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Co-producers Marijka Lischak, Tania Terleckyj, and Katerina Sloniewsky Ntep Part of the void was filled when the three women created Ukraivin Productions and, in colla boration with chef Pavlo Czerwoniak, produced a DVD that enhances the interest while teaching the skills needed to prepare the dishes served for the traditional Sviat Vechir. The first impression one gets from this DVD is from the package, which is tastefully designed and exudes professionalism. On the front is a photograph of a table set for Sviat Vechir: lighted candles, an embroidered cloth, and an icon accent the bowls and platters of the meatless and dairyless Christmas food. A small gold label advises that the DVD is PC or Mac compatible; inside the package is a an insert that provides detailed and user-friendly instructions for how to access the DVD on either computer type as well as how to locate and print out the PDF file with the recipes. The same insert provides a timeline for preparing dishes, noting specifically which dishes can be prepared 2 to 3 months or a week ahead of time and what can and cannot be frozen. A second insert is a shopping list (a list of ingredients for each of the dishes)—each presented in its own box for easy reference—and includes prep time, cook time, and yield (number of serv ings). These and similar details show a very con scientious effort by the project creators to entice rather than intimidate the viewer. Everything you might want to question is answered before there is a need to ask the questions. During a telephone conversation with Tania Terleckyj, I learned that this was a deliberate strategy, which included hours of viewing televised cooking shows and watching for anything that might be confusing or irritating (e.g., cooking show hosts assuming too much about the culinary savvy of viewers or hosts sending would-be cooks elsewhere for basic information). Nothing in this DVD is left to chance (whether it has to do with computer skills, with shopping, or with timing). The DVD allows viewers to “play all” or “play recipe x, y, or z,” another user-friendly feature. This reviewer recommends a “play all” approach for starters; there is little repetitive overlap and the Gestalt is not only instructive but entertaining. As the presentation begins, host/chef Pavlo Czerwoniak provides a brief narrative history of Sviat Vechir, explaining symbols, Christian- pagan connections, and family and regional customs associated with Christmas Eve. Like everything else about this project, the narrative provides “just enough” and “not too much”—it is a pleasant intro duction that eases the viewer into the cooking content. Chef Pavlo, who studied culinary arts at George Brown College in Toronto, Canada, attrib utes his love of cooking to “watching mama bake her tortes and make her nalysnyky and sneaking and eating raw babka batter when ‘Bunia’ wasn’t looking,” is fun to watch and fun to hear. He provides marvelously easy-to-follow instructions for each of the 12 traditional Christmas Eve dishes. Taking the viewer, step-by-step through each recipe, he prepares some dishes in the traditional way and prepares others using modem time- and labor- saving techniques. He explains and demonstrates
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