Basking in the Baltics, Part II: Breaking the Fast with . . . Borscht

Every Fast Sunday, we have a traditional meal at our place for the YSA to "Break the Fast". Our guest last Sunday was a man visiting from Ukraine. He is being taught by the Russian sisters. Since Sister M. (also from Ukraine) is assigned here, she took it upon herself to treat us to some authentic Ukrainian borscht. We had never had it before and found it colorful and tasted of home-made goodness. It is made from potatoes, onion, garlic, beets, carrots, cabbage and tomatoes. Throw in some chicken for the meat. It took lots of peeling, chopping and sauteing. Here are a few pictures.

In case you were wondering, that is sour cream, not whipped cream.

Sister M., serving as chef

Sister G. chopping the garlic, Iris is supervising

All the veggie roots get cooked together

Sister G. adding garlic to the cabbage

Everyone enjoying the warm soup

On Monday, we traveled to Tartu again to meet with the Politsei (Police) to apply for a residency card. Think of waiting in line at the MVD but with half the space. This time we had appointments. Still had to wait as we had to fill out forms about our past lives and all our children and their addresses. However, we did prevail and we spent some time with the young Elders who translated for us. We went to Old Town and found this famous statue of a couple under an umbrella.

Statue of a couple under an umbrella

Yes, they are kissing

Õde Allred in Old Town with young Elders

Typical architecture of the old days

We had a nice visit this week from a former missionary, L. Panfilov, from Ukraine. He recently married a Returned Missionary from Moscow and now lives there. He has a sales jobs working for a friend and making businesses connections in the Baltic area. They may move to Tallinn this year. We sure hope so.

Visiting with L. Panfilov

We were a little under the weather this week and stayed inside to rest and heal. However, by Saturday, we were feeling much better and decided to treat ourselves to some outside activity. Wouldn't you know, there was a snowman building contest at Kadriorg Park (for more information about the Kadriorg Palace, click the link here). Each contestant was given a big cube of frozen snow to start with. Since it had started to drizzle earlier, there were few contestants, but we were determined to see the artistry of the few hardy souls that came out. Most of what we could tell, it was a family affair with children and babies lending a hand in the design.