My Favorite Lunch and Other Things

I think I've mentioned a few different times on my blog that I really like Georgian food. Unfortunately, Georgian food isn't something we get a lot of back in the USA, but there is plenty of it here. One of the best (reasonably priced) Georgian places in St. Petersburg, Хачапурная (Khachapurnaya) happens to have a location a short two-minute walk from the office where I work. At least once a week, and sometimes much more, you can find me there eating lunch.

This is my favorite lunch.

Let's get a close-up of the key part.

That, friends, is khachapuri po-adjarskiy, and is perhaps one of the most delicious, and deadly, things that I have ever eaten. It is a bread-boat kind of thing, filled with cheese, an egg on top, cooked in the oven, with a little butter melting on top for good measure. Yum. I could easily eat one of these everyday. But I don't, because I value the work that my heart does for me. Most khachapuri is a kind of flat bread filled with cheese, that is baked and served hot and melty. Also delicious. The other dish in the first picture is a kind of spicy beef stew, with tomatoes and onions. Don't you want to come eat lunch with me? I realize this doesn't seem like super summery food, but the weather in St. Petersburg also hasn't been super summery. And when something is super delicious, sometimes it doesn't matter what the weather is. If it's hot out, I replace the stew with something more appropriate.

This is another church that I happened upon after work the other day while on my way to Institute class.

I've been really enjoying going to Institute classes, now that I know they exist. It's been fun to meet some of the Church members here that are around my age, and gives me a lot of opportunities to speak Russian and interact with people in an informal setting. I love the network that the Church provides, wherever I happen to be. Instant friends. Fantastic.

In addition to the new people I've met, I've run into some old friends to.

This is me with Julia Sokolova. She is from Ufa, Russia, but moved to St. Petersburg about six months ago. She was a missionary in Lithuania at the same time as me, so it has been fun to see her again.

As an added bonus the Institute building has a pool table and ping pong.