Wild Times

Hello! It’s been quite the week in Russia. Last Monday (22 March) there was a plane crash in Domodedovo (the suburb where I live),  two days ago terrorists attacked the subway lines, and earlier today there were two more bombings in southern Russia! A lot of crazy stuff has been happening in my life.

It is really interesting for me to experience and process these things as a foreigner. I won’t bore you with my personal ruminations on current events (but if you’re interested, please shoot me an email!), but between the chaos and confusion that Russians have been experiencing and the fact that I hardly speak Russian to understand what’s being said, it is a lot for my little mind to handle. Talking with my students tonight was really enlightening, because they have various positions (airline pilot, police officer, internal affairs) and relatives who are “important people” and have some interesting information and viewpoints. We agreed that we’ll never know the whole truth about what happened or what’s to come, but it’s been a valuable (albeit nerve wracking and devastating) discussion. My heart goes out to the victims and their families, and if you have a moment to send a positive thought to Russia, do it (For the record, no one I know was injured in the bombings, and I am just fine.)

Okay, serious stuff over.

Food?

Food!

On a whim, I bought an eggplant last week. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with said eggplant since I prefer it baked/roasted and have no oven, but I managed nonetheless and whipped up a tasty version of eggplant parm on my stovetop.

topped with mozzarella and tomato sauce, yum yum!

I also made some chicken tender-like things with the same breading (homemade breadcrumbs, flour, seasonings), but they were so good that I ate them all before getting a picture. Whoops. Such things happen.

I did slow down enough to snap a pic of this delightful stir fry inspired by Ellie. Hers looked tasty, so I made some, too! I stir fried chicken, peppers, carrots, onions, and onions in a splash of oil, garlic, and ginger, and added some teriyaki sauce, and ate it with rice.

I saw this highly priced, MSG-laden bottle of teriyaki sauce in my favorite weirdo corner store (weird only because it is quite small but has an interesting and varied selection, and lots of things I only ever see there. Like soy pudding, salad dressing, or cocoa powder) and decided to give it a whirl. I mean, if it’s “fully imported” (???) it’s got to be good, right?

The other wild event of late is that Heazy’s landlord went crazy and kicked her and her roomies out of their apartment with no warning (they don’t have the same rental laws here, so this sort of thing happens sometimes, I guess)! She got moved into a temporary apartment, but it was really uncomfortable, so I had her come visit me for the weekend. And what a weekend it was!

We started out going to a Georgian restaurant, but it was closed for a private party (a crazy looking one at that!). We then decided to go to a place near my house, Cafe Club Bono, which is in a strange building that houses the cinema, an arcade, a restaurant, and a disco. Yup. All in one. They have a little bit of everything on the menu, so we decided to share some sushi (well, avocado and cucumber rolls, since I don’t do fish) and a pizza.

a margherita with added arugula

I’ve had this idea for sushi pizza (still working it out, but it’s going to be great, I swear!), and somehow we decided to try the pizza with the soy sauce. Guys, this was a total win. I kid you not, it tasted really good! I am, however, aware that it sounds strange (maybe even gross) but we were digging it. After our bellies were filled with pizza and seaweed, we sat and finished our drinks, and then decided that we wanted to share a milkshake for dessert. We were trying to catch the waitress’s attention when a big, burly Russian man who worked in the building came to our table. I assumed he wanted our extra chair, but couldn’t understand what the heck he was saying. Something about “leave” and “can’t be here…” I kept asking him to repeat and to talk louder (it was so noisy!), but he just got angry at us! Luckily, one of my students just happened to be sitting at the table next door and she explained that we were in trouble because we had our coats on the backs of our chairs. We decided to forgo the milkshake and the wrath of the burly man and asked for the check. While we were waiting for it, the burly man came back and yelled at us again! Needless to say, we left the money and ran! I can’t believe that I essentially got kicked out of a club for my coat! Hmph. I didn’t even get to dance on the tables!

We’ve finally been experiencing some beautiful weather, so Heazy and I went for a long, long walk.

That says "airport" and is in the middle of the city... In what appears to be a cross between a dump and storage units?

war memorials!

it was a beautiful sunset over the urban sprawl...

all the snow and ice melts, but the water has nowhere to go. every yard and half the sidewalks are ponds now. usually there aren't handy footbridges like this one!

Somehow, our walk mysteriously ended at Baskin Robbins… Strange. We got sundaes. They were delicious.

i had a scoop of rocky road and a scoop of cookies n cream!

But since that didn’t qualify for real dinner and I had few groceries at home, we decided to go out to eat again. Where to go? Well, how about Cafe Club Bono? (Uhm, there are not to many options where I live….) This time we did not get kicked out, either I enjoyed a very tasty Caesar salad with chicken.

Monday (29 March) was pretty intense with the morning news. We took a slightly nervy trip into the center of Moscow. Feeling nervous works up a hunger! We stopped at a restaurant called Moo-Moo for lunch (I swear, I don’t usually eat out so much! Like I said, it’s been a wild week!). The serve up pretty typical Russian food cafeteria style, with big portions and low prices. Plus, their plates and bowls have cow print on them. I ordered an American coffee (not instant!), a bowl of borsch, grechka (buckwheat) and some meat in tomato sauce thing. It was delightful. And only cost $8.

After a day of walking around the city (very strange to think that there was utter chaos hours before, but that life continued to go on as normal–just fewer people on the metro and police dogs everywhere), I made it home, safe and sound.

Sadly (and scarily), I don’t think that this renewed conflict with the Caucasus is going to go away soon, especially considering today’s bombings in Dagestan (the republic next to Chechnya)… It is a strange time. So please think positive, peaceful thoughts for the people of Russia!

When’s the last time you went on a long walk? I’ve been going for walks a lot since the weather has been getting nicer. It’s one of my favorite ways to relax, and it’s good exercise! I went on a long one this afternoon.

Has anything wild happened in your life this past week? It’s been a pretty exciting week for me, to say the least.

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I Survived the Russian Winter!

Hi! Remember me? Maybe?

My apologies for the lengthy hiatus, but I just needed a break from blogging. But, now I’m back–turning over a new leaf with the arrival of Spring!

I’m mighty jealous of all of you in the States who are pulling out your skirts and sandals and sipping on your iced coffees. It is definitely getting sunnier and warmer here, but it won’t be that nice out for a while yet. In fact, we welcomed the first day of Spring with snow/rain and really strong gusts! It was nasty out! There is still a lot of snow on the ground here, but it seems to be melting slowly but surely. There are small lakes in every yard and the streets are practically rivers, so I’m keeping optimistic that I will know warm weather once again

So. How have you been spending your time? The past two months have been interesting for me! New friends, new shenanigans, and of course, some tasty food. Shall we get down to it? I’ll give you the greatest hits version of my semi-recent Russian adventures.

I’ve been a little soup-cooking maven. I make a pot or two a week! Soup is definitely my favorite savory food. Some highlights:

borsch!

tomato soup! (with a janetha-style spoon shot!)

beer-chicken soup! (the chicken is marinated and cooked in beer--try it, it adds a really tasty, rich flavor)

tortilla soup!

garlic soup!

There were other soups, but not many other photos. I have discovered/developed a great baked potato soup recipe, but for mysterious reasons, I can’t find any pictures of it …but I know I took some. Oh, well, here’s a picture of a loaded baked potato instead:

loaded with broccoli, cheese, "bacon," and a dollop of sour cream. this tasted like america. yessss.

Another all-American favorite? Macaroni and cheese. I love the stuff. Unfortunately, mac ‘n’ cheese in a box does not exist here, and I didn’t have enough room to bring a vault of Annie’s along with me. So I did it the old-fashioned way with real shredded cheese, milk, and spices. I also snuck some veggies in there by finely grating carrots and zucchini and adding them to the cheese mix along with some sauteed garlic and onion. Let me tell you, my Soviet-style makaroni is super tasty.

i don't have an oven, so i crisp-itized it in my pan...

Even though I didn’t bring macaroni with me, I did stock up on lots of peanut butter. One day, it dawned on me that despite my efforts, I probably won’t eat it all before summer, and that I don’t have to carefully ration each day’s portion. So I got a little nutty and whipped up noodles in peanut sauce! I melted some pb in a pan with a little soy sauce, garlic, lemon (limes are hard to find around here–weird, huh?), ginger, cayenne, and a pinch of sugar . Then I mixed it up with some noodles, broccoli, pepper, carrot, and green onion. I think I can toot my own horn for this one, because it was hella good. toot!

Since Lent started, I’ve been pleased to find a plethora of new vegetarian items. In general, vegetarian foods are hard to come by here; there is a lot of meat all over the place. However, I’ve been able to find tofu recently, and let me tell you, life is great! It isn’t the same as what we get in the US, but it tastes pretty good nonetheless. Oh, and it’s $1 per pack. I think I can handle that…  So tofu tenders have been a big hit with me for the past couple of weeks.

with a plop of bbq sauce--yum!

And, of course, I’ve been eating plenty of oatmeal. There is a saying/rhyme in Russian, shchi i kasha, pishcha nasha, which doesn’t sound so cute in English: cabbage soup and oatmeal are our foods. The point is, oatmeal is the breakfast food of choice in these parts. Usually I go with a pretty standard bowl with apple or banana, cinnamon, and pb. But I made two excellent bowls last week that I want to share with you.

The first is just pretty. Tropical oats! Which I drank with some tea that is called “Jungle Holiday.” No, really, it is. It was a festive breakfast.

made with oats, milk, and banana, then topped with pineapple, kiwi, and raspberry preserves

And then I invented a marvelous concoction: carrot cake oats! I didn’t know if this would work out, but it tasted awfully good! Plus, I felt like a cool kid for eating carrots at breakfast.

and the view out my kitchen window

This little bowlful of joy was easy to make. I heated 1/2 a sliced banana and a finely shredded carrot in milk, when it was starting to boil, I poured in the oats. Part way through cooking, I stirred in a bit of chopped pineapple (and would have added a few walnuts, but I didn’t have any, oops) and about a teaspoon of honey. I sprinkled in some cinnamon and ginger for good measure. When the oats were cooked, I topped them with a little vanilla yogurt to imitate that yummy cream cheese frosting. I think it’s a winner!

Okay. This is a mondo huge post. I’ll be back later with more. You deserve a rest. BYE!

A couple gratuitous pictures for you:

that is a VAN under there

We used to have a lot of snow. According to my students, it was a pretty rough winter, and a worse one than they’ve had for the past several years. I’m so glad we’re mostly done with snow for the season…

can you spot my friend andrey?

When it started to get a little bit warmer, most buildings had to put security tape around them so that people wouldn’t walk too close to the buildings. What’s the danger in walking next to a building, you ask? Well, there are giant icicles that develop and when it gets warm, they fall off the buildings! People die every year by being impaled by icicles! Death by icicle?!? Fact. There was a really big one that seemed ready to drop off, and a lot of people gathered outside to see what would happen.

Lastly, fill me in:

What’s your current temperature? Right now, it is about 34, but it feels so good! It might get up to the low 50s next week! Woo hoo!

Do you prefer cooking for yourself, or cooking for others? I love cooking for other people! When it’s just me, I don’t feel like putting in the effort to get too fancy, but when there’s someone there to eat it, I like to go all out and make something fun for dinner. I had a ball cooking garlic soup for my friends for lunch yesterday. It was a pleasant surprise

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