Christmas in January!

January 1-7, 2017

We were off Sunday and Monday so lots of time to recuperate from the party , clean up and get all the dishes washed and put away before heading back to the office. After a busy Christmas holiday, it was nice to relax and binge watch Netflix while working my way through some of the leftovers.

Tuesday night, Cat, Alberto, Vanessa and I are going to the Bolshoi Theatre to see a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker; what must be one of the quintessential Moscow experiences. After a glass or two of wine and some snacks, we grab a cab to the Bolshoi. The main building of the theatre is a landmark of Moscow and Russia and the lavish décor does not disappoint. 

We are seated in the third balcony so we have a very good view of the performance as a whole. The ballet is beautifully executed as you would expect from one of the oldest and most renowned ballet companies in the world. I even managed to stay awake through the entire 2 hour plus performance (I think!).  The offerings at the intermission included champagne and a myriad of small sandwiches and other light snacks but we resisted as we had plans for a late dinner.

After the performance, we headed to Voronezh. To date, my culinary experiences there have all been in the ground floor snack bar but tonight we are going upscale so we made reservation for the second floor. 

Voronezh is a meat lover’s paradise and the menu boasts many cuts of steak, along with various game, fowl and fish.  We order our salads, entrees and wine and settle back for a great end to a beautiful evening. It didn’t turn out exactly as planned as there were issues with one of the steaks (twice) so not sure whether a return is warranted.

Canada club was canceled so it’s a quiet evening at home for a change.

Saturday evening, Craig and Kerry are hosting a Regift Party for Orthodox Christmas so I excavate my gift cupboard looking for the perfect treasure(s) to pass on to one of my unsuspecting friends. I don’t as a rule re-gift presents that I have received so I put together a pink bath gift pack from things that I have purchased and wrap it up.  

Craig was cooking all day so they served turkey with all the fixings along with chili, chicken wings, shrimp and a long list of other foods to the hungry masses. After we had stuffed ourselves and finished dessert, the craziness of the gift “exchange” ensued.

In my opinion, the funniest gift was a partially full (80%) bottle of Sambuca though there was clearly a lot of thought and humour injected into many of the gifts! Another great evening with great food, friends and fun …

One of the best things about Russia is that you get to celebrate Christmas (and New Year’s) twice – once using the Julien calendar and the second time using the Orthodox calendar – all good! This means that we have two days to recover from our Saturday night “excesses” since Monday is a stat holiday.  Of course, we will have to work days that folks in Canada don’t as a result but c’est la guerre! Sunday and Monday are frigid so a couple of days of hibernation ensued.