I know, I know… but when it’s about Vlad, it’s inevitably about good food :). And I still have one more food-related post in the making :).
I loved both breakfast places we’ve been, both the food and the aesthetics.
Two Breakfast Places In DC
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.
Time Magazine: Bathroom Access
It is such a shame we do have this problem un the US! This article in TIME magazine addresses the embarrassing issue of the lack of public bathrooms, and I couldn’t agree more! I am still waiting for something to be done on the Lake Front Trial!
The full article text is below, as usual.
Continue reading “Time Magazine: Bathroom Access”Silver Lyan
On Friday night, shortly after arrival, we went downstairs to Silver Lyan bar to see Vlad at work. Last time when we were in DC, he were in Silver Lyan for Hanami, and I wanted to see how it is during it’s “regular operations.” Most importantly, it was a chance to see Vlad doing “his thing,” which always tells about him more than anything else. So we went there, and it was pretty amazing. Now, that Vlad is not in Chicago, I do not have chances to try his cocktails that often and I almost forgot what an extraordinary experience it is! Each cocktail has it’s story (and Vlad told me that they write the stories first and then they figure out how to “make it happen.” He promest to give me the pdfs of all of these stories (I didn’t take the menu pictutures), so at this moment, images only.
(Bacardí Carta Blanca, carrot mead, mushroom caramel, spruce, White Lyan water, clay “champagne”)
Porter’s Tropical Old Tom, birchwood booch, douglas fir, ‘pink’ tea
(Roku gin, lychee sherbet, elderflower shochu,
black grape)
(Fords gin, served 50:50 with Dolin vermouth
with oyster, olive, house-pickled onion and lemon)
Actually, I just realised that I didn’t take a picture of the cocktail I liked most – the one which Vlad made when he was in Tokio – Lychee Martini with elderflower shochu. And to be clear – Vlad made a mini-version of each of the cocktails for me, so that I could taste several (and I still didn’t finish even mini-versions).
All the different foods we tried during these two days of stay ended were great, and unfortunately, the rest of our agenda was severely affected by the weather. it was pouring rain on Saturday, and bitterly cold and windy on Sunday, so things went not exactly as planned, although I we still did a lot and talked a lot 🙂
DC: Riggs Hotel
We are in DC, visiting Vlad and Dylon and staying at the Riggs hotel: second time for me, first time for Boris, and also, that’s his first visit to DC in general. Unfortunately, it’s the worst possible weather, so our today’s plans were already altered, but it’s still great to be there!
CSO and Forte
The only outing Boris and I had in Chicago this week was going to the CSO on Thursday (and going to dinner in Forte before that). It was really-really great (I mean the concert, but the dinner was also good :))
Jakub Hrusa really impressed me, and Gil Shaham was great as usual!
When he was called for an anchor, he shared a story from the beginning of the pandemic, when composer Scott Wheeler wrote a piece about isolation, and sent it to him. Gil Shaham performed this piece for his anchor; it is called Isolation Rag :))
ODS – Starting A New One More Time
When I met with my friend N. on Sunday, we talked about ODS, and I shared that I am unsure about how to continue, when everybody is new and we do not have a volunteer coordinator. I told her that I was going to go there on March 5 for the first time after a long break and that I hoped that something positive would come out of it. I scheduled my volunteering for that day although Boris as going to be in town, but he said he completely understood it, and as long as something positive can come out of it, it will be all good.
It ended up being a really great and meaningful event. I came in, and approached a group of residents asking who would’ve like to make pizza with me, and two young women immediately volunteered (I later learned that they were close friends and roommates). We immediately clicked and started chatting, and later, one young man joined us, and then one of the staff, and when I already turned the oven off, yet another young man. I stayed there until past 8 PM (and I had to take Uber home). These first two young women told me they are going to start a community college to become nurses, and how they are going to do it together and support each other. One of the residents asked me why did I come to the US, and since it was the next day after the Elpha post went up, I just showed it to her. This opened yet another conversation. It is not always easy to let the residents know that I feel for them, because there were times when I had very little money, and that for the longest time, I didn’t have a home of my own.
It all went so well, that I examined my upcoming schedule one more time and found one more day when I would be able to come. Next day, we messaged back and forth with the new volunteer coordinator, and agreed that we could try other days od the week, and we could even try to go to the Art Institute in April. Fingers crossed 🙂
Elpha.com
Post on Elpha – first tin=me posting something personal to my professional network
***
Boris arrived Sunday evening. I was thinking about how, during my February trip, we didn’t spend enough time talking and being together overall because I couldn’t detach myself from work, relax, or just be happy. Even the time which was technically a vacation time, didn’t work like this. I decided that this time would be different. I think that although work is still insane, I managed to put my life back on track during the last several days. Escorting after a long time not doing it and then spending a lot of time together with N. felt like finally doing the right thing. Our plan for Monday was for Boris to come to the Lopp and attend another screening of the CEUFF, but the weather was summer-like again, and I knew it was not for long, so I decided to change the plan. I left work earlier, came home, and we went for a long walk, and then sat and talked for several hours straight. And that was the best thing I did for a very long time!
One friend of mine will tell that she always knows who took a picture judging by how I look 🙂
Friendship
When we met with my friend N. on Sunday, she asked me whether I could promise her to wear the gift she was going to give me all the time. I said yes, and this bracelet is on my wrist now – all the time!
Summer Days
At the beginning of March, we had several summer-like days, and although the weather had already returned to normal, these couple of days were amazing! I biked before dawn and in the afternoon, and I swear I saw people at the beach!!!
Hettie's Reflections 