Russian Recipe Reviews: Edition Two

It’s been a couple of weeks now since I last commented on what I’ve been cooking. Today I’ll start with another traditional dish from Maslenitsa.

1- Pancakes/Blini (Блини)

Like in England on Shrove Tuesday, here in the week before lent many pancakes are cooked. The following recipe is another simple one from UofT’s Slavic Department.

• 1 litre of milk
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 sugar cubes
• 1/3 of cup of oil
• 2 ½ cups of flour

Add dry ingredients first then milk and eggs. Set burner on medium high heat and grease the pan. Almost one spoonful of mix per pancake – the thinner the better . Best served with honey, although sour cream plus herbs is good too. Apparently red caviar is also popular. Makes about 16 pancakes.

2- Armenian Lentil Soups

In order to use up some ingredients in my fridge I decided to make some more soups this time from an e-cookbook called Adventures in Armenian Cooking. The first variant (pictured) was thicker and only made about 3 servings. The second soup tasted more like chicken noodles soup.

3-  Compote (Компот)

In order to master Russian cooking by the end of my year in Russia I downloaded another e-cookbook called Cooking the Russian Way. It has many traditional Russian recipes and from which the next three recipes are taken from. However after doing a few of these recipes I have come to realize that this book was designed for people cooking ‘Russian way’ in North America. Because I had a surprisingly hard time finding some of the ingredients here.

The first recipe I tried was compote which was easy to make and easy to buy for. It’s a very flexible recipe where in you can use any fruit you want and you can be creative and add your own spices. I used apples, cinnamon  and cloves. The result was a very sweet-tasting apple cider.

4- Vinaigrette (Винигрет)

This is my third traditional Russian salad and so far my soups have turned out much better than the salads. The vinagrette was ok, but I think the pieces need to be cut much smaller (which my new set of knives may help with!) The best part of making this salad was making the dressing. It gave me an opportunity to practice making various emulsions. Next time I have an empty squeeze bottle, I’m going to try to make more of my own salad dressing rather than buying it!

5- Beef Stroganoff (Бефстроганов)

The last  recipe and perhaps the piece de resistance of my cooking adventures so far is the beef stroganoff. The creamy sauce made from sour cream, beef broth and mustard is to die for! If you buy a better cut of meat than I did, the whole ensemble would melt in your mouth. Accompanying this rich dish was straw potatoes (featured in the picture on the right)

Because of my difficulties in procuring some the ingredients for the dishes from Cooking The Russian Way, my next reviews will be of recipes from Russian sources. Stay tuned for more recipe reviews from Russia!

Marveling at the Metro

To avoid the rather unpleasant weather outside this Sunday I explored some of Moscow’s inside venues. Namely the world famous architecture in the Moscow Metro. On line number 5 (circle line) there are some of the most beautiful metro stations you will ever hope to see.  My personal recommendation, if you have about 45 minutes to an hour to spare, is to see all of them on the ring. But the best ones (in my humble opinion) are:

• Kievskaya (киевская) – Lots of impressive murals outlining historical events of Russian-Ukrainian friendship
• Novoslobodskaya (Новослободская) – Here there is beautiful stained glass and a huge mural about peace on one end of the platform
• Komsomolskaya (Комсомольская) – This one was the most impressive for me, after seeing some ‘average’ stations with just marble and statues this blew me away! Make sure you look up…

Other notable stations that are not on the ring but deserve a visit are Mayakovskaya (make sure to look up here as well), Novokuznetskaya (the marble benches here came from the first Church of Christ the Saviour – that Stalin demolished) and Ploshchad Revolyutsii.

The reason I don’t have that many photos of the gorgeous metro on my blog is because it is not allowed to take photos in the metro. There are many police patrolling the station. Since the invention of the camera phone I was able to snap a few inconspicuous shots, as there are lots of people talking on their phones or waiting for friends.

One final comment on the metro. While most of the metro is spotless and quite clean compared to other cities. The trains themselves on the circle are rather dirty. Since the trains just go round and round there are many undesirables stinking up the metro cars. So short trips on this line are preferable!

Other venues visited on this day trip, included the Moscow City Historical Museum and the best part of the day the Andrei Sakharov Museum. The Moscow City Historical Museum is not the most English-friendly place I’ve been too so far. Luckily I could speak to the cashier in Russian and read some of the exhibits. For English only tourists I would recommend seeing the State History museum instead, as there is English services available and about half of the material in this museum is quite similar. The only thing that is worth seeing is the 19th to pre-revolutionary Moscow section in Hall Two. There are lots of nice costumes, oil paintings and objects from Tsarist Russia to look at (even if you don’t speak Russian) Luckily with an ISIC card you get in for free, although regular admission is only 50r ($3).

A better museum to visit, although slightly off the beaten track is the Andrei Sakharov Museum. It is a human rights and anti-war museum. The museum was named after and founded by Andrei Sakharov, a Russian scientist and dissident. There is English material available, and the staff are quite friendly. Best of all is the photographic material and artifacts from the Soviet period. Right now, in addition to the permanent exhibits, there is an exhibit on Chechnya with breathtaking photos from 2005. An added bonus is that the museum is free! 

Look for my next rambling from Russia later this week, continuing the reviews of Russian recipes.    

Identity Issues

When have you lived somewhere? After one month? After six months? After you have a job? After you have citizenship?

Every summer for the past three years I have been to Madrid at least four times. I’ve spent a lot of time in the center. I know where to go for cheap Chinese food, the best shopping deals and English movies. But that doesn’t mean that I’ve lived there.

This summer for the first time I was actually legally employed in Spain as an EU citizen. I got a social security number and started paying taxes. Does having a job  mean I lived there?

Or is living in a country doing things that you wouldn’t do on a normal vacation? For instance cooking at home, getting a haircut and buying soap and shampoo – all of which I did in Spain. Have I lived there? The answer is still unclear. 

Whereas I would say that I’ve certainly lived in Reutov. It’s only been about six weeks, but here I have a full time job, a local phone number and I cook for myself in my apartment. But I won’t be here forever and I’m certainly not a local, but I definitely have lived here.

All this gets me thinking about how long it is before you can call yourself a resident or a local of somewhere. I’ve spent the last four years of my life living in Toronto. But does that make me a Torontonian? Because I’ve lived most of my life in Calgary and most of my belongings are still in Calgary. Yet I tell everyone abroad I’m from Toronto just to make it easier, but I don’t know if I’m really ‘”from there’”.

Carrie Bradshaw, character from Sex and the City, said in one episode that you have to live in New York for ten years before you can call yourself a New Yorker! I don’t know whether that applies to all cities or just to NYC snobs. But it makes you wonder how long you have to be somewhere before you can say you been there, lived there and are from there?

Coming Soon: Marveling at the Metro

Help! I need Housing!

After spending most of September couch-surfing at various locales I was very excited at the prospect of my own place in Reutov. However I wasn’t so crazy about the cost of my new place. Moscow has been able to claim that it is the most expensive city in the world for the past few years (mostly because of real estate prices) and the outlying cities are no exception.

When the director of my school and a fellow teacher came with me to visit my proposed accommodation, they reassured me that spending 60% of my salary on housing was a pretty good deal. I probably could have stayed somewhere cheaper, but my boss said it wasn’t a good idea. Some of the stories I have heard about Soviet-era housing also told my gut to steer clear. So I opted for this ‘new building’.

New apartments are quite nice – functioning heating, hot water, internet-ready, washing-machine built-in, working elevators and modern security features. In older apartments any or all of these things might be missing. However these old apartments are still quite livable. I spent a few days in one before moving into my place. Nevertheless when it’s -20°C you don’t want the hot water to stop working!

There are quite a few unique features about Russian apartments. For starters you can’t tell what floor someone lives on based on their address. Apartments are given a number starting from one, so be sure to ask what floor someone lives on before you visit! Also you have several layers of security before you can get into an apartment – first the front door, then a door to your floor and finally your own apartment door. The last thing that I thought was quite ingenious about several of the apartments I have seen here is the dish rack is stored in a cupboard. Because most kitchens are small (mine being an exception) they conserved space by having wall-to-wall cupboards and putting the dish rack in one of them.

Some furnishings that are distinct in my apartment include the couch-bed. It’s a fold out couch, but an uncomfortable kind.It has a crack in the middle and both parts are slightly slanted inwards, so no matter what you do you always end up sleeping on the crack. Having a washing machine in the kitchen it not a new idea, but having to unplug it and turn off the water after every time so I can use other kitchen appliances is a bit weird.

On the whole I love my apartment. It is far better (and bigger) than anything I had in Toronto, so I don’t mind forking over a large chunk of cash to enjoy some luxuries here!

All this discussion about living Russia made me think about what it means to live somewhere. See my comments on this topic in my next blog post titled: Identity Issues.

Wintery Writer’s Walk

Sunday’s  expedition to the Moscow centre included visiting St Basil’s Cathedral, the State Historical Museum (SHM) and evening walk through literary Russia.

Both the St. Basil and the SHM open at 11:00 AM on Sundays. You can conveniently buy tickets for both at a discounted rate in the SHM.  (I was lucky to still have my student card and paid 90r, but regular admission to both is only 330r) They also like to charge you for a camera license – but this is largely unnecessary. In the cathedral everyone was taking photos and no one got asked for a ticket. In the SHM in some rooms no one seemed to mind if you took photos, in other places the supervisors did ask people to see their camera ticket.

In St. Basil’s Cathedral you spend about 30-45 mins walking around the various churches dedicated/consecrated to some saint or hero of the Russian Empire (prior to the cathedral’s construction in 1555). The tallest dome(center church) is definitely the most impressive room inside, but I also found the north church (blue dome) to be quite beautiful with painted walls all the way up to the top.

If you happen to be in Red Square on a Sunday morning you will hear the church service in the Kazan Cathedral, still an operating church (unlike St. Basil’s), when you enter the SHM. You could easily spend several hours in the SHM if you read everything, but  I spent about two hours and read about half the information. One important reminder for English visitors: all the text in the exhibits is in Russian. However, there are audio guides and English information available on the ground floor (for a nominal fee!) The history museum covers primarily archeological Russian history from 6000 years BC to about the 18th century. Part of the experience is looking up and admiring each hall’s decor. My favourite halls were number 5,11,12,13, 18 and 18 – mostly because of the decor but the animal carvings in hall 5 I thought were quite unique. After the permanent exhibits there was a temporary exhibit on literacy in the Soviet period. These exhibits rotate every two months or so. This one will be on display until January 10th.

After refueling with some Russian fast food (blinis – crepes) I decided to brave the first snowy day in Moscow and do the literary walk as outlined in the Lonely Planet travel guide, beginning at the Tverskaya metro stop and ending at the Mayakovskaya metro stop. In the book it said it takes about two to three hours – I would say it definitely took closer to 3 hours, especially if you take photos. This walk takes you through a beautiful part of Moscow (lots of embassies in this area) around some of the preserved 19th century buildings and shows you where some of Russia’s literary giants lived and worked. The best part of the walk for me was the first part walking down Tverskoy boulevard – even in winter it is still beautiful. Stops along the way included: Lermontov’s House/Museum, Gorky’s House/Museum, Chekhov House/Museum, Bulgakov’s apartment, statues of Pushkin, Yesenin, Gogol, Blok, Krylov, and Mayakovsky. By the time I got to the end of the walk the sun had set and the Patriarch’s Ponds were quite beautifully lit.

Later this week I hope to comment on different standards of living in Russia in my post titled Help!I need housing!

Russian Recipe Reviews

    1- Olivier Salad (Салат «Оливье» )

This is probably one of the most traditional of the Russian mayonnaise-type salads. Usually a combination of boiled potatoes and veggies with some kind of meat. I had a recipe for a vegetarian version from the UofT’s Slavic Department’s 2007 Maslenitsa celebration. The recipe produced quite a large amount of salad that lasted me about a week. One thing to keep in mind is not to use flavourful onions, I used Spanish onions and after a few bites I smelled like onion the rest of the day.

• 4-5 big potatoes
• 3-4 big carrots
• 4 Hard-boiled eggs
• 1 medium onions
• 2-3 medium pickles
• 1 can of peas
  1. Begin by heating two pots of water one large (potatoes and carrots) and one small (boiling eggs). Boil eggs for 10 minutes and prepare.
  2. Boil veggies for 20 minutes then put in fridge.
  3. Meanwhile chop onions, eggs and pickles.
  4. Dice potatoes and carrots.
  5. Mix all chopped veggies and can of peas with mayonnaise.

2 – Tasty Salad (Салат «Вкусный»)

This was another recipe from UofT’s Slavic Department. However the results were less than stellar. I am not the biggest fan of olives and after going back for a second serving the olive flavour overpowered all the other flavours. Also I am still unsure if this salad was the cause of my indigestion (possible bad crab sticks). Needless to say remains servings ended up in the trash.

• Canned corn 1 can
• Any olives 1 can, chopped
• Chopped crab sticks (imitation of crab meat) 1 package
• Cheese about 200 grams
• Very small croutons about 100-150 grams
• Mix everything with mayonnaise

3- Pelmeni (Пелмени)

Another very traditional Russian dish. Most Russians buy them frozen pre-made. I had some time, so I decided to make them from scratch. This recipe took me two tries to perfect. In fact the first attempt was a quite mushy disaster. Modifications I made the second time was to use more flour than the 2 cups (otherwise the dough sticks to the counter!). I also made the pelmeni smaller the second time, because they increase in size significantly when cooked. Finally I froze them on wax paper and then put them in containers so they didn’t stick to each other.

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup milk or water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1 medium onion
• salt and pepper, to taste

Mix beef and pork. Then add chopped onion,
salt, and pepper. To make mincemeat more tender and juicy, add a bit
of milk. Reserve.
Mix flour with eggs and milk, salt and oil until a soft dough forms.
Knead on floured surface until dough is elastic. Take some dough and
make a "sausage" (1 inch in diameter). Divide into pieces (1 inch
thick). Roll each piece so that they are 1/16 inch thick. Take a glass
or a cup and make 2 inch rounds. Fill each round with 1 teaspoon of
the mincemeat, fold into half−moons. Pinch edges together and connect
the opposite sides. Pelmeni can be frozen to be cooked later (you can
keep them in the freezer for a long time), or cooked immediately.
To cook pelmeni, boil in a lot of water, as they can stick to each
other. Salt the water rather heavily. Carefully drop pelmeni into
boiling water. Stir them from time to time and boil for 20 minutes.
Pelmeni are served with butter, sour cream, vinegar, or ketchup.

4- Borsch (Борщ)

This was definitely my favourite recipe so far. The recipe quantities below make 2 regular size pots of the soup. I tastes even better reheated for the second, third or more times. I think it is a must to serve it with sour cream. Although this traditionally more of a Ukrainian soup, it is still quite popular in Russia. 

• Shredded fresh cabbage 1 big plate
• 6 fresh diced potatoes
• 2 chopped onions
• 2-3 graded carrots
• 1 medium fresh graded beet
• 3-4 fresh peeled red tomatoes
• fresh dill
• 1-2 bullions (beef, chicken, or vegetable flavor)

1. Prepare all veggies (1 – 1 ½ hour).
2. Heat frying pan with oil
3. Once frying pan is hot, starting boiling water. Fill a big big pot  (or two normal pots) with water 3/4 full and bring it to boil.
4. After beets, onions and carrots have fried for 5 mins, add cabbage to boiling water
5. After 10 mins of frying add tomatoes and dill, fry until it is all golden brown. At the same time at bullion and potatoes
6. After 5-7 minutes adding fried veggies to boiling water.
7. Stir and let it boil for another 4-5 min.
8. Turn the stove off. Cover it with a lid and let it sit for 15 min.

The next recipes I will be covering include: branching out to Armenian cooking, desserts, and some comments on buying fish and meat in Russia.

October Outing

On a chilly October morning I set out for my first solo trip to the centre of Moscow. It takes about 25 mins on the bus from Reutov to the Novogireevo metro station and then another 25 to the Teatralnaya station. The grandeur and cleanliness of the metro stations lived up to expectations – you feel like you are travelling through art museums!

Despite the crisp weather there was plenty of tourists in line to Lenin’s mausoleum. I waited about 30 minutes to get to security. One thing important thing to note is that they don’t allow any large bags or photographic devices (including camera phones) through security, so you have to pay for the privilege of checking your bags (and the bigger the object the more the more you have to pay). 

Before seeing Lenin himself you pass by the heroes of the revolution and heroes of the Soviet Union buried in the Kremlin walls. Unfortunately you only get to see Lenin for about one minute. The sullen guards hurry you through the experience. If I didn’t know that this was his actual body, I would have guessed it was a sculpture from a wax museum! Definitely an experience not to missed when visiting Moscow (and even better because it’s free)

I spent the next half an hour warming up by window shopping in GUM (literally translated: central universal store, figurative translation: universally expensive stores). Amidst the stunning architecture of the building you kind find some of the most expensive designer stores, cute cafés and ice cream stands (Russians are a people after my own heart – they eat ice cream year round!)

After admiring architecture inside, I went on a walkabout in the neighborhood of Red Square admiring the architecture of the former KGB headquarters, the Russian Parliament, the Bolshoi (sadly under construction until the end of 2011), statues of Karl Marx and Anton Chekov.

The afternoon was capped off by returning to Alexander Gardens and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to watch the hourly changing of the guard. If you want a lesson in perfect drill and dressing this is definitely the spot to check out.

Stay tuned, up next: Russian Recipe Reviews

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Bemused by Bureaucracy

Having been in the country now for about a month, I thought I’d comment on the worst part of living abroad: bureaucracy. After coming to Spain several times I’m used to the fact that not everywhere is efficiency and rapidity so highly valued as it is in North America. In Spain quite often there is an attitude of ‘mañana, mañana’ (it’ll get done tomorrow). But this summer is the first time I’ve been truly frustrated and inconvenienced by foreign bureaucracy.

Because of my EU citizenship working in Spain is relatively easy. Line up and take a number to get your social insurance number. Sign five copies of your contract (all of which are in Spanish and none of which are for you to keep). And voila! You are employed.

Russia has been a bit more tedious. Even to visit Russia as a tourist you need a visa, so the procedure for getting a working visa is a bit more complicated…I now take the time to share my full visa saga.

April 17 : Hired by English school in Russia

April 20: photocopies of passport and other paperwork sent to English school in Russia for an application for an invitation from the Russian government.

May 20: completed HIV test (a requirement for anyone staying in the country for more than three months)

End of July: projected date of arrival in Canada of the government invitation

August 19 : Invitation actually arrives in Canada, but is not located until August 25th

August 29: Paperwork including: invitation, HIV test, application form, bank draft, passport photos and letter of intent arrive in Russian Consulate in Toronto

September 1: Informed that the HIV test is 10 days out of date and must be redone

September 1 to 5: arguing with Russian officials about the impossibility of redoing the test given I’m in Europe and asking for leniency

September  8: Paperwork returned with no visa

September 12 : Reapplication for a visa under 3 months at Russian Embassy

September 17: Visa issued

September 25: Finally arrived in Russia

Now that I am settled I am getting requests from friends about when they can come and visit. I just cringe when they ask “How can I get a Russian visa?” Even now that I’m here I still don’t fully understand the process!

Up next on Ramblings from Russia: October Outing

Sauntering in the Centre of Moscow

   For my first taste of Russian sightseeing I had a bilingual (Russian-English) tour of the area around Red Square. One of the Russian English teachers took me to see the centre at night. She insisted I be in every photo. Red Square was as impressive as I expected, although St. Basil’s Cathedral turned out to be smaller than expected. But I wasn’t disappointed the colours and architecture of the cathedral make it look like something out of a fairy tale.

Lenin’s body is still open to viewing in the mausoleum, despite all the discussion  about burying him. All of the buildings were closed for the day, so I will have to go back to see Lenin ‘in the flesh’. The Kremlin tour, the museum in St Basil’s Cathedral and the National History Museum are all on my to do list for my next daytime trip to the centre.

Also not to be missed is the Russian parliament, the Bolshoi theatre (currently under construction) and big flashing Gazprom sign. My guide referred to it as one of other bodies of power.

Moscow is much more beautiful at night than during the day. All the buildings are lit up and signs flashing at you in Cyrillic. And there are barely any tourists!

Stay tuned for next week’s edition of Ramblings from Russia titled: Bemused by Bureaucracy

 

Reactions to Russia

I’m finally here! After a couple of months of finagling with visa application I finally arrived Russia.  I have been studying Russian language for the last four years and I’m finally making my first trip to Russia…initially it was very surreal.

All the signs were in Cyrillic and nobody was speaking English. I had a bit of time in the airport to let this feeling sink in, as my baggage was delayed three hours coming from Helsinki. I was able to watch the rich Russians arriving with their Louis Vuitton bags on a flight from Paris (the ‘new Russians’ we learned about in university). I also saw more fencing bags then I had ever seen before outside of a tournament.

After finally getting my baggage and getting through customs and passport control (not the quickest or most friendly experience), I was greeted by the academic director of my school and another teacher. Then we drove to Reutov, the town I will be calling home for the next ten months.  As we drove along the MKAD (Moscow ring road) I was shocked by all the neon lights (it was like being in Orlando again). I think the Russians were making up for 60 years of communism by over-advertising! Many of the signs were advertising chain stores that exist in North America, but with Cyrillic script!

After about 40 minutes we arrived in Reutov. At first glance it is a small town like any other, with a police station, grocery stores and pharmacies…except that it is in Russia!

I will be writing from Russia for the next ten months, as my visa is entry only and my teaching contract goes until the end of July 2010. So keep following my weekly ramblings from Russia.