Canning method.

Here is my pictograph 101 of Ukrainian canning Supplies

	Canning supplies and applesauce. Here you see the soviet canning keys and the canning jars. As well as a display of my yummy apple sauce that I really hope sealed
	Ukrainian canning key. This key works like a reverse can-opener. You set it on the lid and then wheel it around to clamp the edge of the lid to the jar.
	Kazakhstan canning key. Another form of canning key. Though not found in Ukraine, it seems to be easier to get your jars to seal. Here you place the key on the jar lid and pull the levers apart and down; clamping the lid to the jar to seal.
	A clamp on lid that should be used with the canning keys
	This is a screw on jar and lid - It should, in theory be easier to use since no clamping is involved - but the lid doesn't have a really visible "bubble" so it is hard to know if you achieved your seal.

Canning season begins

Fall is here - which means that Alister and I are stocking up for the winter. Yesterday he carried home 40 kilos of potatoes and 20 of Onions (not in one go) and today I started buying apples and also learning how to can - Ukrainian - or soviet style. My mother, master-food-preserver (actual title) though she is - has not yet imparted the art of canning to me - and even if she had - the materials available here are totally different. I can't find pictures of this Ukrainian method on the Internet - but basically you have this lid that you first seal to the lid through natural cooling processes and then clamp it on using a "key". Luckily - they are now starting to sell some twisty lids too - which will make it easier.
I also bought a "juice" maker - it really does more of a pulp and so the next few days i hope to find time to run apples and tomatoes through it for apple and tomato sauce (don't worry - they won't be mixed) .
Many thanks to the ex-pats here who have imparted knowledge and also the many women in the rinok who were willing to explain and mime the process. Here's hoping it all turns out.

Every cat has his quirk

After a few days of having Haggai - we began to suspect that maybe we got him a little too soon. Why? - well - he keeps looking for any bare piece of skin that he can latch onto and "nurse". At first he just tried to seek out milk in our hair - Well that makes sense - his mom was furry and our heads our "furry" and so you put two and two together and there should be milk somewhere in there. But lately - he has taken to latching onto our wrists, the palms of our hands, our forearms, and Alister's forehead. Aside from the excessive slobber - it doesn't really do us any harm - and he seems perfectly content - in ecstasy really judging from his purring. Still I hope he grows out of it as a grown cat latching onto ones arm will no longer be cute or understandable.