Ponchiki & Pampushki

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Greetings again from Yalta.  There is no English-language cookbook or guidebook to be found ANYWHERE here.  I guess no one wants my money in the Ukraine..."Ukraine" alone is usually used.
   We walked right past some doughnuts with sugar on them.  Then we walked past them again on the way back.  So I asked my tour guide, what are those?   "Ponchiki," he said.  Pause.  No other explanation.  And I'm thinking: I told this guy about a zillion times now that I'm interested in Ukrainian food.  How unhelpful can he be?  Is it the other two people on the tour that's throwing everything off?
   He asked me if I had put down on my tour application that I had special interests and special requests.  Maybe I did or maybe I didn't (I don't remember), but when we walk right past this stuff time and time again, when I'm in a restaurant and want to see a menu...WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

PONCHIKI--Not in OED.
PAMPUSHKI--Also seen many places and not in OED.

www.russianfoods.com/recipes--a good site.  Check out the Ukrainian recipes.  OED records almost none of them.

   I have one more day of touring in the Crimean area on Wednesday, and then I have a day in Kiev on Thursday to do research with my helpful guide before flying home on Friday.
   Don't expect too much on Thursday.