We’re in the midst of summer in Ukraine and enjoying it – the sun, the mild temperatures, green trees and grass, but especially the fruit. I think I’ve mentioned before that all fruits and vegetables are very seasonal here – besides fruits imported from far away like oranges and bananas, all other summer fruit is generally only available (at a reasonable price) for a few weeks when it’s in season. As soon as I’ve gotten accustomed to seeing a certain type of fruit at the market, it’s gone and another has replaced it. So far this summer we’ve enjoyed a couple weeks each of strawberries and cherries, then raspberries, now apricots, and I think pears are coming soon. Although the fruit in season seems to disappear so quickly, the flavor of fruit ripened on the plant, picked and sold the next day is so much better than the brightly colored but tasteless raised-to-travel fruit found in American supermarkets. Here you just have to eat a lot and enjoy it while it’s around.
There are quite a few apricot trees on DCU’s campus, so the other day I asked Dave to pick some so I could make something apricot for our guests. Apparently the apricots suffered in a late frost this year, so only a few choice trees are producing, and they are frequently sought after. Dave took the advice of a friend and climbed up on the roof of the cafeteria, by means of a ladder he found leaning against the building, in order to reach the apricots on one of the few trees producing. He was promptly caught and scolded by the cafeteria manager who told him walking on the roof would make it leak. Since Dave spent so much energy and grief gathering the apricots, we decided that they tasted even better. However, yesterday another friend told Dave he had broken the roof because he was too big to be up there. Dave thought it was quite unlikely that he had single-handedly “broken” the cafeteria roof, especially since he was only up there once for a short time, so he plans to investigate today.
Laura
