Igor’s birthday celebrations lasted nearly as long as our wedding celebrations. After our own celebrations on Thursday, we went to Korosten for the weekend, and 2 more days of fun.
Friday night with spent with friends at Anatoliy’s farm outside Korosten. I drove up after work, while Igor had come earlier in the day by bus. It was clear I was a more than a bit behind in the celebrations, but since I was driving, my fun was limited to the fabulous food. It’s not so fun to be sober amongst a bunch of drunk people, but I still managed to have a good time until about 11, when I’d had enough. We finally made it home close to 1 a.m.
Saturday we took Igor’s family to the awesome pizzeria. The owner lived for awhile in Italy and learned the art of pizza-making there, and has even built a special clay pizza oven. Actual Italians have told me it’s awesome pizza, and considering it’s the only decent restaurant in Korosten, it’s always our place of choice for any time we eat out. Good food and good times were had by all.
We noticed an odd and disturbing theme in Igor’s presents this year – a sake set, a flask with matching shot glasses, and a set of 6 malachite shot glasses. By the time he opened the third alcohol-oriented present, Igor was starting to worry that he might be an alcoholic (or at least his friends seem to think he’s a drunk). We now have enough booze sets to open a bar, I think. Is this a bad thing? Maybe not! But I’m glad I didn’t buy him the martini shaker and glasses. Those can wait until next year.
Our buddy Michael came up to Korosten Saturday afternoon, and we drove to the nearby forest so Michael could fulfill a long-time fantasy of mushroom gathering. I thankfully waited in the car while Igor, his parents and Michael tromped through the forest hunting the little fungi for a couple hours. My punishment came when we got home, when several bags of mushrooms were deposited before me for cleaning. Michael, anxious for the “full experience”, happily pitched in, and Igor, probably out of guilt, sat down to work too. In an hour or so, we had a big bucket of gorgeous mushrooms ready for cooking! And yuuuuummm, were they ever tasty. We had enough that we brought a bag back to Kyiv with us, and Igor added them to a fabulous pot of borscht that he whipped up. Yummy.
Sunday we hit the Korosten market, looking for a few bargains. Michael, photographer that he is, staked out the bus stop and photographed and talked up folks for a couple of hours. We finally headed back to Kyiv, Michael trying his hand at driving in Ukraine. He did well, but wasn’t ready for Kyiv traffic. But we made it home safe and sound.
All in all, a great, long and fun celebration of Igor’s birthday. Next weekend we head off to the Carpathian mountains. I hope the leaves haven’t all fallen yet!
Anka in Kyiv 