Though Mardi Gras and Carnival are over, signaling the beginning of the Christian Lenten period, the local Maslenytsa tradition is all set to begin, meaning it’s time to think about pancakes (crepes, actually), known in Ukrainian as mlyntsy. In Ukraine mlyntsy are easy to find – just turn to any Ukrainian restaurant and they’re bound to be on the menu. But forget the restaurant scene for a while.
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At a few parties this weekend – the opening of a new local nightclub, a private combination going away/birthday celebration and an elite food-tasting club event – I had the chance to really immerse myself in what variously constitutes ex-pat life in this city.
My American mother-in-law once found herself in a very uneasy situation: While visiting her son (my future husband) in Kyrgyzstan years ago, she was introduced to the invigorating experience of a Russian banya. However, with no understanding of Russian culture or the language, she found herself locked in a steamy room with a large, naked Russian woman who proceeded to undress her and beat her with a bunch of birch branches.
From personal experience I know how hard it is to shop for men. Seriously, how many more times can you give your husband, brother, or boyfriend a belt, a business-card holder, or another “Simpsons†mug? Valentine’s Day is the toughest nut to crack: does a gray scarf, beige sweater, light-blue button-down shirt really say “I love you� On the other extreme, you can’t bring yourself to give him a heart-shaped box of chocolates.
A few years back, when the porn industry was going through its modern boom phase, many media critics began enunciating the doom of “soft-core” magazines such as Playboy. They felt that, at least for the tastes of many sexually dysfunctional North Americans, the magazine had nothing to offer readers.
Fast-forward to the present and I’m sitting at home with my girlfriend flipping through the latest copy of Playboy Ukraine. No, we weren’t exactly reading all the articles (more…)
Haven’t planned anything for Valentine’s Day? We offer some ideas for simple, romantic dates.
Option #1
The National Opera Theater will present Tchaikovsky’s wonderful three-part “Swan Lake†ballet on Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. Tickets start from just Hr 10 and top out at Hr 100. The show should be done before 10 p.m., at which time we recommend dinner and drinks at Italian chef Franco Bettoni’s Mille Miglia restaurant in the Radisson SAS (22 Yaroslaviv Val, 492-2255). Though further away from the opera than another good Italian eatery, (more…)
It’s long been around - the movie and book exchange at the Baboon cafe/bookstore. For those who have blinked and missed the note in the Kyiv Post Community Listings (see p. 33 for these), it’s pretty simple: bring your old books to Baboon, trade them in for old or new ones, or receive credit on future purchases. The same applies to movies, of which they have a growing stack of VHS tapes. Maybe most people have already switched to DVDs, but for those that haven’t this is a gold mine.
We’re not going to say that a Cuban revolution is going on in Kyiv, but from two years ago, where there weren’t any smoke shops here, to today, when there happen to be five (downtown street corner kiosks included), that’s almost revolutionary. Cigar-starved Kyivans now have reason to celebrate.
SPORTS, CLUBS, FILM,
It’s wonderful to acknowledge charitable giving in Ukraine, whenever and however it is done. Even better is acknowledging that the Kyiv Lions Club, now three years old, will again host the now 10th-annual Robbie Burns Night party, all the proceeds for which will go to their eponymous charity fund, to be distributed to local charities.
