Romantic Ukraine
For Valentine’s Day we took a break in our regularly scheduled program of alphabetical globetrotting and skipped right on down to the U section.
The event was put on by the International Club of DC and was hosted by the Ukrainian embassy at it’s super-swanky Georgetown location.
The Ukrianian embassy has traditional Ukranian handicrafts on display, like these pysanka Easter eggs.
The Romantic Ukraine event featured a dinner buffet feast of traditional Ukrainian delicacies prepared by the embassy chef as well as an enchanting violin and flute concert by the delightful duo.
The musical performance was by Ukrainian duet Gerdan with Solomia Gorokhivska playing the violin and Andrei Pidkivka playing various ethnic flutes.
Gerdan played several traditional Ukrainian numbers, as well as a few new songs, including the theme song from Titanic.
Gerdan played a tribute song to the 200th anniversary of Semen Hulak-Artemovsky who wrote the first ever Ukrainian-language opera. Andrei Pidkivka played at least 7 different instruments including a pan flute and a flute made out of a walking stick. Their music was really entertaining, and even kept Neil amused.
Behold, a Ukrainian feast
After the concert, we went down to the basement of the embassy for our meal. It was quite the spread.
Starters: Fried shrimp, Salted salmon, Stuffed trout, Assorted delicious cheeses, Crepes with caviar, Grilled veal with green salad, Bacon-wrapped dates, Spinach pies, Tomatoes stuffed with cheese
Colorful appetizers
Main Dishes: Varenyky (known to most Americans by their Polish name “pierogi”), Dumplings, in this case with potato filling, best served with sour cream and/or sautéed chopped onions, Holubtsi, cabbage leaf rolls with beef and rice filling, Zavyvantsi tenderized meat rolled into tubes filled with mushrooms and herbs fillings and wrapped in bacon, Grilled sausages
In this shot we are sharing a delectable potato dumpling.
Dessert: Dried plums filled with nuts in cream sauce, Fresh fruit, Eclairs, and Ukranian candy
Last, but not least
It was the perfect way to spend our nerdy Valentine’s Day!
Hopefully some day we will get to visit the romantic Ukraine. Look at the 10 Most romantic places in the Ukraine. The tree tunnel aka ‘the tunnel of love’ that’s a part of abandoned railway in the north-western Ukraine looks SOOOoooo dreamy! Bet you never thought of the Ukraine as a romantic destination before!
Themocracy
[...] Ukraine [...]
I am SO hoping that there will be some sort of event like this international culinary extravaganza when I come in April!