January 20 2010
I can’t remember if I have told this story or not so forgive me if I am repeating myself. The Radisson Hotel is a newly remodeled high end hotel in the heart of Tbilisi. It is about 15 stories high. Prior to the remodel it had been a hotel for IDP’s (internally displaced persons). I would guess this was a result of the internal conflicts with the two regions that want to be separate entities: South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The story we heard from several people was that when the IDP’s lived there they took their cows with them and had them on their balconies! Can you imagine? We were told it took three years to rehab the hotel. No wonder.

This weekend we had our first dinner guests. We didn’t have a tablecloth so we were waiting for one to be made. We now have two tablecloths in different sizes and 12 napkins thanks to Lala who is the Conly’s housekeeper and an exquisite seamstress. Our first guests were the Conly’s, our new best friends and Rami and Patrick who both work at the Embassy. Rami is from Toronto and is Palestinian and Patrick is from SE Texas. They have two adorable children, Canaan and Maya, six and five and a half years old. Ron and I had made salmon and chicken earlier in the week to make sure we liked the taste of each before deciding on our menu. We rarely cook with meat so thought we should try it out here as nothing is the same here as at home. For instance, chickens are not bleached so they are much more yellow than at home. I also discovered that they have a lot of pin feathers which take an inordinate amount of time to clean off the bird. Oy! Well the night we had chicken and the night we had salmon convinced us either one would be great. The salmon is imported by a German firm I was told but I don’t know from where. It is not as rich nor as fatty as ours is in the NW but it was still good. Next I needed to buy pans for making a pavlova. Easier said than done but ultimately found some at a store in town. I mistakenly picked up three pans as intended but in two sizes. I also realized that I had not been given the VAT discount even though I had given them my diplomat card. So the next day I returned to the store. I talked to several people before I was introduced to the manager. After much discussion she said she would give me the discount but could not take the pans back and refund my money. It taught me a lesson to be more observant particularly about the dip card discount. The three pans cost close $56. As I have said before, it is an expensive place to live. On Friday we went shopping together and managed to spend over $120 for the meal. After dinner we took a taxi and went to the movies at our favorite funky theater with the bad seats. We take our own cushions now and Ron observed someone else this time who had brought a cushion to sit on as the seats are Soviet era hard wooden seats. I know they are Soviet era because the numbering of the rows is in the Russian alphabet. We saw Invictus about Nelson Mandela and how he used rugby to help unite his country after apartheid.

On Saturday we managed to stay busy in the kitchen most of the day. I had not slept well so we snuck in a nap late in the afternoon. We had bought charcoal to grill the salmon but discovered that it is not compressed like ours so the heat quickly dissipated and we had to finish the fish in the oven. It was delicious. Dinner was later than we had intended but I wasn’t as coordinated with my timing of the various dishes. We had a grand time visiting and eating and enjoying Ron’s famous pavlova with frozen berries. Everyone left around 10:30.

On Sunday we hung around the house most of the day. In the afternoon I went out for coffee with a friend whom I met through IWA. She works for the International Red Cross and lives about ten minutes from our house. Ron walked to the hardware bazaar to get some needed items. In the evening we Skyped my sister and Ron’s sister and later did a Skype chat with Ron’s mom who is 89 this month! Sonia is an amazing woman to say the least. We all should be so lucky to be as involved, alert and savvy as she is.

This week we are making preparations for a Georgian potluck here. We have invited 20 Georgian guests. These are people Ron works with and whom we know such as our language teacher, our driver and housekeeper. It should be great fun. We discovered we can get extra everything (tables, chairs, dishes, cutlery etc.) through the Embassy. This is a real help since we only brought ten plates, etc. Ron and I will provide salad, drinks, salmon and barbeque. Hopefully, one of the Georgians will do the barbequing since we don’t know how they do it but every time we have eaten it it has been fabulous.