дом sweet District дом

(дом : home)

One of the unexpected surprises of our move to DC was getting to live- literally- on the same block as our friends, Mark and Oksana. We have a connection with Mark (American) and Oksana (who is Ukrainian but not a friend that I made while I was actually in Ukraine) from our church in Boston (but again- we didn't actually know them at that time. We barely overlapped.). After we'd been in North Carolina for a few years, mutual friends in Boston emailed us to let us know that Mark and Oksana would be moving to the Outer Banks for a year and that we should be friends. (The OBX aren't really that close to Durham, but Mark would be coming into Raleigh for work periodically.) We became friends during their trips into the Triangle, and it was sad that they were only in NC for a year...before moving to the District. 

Brad hung out with them last summer when he was at Dumbarton for a two-week short-term predoctoral residency, and we kept them posted on our plans for this fall. The week before we moved up, Oksana texted to ask for our District address. About two minutes after I sent it to her, she sent back a screenshot of Google maps, showing that our place was *literally* about 50 yards from their apartment. IT'S A CRAZY WORLD.

During our first two weeks in town (yes, I know that my blogging is so way belated), Oksana's mom was also visiting, and they came over to make borscht. Real, delicious, Ukrainian borscht. 

Oksana's mom was a hit with the girls.

Lily needed a chef's toque. I didn't have one...so a plastic bag had to work.

Amerikrainians.

Our house here is really incredible in so many ways...but there are a few things lacking in the kitchen. Like a full-size grater.

The girls had the best time making "baby borscht" with leftover ingredients. They worked alongside us for a solid two hours.

And then we got to enjoy FANTASTIC borscht. And Russian black bread. It was delightful. Also: in true Ukrainian fashion, we polished off the better part of a 16 oz. container of sour cream. Can't do the borscht eating without massive quantities of сметана.

And then Claire realized that her piece of bread was in the shape of the US. What a great melding of cultures, right?

It's definitely been a happy surprise to have friends right here to hang with. And especially eat Ukrainian with. An extremely delicious time was had by all!