Photo: Mikhail Stepanov. Dacha is: 1. Sleep. 2. Food. 3. Children. 4. Sun-rain. 5. Sleep. 6. Food. 7. Wine. I can go into more detail. Sleep
Relaxing at the dacha The best way to wake up— wait for the moment when the sun warms your heel, cheek, ear so much that it is unbearable. And you should move a little into the shade, but your body is already filled with fresh air and birdsong and can no longer lie comfortably under a down blanket. You open one eye and watch as the shadows from the apple trees slowly form into pictures from your dream, which is still so close, but you can no longer remember it. At first, you try to determine what time it is by the sun, hoping that you can turn over on your other side and sleep a little more in the cocoon of blankets and blankets that your friends wrapped you in a few — perhaps just a few — hours ago. Then you realize that the morning is long over, and the question of breakfast arises in all its glory. It is important not to wake up first (otherwise you will have to cook breakfast for everyone) and not the last (it is unlikely that you will get anything). With a huge effort of will, you turn your head 12 degrees and see on the table jugs of cold tea and currant leaves, an omelette with something like spinach, that is, very green, and hot buns, so hot that their hotness is almost tangible. Or... The same buns, but with dried tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, which, contrary to all the predictions of skeptics, still grew in the Moscow region, or... Or everyone is still asleep, you woke up first - the clock says 11.34. You need to set a record for self-discipline and make tea with currant leaves and an omelette with something very green. Food
Breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day.Although if you wake up closer to lunchtime, then you can argue with this. It is impossible to have breakfast in the house at the dacha. And anyway, a house is not a dacha. A dacha is air, light and shadows. There is nothing more beautiful than the sun's rays breaking through the leaves of the trees. This light is constantly in motion, and therefore our dacha life is completely subordinated to the movement of shadows. Where the shadows are, there we are. We are (in the narrowest circle) my family. In the widest - friends of the family and friends of friends. That is, a lot of people. There should be enough shadows for everyone. As, incidentally, is food. And so breakfast is laid out on the terrace in front of the house or on a mat under the apple trees. I go to watch the children sleep. Waking someone up at the dacha, even if not only breakfast but also lunch is long gone, is an outright and cruel crime against human rights. There is nothing more pleasant than looking at your son when he is finishing his last morning nap, and that very ray of sunshine warms his cheek. Children Children at the dacha are a special phenomenon. Unlike normal people, for whom lying in a hammock with a glass of wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other is the best way to spend time, children require other entertainment. I think this is due to the fact that they do not drink or smoke. Those lying in hammocks can hardly pretend that tennis balls, basketballs, squeals by the pool and music like 50 cent do not get on their nerves at all. But, as we know, the easiest way to make unpleasant things pleasant is to change your attitude to the object of irritation. That is why we regularly organize ping-pong tournaments, a grandmother beats her grandson on the basketball court — a basket between two pine trees (they cast amazing shadows from 2 to 5 pm, by the way!), and as for 50 cent's songs, we've learned them by heart. And I must admit, on a particularly hot day, when there's not even a hint of thought in your head and your body refuses to take any position other than horizontal, this music, combined with a cool shower, is invigorating. Sun-Rain
Both make us seek refuge. Террасы залиты таким ярким солнцем, что я пару лет пристраивала к ним все новые и новые, чтобы поиск теней был максимально облегчен. Сначала появилось то, что мы называем «Бали», — встроенная в деревянный настил ванна с большой душевой лейкой над ней. Обязательное условие приема душа: внимательное разглядывание солнечных лучей, которые преломляются в струях воды, — эффект круче любой спа-процедуры. Ниже уровнем отдельная терраса для принятия солнечных ванн на циновках, специально привезенных для этого с Филиппин ($5 штука, одно из самых ценных моих приобретений). Очень рекомендуется в сочетании с бокалом холодного белого вина. Потом появилось то, что мы называем «Сен-Тропе», — тот же настил, но с крошечным бассейном, белым зонтом и матрасом. Предполагалось, что матрас будет каждый день накрываться хорошо отглаженной голубой простыней, но… дачная лень — неискоренимый феномен. Следующим появился «Рай» — терраса с двумя огромными гамаками под яблонями. Здесь родились фразы: «пойдем в рай чай пить» или «я в раю посплю полчаса». Одна беда: во время дождя гамаки приходится снимать, иначе они очень долго сохнут. Все остальные террасы от дождя становятся только лучше. Во-первых, дождь смывает цветочную пыльцу, во-вторых, поливает кусты рододендронов в горшках — учитывая их количество, это очень серьезный аргумент в пользу дождя хотя бы раз в три дня, в-третьих, мокрые серые доски — это очень красиво, в-четвертых, выбежать под теплый дождь — одно удовольствие (кстати, говорят, что это каким-то волшебным образом способствует увеличению груди), и в-пятых — наблюдать за дождем, сидя на улице, но под крышей, в больших мягких креслах, и при этом собирать урожай клубники, созревший в корзинке на журнальном столике (в количестве 7 штук, зато какого качества!) — это счастье, спокойное и мягкое, как щека спящего сына. Безусловно, музыка 50 cent в данный момент не слышна.Сон Я где-то прочитала, что люди, спящие хотя бы полчаса после обеда, живут дольше остальных. Это одно из величайших открытий современности. Прибавьте к нему благотворное действие смеха на организм, и получится, что обитатели и гости нашей дачи должны жить лет до 160, не меньше. Сон незаметно подбирается ко всем, где бы они ни были — в «Раю», на «Бали» или в «Сен-Тропе». Человек без предупреждения отправляется в параллельную реальность, беседа прерывается на полуслове, рука, державшая стакан с лимонадом, теряет твердость, на лице появляется странная улыбка. И даже звуки газонокосилок с соседних участков не могут помешать этому короткому, но живительному сну. В самые жаркие дни все террасы уже к пяти часам вечера покрываются ровным слоем спящих тел. Это напоминает лежбище морских котиков. Подобное зрелище неизменно удивляет гостей, собирающихся на ужин. Представьте, вы приехали к друзьям на дачу, выгружаете из машины сумки с вином, овощами и свежей рыбой, с энтузиазмом тащите все это к дому в предвкушении веселого вечера, а там… все спят. Полная тишина, пение птиц, и только из какого-то угла доносится звук титров фильма про насекомых. Не раз я с трудом пыталась понять, где нахожусь и чего от меня хотят мои же гости. Они: «Чем ты их накормила?» В этот момент честно могу ответить: «Пока ничем».
Food We love to eat. Very. Deliciously.In principle, we can put an end to this. On the other hand, this topic is worthy of a separate and, perhaps, more than one book. My mother and I treat cooking with even more reverence than interior design. Some dishes are remembered by guests for several years. The main rules of our kitchen are the beauty of the products, the simplicity of the process, the purity of possible color, and hence taste, combinations on a single plate (products that do not match in color and taste will not suit each other). We can start planning Friday dinner on Monday morning, swallowing saliva, discuss possible ways of cooking fresh trout throughout the week, and on Friday afternoon, stopping on the road to buy this trout, change our minds and grill chicken cutlets. An evening at the dacha is gastronomic happiness: from beginning to end. While everyone is slowly returning to reality after an afternoon nap, large white dishes with leaves, zucchini, lime, basil, cilantro, dill, spinach, and green onions are brought out to the "kitchen" (that's what we call the separate terrace with a barbecue) under the apple trees. The same dishes are brought out to the fire flaring up on the barbecue, but, say, with pike perch marinated in white wine with lemon juice and garlic. The cooking process must be calm, beautiful, and hence inevitably pleasant. While the shadows fall from the apple trees, we prepare salads. We never refuse help from guests; on the contrary, the more help, the calmer and more pleasant the evening of the cooks will be. And then, food and its anticipation are a very social activity. In the "kitchen" a bar table with high stools is specially provided for those who want to keep the cook company while he is busy with the magical-mystical-fascinating process of cooking over an open fire. The only condition is - no advice; if you know how to do it better, do it yourself. And so the two-meter square table is set - in vodka glasses the caps of hydrangeas and bouquets of grass cut in the field barely maintain their balance. Everyone sits down. The evening can be considered to have begun. Wine A very important dacha theme. The first bottle of - cold light white Italian - is opened in the afternoon, with a salad of celery marinated in olive oil, salmon, avocado and a cool shower. It is almost never drunk to the end. The next bottle - red, sometimes seriously French or a very simple table wine - already at sunset, before dinner. In summer, wine is drunk somehow differently, much more and with much less consequences in the form of headaches, etc. Since we also take this activity very seriously, another terrace with huge mattresses and an open fireplace was built especially for enjoying wine after dinner, around which we spend endless summer nights, and sometimes early mornings, discussing everything under the sun, playing charades, putting on plays and watching how the birds wake up and the first rays of the sun turn the tops of the birches into golden sculptures. We wrap friends who have fallen asleep on the street in down blankets, and we ourselves often fall asleep here, unable to get to bed. And we watch happy summer dreams until a ray of sun warms our cheek or heel -
These items will help to create a similar interior
