— Born and raised in Moscow, Russia, I now live in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City.
— A single mother of a five-year-old, I moved alone across the pond with $40 in my pocket, leaving behind supportive parents in high power positions, best possible education, prestigious job, desirable property in the center of town, and great friends. To start over.
— In my previous life, I was a reporter and a medical writer/editor with MA in journalism from Moscow State University and MA in science writing from New York University.
— For eight years of my new life, with English as my second language, I taught writing in American college to native English speakers.
— A Soviet woman in the New World, I pulled off raising three American teenagers, fixing an old house, and starting a new business — simultaneously. I’ve never employed a babysitter or a house help. I can paint and strip paint. I spackle and solder. I know how to install a new toilet and can clean an old one. Time proved I can hold a conversation with a Hollywood star, a CIA director, and a Nobel Prize scientist.
— When I was little, to make me eat, my grandmother used to shake the table to imitate motion. Long distance trains and moving scenery outside a window were necessary to induce my appetite.
— My mother owned only one cookbook, “The Book on Tasty and Healthy Food” edited by Stalin’s deputy Anastas Mikoyan and prefaced by the Chairman Stalin himself. Mom never coked from it, most of the ingredients mentioned were unknown or unavailable. My brother and I used the book for the game of flipping through the pictures and racing to beat each other yelling: “This one is mine!” This is the most optimistic book in the history of literature!
— When I got married, I did not know how to peel potatoes or boil eggs. For our first dinner in our first home, I decided to surprise my husband with baked potatoes. It was a balmy humid 106°F (41°C) July afternoon. Neither our second floor kitchen or any room of our tiny apartment had an air conditioner. After an hour commute from New York, Tom was greeted by every fire alarm in the building. Alarms did not stop me: a woman of purpose and power, I kept on baking.
— Love urban walks! The most memorable one was from Bethesda, MD, to Arlington, VA — four hours along Massachusetts Avenue, across the Key Bridge over Potomac. Two favorite ones in New York were from Columbia Wien Stadium to Battery City Park and from NYU Alumni Hall on the corner of 3rd Ave and 9th Street to Coney Island and back. The most recent walk was from Fort Lee in NJ, to Dumbo in Brooklyn.
— For almost 30 years, a nice Italian boy from New Jersey has been putting up with me. Against all my efforts, he helped me find myself and become what I am now. His contribution to my life has no parallel.