Borsch is our EvErything! The Globe in Your PockeT

W e h a ve o n l y fre s h a n d s a vo r y n e w s!
August 2015 | № 8 (143)
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Borsch
is Our
Everything!
The Globe in Your Pocket
The Celestial Empire: Theaters of the Future,
Scorpio Barbecue and Songs for Mao
Legends of the Blue Screen
FedirStryhun: “A Film Is Always a Lottery”
Vyshyvanka Couture
Oksana Karavanska and her
embroidered shirts for the third millennium.
Wi-Fi in all
restaurants
24/7 food delivery and hotline:
8 (495) 780-77-44
www.tarasbulba.ru
6+
2 | bon appetit!
Borsch is Our Everything!
Borsch is not only delicious, aromatic, healthy, but indeed a cult dish. It has been well said
that “Life without borsch is like fish soup without bream”. Its home country is Ukraine, but
it is also hard to imagine traditional Russian, Byelorussian, Polish and Lithuanian cuisines
without it. Moreover, in each national cuisine, it acquired its peculiar flavor. Its taste became
new, acquired new tinges. There is no need to say that two housewives preparing to the same
recipe will never cook two identical borsches – each woman will add something new to it.
There are plenty of ways of its preparation
and combination of ingredients. However, what is
for sure is that real borsch is impossible without
beetroot (buryak in Ukrainian). Beetroot is first
stewed, fried or boiled and only then added to broth.
The vegetables most commonly added to borsch are
white cabbage, potatoes, carrot, onion, bell peppers,
tomatoes (tomato paste), garlic, g r e e n e r y
and spices.
The basis for borsch
could be meat, chicken, or
mushroom broth. The most
delicious borsch is prepared
using two or more types of
meat. It is important to cook
it for 1.5-2 hours on a slow
fire, skimming off the foam
all the time for borsch to
be rich and transparent.
Those people who like
the
taste
of smoked
meat
use
smoked ribs or sausage.
Ifthedishispreparedwithoutmeat, you can add
beans, slightly roasted flour, mushrooms, pork fat
with garlic, and even fish.
A peculiar borsch is cooked using pickled
vegetables (beetroot and carrot) or sauerkraut.
Sourness is needed not only for the taste, but also
for preservationof nice red color of beetroot. For
this, housewives often use vinegar or lemon juice. It
is interesting that in West Ukraine, borsch is cooked
without cabbage and potatoes, only with beetroot
and sauté of carrot and onion with an addition of
cherry or apple juice.
Borsch is served with
sour cream, green onion,
donuts under garlic
sauce or with
brown bread, or
dumplings
(in
Poltava region, for
example).
Borsch
is
popularnationwide not only
for its nice taste, but also
for its nutritional value.
Why is this cult dish
so
wholesome?
Firstly, it is rich in vitamins:
• Vitamin C – antioxidant, stimulates immunity;
• Vitamin K – regulates blood coagulation;
• Vitamin A – stimulates visual organs;
• B vitamins (B1, B6, B9, B12) – “beauty vitamins”,
positively influence metabolic processes, improve
memory and nervous system.
Besides, vegetables in borsch are rich in cellulose
that eliminatestoxins, radionuclides and other
waste from the body. Due to its ingredients, even
the most common borsch very influences the human
organism in a most positive way by:
• actingas a choleretic;
• normalizingmetabolism;
• havinggood influence on the heart function;
• improvingintestinal peristalsis;
• havingan antisclerotic effect.
The uniqueness of borsch lies in that that, by
changing ingredients, you can get thick, highcalorie or light dietary, however always tasty and
healthy dish. People who take care of their figurecan
prepare borsch with chicken broth or with no meat
at all, adding some kidney beans, mushrooms, etc.
Amountofsalt could be also reduced and replaced
with herbs. It is not necessary to forgo sour cream,
just a less heavy one could be used. Tocompare, the
bon appetit! | 3
calorie content of different kinds of borsch per
100 g is provided below:
• With meat broth – 78 kcal;
• With chicken broth – 50 kcal;
• Lean borsch with light sour cream – 36 kcal;
• Borsch without meat and sour cream – 33
kcal.
This said, borsch can be included into the diet
of a girl getting thin or a man doing manual work
– all you need to do is just slightly change the
recipe.
For centuries of its existence, borsch has
become not only the staple of national cuisine,
but also the centerpiece in the cultures of many
nations, especially Ukrainian and Russian. There
are lots of proverbs about it: “But for all tales,
the borsch is getting cold”; “Have I either dug
over your boundary path, or sneezed into your
borsch?”; “Lunch is not lunch without borsch,
and borsch is not borsch without beetroot”; “One
hundred housewives means one hundred different
varieties of borsch” etc.
Many interesting traditions are connected
with the dish. For example, in the ZaporizhianSich,
young Cossacks were checked“for strength” by
highly peppered, so-called “wise” borsch. Red
color of the soup was a symbol of good luck and
wealth, that’s why it was cooked for weddings.
According to other sayings, people believed that
the soul of the deceased went off with the borsch
steam, that’s why the dish was served at the
funeral repast.
The legend dish is also mentioned in the
literature. It is mentioned in The Aeneid by
Kotlyarevskyi, The Master and Margarita by
Bulgakov, A Cloud in Trousers by Mayakovski,
etc. There is a notable quotation in The Twelve
Chairs by Ilf and Petrov, where the Ukrainian
borsch is presented as part of the lavish dinner
at the house of Alexander Yakovlevich,assistant
warden of the second home of Stargorod
Social Security Administration, “the bashful
chiseler”: “Pot luck that day happened to be a
bottle of Zubrovka, home-pickled mushrooms,
minced herring, Ukrainian borsch with firstgrade meat, chicken with rice, and stewed
apples.”
Talks about borsch can be endless, and isn’t it
better to go to the kitchen and prepare your own
culinary masterpiece?
from the Korchma Chef
Во рту Артёма сразу накопилось столько
слюны, что он не смог говорить.
Первая же ложка ударила в голову так,
словно Артём залпом выпил чудесной, пламенной, с царского стола водки, а потом сам
царь жарко поцеловал его, скажем, в лоб.
Артём одновременно вспотел и стал полностью, до последней жилки, счастлив.
Счастье это желало длиться и длиться.
Этот борщ был не просто едой – он был
постижением природы и самопостижением,
продолжением рода и богоискательством,
обретением покоя и восторженным ликованием всех человеческих сил, заключённых в
горячем, расцветающем теле и бессмертной
душе.
Они съели по три тарелки, пока бидон не
опустел.
Несколько раз Артём едва не перекусил
свою ложку.
Text: Olga SINYUGINA
SPECIAL BORSHCH KORCHMA with meat
Served with home-made sour cream and fresh Pampushki with garlic
200/300 g 190/270 rub
Recipe for Borsch
О нем пишут гранды…
Захар Прилепин, писатель
LENTEN BORSHCH WITH SMOKE-CURED PEAR
According to the recipe of the chef IRINA CHEREPOK. Served with sour cream
200/300 g 130/180 rub
If you decide to cook borsch, soak
kidney beans for 6-8 hours, sort and wash
them beforehand. Then wash the meat
well in cold water and put it on the fire.
When it begins to boil, thoroughly skim
off the foam and turn down the fire. Cook
it until the meat starts to fall off the
bones.
How to prepare
ingredients
• Boil kidney beans;
• Peel the beetroot, wash it and cut
into strips, then fry in the vegetable oil or
rendered fat. For the beetroot not to lose its
color, add lemon juice and sugar;
• Separately sauté the onions and
carrots. Cut the bell peppers and tomatoes
into strips. After vegetables have cooked,
add tomato paste and mix everything
thoroughly;
• Cut cabbage into strips.
All done!
How to cook borsch
• Put potatoes into the broth, cook
them. Then add kidney beans and vegetable
sauté. When everything begins to boil, add
part of the cabbage;
• Add salt and pepper;
• Add the rest of beetroot sauté and
another part of cabbage.
• Add salt, sugar to taste, 2-3 bay
leaves, leave to boil for 2-3 minutes, cover.
Let it draw for some time.
Serve the dish with garlic, greens and
sour cream.
Bon appétit!
4 | guest
He is one of the most famous Ukrainian actors and played quite a number of film roles. He can talk
about his stage impersonations and to wax nostalgically about people he used to know for hours
on end. They are the legendary Ivan Mykolaychuk, Leonid Bykov and many others. The audience
remembers him for his part in the popular film The Lost Letter based on Nikolai Gogol’s short
story. He brilliantly played the part of Cossack Ivan and his brother Andriy. Our today’s issue of
BulbaNEWS features an exclusive interview with actor Fedir Stryhun.
Fedir Stryhun:
«A Film Is Always a Lottery»
– You were close friends with actor Ivan
Mykolaychuk. People say he often acted as a
“battery on the film set.” In particular, during
the shooting of The Lost Letter, he would come
up with something unbelievable that would
otherwise be difficult to achieve following
director’s instructions. Can you recall any of such
cases?
When we all came to see it, we were in awe – it
was so beautiful. So we filmed the enchanted lake
scene there. This is how Ivan’s cinematographic
vision helped us out. He had another peculiar
feature. His first take always turned out to be the
most successful. Whenever they tried to shoot
more takes, they would always turn out worse and
worse. He was an actor of the first take.
– I can tell you hundreds of stories about how
this film was made. Ivan had a motto: “You shoot
a film despite everything!” When there was no
budget for a full-scale shooting, Mykolaychuk
would come up with a trick that would make the
episode look even better than if it had been fully
funded. For example, the enchanted lake scene
was to be filmed in the botanical garden in Sochi.
When they calculated the costs, they saw that we
would need to triple our budget for the film. Then
Ivan said: “Why would you do something like that?
I’m going to find you a lake here.” There used to
be a hydroelectric power station and a dried bog
in Krasnogorivka (Poltava Region), where the
shooting took place. He came up with the idea to
pump water into the bog. It took a week to fill.
– There was an interesting episode in your
biography: something related to stealing a copy
of the The Lost Letter film footage?
– You need to understand that the film was
banned from release and stayed on a shelf for
seventeen years. So Ivan got this idea that it could
get lost and then no one would be able to find it. So
he came up with the idea to steal a copy of the film
and keep it until better times. That’s what we did. It
was all a joke with a noble purpose behind it.
– People say Sergey Paradzhanov especially
liked this film?
– It was his favorite. Despite being banned, the
film was shown at the studio – to delegations, to
guests. Once, we bumped into Paradzhanov at the
Dovzhenko Film Studio, and he started shouting:
“Look! The two geniuses walking! They don’t even
realize how genius they are! They revealed Gogol’s
secrets! You have no idea who you are.” He started
hugging us and he was sincerely happy that we
made such a good movie.
– Who was Ivan Mykolaychuk to you?
– I had few friends in my life as close as Ivan was.
Every time I came to Kyiv on some business, I would
stay at his place. We used to stay up late talking.
Ivan often read me his new scripts – first drafts. We
never had an argument throughout all the years of
our friendship. We felt like we were from the same
village. Our companionship was based on songs.
He would start humming some melody and I would
catch up immediately, and vice versa. Sometimes he
asked with astonishment: “How could it be that I’m
from Bukovina and you’re from Cherkassy Region?”
We were always united by songs. I liked him a lot.
I clearly saw all his flaws and vices, but his feature
number one was his talent.
guest | 5
Specifically for The Guide, Tractor
No. 4, manufactured on the first day
of work of Kharkiv Tractor Factory,
was taken down from its pedestal
and refurbished. Estimated cost of
this renovated machine now makes
up over one million US dollars.
– In addition to his talent, which of Ivan’s
features did you like most?
Ivan was never ashamed of being Ukrainian,
never ashamed of his mother tongue. He never felt
inferior; he was ever so dignified. Ivan Mykolaychuk,
like Sergey Paradzhanov and Oleksandr Dovzhenko,
is a great Ukrainian for me.
– Film industry put you in touch with many
talented people of that time. One of them was
Leonid Bykov – a Ukrainian actor and director.
What do you remember about him?
– Whenever I met Leonid Fedorovych, I felt that I
knew him since we were kids. It’s a pity that he had
to leave the set of The Lost Letter when he fell off
the horse and broke his leg.
All the films with his participation were very
popular. We immediately hit it off with him. He
was a good man. He and my wife co-starred in
Maksym Perepelytsia. He would always send us
greetings with friends, kept tabs on our theater
work. He was a modest and sensitive actor. I
haven’t met a more modest or sensitive man in
my life. Whenever we met I always cheered up
and things went better for me throughout the
day. Everyone adored him at the studio. My heart
would skip a beat every time I thought I was lucky
to know such a person as Leonid Bykov. He was a
naturally talented actor. He liked to play football
with village boys. It made him so happy. His jokes
were always up to the point and we remembered
those years after he told them.
– Ukraine submitted the film The Guide for
the 66th Film Festival in Cannes. You also played
a part in that film, didn’t you?
– Yes, I did. I got a call from the director – Oles
Sanin – and was offered a part. I respect Sanin a
lot, but I agreed to give my response only after
reading the script. Frankly, I was contemplating
refusal because I didn’t have time. Oles sent me the
script. I was captivated, you don’t get that many
quality scripts these days. The story, on which the
film was based, turned out new and unexpectedly
interesting. (The Guide is based on real events
about 200 kobza players who, in 1934, were invited
to an alleged Academy of Science symposium in
Kharkiv. Instead, they were all taken to the woods
and shot to death.) I agreed to be involved. I felt at
ease working with his team, my scenes were filmed
in three days. I have very warm memories of that
shooting.
– You once called cinema a firebird. What did
you mean by that metaphor?
– When you work in a theatre, you’re always
engaged in a creative process. You perform on stage,
you work on your part, you rehearse it dozens of
times. In other words, you improve your acting
skills. Cinema is different. You never know whether
you will be cast or not, what script you will get, what
director you will work with… It is all a kind of a
lottery. When you’re lucky to be part of a real “crew”
who want to make a high-quality film, you become
a happy person, it is as if you guessed a number
combination and hit the lottery. Cinema employs
your talents and skills you received in college, from
your professor, from your cooperation with a theater
director. Cinema is in a hurry to employ all of this,
there is no time to stop and analyze it.
Text: Lesya Kichura
Photos courtesy of Fedir Stryhun and Archives of Maria
Zankovetska Ukrainian National Drama Theater
6 | History
August 1st
Feast Day of St.Seraphim of Sarov
August 2nd
St.Elias’ Day
August 6th
Feast Day of Martyrs and Passion-Bearers Princes Boris and Gleb
August 8th
Mountaineer Day
8
августа
«Seventeen Moments
of Spring»:
Anniversary of the Cult TV Series
Mountaineer Day
August 12th
International Youth Day
August 14th
Savior of the Honey Feast Day
Beginning of the Assumption Fast (till August 27th)
August 18th
Anniversary of the
Korchma on Leninskiy Ave.
August 19th
Feast of the Transfiguration
Savior of Apples Feast Day
August 22nd
St. Matthew the Apostle’s Feast Day
August 24th
Ukraine’s Independence Day
August 28th
Assumption of the Holy Virgin
August 29th
Savior of the Bread Feast Day
August 30th
Anniversary of the Korchma
in Shmitovskiy Proezd
August 31st
Feast of the Icon of the Most Holy Queen of All
On August 11th, 1973, a new TV series titled Seventeen Moments of Spring was
released in the USSR. It portrayed a Soviet spy who managed to get into high
places of Nazi Germany. The first episode was aired on a Saturday night, at
7.45 pm. It seemed that the premiere was anticipated by the entire country.
The series was indeed exceptionally successful. The first episode was watched
by at least fifty million people – the audience that only a few present-day
blockbusters can gather. For the next twelve nights, city streets were deserted
and crime levels plummeted, while the consumption of electricity and water
skyrocketed. Everyone was at home watching TV.
The TV series’ godfather was the Soviet writer
Yulian Semenov. It was his genius that stood behind Stierlitz and other characters of this multiepisode TV film. Before that, Semenov worked
mainly in a different genre, he was writing about
lives of diplomats or North Pole explorers. In 1964,
Semenov took a U-turn in his writing career and
published a thrilling novel 38 Petrovka about Moscow Crime Investigation Department detectives.
The book sold out immediately. People wanted
to get it, talk about it, discuss it. Despite all the
fame he enjoyed from his criminal detective, the
author moved on to a political detective. Two years
later, he finished the novel No Password Required,
where the main protagonist was a Soviet spy working under the code name Maksim Isaev. That novel
also found lots of admirers, and so Yulian Semenov
wrote two sequels – Major Storm and Seventeen
Moments of Spring.
That was the time when the novels fell into
the hands of Yuriy Andropov, the KGB chief. He
voiced his gratitude and offered the author access to the archives of the powerful security service to complement his novels with more credible
details. What’s more, the Committee for State Security (KGB) chief was the initiator of the novel’s screen adaptation. He said that the book was
successful enough, but a TV film would be much
more influential. It is assumed that Andropov
and his employees personally reviewed all the
filmed scenes and revised them. There is even an
anecdote related to his involvement in the production. He noticed that all German soldiers in
all scenes were played by Jewish actors. He was
indignant: “What army are you showing – German or Jewish?” The scenes were re-shot with
hastily imported five dozens of blond cadets
from the Estonian KGB High School.
Initially, Yulian Semenov submitted his script
to Lenfilm, but then the right to develop it into a
film was won by Tatiana Lioznova from the Gorky
Film Studio. Lots of high officials tried to prevent
her nomination, but she managed to convince the
KGB officials that, despite being a woman, she was
capable of making a film about tough men. She also
made her own amendments to the script and introduced several new characters. In particular, she introduced Frau Zaurich into her film. You can remember the scene at the beginning of the first episode
where Stierlitz takes her out for a walk in the wood.
Lioznova explained her decision: she introduced
new characters to get a deeper insight into the protagonist’s character.
“Who do you think he’s taking out? Himself. He
needs to get out of this hell of shoulder straps,” she
said.
Frau Zaurich’s role was meant for the great Faina
Ranevskaya. But Semenov wrote her role in a hurry
and without particular enthusiasm. When Ranevskaya received the script she exclaimed: “What is this
History | 7
Vana Tallinn:
The Legend
of the Old Town
nonsense? How can anyone play it?”, and she
refused to film.
Another little known fact is that the lead
part was written for Archil Gomiashvili, wellrecognized for his role of Ostap Bender from
Twelve Chairs. His casting was supported by
Semenov himself. They also negotiated with
Innokentiy Smoktunovsky. However Tatiana
Lioznova was adamant – the protagonist has to
be different. And so she brought in Viacheslav
Tikhonov – a romantic and enigmatic actor.
Curiously enough, after the film went off the
air, packs of letters started coming to the film
studio. The majority of them were addressed to
Tikhonov. Soviet women made him a symbol of
male beauty.
The initial script didn’t contain the most
memorable scene of the TV series, in which
Stierlitz meets his wife in a coffee shop. These
scenes were shot in the course of filming. They
were also inspired and implemented by Tatiana
Lioznova.
Another interesting story is related to
Muller who was played by Leonid Bronevoy.
The part was first offered to Vsevolod Sanaev,
but he refused with indignation: “I am a Secretary of the MosFilm Party Organization, no way
I’m playing a fascist!” For his part, Bronevoy
was offered a largely symbolic fee of 2,435 rubles. Distributed equally over the three years
of filming, it made 68 rubles per month. He
didn’t feel particularly excited about playing
a despised German for such a ridiculous pay.
However the director managed to convince
him: “Just imagine what this part might mean
to you!” She was right in the end, and Bronevoy later admitted that the part of Muller was
a turning point in his career.
Yuriy Vizbor was another actor who tried to
refuse his part only to change his mind later.
In order to create a dangerous personality of a
fascist superior, the actor had to put in cotton
tampons up his nose and to pad his uniform
with foam plastic sponge for a bigger and more
impressive look. Vizbor’s voice was too soft and
tender so, in the final cut of the film, it was
dubbed by another actor – Solovyev, from the
Film Actors’ Theatre.
From the start of the production, the crew
tried to make the film as credible as possible.
The filmmakers spent hours on end watching
documentary reels from the times of WWII.
None of the costumes was made without the
involvement of a historical consultant. Colonel
Braun who used to serve in intelligence rendered his valuable expertise. Everything, from
epaulettes to the tiniest insignia and buttonholes, was designed meticulously. It was rumoured that a hundred white shirts were made
for Stierlitz alone, because filming took place
in multiple locations, and there was no time
to wash them, so they had to ensure that the
chief spy always looked smart.
Another interesting fact: Tikhonov’s hands
were never shown up-close in the film. When
his character was drawing something or building structures out of matches, one of his doubles was used. The explanation was trivial: Tikhonov had a tattoo “Glory” on his hand, which
he made in his early youth. It didn’t quite fit
the romantic image created by the director.
The resulting film was a popular, even iconic, movie. Several generations of viewers have
seen and enjoyed it. People still use quotes
from the film’s characters and make up jokes
around them.
Text: Stepan HRYTSYUK
If you happened to be born and raised
during the USSR times, you definitely
remember your business trips or vacations
in the Baltic countries. To many of us, it was
as close an experience as traveling abroad.
The moment you boarded the special train
Moscow – Tallinn, you got immersed into a
different atmosphere. The Baltics met you
with the coziness of their groomed cities,
excellent coffee and premium service. They
also offered wonderful liquor Vana Tallinn,
which is still produced in Estonia. It
differed from other imperfect Soviet
alcoholic drinks by its refined taste.
On our way back from a business trip or
a vacation, we always brought a bottle
or two of this dark-brown liquor. The
production of Vana Tallinn was launched
in 1962, but it is still very popular and
remains number one exported product
in the Estonian food industry. In 2013,
the factory celebrated the release of its
one-hundred-millionth bottle.
It is interesting to know that
Vana Tallinn was created by a team
of specialists. The recipe of the new
beverage started to develop in the early
1960s when hard spirits were especially
popular. That was also the time of
different production plans and five-year
plans. As part of one of such plans, the
Estonian Republic was assigned a task
to create a high-quality and distinctive
alcoholic product. It had to be a strong
stuff, but also mellow to the taste.
Process engineers immediately set
down to work. Experts spent lots of time
and efforts and finally succeeded. In 1962, the rum-based
liquor was launched to the market. It had a unique taste with
underlying natural components, such as citrus oils, cinnamon
and vanilla. The
liquor was a product
of
cooperation
with many friendly
socialist countries.
The rum was imported
from Cuba, and the
spices from India. The
corporate ties remain
unbroken to this day,
except that Cuban
rum was replaced
with Jamaican one.
All other ingredients
for Vana Tallinn,
just as in the past,
are imported from
various countries of
the world, but mainly
from Indonesia and
China. That is why one bottle of the liquor can be quite pricy.
The manufacturers assure us that they only use the best
possible ingredients. For instance, one cinnamon stick for
Vana Tallinn might cost up to three euros.
However, if you make up your mind to push out the boat
and taste the legendary drink, remember it is recommended
to serve it alone, without any additions. You may choose to
place a few ice rocks into your glass. Some people also like
having Vana Tallinn with coffee or tea.
8 | Travelling
The Celestial Empire: Theaters of the Future,
Scorpio Barbecue and Songs for Mao. Chapter 1
The Globe in Your Pocket
In between my trips I hardly have enough time
to get tired of Moscow when it’s time to fly off to
China. It was a trip inspired by 19th-centry adventurers. One day, a big Chinese boss came into our restaurant and invited me to China for the opening of
our Korchma. Like explorer Papanin drifting on an
ice floe, I was driving at a snail’s pace in Moscow’s
stretched-out traffic jams to the Sheremetyevo Airport. My flight was scheduled for a rather inconvenient time – 9.40 pm, and I had to check in by 7
pm, which meant driving out at 6 pm, at the height
of traffic jams when all commuters are driving from
Moscow back to the suburbs. Some of them travel up
to 100 km outside the Moscow Belt Road. Watching
them makes me wonder: would the traffic jams be
much smaller if the commuters compared the cost
of living in Moscow with the money and time spent
on the road – 3-4 hours daily, sometimes even up to
5 hours?
The most horrible places at this time of day are
traffic circles. They reveal the worst in all of us! No
one lets anyone pass and so the giant ouroboros
is biting its own tail. The traffic is at a standstill.
5-7 small accidents along the 20-km stretch of the
road, but everyone is curious to slow down and take
a look. In The Bull’s Hour, Efremov wrote that most
of the onlookers do it not out of their wish to help
out but just to watch. In our days, they also want to
video it on their phone and share with friends. The
seconds multiplied by thousands of cars equal long
hours of waiting. This is wasted time, fuel and money. I was lucky to drive through in no time. I know
a secret method for being on time. No line at the
check-in, no one at the passport control! Whether it
was the recession or just Wednesday to blame, but it
was obviously not a busy traveling day.
The flight was so uneventful it’s not even worth
writing about. A movie – Focus with Will Smith about
con men and grifters – and a four-hour nap later, we
landed in Beijing in the middle of the night. The city
was covered with smog – it might be a simple night
mist or a result of a bad environment.
Despite its shining novelty and impressive size,
our Aeroflot Airbus got parked somewhere in a distant corner. We were taken to the terminal by bus.
At the same time, KLM, Air France and Ukraine International Airlines planes were standing at the jetways. Why was that – because of sanctions or because of disregard to the big brother?
When I came out I was greeted by a driver. He was
disappointed because he was expecting three people
instead of just me. Two hours of driving on good but
otherwise unimpressive toll highway. Just like in
our country, behind the fences of wealthy golf clubs
– the misery and tears of the poor. Once, when Sven
Tumba Johansson was playing there, young boys
were fishing gold balls out of the neck-deep pond,
fumbling for them with their feet at the bottom.
They returned the balls for $1 apiece, while stores
sold them for $5. That was their business. They must
have grown into bankers by now.
My hotel was quite decent. Sasha and Olga arrived. At 5 pm we were taken to the theater. It is a
grand building, like all the buildings around here.
All the major troupes performedhere: the Midori,
the Mariinsky, the Bolshoi, but also the Germans,
the Americans, the Danes, the Swedes and others.
The theater is large, deserted and quiet during the
day. It doesn’t look like a place I would invest in, but
I’m ready to help them launch aKorchma with their
own money.
Travelling | 9
We inspected the kitchen, the tea restaurant and
the piano salon. Then we were invited to dinner by
Mr. Chen – the theater director. With twelve dishes served, all of themoffered new tastes and products. Snails, mussels, fish. Beans and crabs looked
familiar.Everything feelscheerful and well-minded.
Chen’s wife keeps two greyhounds in the theater’s
patio. This makes a very so slightimpressionof Russia. After dinner, we went for coffee to the nearest
mall. There areStarbucks and Costa Coffee here.
Prada, Gucci, Gabbana and other high-end outlets with Tiffany and Cartier remind me of the
Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates. The prices are higher
than in Moscow. The wealthier the consumers, the
higher the prices.
My computer doesn’t work. There is no Facebook, YouTube and other diversions, so I can’t post
tomy online journal. Not in real time. Before falling
asleep I remember crowds of dancing Chinese and
wonder why I, along with another hundred or two of
my compatriots, cannot dance to some unsophisticated and fluent tune.
My hotel was out of water next morning. All
sweaty after my crossfit WOD, I dried off, got dressed
and left. I was annoyed to notice that the commercial director, who came to pick us up that morning,
was 15 minutes late. We went to see the theater’s
roof. The roof turned out to be a vast empty upperfloor space of 8,000 square meters. The German architect who designed it planned a big restaurant
there. He even installed food elevators. It all looks
very unusual in large open spaces. Chinese kitchensnormally have deep tubs, frying pans, ovens
large enough to burn bricks. Pancake makers
are 1m in diameter. A little Chinese chef is in
charge of everything.
They cook everything on gas, they have no
fear of gas. Even the top theater’s floor has a large
gas pipe installed on it. China consumes a lot of coal
for heating and industry. Gas is their fuel
of the future. If they
get hooked to
our gas pipe, the Gazprom shareholders will be living in an easy street. We will hardly benefit from it,
but we can always cheer for our luckier compatriots.
Solidarity doesn’t make a great nation, the wealth of
the few and the poverty of many makes a great nation. While we’re killing each other over territories,
which belong to us anyway, while we forget that we
shed more than enough blood on them, while we
fall farther back into the past and destroy everything built over the centuries, other nations launch
manufacturing of $1-worth music boxes and build
theaters of the future. We are used to catching up,
to sobering up after a hangover. Too bad, many of us
won’t live to see the happy day.
We descended into a patio with glass elevators
and paved fountains. A huge music fountain in an
artificial lake. They say this yard once hosted a party
for2,000 guests. Like astronauts on another planet,
we looked on at a huge starship. We had a tour ofthe
auditorium and the set design. Everythinglookedvery impressive, built in no time at all. I once heard
that they built 200 metro stations in three years in
some city in China. Shanghai used to have two metro
lines in 2011, now it has six of them. The Party is
very skilled at mobilizing the masses. You inevitably
get impressed with the result of one billion people’s
work. Even the smog covering the sun does not spoil
the feeling.
You might even think it’s a permanent mist.
We had Peking
duck for lunch
and other traditional ten
dishes. After dessert
we were
served
with a soup cooked on the bones of the duck we
just consumed. The lunch was taken care ofby the
Director General’s wife, his business card says he’s
President of the Grand Theater. We gave our thanks,
smiled and moved on to have coffee atStarbucks.
This is the only international brand so far that was
translated into Chinese. The hieroglyphs look exotic! The name alone stretches for two lines.
We had a tour of the historic and tourist city center. While we walked around we were amazed at the
abundance of souvenirs carved of stone. Such delicate work!
I liked two tortoises, I haven’t added anything
to my collection for a while, and I regret it because
the tortoise symbol bears a special meaning. “8,000
yuan,” said the vendor, it makes almost 1,500 US
dollars. China is an expensive country. You can
buy tea for $100 per 100g, or you can get the same
amount for $1,000. A pair of regular shoes costs
$200 at the mall. I offered her 5,000 and asked her
pass it on to the senior manager. At least it’s $800,
not $1,500. “I’ll come back and buy it, if you’re OK
with the price.” Of course, they were OK, but, as a
true Ukrainian at heart, I immediately regretted not
offering 3,000. We had dinner at the Galaxy Mall, I
think that’s what it was called. The restaurants are
good here, but they don’t get many customers. Be
careful, Yura! China is a juicy tidbit, but you have
enough trouble without it.
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 | persone
Vyshyvanka Couture
Designer Oksana Karavanska creates embroidered shirts for the third millennium.
All fashion collections by Oksana Karavanska are recognizably Ukrainian, inspired by authentic
Ukrainian history and its symbols. However her newest collection – Vyshyvanka Couture – is probably
the most Ukrainian one in its character. What else is capable of expressing the essence of the Ukrainian
nation but the embroidered shirt – the vyshyvanka?
Oksana Karavanska has been
working on the collection Vyshyvanka
Couture for several years. The designer
and her assistants travelled all over
Ukraine looking for colorful patterns
and ideas. After they gathered
authentic traditional shirts, towels,
and skirts, Karavanska set about
giving them a new life – she combined
decades- or even centuries-old
embroidery with the contemporary
embroidery, new fabrics, creative
designs, and modern hand-made
items.
“I decided to revive the history of
the ancient vyshyvanka, which was
traditionally embroidered by hand,
often one of a kind,” tells Oksana
Karavanska. “That shirt was passed
down from mother to daughter. Such
vyshyvanka was a family relic, even
a family talisman. When you hold a
hand-made artefact, you inevitably
feel its special vibes.”
With Vyshyvanka Couture Oksana
Karavanska created exclusive objects
at the meeting point of times and
traditions. Karavanska calls her
models “vyshyvanka for the third
millennium,” and she treats them
as deluxe designer items. These are
not simple shirts, but rather objects,
which will develop their own history,
like a treasure from grandma’s chest.
“After all, vyshyvanka is a must-have
for all times,” adds the designer.
“From the outset, I was very clear
about my goal: my creative work
would be connected with the country
where I live. I looked for inspiration
only in what I could find in Ukraine,”
says Oksana. “You cannot win over the
world by recycling its old inventions –
you need to show the world something
it didn’t know before. When people
buy my clothes and take them to
Europe they are always asked where
they bought them.”
The Vyshyvanka Couture collection
by Oksana Karavanska first premiered
on the runway at the end of 2014 in
Chicago. Since then, the Ukrainian
designer’s collection has kept winning
over Ukraine and the world. This
summer, the embroidery fashion-story
was shown in Karavanska’s home town
Lviv – as an exclusive fashion show
at the 5th International Alfa Jazz
Fest. The show was staged in a very
special place: Andrey Sheptytskyi’s
Metropolitan Gardens on the Saint
George’s Hill. This unique monument of
the 18th-century Rococo architecture
and park design welcomed the local
glitterati for the first time ever.
Vyshyvanka Couture by Oksana
Karavanska is more than a brand.
This fashion trend, so organic to
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 [email protected]
Note! We are now hiring to work in Korchma “Taras Bulba” restaurants in Kyiv and New York.
persone | 11
Karavanska, is now growing into a symbol of Ukraine.
Of the Ukraine that is modern, successful, stylish,
creative, and authentic.
“I have worked many years to make
vyshyvanka a part of a Ukrainian woman’s look,
and later – of a European woman’s look,” reveals
Oksana Karavanska. “And after all these events
in Ukraine, vyshyvanka finally made it into both
women’s and men’s style. There is a fashion
for everything that’s Ukrainian. And this is so
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!
awesome! It is an expression of our identity in
the world.”
Text: Halyna Huzyo
Photo: Yevheniy Kravs and Oleksandr Shamov
12 | news from «korchma»
Music, crazy cocktails, dancing, and best buddies. Everybody has thrown a house party at least once
in their lifetime. The kind of party, to which you only invite your closest friends who stay until
dawn and party like it’s their last day on earth.
House Party:
Moscow’s New Clubbing Culture
The Korchma “Taras Bulba” restaurant
chain decided to throw its own House Party.
Not only did the restaurant in Piatnitskaya
Street invite its most loyal patrons, but
everyone who enjoys a good company and
loves to party was welcome. The organizers
tried to follow all the new fashionable trends.
Recently, our New York restaurant had its own
House Party, now it was Moscow’s turn.
Guests started flowing in. Even the pouring
rain in Moscow didn’t scare the party-goers
away. Our specialty cocktails Cosmoshine, Bulba
Ice and Kvass Whisky created especially for the
party must have been a major baiter that played
in our favor.
Our girls-band was playing songs that were
groovy enough to make the guests sing along.
The public was also entertained by MCs. In their
everyday lives, they work as Korchma employees,
on special occasions they turn into performers!
In addition to songs, dances, delicious
refreshments, and cocktails, the party organizers
prepared for their guests lotteries, contests, and
a skit performance of an adult fairy tale. The
guests made no secret of their delight at the
experience.
The success of the first House Party made us
think about throwing some more. We are pretty
much confident that our parties will be getting
even more exciting in the future!
news from «korchma»| 13
The Tray Race: Move Faster and Keep Your Balance!
Our waiters are not just all
smiles and compliments, they are
also the fastest in the world! To
prove it, the Korchma Taras Bulba
waiting stuff took part in yet
another annual Tray Race. This
race has long become popular
with the best restaurants in the
world. In Moscow, the lead in this
exotic sport undoubtedly belongs
to us: because we can both run
fast and keep our balance! Be
assured that no customer of the
Korchma will have to wait long
for their order.
The winners received traditional
medals, cups and monetary prizes,
the most light-heeled competitors
will get a chance to go on a climbing
trip to Mount Elbrus!
The race
standings:
400 m, men:
1. Sergey Tumanov
2. Artyom Datsiuk
3. Maksim Kvetsko
4. Sergey Konanenko
5. Rustam Gafurov
6. Andrey Tartachnyi
7. Andrey Savchenko
8. Viktor Tsyganov
400 m, women:
1. Albina Baul
2. Alena Khomenko
3. Liudmila Serediuk
4. Alyona Kashcheyeva
5. Olia Yatsishinets
3 km, men:
3 km, women:
1. Artyom Datsiuk
2. Andrey Maksim
3. Maksim Kvetsko
4. Ihor Kretov
5. Yevgeny Lepilov
6. Aleksandr Niyezov
7. Alisher Dzhamatov
8. Andrey Dubina
9. Denis Solov
10. Andrey Savchenko
11. Sergey Gorbunov
12. Andrey Dumitrazhku
13. Fyodor Musaev
14. Vladimir Churikov
15. Abu Khudaberdiev
16. Alik Ochildiev
17. Sakhibbek Rakhimkulov
18. Roman Beregulenko
19. Timur Mamasoliev
20. Anvar Latipov
1. Maryana Kapiltsiv
2. Elena Panfilova
3. Alyona Khomenko
4. Liudmila Serediuk
5. Arina Petrukhina
6. Nargiza Artykova
7. Viktoriya Borisova
8. Ayperi Tashmurzakz
9. Elia Tavkhitova
10. Tatyana Ivanenko
14 | news from «korchma»
Heading to
Mount Elbrus.
Join us!
The Korchma “Taras Bulba” team has
set another ambitious goal: to conquer
a new summit. Together with a team of
experienced mountain climbers, we plan
to climb Mount Elbrus in September. We
invite all friends of our restaurant chain
to join us on this exciting trip.
All the necessary information about
the climb is available from the restaurant’s
management.
Remember that the view is always
better from the top! Do you want to feel an
adrenaline rush in your blood? The spot in
our team is waiting for you!
World Cup from Korchma.
Let’s support our team
together!
Korchma “Taras Bulba” is holding a football championship in
August. It will bring together competing teams from sixteen Moscow
restaurants. Come and support your favorite restaurant, cheer for
the players and help them win!
Specific dates of the tournament will be available at our website
or from the restaurant’s management.
«Taras Bulba»
chain of restaurants
we present
a CD of Ukrainian
classical music in modern
arrangements
from Bulba Press.
The exclusive new disc
will be available
for sale
in our restaurants!
Find time
in your life
for our music!
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!
Share the news in social networks,
and leave your comments.
Send your news to: [email protected]
EVERYBODY READS US!
The newspaper office is open for cooperation! Call us at 8-968-665-12-07 or write to: [email protected]
Hard to believe but it’s true!
We look forward to the opening of
” restaurant!
yet another Korchma “Taras Bulba
г.Москва, ул. Пятницкая 14
тел.: 8 (915) 222-15-18 (495) 953-7153, 951-3760
www.tarasbulba.ru
The largest children’s
playroom in our chain!
книга-меню
‘Korchma Taras Bulba’
reveals its secrets!
Maryino, 163 Lublinskaya St.
We offer you a recipe book
Not by the salo alone
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!