When people find out that I'm pregnant, they inevitably ask if I've had any weird cravings.  I have to say yes, although the things I'm craving aren't pickles and ice cream or anything like that.   For me, the weird stuff is corn dogs... and beets.  I spent the first half of this pregnancy wanting nothing but corn dogs, but avoiding it because of how unhealthy they are. I finally gave in and had some a little while ago..... and they weren't nearly as good as I imagined them to be.  Oh well - no more corn dog cravings!

I just received a some pictures from the recent photo-shoot of Bubbles laundromat from my clients and thought I'd share.  (Notice the awesome Bubble Chandelier in the background.)

Wouldn't it be great if we all dressed this well when we went to the laundromat?
























In other news, it seems that Lady Gaga has caught the laundromat bug - in her recent photo shoot for Vanity Fair.

The past couple months have been quite a blur.  During the fall semester, I decided to take some design classes that kept me thoroughly busy and allowed me to work on some pretty fun and exciting projects (more on that next time).  On a quick trip to Utah for my Gramma’s funeral I got some fantastic news.

So if you’re ever in Ukraine (which I would highly recommend) be sure to stop by Bubbles to get your clothes washed and dried and check out my bubble chandelier!

Things are slowly coming together with Bubbles.  We're still pushing to open on Aug. 5, which gives us a little less than two weeks!  I can't believe how fast this summer is going!  :)

We'll be getting a shipment of something like 1200 blown glass bubbles of all sizes within the next couple days and my project will be to actually help build the chandelier!  (pictures to come)

We found perfect sofas - they're really comfortable and I can't wait until they get in!  This is what they look like:




While I was looking at different sofas for the laundromat, I came across this positively fantastic Versace "Bubbles Sofa."  I'm a little bit obsessed with it lately and really want to snuggle into it.  While I really love the cloud-like quality of the white, I would love to find someplace to use the colorful version.  :)

We had another cooking lesson with Ira and this time we learned to make green borscht.  You may be familiar with Borscht as an Eastern European soup made with beets.  What you might not know about is it's non-beet counterpart - Green Borscht.  I can't believe I'm admitting this, but I've had 4 bowls of it already.  It's so good it's really hard to stop!

The main ingredient in green borscht is sorrel.  Before this, I had maybe heard of it once or twice, but I really had no idea what it was... or how good it is!  It looks a little like spinach - that's actually what I thought it was at first.  The flavor however, is bright and lemony-tart, and oh-so-refreshing on a hot summer's day.

Since I've never looked for it before now, I don't know how widely available it is.  If you can manage to get your hand on it, definitely try it - it's so delicious, and can be used for all kinds of things (soups, salads, quiches, etc).  If you can't find it, a good substitute for this equal parts of spinach and endive along with some lemon juice.

Green Borscht

This method is about as authentic as it gets: we were taught by a Western-Ukrainian from a village outside of Lutsk.  I'm giving it to you straight, just the way she taught us, but there are a few things I might do differently on my own - just watch for the italics!  :)

• 1 lb sorrel, finely chopped (sub 1/2 lb spinach, 1/2 lb endive and juice of 2 lemons ONLY if sorrel is not available)
• 12 small potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 large carrots, shredded
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1-2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 4 eggs 
• approx. 2 qt. water (or chicken or vegetable stock - preferably homemade)
• Salt
• Smetana (Sour Cream) (optional) 

In a large soup pot, cover potatoes with water and about 2 Tbsp salt and bring to a boil.  As the potatoes boil, be sure to skim off any of the white foam that develops.


Once the potatoes are boiling, add the four eggs to make hard-boiled eggs.  (Be sure to wash the shells thoroughly - you know where eggs come from and you don't want that in your soup!  As a side-note, you can also cook the eggs in a separate pot of water if you feel better about doing that.)  Cook the eggs for 7-10 minutes and then remove from the soup, peel, and chop into bite-sized chunks.  Continue to cook the potatoes until fork-tender.

Meanwhile, combine the carrots and onions with the olive oil and saute until soft, about 8-10 minutes.  Add the tomato paste and cook a few minutes longer.  There should be just enough tomato paste to coat the carrots and onions.  (Note: I've heard of this being made with or without the tomato paste.  It's great with, but would taste wonderful without as well - feel free to experiment here!)




Add the chopped sorrel, carrot mixture, and chopped eggs to the potatoes and bring to a boil, adding more water if necessary.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for another 8-10 minutes.  Salt to taste (another couple Tbsp!)


Serve with a dollop of Smetana (sour cream), bread, and tomato cucumber salad.

Yesterday was the first fully nice day we've had for a while.  There's been a lot of rain this summer - in fact, I'm currently sitting in the dark watching a fantastic thunderstorm.  Beautiful!

Anyway, since it was so great, we decided to visit Shevchenkosky Grove.  It's a park here in Lviv that's just full of old Ukrainian-style log cabins from the 1800's.  They are positively darling!  I love the effort that went into making them beautiful.  Many of them had a front porch and beautiful carvings on the pillars.  There was also a huge wooden church - one of the most beautiful and architecturally interesting that I've seen!

I can't get over how great these houses are.  This is one of the things that I was really looking forward to seeing here in Ukraine... and subsequently share with all of you.  The woodwork and textiles here are so intricate and rich.  I'll be looking for ways (soon) to incorporate some of this rich history into my designs.

Here are some of my photos from yesterday.  Raw and unedited.  :)