Tikva means pumpkin

Recently, the other volunteers and I have begun opening up our homes to each other and it has been really interesting meeting other Ukrainian families. After being in a few others' homes, I have noticed that I live in the most Ukrainian decorated household, with four antler ornaments in my room, along with a rug with dead muskrat (maybe beaver?) hangings on my wall above my bed. My room has a table in the middle, which serves well for hanging out and hosting. Even though I'm not used to a lot of stuff (rock and shell collections, wine glasses, shot glasses, Religious ornaments, tea sets, lanterns, bibles and more!) I am beginning to adapt to the Ukrainian decor that Тамара has here.

I have been having a lot of fun with Тамара. We have few conversations (more than just mooing) and I am learning a little bit about her life, hobbies and family. She especially likes to cook, so I asked her to teach me how to cook which I think will be very beneficial to our friendship (she smiled and seemed very enthusiastic about this project). Last night while Colette was over, I learned how to make a pumpkin gruel which is quite delicious and has been my breakfast for the past few days. It's very simple, and doesn't take much time, so I thought I'd share it with you:

grated pumpkin (0.5 kg)

milk (150 ml)

rice (150 g)

honey (1 T)

butter (1 T)

Grate pumpkin into a bowl and leave aside. Boil rice until ready and leave aside. Boil milk and add the pumpkin honey and butter. To serve, combine pumpkin and rice together in bowl and add butter as you please for each meal. (I add very little; Тамара adds another spoonful - great for flavor, awful for my stomach)

приятного апетита!