Author: Hettie D.

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.

Recent Books Reviews

The Eating Instinct.

I finished this book a while ago, but I am still unsure what I think about it. It is challenging for a book to stand out among millions of books about foods, dieting, and all related. And this book stands out. Having a child who stopped eating altogether in infancy after a serious health threat gives the author has a very personal perspective on a topic. After being through such a traumatic experience, nobody would be able to go as we all do with “calorie count,” “good foods,” etc.

The great thing this book does is returning you to the basics: food is not evil. You should enjoy food; it’s not a crime. Another important thing is that this book shows that one can eat a very limited variety of foods and still be healthy. I do not believe in “miracle foods,” and I do not believe that there are some “evil” foods, and I am glad that this book supports my point of view. However, it is hard for me to agree with the idea that you should not do anything with your eating habits, that any regulation of your food intake is bad.

I think that we can’t expect our eating instinct to be all “natural” when the lifestyle most humans live is not exactly “natural.” Since I moved to the city three months ago and started life without a car, I can feel how much my new lifestyle is better for my health. The moves are naturally embedded in my everyday life; it’s not “exercising,” it’s “living.” And with this new lifestyle, I do not have a pressing need as I had before to count calories and the number of steps per day.

Many people live differently, and many people objectively can’t “exercise 60 min a day”. I do not think that “do nothing” about your eating habits is a good idea. And although I strongly dislike the
the word “dieting,” I think that a person can change how they eat and not feel deprived.

Sure I will be your black friend,

This book disappointed me. Based on the reviews, I was anticipating something deeper, if not more analytical, at least more thoughtful. I expected conversations about common stereotypes, which were hinted at by the names of the chapters. The book ended up being just another autobiography (for at least 90% of it).
In addition, while I was reading this book, the question continued to pop up: how all the people the author mentions reacted? It is true for any autobiography, but when a book is written by an older person, it’s easier to “abstract” from the characters inhabiting the book and to think about them as somebody in the past. But in that case, the author is young, and he writes about events that happened just a couple of years ago, or even later. I would not like to be any of these people he writes about! Even if there are no bad things said.

Escorting

I was escorting today after almost a month of not escorting. That’s because we now have to skip two weeks after any out-of-state travel, so I had to skip after Michigan, and then I Lena was visiting. 

Today I was finally back. 

It was quiet first, but then we got three young priests with a large group of school-age kids. I do not think all of them were high-schoolers; some didn’t look older than eleven.

So they line up and pray, and each woman who goes to the clinic and comes back has to march through this corridor of human bodies. One of the priests even got into a verbal fight with one of the escorts. He said that he does not know what a bubble zone is and that we speak to him in an unacceptable tone. 

He didn’t sound like a Christian to me! Cardinal Cupich is a far better person! I don’t know on which assembly line such “priests” are produced!

At some point, a patient came out of the clinic doors and stopped in hesitation. I told her that I could walk her through this line of prayers. She turned to me: but what are those people? What are they trying to achieve?

–They are trying to tell you and others that you are committing a sin..

–Oh, they are! I already have three children, and my husband passed away a year and a half ago; why should I bring one more child into this world? They won’t be around when the baby comes; I would have to do it on my own.

The Health Coverage

Mom received the approval letter for the Illinois Health Choice program, and I still can’t believe it’s all over! Too good to be true.

It was a ridiculously complicated process, and if it weren’t for Igor, nothing would happen.

From the first day in the US, mom used Access To Care, which is a charity to provide routine healthcare for those who, for any reason, are not eligible for Medicaid. or any other insurance. This program operates in Northwest suburban Cook county. When I told mom’s doctor that we are moving, she said they also cover Evanston and Rogers Park. But it turned out that our zip code is not eligible, and we had to look for alternatives.

After some research, Igor found that program mom could be eligible for: the program for older immigrants who spent less than 5 years in the US and are not yet eligible for Medicare. 

 I tried to submit my mom’s application online. Still, I got weird errors, and I had no time to continue during work hours when we could get customer assistance. 

So Igor spent two hours of his time to complete and submit her application. Later, however, she received a letter that they need her proff of income and some other proof of her status. With her income, it was interesting because we could only provide a statement from a Russian bank (in rubles), but that was all we had. Not relying on the mail, Irog went to their office and dropped the copies.

A week passed, and nobody called back. When a financial counselor from the emergency room called me, I explained the situation. She said she would follow up with the office. Only after that, the Health office called me back and asked what roubles mean and what’s the exchange rate!  

Ten days later, mom got yet another letter asking for proof of status. Since we already sent it twice, I called the office and left a message. They returned my call the next day, looked through mom’s file, and said: oh yes, she has everything! And proof of residence! You

are all good. 

So what it was, I have no idea, but yesterday, mom finally received a welcome letter! She has a doctor assigned, and this doctor is a ten-minute walk from her home! And this State program is tons better than what she had before!

The Rest Of Weekend Activities

To recap the rest of our weekend activities: after the architectural tour, we went to the Chicago Architectural Center – we disembarked right there, and also, Lena didn’t visit it since it moved to this new home. We saw the exhibit of Helmut Jahn, which I saw earlier with my mom, and the permanent exhibit on urban development, which was very interesting.

Continue reading “The Rest Of Weekend Activities” →

Tiramisu

Last week, I made tiramisu for the first time in my life, thanks to Jamie Lin and her recipe. Same as with quiche, I thought of tiramisu as something “humans can’t do,” and the only reason I tried this one was s promise of a “lighter version.” It turned out to be lighter in many ways, including the calorie count and the complexity/easiness of making it.

Since it was literally my first time, there were many things I didn’t know about tiramisu, but now that I made it once, I know how to plan and what to buy, and how to fit the making into my schedule. 

The most amazing thing was the straining of the greek yogurt. It was hard to believe that you can thicken it more than it already is, and when I dumped it into the cheesecloth, it didn’t look like it would release any extra water.

I was shocked to find a half-bowl of liquid in the morning! I almost spilled it because I didn’t expect it to be so full!

Update: I almost lost the recipe, so copying it here:

Ingredients:

  • 425 g. or 1 3/4 c. whole milk Greek yogurt, strained
  • 196 g. or 7 oz. or 1 c. minus 2 tbsp. mascarpone cheese, softened at room temp.
  • 60-80 g. or 3-4 tbsp. liquid sweetener (agave, honey, maple syrup, etc.)
  • 6 g. or 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 12 lady fingers
  • 240 g. or 1 c. hot water
  • 2 g. or 2 tsp. instant coffee powder
  • 20 g. or 1 tbsp. liquid sweetener (agave, honey, maple syrup, etc.)
  • Cocoa powder to top

Directions:

  1. To strain Greek yogurt, place a cheese cloth on top of a fine mesh strainer and place the strainer over a bowl. Scoop the Greek yogurt onto the cheese cloth and set in the fridge overnight or for 8 hours. In the next morning, bundle the cheese cloth together and squeeze out any excess moisture. The yogurt should have a thick, cream cheese consistency.
  2. In a deep and wide dish, combine hot water, coffee powder, and 1 tbsp. liquid sweetener. Set aside to cool.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together strained Greek yogurt, mascarpone, 3-4 tbsp. liquid sweetener, and vanilla extract until smooth. Taste and add more sweetener if desired.
  4. In you pan, spread a thin layer of cream on the bottom. One at a time, soak 6 lady fingers in the coffee and layer on the yogurt cream. I fit five lady fingers horizontally and one vertically.
  5. Spread another layer of cream on and add another layer of 6 coffee-dipped lady fingers. Top with the rest of the yogurt cream and smooth out the top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at least 8 hours.
  6. After the tiramisu is set, sift a generous amount of cocoa powder on top and slice to enjoy!

Tiramisu can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge up to 4 days.

The Crowds On The Streets

The crowds on the streets of Chicago during the past weekend were ginormous! It was not even pre-covid level; it was more than that! It was like being in New York on the New Year’s Eve.

Lena and I opted to wear masks outside most of the time because the crowds didn’t make it much better than inside. Who needs Lalapaloose with such crowds! (they said that Lala ended up not being a super-spreader after all). 

On Friday, our office building issued a mask mandate inside, and today, it was officially announced by the City. I am perfectly fine with that; as I already said multiple times, I would rather do things masked than not do things. 

Also, remember all these subscriptions I as purchasing in the past several weeks? Today, all the entertainment establishments sent out emails of proof of vaccination required to attend the event. It was decided by the League of Chicago Theatres. During the past several weeks, some of them even sent out surveys asking the patrons how they would react to the vaccination mandate. I was happy to answer – yes, I support it! 

Dr. Alyson Awdrey said during the press conference today, that the number of infected people per day in Chicago, although it has risen several times since June (from less than 100 to over 400), is still way below the 2,000 cases per day in winter. 

I hope that people will get vaccinated!

Chicago Architectural Cruise

The Architectural Cruise is the best attraction in Chicago! I heard once that if there is only one thing you have time to do in Chicago, do the Architectural cruise, and I can’r agree more! Each tour is different because each docent prepares their own tour, although the list of the places they need to cover is pre-defined. I’ve been on that tour at least twenty times :). The docent we had this time was just OK, not great. However, Lena really enjoyed it – it was a while since she was on that tour, and there are lots of new buildings which didn’t even exist seven years ago!

Continue reading “Chicago Architectural Cruise” →

Living Every Moment Of Chicago Summer…

Lena and I had a great weekend together! I am happy I created a mini-vacation for her, but I also did the same thing for myself – otherwise, I will be working all this time :). There are high chances that I will work ten hours a day each day of the upcoming week to compensate for that, but we still had a great time!

Saturday morning, we went biking on the Lake Front Trail. Lena saw all my pictures with beautiful sunsets, and she wanted to have the same experience. We ended up being at the right place at the right time, and I could even film the sunrise!

I didn’t have time for a blog post yesterday, but I posted a lot on the instagram. Now I am trying to save some time and embed the instagram post, hopefully it will be visible. You can click on the arrows to scroll through the picture.

As you can see, we biked far enough but not as far as I hoped. To be fair, Lena didn’t bike for over a year, so the long bike ride was a little bit too harsh of a start.

When we returned home, I made quiches for breakfast (and shared with my neighbors)

And then, we were off for another adventure. I booked the Architectural Cruise for PM departure, and we had time before that to visit the Millennium park one more time (there was a Zumba class in progress) and then we went to the Lurie Garden

We strolled through the West Riverwalk one more time

had some ice cream in the Tiny Cafe, and then headed to the boat tour –

I Have An Out-Of-Town Guest!

I have a first out-of-town guest who is not a family member! Lena came to visit me from Ann Arbor, and it feels like in the old days, only it is easier now to get to all city attractions. She arrived Friday afternoon, and I started work early in the morning so that I could be done for the day by 3 PM.

After a brief tour of my new place, we headed to the Loop. We went to the Art Institute and saw Obama Portraits and Bisa Butler exhibits; then we went to the Millennium Park for the Classic Broadway concert, and then we strolled the night Riverwalk, and we even had time to have a late-night tea on my balcony!

Continue reading “I Have An Out-Of-Town Guest!” →

Funny Thing Happened Today

When I opened my apartment door and stepped into the kitchen, I could tell right away that it is warm. The past several days were incredibly hot, and each time I stepped inside my apartment, I felt the coolness. Toda, however, I could tell that the temperature in the apartment is the same as outside.

I had a thousand thoughts right away. I thought: I just told a number of people that the severe weather didn’t damage anything in my apartment! And that I didn’t have a power outage. And that I thought I wouldn’t need to replace an air conditioner before spring. And which repair service should I call? 

I was already counting my losses of time and money when I felt that it is starting to cool down. I checked the thermostat – the temperature was indeed coming down!

It was only then that I realized that today was the first day in two weeks that I came home before the time the air conditioner thinks I should be home and starts to cool the apartment!

I immediately remembered what my neighbor said the other day. I asked him where he was – I haven’t seen him for the whole week. He replied with the question: where have you being for the whole week?

  • I was working!
  • See – that’s what I mean: you should be at home more!

I guess, he is right!