"The Place Where Bison's Graze"

Last month, Aunt Marina, Uncle George, and I met for an adventure in Brooklyn's Brighton Beach neighborhood. Some go so far as to say it's the largest Russian-speaking community outside of the USSR (disclaimer: this has not been fact checked)!

Uncle George had a field day looking for gypsy music at St. Petersberg, a CD and video store on the main drag, Brighton Beach Avenue.

I wanted to get some buffalo grass to make my own Zubrovka vodka. I'd tasted it (subtle, smooth, sensational!) at Easter, when Uncle George and Uncle Eugene were drinking it in the kitchen and commenting on how hard it is to find good grass. They were right -- even in "Little Odessa" the plant was hard to find. I ended up just buying the ready-made Zubrovka at Oksamit Liquor near the metro.

In the end, we sat on the boardwalk looking at the ocean and eating kabobs, which Aunt Marina called "shashleek." People were milling about, barely clothed and the air was sticky. I didn't mind. I felt like I was in Europe.

Not one to give up on obscrure home projects, I'm thinking about buying the buffalo grass (translated as "The Place Where Bison's Graze" or called sweetgrass) from here, though it makes me a tad nervous to buy obscure herbs online with Paypal. I'll keep you posted.