Priyaniki and Patriarchy

 Found an amazing Ukrainian-and-Russian market right next to my apartment here last week, and enjoyed walking around seeing not just the same foods but the same brands I had once been so accustomed to. The same priyaniki, the same condensed milk, the same Russian chocolates, the same Baltika beer!

Priyaniki = Russian Gingerbread Cookies

Back in the day, one of the few Russian-made brands that even the expats agreed was quality

I was charmed, and happy. On my way out I asked the nice young man behind the counter if they sold borsch. I was unsurprised when he said no — why would a market have fresh soup? — but I was a bit surprised when he responded negatively to my inquiry about restaurants in town that had it.

I was surprised because I already knew of a restaurant near my previous airbnb here — over in the City Kvart district, compared to the downtown area I'm in now — that had absolutely delicious borsch, which I had not only ordered, but photographed. And which, when I had inquired about it, had been made by a Russian chef. I can't say it was the best borsch I've ever had — it wasn't even homemade, let alone made by Natalia Leonidovna Kisslova back in Vladivostok, which is officially the best borsch ever made in the history of the world — but it was the best restaurant borsch I've ever had.

90% of perfection

Obviously the guy at my nearby market simply doesn't know of that restaurant on the other side of town. But kinda cool for me to have superior knowledge on this one particular issue. Does that make me a local yet?

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They have some very cool building-sized graffiti here, including this piece, which reads (in Montenegrin) "Patriarchy is not dead yet, and we don't know when."

I thought this was a fairly surprising piece of agitprop, so I asked my airbnb host about it. She was actually fairly dismissive, explaining simply that this was a character from a popular TV show here, who had said that on the show. Frankly, I don't think this really explains much. Presumably that quote has some resonance to the people who painted this wall beyond "it's something a famous actress said on a show." Maybe my airbnb host said it to me because she thought *I* wouldn't be interested in more details?

I'll have to keep asking. 

Happy Monday, everybody.