For some reason, my company has January 3 off for January 1, not December 31, as in most companies. On the one hand, I am grateful I have one more day off tomorrow. On the other hand, it was challenging to get everything ready for a New Year celebration when you work on this day and are still new at the job, so things take time.
I decided that I made enough salads in Milwaukee, and since only three of us are celebrating, I just made a nice three-course dinner. I had a lot of farmer’s vegetables, so I made borshch entirely from this fresh organic produce. I also had a chicken from my other CSA, and I roasted it (frantically searching on the web and combining three different recipes in one :)).
Borshch looks so festive in these plates, I should use them more often!
And I made an apple tart and a pumpkin pie as I had wanted for a long time. (For the record, the purpose of this post is to showcase these two pies :))
Cookies from friends from all over the world!
Usually, I am neutral about the New Year, but it was good that we celebrated (Igor and I went to the fireworks right after). 2021 was a very eventful year, more than I wanted, so it was a good idea to mark its ending with something a little bit more special than I usually do.
My name is Henrietta (Hettie) Dombrovskaya. I was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russian (actually, back then – Leningrad, USSR) in 1963, and immigrated to the United States in 1996.
I love Saint Petersburg, the city I was born and raised in, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. Similarly (but differently) I love Chicago, and can’t imagine myself moving somewhere else in the observable future.
I have three children, Igor, Vlad and Anna, all adults living on their own, and one (so far) granddaughter Nadia. I also believe that my children are the best thing that happened in my life.
As for my professional life, I am working in the field of Information Technologies. When I was twenty, I’ve declared that the databases are the coolest thing invented and that I want to do them for the rest of my life. Thirty plus years later, I still believe it’s true, and still, believe that the databases are the best. These two statements together imply that I think a person can have it all, and indeed, I think so! Keep reading my journals to find out how I did it.
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It’s quite a coincidence, but we also had borsch for Jan 1 (and Dec, 31, and Jan 2, as it happens) – but for totally different reason. We just got rid of house vegetarian for 3 days and decided to eat proper food!
Hettie's Reflections 
какой праздничный борщ!
теперь тоже захотелось ))
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Вот! Это все в тарелках дело! Я давно не вытаскивала праздничные, а это такая красота!
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It’s quite a coincidence, but we also had borsch for Jan 1 (and Dec, 31, and Jan 2, as it happens) – but for totally different reason. We just got rid of house vegetarian for 3 days and decided to eat proper food!
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My borshch was vegetarian 🙂
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That’s cheating
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Nope, there are all kinds of borshch, and I am not here to start another holy war over borshch 🙂
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