Borscht

So yesterday I looked around the kitchen and found myself staring at quite a supply of beets and cabbage and potatoes from our CSA.  These are not ingredients I use every day so I entered them into google to see what kind of recipes might pop up.  And sure enough the first 468 entries pointed toward borscht.  I have nothing against  this Russian soup- it's just that I have never made it before and I was a little nervous to have my debut taste tested by a real live Russian who happens to be pulling up a chair to our dinner table every night.  But it couldn't be avoided.  So I made it and awaited the verdict from Ildar.  He came in, looked in the pot, asked, "What's this?"  "Borscht."  He raised his eyebrows.  He gamely took a bowl and sat down for dinner.  I watched closely as he tasted the first spoonful.  He smiled and then said, "It's good, but it's not borscht."  I guess I'll take that as a positive review.  Right?  It got the rest of my dumb family laughing and pretty soon all of them were making plans as to how I could open up a stand in Russia selling "American style borscht."  Ildar added several points to the marketing plan, including this conclusion, "I think you should plan to take your stand to a new city every month, because maybe most customers will only come once and then not return, so you will have to find new customers somewhere else."  Hmmmm.  Well, I guess I don't know how to feel about the borscht, but it made it clear to me that Ildar is feeling downright comfortable in our household.  I like that.  But I don't think I am going to be making anymore borscht here for a while.