Russia

This blog has had quite a few visitors from Russia, so hello to all of you so far away.  I grew up during the Cold War and we were always afraid of the Russians.  Years later, when I worked in technology and made a lot of Russian friends,  I told them, "we were always afraid of you."  They replied, "we were afraid of you, too."   This was a real revelation.  It is so helpful to work with people from other cultures.  That was one of the great things about IT.  Otherwise I would have never met so many Indians, Russians, Ethiopians, Turks, Romanians, everyone.  We always had a United Nations in my Boston-area workplaces.  Other occupations are not so fortunate. 

Way back in the day, Russian dental care was done without novocaine.  My new friend Ella had a toothache and we said, "go to the dentist."  She didn't know that novocaine was common here, and said she always waited until the pain was worse than anything the dentist could possibly do.  Another revelation.  

I  always loved Chicken Kiev,  Koteleti Pojarsky, and Tschi, the Russian saurkraut soup, which I am probably misspelling.  Vodka is pretty good, too,   especially in Gimlets. 

Here's a shoutout to all my former colleagues.  Working with you was great and I learned so much about the world outside the U.S.   The workplace can be a great place to learn things unrelated to business.

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The Snow is General All Over Ireland and New England, Too

As Joyce said, "The snow is general. . . "

The view from the living room window. That is a sculpture, not a real raccoon on the deck railing. The snow plows woke us at midnight. What a racket, with all the backing up and beeping.

The "diet" rice pudding was pretty tasty. I had some for breakfast.

We also enjoyed a Russian cabbage and saurkraut soup with an unpronouncable name. Shchi. It warms the inner woman. For such a peasant dish, it's not cheap to make. All the broth (2 quarts) short ribs, cabbage, saurkraut, herbs and sour cream come with a hefty price tag. If the garden were involved and I made the broth from scratch, the price would have come down. But it's February. Whatcha gonna do?

I'm posting a photo. It's eaten with chopped dill and parsley and of course, some sour cream. Quite delicious and surprisingly filling, considering there is meat (short ribs cooked to death and removed from the bones) only as flavoring. You can find the recipe at www.bigoven.com.

Don't you love the web for the recipes? There's almost nothing you can't find. Is that a double negative? For shame!

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