Out of Mongolia

Many are cold, but few are frozen 
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August 9, 2009

Making Yoghurt Without a Clue

 

                 
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A Mongo-American bacterial blend

In Tbilisi, you'll often hear a voice, always an old voice, calling out  Matzoni! Matzoni!  This is the Georgian word for yoghurt. Old folks make a little extra income by making yoghurt at home - probably in their bathtubs - and selling it on the street. It so happens that this is the best yoghurt in the world, one of the few Georgian boasts that I don't question.

I left Tbilisi in 1999, and ever since, I have missed their yoghurt. I can't eat the fruity, slimy stuff they sell in supermarkets. I need plain, white yoghurt, with a sharp, sour bite, and loaded with bacteria. I've never found what I want in a store.

So I decided to make it myself. My wife had made yoghurt a few times, using UHT milk, with limited success. I think the process of superheating milk had something to do with it. But she gave me the idea, and I had a dim idea of the process.

I kicked off my experiment with locally-made commercial yoghurt and some Shin Suu, fresh milk produced from Mongolian cows. I mixed some of the yoghurt and milk in a pitcher, and then added the contents of an American-made acidophilus capsule. I like the idea of a Mongo-American bacterial blend.

The next morning, I just had a pitcher of milk. I couldn't understand it. But then, I remembered that Mongolian nights are chilly, even in summer. My kitchen is like a walk-in refridgerator at night. So I filled a big pot with water, heated it up, and put the pitcher in.

The next day, I had a pitcherfull of real yoghurt. It was a little runnier than what you get in the store, but tasted perfect.

Now I'm making it almost every day, with mixed results. I don't know how much yoghurt to mix in with the milk, how long it should sit, or what the best temperature is. It comes out differently every time. But it's always delicious. Maybe, someday, I'll go online and find out how to make it properly. But for now, it's more fun to learn from my own experience.

I can't say that my yoghurt is as good as the stuff I bought in Tbilisi. I think the secret ingredient in Georgian yoghurt comes from bathtub grime -  maybe I'll give it a try after my kids go to college.

 

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Filed under  //   Bacteria   Making Yoghurt   Tbilisi   Yoghurt  

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July 3, 2009

The Real Wedding

 

           
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Ten years ago in Tbilisi

Ten years ago today I was married, for real, in Tbilisi, to Tatyana Chernyak. We had already been married, sort of, in an Orthodox Church in May.  But on this day we were married legally, in a secular ceremony, in the Palace of Happiness. Some people, including my wife, believe that the church wedding is the one that counts. But to me, the one that counts is the one with the party.

Today I'm celebrating alone. My wife's in Kiev with our two children. I sent her a sweet SMS in the morning: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABYGIRL! I love you and miss you and I am happy (and lucky) you married me! I spoke to her this afternoon, and she sounded happy. So I bought a bottle of Merlot and a pizza, and am enjoying them even as I write.

We had originally planned to get married in Kiev, but in those dark days it was really tough to get visas for Ukraine. I was working in Georgia, where the visa regime was much more relaxed. That, plus the fact that Georgian food is much, much better than anything you could get in Ukraine, made it a no-brainer. The only downside was that I had to plan the whole thing. Luckily, with a lot of help from my friends, it worked out. Perfectly.

I wanted to get married on July 3rd because the next day would always be a holiday in the States. I imagined that every year we'd go out to dinner, go dancing, drink heavily, have sex all night long, and then sleep in really really late. That was before kids, of course. But as it turns out, we've almost never been together on our anniversary because she's always in Ukraine in the summer. This summer is no exception.

My family came from the States, including my two tiny neices. Her family came from Ukraine and Moldova. Friends and colleagues came from Ukraine, Armenia, and of course there were a lot of friends from Georiga.

After the ceremony we went to a church on a hill in nearby Mtskheti, the traditional place to go for newlyweds (in most former Soviet cities, you go to the war memorial). Then the party started. We had a Georgian feast, plenty of wine, traditional Georgian music, a jazz singer, and even a belly dancer. Because it was almost the 4th of July, the director of the hall had fireworks go off at midnight.

For me, the challenge was to stay sober. Everyone wanted to drink with us, and would approach our table, give an elaborate toast, and slug down a glass of wine. You had to drink the whole glass. I knew this would be a bad idea if repeated 100 times. But luckily, there was a yellow-colored pear soda that was the same color as the wine. After each toast, I poured pear soda into a glass and stirred out the bubbles. At the next toast, I'd drink to the bottom.

I sometimes think about the couple who married after us that day at the Palace of Happiness. He was a man with ginger hair, she was a pretty, dark-haired Georgian girl. This is their 10th anniversary too. I wonder how things went for them.

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Filed under  //   Georgia   Tbilisi   Wedding  

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