Hello all. It being the end of the festive season I thought I would post our Ukrainian feast pics. I have never had an almost complete traditional Ukrainian Christmas meal and I was very impressed. I say almost complete because I believe that there were one or two dishes left out for reasons of legality. Apparently in the zeal of keeping drugs or drugs like products out of Singapore poppy seeds are not available or allowed into Singapore. So all of those poppy seed bagel lovers need not come to Sing, and god forbid you try to smuggle in some, you will probably get caned. I also have to note that the perogies and cabbage rolls were pretty good but not as good as Evas. He even made mushroom gravy which ranked very HIGH on the hit list.
Meet Roman. He's a Ukrainian from Toronto. Please don't hold the Toronto bit against him, he really is a pretty good guy. You'll notice he is wearing a traditional Ukrainian shirt. Upon my arrival I had no idea that this was a traditional event. I was presented with my own shirt at the door. This is the beginning of the meal and he is throwing some kind of wheat thing up to the ceiling and if some sticks it's supposed to be a prosperous year.
It took a couple of trys and each one landing in his soon to be wifes lap
but he finally hit the mark. I personally think that since each time he tried and it landed in his wifes lap that he's going to be a very lucky man this year. That's just my opinion.
Now he's going to bless the table before we start. This took a little while because there was quite a bit of rambling that I didn't understand in Ukrainian. I will note here that Roman did all the cooking for 9 of the 10 dishes that day and he started drinking at around 10 in the morning. We can all understand that I am sure, since the food always turns out better if the chef is relaxed and what better way to relax than with a glass of white wine.
So we start with the borsch which my wonderful wife made. Again I will state that this was a traditional meal. Now I think most people who know us have had Barbaras borsch before and know that she always has a lot of veggies in it. Notice no veggies, (what it does have in it are little mushroom filled dough things.) I got there early with the goods and as soon as I turned my back Roman snatched the borsch and strained all the liquid out. I was more than a little taken back as well as frightened of the reaction that Barbara might have. I must note at this point that Barbara cut the end of her finger off in the preparation of this dish and to do so in vain was probably not going to go over well. Needless to say I poured a glass of wine and met her at the door with it and warned her. Only after eating some did she forgive him. It was pretty good but her "traditional" way is better. No offense Roman.
Bread with a candle in it. Considered a dish but inedible because it has a candle in it, ie the bread gets a bit waxy after a little while.
Aha the mushroom gravy. I am not sure if this is considered a dish but I am positive that it is a necessity. After this came out my brain went into a bit of a fog and I stopped taking food pics. I don't know, this stuff happens.
Roman and his son Alex are huge Dr. Who fans. I am not sure where this falls into the tradition but I guess its there somewhere.

So this is an over view of the food. A plate is set up for all the dead relatives. It consists of Wine, of course, bread with honey, boiled wheat, mashed beans, cabbage rolls, pickled herring, ummm, perogie, baked fish, borsch, fruit compote, the bread with a candle and 2 others that he couldn't make because of certain laws. Not a bad spread.

Oh yeah he had some Ukrainian vodka and these ice shooter glasses. We were informed that we needed to cleanse the palate after every few dishes. Don't want the flavors to conflict with each other I guess. Let me just say it was the best vodka I have ever had and I don't care for straight vodka. This stuff was good. One of these was also put on the plate for the past relatives. No expense is spared for the dead.
Barbara agrees. Took her back to the homeland. Notice the bandage on the finger. Yeah she wasn't feeling any pain by the end of the night.
Neither was Roman. This is what happens when you drink all day and finish the meal off with straight frozen Ukrainian vodka. Remember this boys and girls, vodka between courses can cause drowsiness. Apparently he didn't move from that position the whole night. Thanks Roman

Now I need to go to the gym to work off the meal.

Bye for now