Today was another hot day. People are trying to stay indoors, in air conditioned areas. When I was going home from work there were hardly any people on the streets. I’ve got a bad headache and Tylenol didn’t banish it away. Danya is still working, even though it’s 9.20 p.m.

Ha, the power of complaint! Have you ever noticed that as soon as you complain aloud, as soon as you are tired of something or annoyed by something and you voice it, suddenly situation changes? I do it on purpose sometimes. For example if I lost something and can’t find it no matter where I look, it’s enough to just show my displeasure to somebody and “ta-da!” the lost thing is found right under my nose. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work.

Well, all the speech was in regard to Danya fixing the bug not a minute later/earlier then I typed that he is still working.

Talking about lost. We started watching pretty famous TV series with the same name “Lost” today during our late dinner. I’ve heard about “Lost” from couple of people and everybody seemed to be pretty fond of them. So far we only watched 2 episodes and even though they are not exactly what I expected and seem a bit weird, I rather liked it.

And I’m still thinking about vacations. The more we travel, the more I enjoy it. This year we were not able to take as many vacations as we usually do, but we’re compensating with mini-vacations. So far we haven’t wasted a single long weekend.

There were years before when I went for the whole year without swimming anywhere, but this year has been really good. First we enjoyed the jacuzzis in Vail, Colorado. Then pools and jacuzzis of Hilton at Flamingo in Las Vegas. After that we enjoyed beautiful ocean water at Virginia Beach. And then there is our last trip to upstate New York where we swam in Lake Placid, Mirror Lake and again pools and jacuzzis at Hilton. Not to forget North-South Lake where we did some swimming while camping. Also I think I took a shower a couple of times during this year, but that doesn’t really count, now does it?

While I’m dreaming of more swimming, sitting in hot, humid New York, I decided to reread Alena’s old posts about our beautiful trip to Hawaii. And then I decided to quote all those posts from our private forum to our blog.

First post was made on June 20th, 2005.

Нет, и всё таки отпуск – это хорошо. Хотя, конечно, 1 неделя – это так малоооо.

Остров Oahu, на котором расположена столица штата Hawaii (хе-хе, так странно звучит, особенно учитывая, что мы видели многочисленные портреты королей и королев в крохотном музее в Hilton Village, а так же плавали по пруду, в котором когда-то разводили рыбу к королевскому столу) – Honolulu, производит очень приятное впечатление. Океан просто сказочно красив. Сине-бирюзовый, очень чистый и очень соленый. Когда вода попадает в глаза, то открыть их как минимум в течение минуты проблематично. Точно могу сказать, что Черное море менее соленое. Да и Атлантический Океан, насколько я помню, тоже. Данька тоже так считает.

Над пиками гор все время висят серые тучи. Но это хорошо: дождик = пресная водичка.

Очень много зелени. Пальмы самые разнообразные, кусты гибискуса… Хмм – вот практически и все названия, которые я знаю. Попробовала найти знакомые картинки на интернете и идентифицировать некоторые растения – и уже немного распухла голова. Зато вот гибискус Данька опознал сразу. А я, хоть и узнала про существование данного представителя флоры уже много лет назад из красочных описаний в книгах Джеральда Даррела, только на Оаху поняла, что же это такое. Вообще hibiscus бывает самых разных цветов, это мы просто такой сфотографировали.

The next one was made on June 28th.

А еще нам дали в отеле классный номер. Лучше, чем тот, который мы забронировали. Не знаю уж почему нам решили сделать upgrade – но было приятно (мы получили комнату стоимостью $300 за ночь по минимально возможной цене – $200 за ночь). Мы расположились в Ali’i Tower (Ali’i- это с гавайского что-то типо король или правитель) на 14 этаже. Порадовал балкончик – днем там жарковато сидеть, зато вечером очень и очень.

Еще у башни были свой бассейн и джакузи. По вечерам это особенно классно – когда солнышко садится, то в океане уже прохладно плескатся, а вот джакузи как раз то, что душа просит (особенно приятно, разморившись в горячей воде, запрыгнуть в относительно холодный бассейн – и обратно. Кайф…)

Вообще Hilton Hawaiian Village – очень приятное местечко. На территории кроме непосредственно башен отеля есть куча магазинчиков и ресторанчиков. Мне больше всего понравились Sergio’s Italian Restaurant (итальянский, ясное дело) и Golden Dragon (китайскии). В итальянском я впервые попробовала ризотто (с грибами и креветками) – вкусно (рис там как в рисовой каше, а не рассыпчатый), а в китайском мы кушали утку по-пекински (это одно из любимых наших блюд в китайской кухне. Хотя мы, конечно, не эксперты, хе-хе).

Правда, с уткой была целая история. Оказывается, ее надо было заказывать заранее – за 24 часа!! Мы, естественно, этого не знали и очень расстроились (хотя в книжечке с рекламой ресторана (в отеле) это и было написано). Пожаловались официанту, тот позвал менеджера, которому мы опять же пожаловались. Он извинился и через пару минут пришел и ткнул нас носом в место в этой самой книге, где написано про preorder. Вобщем, всё закончилось вполне благополучно – нам вручили бесплатный десерт, чтобы мы сильно не расстраивались, а мы заказали утку на четверг (первый поход был сделан во вторник).

And the last one made on the same day.

Меня приятно удивила чистота воды на Оаху. Пили прямо из крана – на вкус не хуже отфильтрованной. Ни хлорки, ни всякой другой гадости на вкус и запах не чувствовалось. Хотя обычно вода в отелях оставляет желать лучшего. Это, наверное, потому, что на островах нет никакого промышленного производства(?).:confused:

Еще очень понравился запах Леи – веночка из цветов на шею. К сожалению, не могу понять, из каких цветов она была сделана, но то, что я буквально попискивала от удовольствия, находясь в облаке аромата,- это Данька может подтвердить!!

Среди живущих и отдыхающих на Оаху людей очень много японцев. Имеет смысл – ведь Японские острова не так далеко находятся. Но всё же это удивляет…

Данька сказал, что японки показались ему куда привлекательнее китаянок (насколько я знаю, это общепринято. Но всё же интересно прийти к какому-то заключению самостоятельно. Вообще, мы очень хотим слетать в Японию – страна кажется очень экзотичной и Другой). Многие вывески, меню в ресторанах сделаны на двух языках (соответственно английский и японский). Но суши мне всё равно больше нравятся в Бруклине по соотношению цена/качество.

Ah, good times, good memories! Хочу на Гаваи!!!

Today I had a moment of pure happiness. Sometimes I’m amazed of how life could point our attention to something and make us have a good hearty laugh. Now and then in our everyday routine we cease to notice how lucky we are, or how precious are moments of comprehension, of just being.

So why? Why was I so happy that I couldn’t stop smiling? It took me some time to figure that out and I’m still not sure if I got it right. But let me just tell you what happened (nothing special, really).

I was going home from work. Bus came, almost full. I took a seat by the window and started reading (I usually read on my way home to while away the time). The bus smelled just awful. I thought that some bum was nearby and tried to take shallow breaths. Then I’ve noticed a woman with 2 little kids. One she was holding in her arms and the other one – well, she was hysterical! Not in a good sense, no. She was yelling and crying and banging her head to the seat ahead of her. She wanted attention, she wanted.. I don’t know what was that she needed so badly. Her mother didn’t pay any attention, she was talking on her cell phone. And the little girl (she was about 4-5 years old) was staging her little drama show (oh, those evaluating eyes of her!). One of their relatives (apparently that was a big family on the bus) – girl about 12, tried to reason with the little one and offered her some sort of CD or mp3 player. That caught our little girl attention for about one minute, and then the show went on for another 15 minutes. Finally they arrived at their stop and left the bus. Air cleared in a couple of stops. I think that was actually one of the kids smelling so badly (bathroom issues?)… Anyway, there was another kid crying for the rest of the way, which drove our bus driver nuts (couple of comments he made led me to that conclusion). When I was about to exit the bus, I’ve noticed a beautiful Asian woman holding a beautiful Asian newborn baby. She was siting at the end of the bus and just kept smiling that special overwordly smile.

When I was walking home I couldn’t stop smiling. I tried to analyze my sudden surge of happiness and decided that I just was so relieved that those are not my children. Relieved that I could walk away from unwanted girl, from her ignorant mother, from stench, from misbehaviour, from responsibility. At the same time that Asian woman was so serene, so … glowing, she had so much love and care in her eyes that I felt a better person for a moment.

We were talking about kids with Daniel yesterday. I’m torn – one part of me wants children, another is screaming that we are not ready yet. Are we ever going to feel completely ready?

Don’t get me wrong – I can’t imagine my life without having children, I’m looking forward to it and so curious about the experience of being a parent. But at the same time I’m relieved that at this very moment I don’t have that responsibility and could be just my silly selfish self.

Have you ever tried Lagman? Have you even heard of such a dish?

When I came to America around 4 years ago, I started working in a little coffee/pastry shop, owned by Russian guy named Vladimir, which was located in Port Jefferson on Long Island. Vladimir was a nice guy and payed me a pretty good salary, considering my lack of experience and a very shaky English. He was a lousy businessman though, so the place went out of business some time later. One of his crazy ideas, which was supposed to boost sales and bring customers in, consisted in hiring 2 Uzbek cooks and turning the place in a coffee/pastry/Uzbek cuisine shop. I’m not sure why that didn’t work, because Uzbek cuisine is delicious IMHO. So those guys had introduced me to lagman. It is a noodle lamb or beef stew. Noodles are supposed to be hand made, but very often when cooked at home those noodles are substituted by regular pasta, which could be bought in any supermarket.

My second encounter with lagman happened when Daniel’s mom cooked it for dinner. Since they lived in Tashkent for over 10 years and she was exposed to the Uzbek cuisine there, lagman is on her “I can cook it” list (and it’s a big one if I might add!). It’s really good in her interpretation, I should take a recipe from her one day.

I decided to try to cook lagman when I was searching for something nice and easy on one of my favourite forums : www.kuking.net/my . The recipe was kindly provided by Tatiana-Nonsense, who lives in Tashkent. I cooked it yesterday for the 2nd time and should say that it’s very easy (took me about an hour from scratch) and savoury meal.

Ingredients:

1. Beef – 800 gr/ 1.7 lb
2. Onions – 3 average siza
3. Carrots – 2
4. Turnip -1
5. Green bell peppers – 2 (not too large)
6. Red bell peppers – 2 (not too large)
7. Potatoes – 3-4 average size
8. Garlic – 3 cloves
9. Celery
10. Tomatoes – 3 average size
11. Cilantro or parsley
12. Salt, spices (paprika, black freshly crushed pepper, bay leave)
13. Oil

I used less meat then in the recipe (bought about 1.2 pounds of cubed beef), just 2 onions, 5 small tomatoes, just 1 red pepper and I accidentally bought parsnip instead of turnip (what a noob).

• Heat the oil (I use extra virgin olive oil for everything, but I think any vegetable oil could be used) in a cooking pot with a heavy thick bottom. Cut the beef into cubes approximately 1,5*1,5 sm and add it to the oil. Cook beef cubes over a small heat with the closed lead till almost all the water evaporates and meat starts browning evenly, stir the meat occasionally.

• Meanwhile dice carrots, onions and tomatoes. When the meat is ready, add diced onions and carrots to the pot and cook for about 5-6 min over medium heat with the open lead. Tomatoes should be blanched (they should be boiled for about a minute and then skin comes off easily). Add tomatoes to the pot and cook over medium high heat for another 5-7 minutes.
• Add paprika, freshly crushed black pepper and a little bit of salt to the mixture. Don’t be shy with red pepper, this dish is supposed to be hot.
• Dice peppers and potatoes, cut celery and add them to the pot. Stir everything and let it cook for about a minute or two.

• Add boiling water so it would cover vegetables (depending on the taste it can be more or less water).
• Let everything boil, take the foam off. Add more salt, sliced garlic and let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes until potatoes are ready.
• Add cilantro and bay leave, boil everything for one more minute with the closed lead. Turn off the heat and let lagman stay for some time.

• During the stew cooking process, pasta should be boiled. I used linguine, because they are thick.

To serve, pasta should go on the bottom of the dish and stew should be put on top and sprinkled with chopped cilantro and parsley.

I usually add some more red hot pepper in my dish and Danya likes to add a splash of white vinegar.

We totally ran out of DVDs couple of days ago.  We  only have basic cable TV service, and obviously nothing good can spring out from the soiled ground of public television, unless you’re one of those crazy people, who actually like all the long commercials breaks (is it even possible?). So  faced with movieless reality we’ve finally watched some of the old Russian films, which my sister sent me a while ago. I think she intended to help me with my fits of nostalgia. The truth is that even though I do feel homesick sometimes, movies is the last thing on my mind. I miss people, I miss some places, I miss my childhood. This doesn’t happen often and probably lies withing expected boundaries for the 25 years old person (don’t forget to give me some extra room for being a freshly baked immigrant).

We watched “Одинкоким Предоставляется Общежитие” (could be roughly translated as “Singles Hotel”), filmed in 1983 and “Любовь и Голуби” (“Love and Doves”), made in 1984. Danya mockingly called them “Soviet Union soap operas” and there is truth in his words. It felt so weird to see the mix of propaganda and reality, to listen to the old jokes, some of which were repeated in my family for years. Outfits, faces, way of life – everything is so different, but yet familiar. I find those movies kind, naive and funny (although they are not my favourite from all of the Soviet Union movies). I doubt that foreigners would truly understand and enjoy them, but who knows?

Last night turned out to be unexpectedly fun. We were itching to take some pictures, so we decided to go somewhere by subway, taking pictures of it along the way. Maybe, we’ll post some of those later.

Maruks called and proposed to go to Central Park. Since we didn’t care where to go, that sounded like a splendid idea. I love Central Park. I didn’t have a chance to explore all of its wonderful walkways and little paths yet, but parts that I saw impress me greatly.

We were lucky to catch some kind of acoustic show going on. A whole bunch of drummers was performing something enchanting and impassioned. I can’t tell what kind of different drums they were using, because I don’t know their names anyway and because it was already dark and very crowded. In addition to drummers there were couple of people, playing different instruments – some kind of pipe/flute and also weird ebony sticks which emitted high loud sound, when struck together. People attracted by beat were definitely enjoying themselves – some were dancing (ooo, you should have seen an old guy with totally gray hair jumping rhythmically and shaking his head), some were just standing and stamping their feet occasionally, some were sitting and smiling, some were even smoking weed. As for me, I had a feeling as if I stumbled across some African tribe feast – fiery, jolly and carefree (by the way, musicians were mostly white, so it’s the music, not the skin colour that gave me that impression).

Before going to Central Park itself me and Danya went to Times Warner Center, located on the Columbus Circle. Daniel’s dad told us that there is a great view of the fountains outside from the top floor of the mall, so we wanted to check that out.

There were 2 colossal bronze statues of naked man and woman in the foyer. They appeared to be Adam and Eve, created by Fernando Botero. There were some more of his works on the second floor of the building, but we didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy them, because Maruk, Alina and Moisha were waiting for us in the car.

Later this night we saw another naked girl in Times Square on our way back to the parked car after the dinner in “The House Of Brews”. Only this time it wasn’t a statue, but an actual girl!

She was playing guitar and singing (not too well I must admit), getting tips from people who wanted to take pictures with her. One guy was very embarrassed when she told him that $2 are not enough. He, then, had some payback at the expense of her “singing”.

The brewery that we had dinner in was very nice. Small and cosy with a great selection of domestic and imported brands. There was even one Ukrainian brand (Chernomor). Food was just ok, but at least it wasn’t expensive. Drafted raspberry beer, which me, Danya and Maruk ordered, really had a hint of raspberry in it. We also tried some other kinds of beer and they were all good.

One more thing that I enjoyed last night was singing in the car. We were going home on Maruk’s Infiniti and he put on Tsoi’s “Black Album”. I must say that Danya loves Tsoi (I do like his music too, but I think Danya is more fond of him then me). We know words of many of his songs, so we were just singing together and it all felt so right – the time, the place, the music…

It’s time for peaches and apples called “Белый Налив” in Russian. I have no idea how this kind of apples is called in English (белый = white, налив = ripe), because whenever I see it in little grocery stores in my neighbourhood, there is a big sign saying “Настояший белый налив $0.79/lb” meaning “Real belyj naliv 0.79 dollars per pound”.

I remember how I learned  to choose the best peaches by squeezing them gently between the fingers, strong enough to make sure that they are firm and could  be damaged by my soft grip, but not too strong as to not actually damage the fruits.

As for Белый Налив, it’s one the apple sorts of my childhood. As long as I can remember, there was that huge Белый Налив apple tree in my grandmother’s garden and it’s fruits were usually ripe in the middle of July. This kind of apples is very seasonal though. Unlike many other sorts they can’t be stored until late autumn or winter times.

Now is also time for sour cherries. For some reason they are not popular here in America and I can rarely see them in Russian grocery stores, but they don’t look too appealing and pretty expensive, so I didn’t taste those for 4 years already. I probably should buy them just for old time’s sake.

We finished watching the first season of “Lost” and the next one is coming out on DVD only in September. A torture (a minor one, but still!!). We also reactivated our World of Warcraft accounts yesterday. I wouldn’t believe it couple of months ago, but I actually miss playing this game sometimes.

Today I stumbled upon a weird, but nice CD by Huber Vot Goiser. He plays some kind of Austrian folk songs in his interpretation, which is not bad at all. I’ve noticed that I like native tunes of different nations, reworked a bit to match modern ears.

We managed to get away from the city streets for yet another weekend. Eldar is working in Long Island this weekend, so we, after having a dinner yesterday in some weird Brooklyn restaurant just took off for his hotel, located about 60 miles away from NYC.

The idea was to spent a day at the beach, and since the beaches in NYC aren’t all that clean, Long Island was a better choice. Also we figured we didn’t want to get up to early to beat the traffic, so we left on Friday evening. It really does make sense, since Eldar already has a 1 bed room suite out here anyhow!

Woke up at around 8 today. I have to say that I don’t get up that early for work usually even. Ate some free breakfast at Eldar’s hotel and went directly to the beach on the Fire Land, off the southern coast of Long Island.

The beach was great and even more “wavy” then in Virgina Beach. At one point that way was so strong that it dragged Alena over the rough shore covered with shell, and got Eldar and me scared a bit, but it wasn’t too bad in the end. Otherwise waves were as fun as always.

The water was full of some see-through creatures, but I don’t think they were medusas. Our guess is that they are jelly-fish. Also I managed to dig up a bunch of small crabs that are hiding in the sand near the water.

Alena and Eldar played some tennis like game, but I couldn’t play it, since the day was so bright that I couldn open my eyes fully and I kept missing the ball. At some point we decided to dig Alena into the sand. Too bad we didn’t have the camera with us for that.

Then we went to some sushi buffet where I ate 1 of each roll they had. I usually can’t eat too much of the same sushi, but when I get a variety, I can dig it.

Now I’m sitting at a certain place with my laptop, writing this, full of Foster’s beer. Alena and Eldar went to the hotel pool and jacuzzi, and I must catch up! Later today Eldar’s sister will come out here as well with her boyfriend, Sergey. We’re planning to have a nice dinner at a near by steak house, and maybe watch some movies in the movie theater right next to the hotel!

What a great day! And so close to NYC! But I guess it’s not the location, but the company!

The weekend wasn’t over yesterday. Since we didn’t take any pictures yesterday, we decided to go back to Fire Island. One object of interest is a very old lighthouse located on it.

The first lighthouse on Fire Island was built back in 1826 and it was 74 feet tall. However it was deemed too short and was taken apart. The material was reused to build a new one, and it was completed in 1958 and stood 168 tall. That lighthouse is still standing there to this day. It was brought out of operation in 1974, but it was brought back to life somewhere in the beginning of 80′s as a historic monument.

The road to the lighthouse is interesting on its own as well. First of all it’s a road built of wood, which rises slightly above the ground. And it passes through dunes filled with beautiful flora and multitude of animals. We saw a couple of white-tailed deers on our way. One portion of it was surrounded by bushes of wild raspberries.

All in all we had fun walking through the park and taking pictures of the surroundings and the lighthouse. And it looks like we didn’t really get any sunburn this time around, which is always good.

On a different note, yesterday, instead of going to the movies we ended up playing a board game bought by Eldar. It’s called Puerto Rico, and was unexpectedly fun. Monopoly is nothing compared to this one. We liked it so much yesterday that we played yet another round today. Fun!

Today I did a lot of useful things: went to the immunization place to get a part of the immunization form filled by officials; visited college to submit immunization record and to get my student id card; spent a couple of hours getting my travel document with Canadian visa in Canadian embassy; and finally went shopping for school bag.

My new student identification card looks exciting. Canadian visa brings even more joy! We were planning to go to Canada for a long while, but  I received my travel document only a short while ago. Before that it was not possible for me to leave America and then re-enter the country. We went close to the Canadian border in the winter of 2002, when we went to see Niagara Falls from American side. I realized what a crazy idea it was only after we got there. It was freezingly cold and neither me, nor Danya took any gloves or hats. But trip was still a lot of fun and since then I wondered how the Falls look from the other side of the border. Some people say it’s more impressive, some are sure that it looks absolutely the same. Well, hopefully my chance to create an opinion will come soon.

I absolutely love my new school bag by Marco Buggiani. It’s always really hard for me to buy bags and usually I end up with something dull. I can’t stand small bags, just don’t feel comfortable with them (and I need mine to be able to fit so much different stuff). Eh, women and shopping… I couldn’t help it and bought a couple of other things – a belt, a new skirt, a couple of plain shirts and a couple of shawls to keep me warm in the coming autumn.

We’re almost definitely going to Canada! Barring some kind of really bad thing happening, but let’s hope for the best. This is going to be our first trip with Alena that’s going to take us beyond the lands of this beautiful country. Alena’s got her visa this week from Canadian consulate (and we were already starting to lose hope), I’ve got my “visa” in the form of U.S. passport, we reserved a very nice 4 star hotel with a view of Niagara Falls from the window and I even fixed some problems with the car that I’ve been neglecting for a year or so.

Weather forecast seems to be changing all the time now, but no matter how it goes, this trip is bound to be fun. I just hope they are going to let us back into this country.

We’ve been saying that we want to go somewhere together with my parents for quite some time now, but now we’re actually doing it. In the hotel we reserved a 1 bedroom suite, and it’s going to fit all of us perfectly.

The plan for this trip is as follows: leave NYC on Friday night, and get to Niagara Falls by 2am (maybe a bit later). Sleep for some good amount of time and spend the whole day at Niagara Falls. Check out the Falls themselves, do some swimming in the hotel pools, enjoy the night life and so on. Next day we’re planning to go to Toronto. One must see thing is a CN Tower. Anyhow, this is the general line up, but we’ll throw more spontaneous things into the mix for sure.

On the other topic, I officially turned 26 about 4 minutes ago. Initially I thought I will resist opening up my present until tomorrow, but now I’m thinking I might not able to hold up for that long. I thought I don’t have anything to photograph with it. Yes, I know what I’m getting, I ordered it myself after all. Alena did hide it from me however for until today.

Well, I figured I could take a picture of the present itself. It’s a Sigma Zoom Super Wide Angle 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Lens.

Hmm, on the other hand, after seeing the present all wrapped up on my bedside table, I decided to resist opening it until tomorrow!

I just love getting presents! This birthday has been especially good for my photography hobby. I got 2 great new lenses. One is a wide lens that I mentioned yesterday was given to my by Alena, my parents and my sister Lina. Today I got another one. An awesome Sigma macro lens (check out the shot on top) from Eldar and Moisha! Last year was great as well, when I got a super zoom lens from Maruks for my birthday. Thank you, everybody!!!

Here’s my current list of lenses (all autofocus), listed in the order I got them:

• Nikon Zoom Super Wide Angle AF 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor
• Sigma Zoom Telephoto 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO HSM
• Sigma 2x EX DG APO Autofocus Teleconverter
• Nikon Normal AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D
• Sigma Zoom Super Wide Angle 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM
• Sigma Telephoto 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro

I can’t wait to take more pictures with my new ones now. Niagara Falls will be a good test for wide angle lens, weather permitting.