Articles by Sergey

Inspiration Files: Mari Vanna (DC Edition)

While I was traveling in Russia, Sergey was back in DC, getting his Russian on without actually traveling to the place. Lucky him, he got press passes to the soft opening of Mari Vanna, a Russian-themed restaurant – operated, decorated, and staffed by Russians. We have actually checked it out together since, and I can say that the decor is right on point – drawing inspiration from a mix of Ballets Russes, the intelligentsia’s dacha, perhaps with a pinch of a communal flat setup in a pre-1917 mansion.… Read the rest

Construction Day 14-15

Good morning people.
It’s Wednesday, and VIB is moving fast ahead and framing is up!
If you look the right way, you can almost see the kitchen slowly forming in the distance… )
So many little parts left to do, but the pace is steady..

The water will be entirely disconnected this week, so timing works out.
Kirill is going to be our nachal’nik for the week, with proper documentation of the progress and creating presence!… Read the rest

November/December Chalkboard

i tried to go light on this one (no need to overburden ourselves) and hopefully we will be able to cross that top thing off of our list pretty quickly.

also, we decided to leave the fireplace for the summer, as of right now the chimney sweeps won’t be able to show up before december and really I don’t have any faith in that pledge, so I am just not going to deal with having a hole in my dining room for 2 cold months.… Read the rest

if you suddenly lose hot water and heat. you may want to try doing this! magically ha

if you suddenly lose hot water and heat. you may want to try doing this!

magically happens. make sure you follow instructions:

1) turn the dial to off.
2) make sure your heater gauge is set to vacation or lowest setting possible.
3) let it sit for 10 minutes to let leftover gas evaporate? you dont want to explode.
4) turn the dial to pilot
5) and press the red button(can be black for reset).… Read the rest