Dave and I hosted our first dinner guests Monday evening: Robert and Debby Martin-Koop, MCC Europe directors, Ionka Hristova, our MCC Ukraine country rep., and Sasha, a local Ukrainian who works for MCC. We realized soon after we began planning a menu and shopping for ingredients that such tasks would take much more effort than we are used to. We scoured the market as best as we could with our pathetic Russian, then for the last few hard-to-find items resorted to a more North American-style grocery store where we could pick out our own groceries and be a bit more anonymous in our ignorance. Dessert proved to be the most difficult item on the menu. I baked a carrot cake, which turned out well, but the frosting was a challenge. Powdered sugar was nowhere to be found and cream cheese was difficult to identify. Cheese is a popular item in Ukraine, so we figured we could pick out a substitute and get by. We picked a container of cheese similar in size and design to cream cheese as we know it back home, and also a little squishy to the touch. It also had a baby on the package eating a lump of the cheese, which seemed somewhat strange. But we decided was a good sign, since the cheese needed to be soft, perhaps creamy, for the baby to eat it. However, after arriving home and sampling the cheese, we realized it could not be substituted for cream cheese. Although white in color, it tasted like Velveeta. Thus, Dave and Yegor, a Ukrainian friend, began a search for cream to whip. That also was fruitless. They even found Cool Whip, but only chocolate and coconut flavored. The last resort, something we should have thought of in the first place, was ice cream. It is a very popular dessert in Ukraine, no matter what the season, and Dave and Yegor came home with a 1 kilo tube of it. Carrot cake with vanilla ice cream was enjoyed by all, especially Dave and I. The evening was fun, and we even gained a few chairs for our apartment, bringing the total to four. Both of us enjoy cooking and entertaining, but now realize our recipes need some adjusting with Ukrainian ingredients in mind. Before we came to Ukraine we were told that we would be able to find almost any food that we were familiar with in the U.S. But we have since realized that finding such foods might take the better part of a few days, which isn't quite worth it. We've also since learned that if we really need powdered sugar, we can make it by running granulated sugar through a coffee grinder. Who'd have thought. For now, we'll be doing without, and enjoying our мороженое (ice cream).
Laura
