Of Borscht - the First and the Last of It

I made some borscht last night for tea. Borscht is commonly thought to be a Russian soup but it is in fact Ukrainian though the Russians like a lot of it too. It consists of spring onions, vegetable stock, creme fresh, seasoning and an awful lot of beetroot.Oh and you can float a halved boiled egg in it too if you fancy it which I did courtesy of "the girls" of course.
The first time I ever tried borscht was in a hotel in what was then called Leningrad in the early 80s. I had asked the waiter for pepper but for some reason he served me a vodka. Shortly, afterwards I thought he asked me if I enjoyed the soup so I reply "Da, Da" but clearly he had asked me if I wanted another vodka because one then another duly arrived. I don't seem to remember much about what happened after that. It's strange what effect a bowl of soup can have on you isn't it?