Piano Man

It's been a busy few weeks and only set to get busier as the holiday season gets under way.  It started with Thanksgiving.  Aside from decorating our apartment, the embassy held a trick-or-treat the Friday before the actual day.  It was pretty cold, so it was a good thing that Aiden's costume was a bit big and we were able to put several layers under it.  He made a wonderful Elvis. 

I don't think he quite knew what to make of all the people in costumes and he was pretty shy as we went from house to house. But before long, he caught on to the idea that he was allowed to take candy from the dishes and but them in his bucket. After that, he was much more enthusiastic about the whole thing. He had quite a haul, and Stephanie and I had to eat it for him. Poor us. 

Our walk home from the embassy that night gave us a nice opportunity to snap some photos of the view from the bridge at night, including the hotel Ukraina and the Russian White House. 

Of course, the days are getting so short now that we don't have to stay out very late to walk home in the dark.  Actually, the sun doesn't come up until almost 9am and sets not long after 5pm, so it's always pitch black when I walk to work and the street lights have usually come on while I'm walking home.  And we still have a month to go before the days get longer again.

Trick-or-treating was a little early, so over the weekend before Halloween, we carved a jack-o-lantern...

...and had a Halloween party with lots of goodies and lots of other kids. Aiden is becoming very social and had a great time playing. 

Another big event around this time of year is the Marine Ball, in celebration of the founding of the U.S. Marines. While we are very supportive of the Marines and appreciate what they do for us, the $400/couple price tag was a bit much to swallow.  But rather than stay home, we got some friends together and went out to a trendy roof-top restaurant called the White Rabbit. 

The White Rabbit positions itself as a very exclusive venue, with a strict dress code and "face control".  We really weren't sure what they meant by face control - would we be sent away if we were deemed not good-looking enough?  But we got in with no problem and even saw a number of people in jeans and sneakers, and even a lady with a dog.  All I can figure is that the stated dress code and face check policy is there to give them an excuse to send people away if they feel like it.

The place was definitely high-end.  There were strange paintings of white rabbits dressed like people. And the whole restaurant is glassed in, providing amazing views of the city.   I didn't have my camera with me, so I found some on the internet that show the highlights. 

The hostesses were also sufficiently snooty, so I tried to be equally aloof. I was worried for a moment when we were checking in that they would give us bad seats because we were foreign, but either being American has some cache or my aloofness was convincing, because we had great seats near the bar with a fantastic view - pretty much what you see in the pictures above. 

The food was outstanding, well worth the relatively high prices, and our waiter was very polite and helpful.  All in all, it was a wonderful night on the town. 

The weekend after that was Stephanie's birthday, and we pulled out all the stops. I made her grits muffins the day before, and the night before we went to a new restaurant near the Kremlin.  The food was very creative, the decor was modern, and the prices were reasonable - they even brought Aiden a giant stuffed bear, crayons, and a matchbox car to play with.  There were also TV's mounted on the wall showing strange Soviet-era cartoons including one with a man riding a hippopotamus over a canyon full of elephants.  Among the more interesting dishes were cream of asparagus soup with blue cheese ice cream, cold beet and black current soup with mustard ice cream, and beef cheeks.  The beet soup was by far my favorite. 

For Stephanie's actual birthday, I made a stack of fresh pumpkin pancakes complete with candles for breakfast, and then went to the outdoor market to get supplies for dinner.  I then baked Stephanie's favorite black magic cake with dark chocolate ganache icing, and whipped up a smorgasbord of bacon-wrapped scallops, shrimp, cheese and crackers, figs, and blue cheese-stuffed dates wrapped in bacon.  She seemed very pleased.  

That night we had a few close friends over for cake and ice cream and I got to try out these sparkler fountains I found at the market.  It was harder than I thought to light them so I only got two going at a time, but the effect was still impressive.

The weather has been pretty blah - cold and gray almost every day - and work has been a bit of a slog with high volumes of applicants day in and day out.  Of course, the monotony is broken from time to time with an interesting applicant, like the guy we spotted with his finger up his nose to the second knuckle before he came to my window. I had to slather myself and everything on my desk in hand sanitizer before I felt I could continue.  One bright side has been that at the stolovaya where I go to eat lunch sometimes, they started having a classical pianist play once in awhile. It's a really nice treat when I catch it, and sort of surreal to eat  a cheap cafeteria-style lunch in a beautiful marble entry hall with live classical piano playing, but it brightens up my day.

Getting into the holiday spirit helps too.  Lots of stores are already putting up Christmas decorations and we've been making our contribution to the U.S. economy with our shopping sprees on Amazon and Walmart.com.  I also joined a group at the embassy that meets once a week to sing 15th and 16th century songs a cappella.  It's something I really look forward to and enjoy. We're working on a Christmas concert for friends and family, so that's exciting.

Aiden is starting to say his first words, like shoe, cheese, and nose. He also lifts up his shirt when we ask him where his belly is, and says quack quack when we ask him what the duck says - he even does a passable imitation of an elephant that I taught him.  Recently he's started saying "Bye-bye" and waving his hand too.  It was really funny today - we had our iTunes on shuffle and "Bye-Bye" by the Backstreet Boys came on (yest it's on the playlist), and every time they said "Bye-Bye" in the song, which was frequent, Aiden would say it too and wave at us.  He's growing up more every day and it's so much fun to watch.

Now we have Thanksgiving to look forward to before we go head long into Christmas.  I made sweet potato biscuits today and we have a whole schedule of cooking and baking between now and Thursday.  It's not the same as being home, but at least here we can get most of the traditional foods we like to have...