Hey-o!
So, just a snapshot into my life/explanation of my post title…. When I was little, I participated in my library’s summer reading program. All the youngsters who read a quadrillion books or so (yeah, that would be me–a nerd at 6 years old) won a tee shirt that had two mice pouring a bottle of ketchup onto some books under the title “Ketchup on your Reading!” I thought it was hi-LAR-i-ous. Absolutely positively. I sincerely wish I still had this shirt. But anyways, whenever I have a lot to catch up on, I remember this shirt and its oh-so-funny slogan. So: a lot of ketchupping catching up to do.
(On a relatedish note. I hate ketchup. A lot. So I think it is funny that the shirt was one of my all-time favorites. And, I’ve already read through all the books I brought to Russia. HELP!)
Ima try to catch you cats up into foodstyles in Domodeadovo (so I have to make punny jokes about the city’s name now and again. So sue me!) right quick, so here’s a greatest hits list.
Let’s see, let’s see.
I had a glorious moment when I discovered tofu at a Japanese store in Moscow. I bought that box o’ ‘fu in .2 seconds because I was so excited. Seriously, I was practically jumping up and down, even though it cost like, $8. I hate you, Russian prices. When I cooked it up, I dredged the tofu in some flour, cayenne, and ginger and plopped it in a skillet. It turned out like this:
It looks a lot better than it tasted 
I was sooo disappointed. I dunno if it was me or the tofu, but it was super-duper flimsy and falling apart. I like my tofu really quite firm, so this didn’t float my boat. Darn it!
I was also (re)introduced to Tarkhun, which is tarragon-flavored soda. Yeah, seriously. The color is a bit off-putting, but it does taste good, I swear.
Can you guess what this is?:
Scrambled eggs? No.
Something cheesy? No.
Yogurt-like thing? Yes.
This is some sort of tvorog, which comes in too many varieties for me to keep track of. (There’s super-thick-like-Greek-yogurt tvorog, cottage cheese tvorog, weird lumpy white stuff tvorog, and super fluffy what-am-I-eating tvorog to start….) I think this is the weirdest one I’ve tried yet. It was super light and sweet, and jiggly like that creamy sort of Jell-o. But I would still call it “yogurt.” And it had orange chunks mixed in. Why do they make this?
Snack plates like this (I accidentally typed “snake plates,” ha) ran down my pb supply.
I (gulp) finished my first jar of peanut butter earlier this week. Siiiiiiigh. Half my supply is gone!!!
On the bright side, I got to use the jar for a creative breakfast endeavor. Oats in a jar? I kicked it up a notch. It was cooked apples in a jar with kasha. Basically, poor man’s apple crisp with pb. Mighty fine, I say. I served it up with a coupl’a egg whites and Nesquik.
Katya recommends Nesquik over coffee or tea because it has vitamins in it. Well…. Hmm.
Whatevs. I’m cool with drinking chocolate for breakfast. I mean, I need my vitamins!
Other breakfast goodies?
Kasha (oatmeal)+glob o’ pb:
Pita toast and my cool-kid drip-coffee set up:
1/2 pita with pb, and the other was cinnamon-toast-style. Yay-yo. Oh, ps, that’s Bronya, my armadillo. She’s a balla dillo. Just look at all those roubles and kopeks she’s got!
And my life was made the other night when I finally mustered up the courage to ask if it would be “okay” for me to take pictures of our food (any pictures I had before were from alone-times, not evening dinner times, if you hadn’t guessed from the breakfastiness…). Artem (boss man) was pummmmmped. So he decided to give you a step-by-step demonstration of how we make sandwiches.
This is our table to start. You see pork chops, tomato/cucumber salad, pita, cheese, beer, hot peppers, and a variety of sauces:
So. To make the sandwich, first you cut off one end of the pita, and then you slice it open into a pocket:
Cut up your pork chop and put it in the pita. Be careful that the pita doesn’t tear!
Add in a spoonful or two (or if you’re me, seven) of salad. Pour on the sauce of your choice (in this case, Saltsebeli)
Finally, add a square of cheese. Then, prepare to eat your masterpiece!!!
Thus concludes our photo essay. I hope you didn’t mind too much. He was genuinely so excited to demonstrate how to make a sandwich. Meanwhile, the whole time we were taking pictures, Katya was standing behind the table saying things like, “Artem, they know how to make a sandwich;” “People know how to cut meat;” “Why are you making her take more pictures? She has one of the pita already!” Basically, I laughed. (Oh, ps, how do you make those snazzy photo collages? I can’t figure it out…)
And then I ate a Nesquik cookie for dessert. Because it is full of vitamins.
Nom.
QUIZ TIME!
Let’s say, hypothetically, you were in a foreign country and it was your birthday. Would you celebrate? How? Because it is my bday on Sunday, but I haven’t a clue as to what to do for it. I think a party is out, since I can’t host one in my distant, little flat, and I work all day Saturday so I will probably have to do whatever on Sunday… Not exactly the time when the English-speaking expats want to stay out late before work on Monday…
Well: Restaurant? Bar? Afternoon stroll? Club? Help? I feel like a total lamezilla for not having something great up my sleeve! (Last year, I went apple picking with LVP! Hard to beat, I know.)
What’s yer favorite animal? I seriously love armadillos. A whole lot. Katya and Artem were pretty impressed to meet Bronya (they, actually, named her! It is short for bronenosets, the Russian word for “armadillo”), and pretty surprised when a postcard from my mom arrived with an armadillo on the front. They’d never seen one before!
Do you legitimize any food so that it can be called “healthy”? I’m pretty sure that Nesquik is not actually all that good for me, whether or not there are added vitamins. But, I’m going to pretend it is a health tonic nonetheless. Girl needs chocolate, you know?
