Out of Curiosity

What do we know about Moscow? It is the capital of the biggest country in the world - the Kremlin and Red Square are in the center, there are traffic jams in the streets and Muscovites eat borscht and blini.

Some Russian souvenirs.

I want to share with you some rare facts about my city. When you visit Moscow your knowledge might even surprise a tour guide who might not know that...

… if you ride the Moscow metro towards the center of the city you will hear a masculine voice announcing the stations; but if you go towards the suburbs you will hear a woman! This is how the Moscow metro shows its care for the blind passengers. A man announces during my trip to work in the morning, and a lady guides me home in the evening.

...if you visit the park Kolomenskoye you may find 4 massive oaks which are peers of Moscow — they are more than 850 years old!

… the annual average temperature in Moscow is 4 degrees C, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy sunbathing and swimming in summer when the temperatures reach 30 degrees C.

...the Tsar Bell inside the Kremlin weighs more than 12000 pood (200 tonne). The biggest Chinese bells do not exceed 3000 pood, the biggest European bells are no more than 1000 pood. If you rang The Tsar Bell, it would be well-heard for 60 km!

...if you look up you will see the soviet red stars on the tops of the Kremlin towers. These symbols are made of rubin and they are actually 3 to 4 metres wide, but from the ground they look like small souvenirs which would be great as Christmas tree toppings.


...the famous Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible wanted to marry the English Queen Elizabeth I and make her a tsarina of Moscow, but she rejected his proposal.

...in 1930s the soviet government decided to destroy Holy Danilov Monastery (Svyato Danilov Monastery) in Moscow and to melt the bells. The American industrialist Charles R. Crane purchased them and donated them to Harvard University. The bells were returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in the fall of 2008 in exchange for 18 replacements cast in Russia for Harvard.

….when you arrive to Moscow you would probably enter through Sheremetyevo - one of the Moscow airports. You might see some rare animals working for the airport security as sniffer dogs -- the Sulimov Dog is a Russian Jackal-Dog Hybrid originating from an initial hybrid between a Lapponian Herder and a Turkmen golden jackal. Quoting Sulimov, the chief breeder, "My dogs combine the qualities of Arctic reindeer herding dogs, which can work in temperatures as low as -70C, and jackals, which enjoy heat up to +40C. They're perfect for our country."

 Me on Red Square, infront of the State Historical Museum.

Feeling more confident in Russian realities? Don't miss a chance to check everything out by yourself! You'll find much more interesting and exciting stuff when you arrive!

Yours,
Michael TheMonkey

Recipe: Michael's Marvelous Chicken!

Hi everybody! Here's a yummy recipe for chicken I created! It's based on French/European style recipes for Chicken.

Michael's Marvelous Chicken:

1 large onion
1 bell pepper
6 dried apricots or jujubes
1 cup light wheat beer
1 cup water
1 tbsp thyme
1 cup butter
salt
pepper
4 medium-sized pieces of chicken

Remove the skin from the onion, cut off the top and bottom and then cut the onion in half. Cut the bell pepper into strips. Take the pits out of the jujubes if necessary and put the onion, peppers and jujubes into a medium-sized pot. Put ½ cup of wheat beer, ½ cup of water, ½ cup of un-melted butter and the whole tablespoon of thyme into the pot. Add salt to taste. Cover and cook on medium heat until the onion starts to get translucent.

The broth is ready for the chicken!

Meanwhile, remove the chicken skin, if necessary, and rub the raw chicken with pepper. Cook the chicken in butter and salt until it is browned on all sides and nearly cooked through.

The chicken should look something like this when it is ready to be added to the pot.

Put the Chicken into the pot and add the rest of the water, beer and butter. Add additional salt, pepper and thyme as necessary and cook for approximately 20 minutes until the broth is brown and beginning to thicken slightly. Taste and add more salt/pepper/thyme as needed. Let cool for a few minutes and serve on a slightly concave plate that will hold the sauce.

It smells delicious!

It tastes great with rice or potatoes!

Russian Winter (and) Poetry

Winter morning (1829)

Cold frost and sunshine: day of wonder!
But you, my friend, are still in slumber--
Wake up, my beauty, time belies:
You dormant eyes, I beg you, broaden
Toward the northerly Aurora,
As though a northern star arise!

Recall last night, the snow was whirling,
Across the sky, the haze was twirling,
The moon, as though a pale dye,
Emerged with yellow through faint clouds.
And there you sat, immersed in doubts,
And now, -- just take a look outside:

The snow below the bluish skies,
Like a majestic carpet lies,
And in the light of day it shimmers.
The woods are dusky. Through the frost
The greenish fir-trees are exposed;
And under ice, a river glitters.

The room is lit with amber light.
And bursting, popping in delight
Hot stove still rattles in a fray.
While it is nice to hear its clatter,
Perhaps, we should command to saddle
A fervent mare into the sleight?

And sliding on the morning snow
Dear friend, we'll let our worries go,
And with the zealous mare we'll flee.
We'll visit empty ranges, thence,
The woods, which used to be so dense
And then the shore, so dear to me.

Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837)

Swiss delight

Also, I really wanted to share the pleasure I had traveling with Swiss airlines. Unforgettable crew, swiss chocolate and the best Alpine tour ever!

Michael loves Swiss!

Christmas in Cataluña

     Christmas time in Barcelona? Sure!
Sunny-warm-dry-oranges-sea-waves-seafood-greenness-! There’s too much said about Barcelona and at the same time, never enough.  You can find all the info you'll need for a trip in many places, I’ll just share some of my impressions and experiences.

Orange season.

     Leave your fur coats, umbrellas and Spanish phrase books at home! Just think what is common to “Amanida” and “Ensalada”? It’s all the same thing! But you are in Cataluña where the Catalans speak Catalan and you will come across it more often than the regular Spanish. Don’t let it confuse you though, people there are pretty nice most of the time and you won’t be forgotten or left hungry.

Fresh fruit salad from a market.

     So, our main destination is Barcelona which is the capital and the most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, after Madrid. Catalonia has it’s own sponsored top-level domain .cat which is intended to be used to highlight the Catalan language and culture. Barcelona is located on the northeast coast of the Iberian Peninsula, facing the Mediterranean Sea. Aww, sunny winters and hot dry summers..

Perfect December.

You don’t want to miss in Barcelona:

La Rambla (there’s no chance you'll miss it even if you have no plan to visit it ;-) ) A 1.2 kilometer-long tree-lined pedestrian mall between Barri Gòtic and El Raval, it connects Plaça Catalunya in the centre with theChristopher Columbus monument at Port Vell and is popular with both tourists and locals alike.

Christmas decorations in Barcelona.

The Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria - a large public market with an entrance from La Rambla. The first mention of the Boqueria market in Barcelona dates from 1217, when tables were installed near the old city gate to sell meat.

La Boqueria.

The Parc del Laberint d'Horta – it comprises an 18th century neoclassical garden and a 19th century romanticgarden. The park was used to shot a scene of the motion picture Perfume by German director Tom Tykwer.

The Labyrinth.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí" (Park Güell, Casa Batlló, Casa Milà, Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família – the average entrance fee is 10 eur).

 La Sagrada Família

 View from Park Güell

Casa Batlló

A train to Figueres - the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí – with the Teatre-Museu Gala Salvador Dalí.

Salvador Dalí's Mae West

Spanish/Catalan cuisine which is quite diverse, ranging from pork-intensive dishes cooked in the inland part of the region (Catalonia is one of the main producers of swine products in Spain) to fish-based recipes along the coast.

Paella. Many non-Spaniards view paella as Spain's national dish, but most Spaniards consider it to be a regional Valencian dish. Valencians, in turn, regard paella as one of their identifying symbols.
There are three widely known types of paella: Valencian paella (Spanish: paella valenciana), seafood paella (Spanish: paella de marisco) and mixed paella (Spanish: paella mixta), but there are many others as well. Valencian paella consists of white rice, green vegetables, meat (rabbit, chicken, duck), land snails, beans and seasoning. Seafood paella replaces meat and snails with seafood and omits beans and green vegetables. Mixed paella is a free-style combination of meat, seafood, vegetables and sometimes beans.

Mmmmm paella!

Jamón serrano (literally mountain ham) is a type of jamón (dry-cured Spanish ham), which is generally served raw in thin slices, or occasionally diced. The French jambon bayonne and Italian prosciutto crudoare similar. A foreleg prepared in the same manner is called paleta.

Tapas is the name of a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid).

Crème brûlée (French for "burnt cream"), also known as crema catalana, or Trinity creamis a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a contrasting layer of hard caramel. It is normally served cold. The custard base is traditionally flavored with vanilla, but is also sometimes flavored with lemon or orange (zest), rosemary, chocolate, coffee, liqueurs, or other fruit.

Aaah, I'll need to come back at some point, too much pleasure Barcelona offers! My New Year's resolution is: whenever it’s possible make winter shorter by spending a vacation in a sunny and warm country, I'll do it. Anti-depression effect is guaranteed. See you there! ;-)  Happy New Year!

Recipe: Gingerbread House

Food is one of my favorite things to learn about!!! You can find all of the recipes I've picked up around the world here!

A Christmas Miracle!

Creating and decorating a gingerbread house is magical... the smell... the taste... the creativity and freedom you feel while building your own, colorful dream home! It is a wonderful tradition for kids to grow up with. Best of all, it let's us adults rekindle that magic for a little while!

1. Gingerbread dough

Butter 200 g or 0.44 lb
Sugar 200 g or 0.44 lb
Flour 300 g or 0.66 lb
2 Eggs
Cocoa 2 t sp
Ground ginger 2 t sp
Ground cinnamon 1 t sp
Ground carnation 1 t sp
Baking powder 3 t sp

Mmmm the spices!

Sift flour, ginger, cinnamon, carnation, baking powder and cocoa. 

Add the softened butter cut in slices and chop it to lumps. 

Mix with sugar and egg, roll in a sphere, wrap in plastic and cool in a fridge for 1,5-2h. 

Then unroll and cut out the house parts. 

Bake for 13-15 minutes in a 180С or 356F oven. Let it cool down.

2. For the icing:

1 egg white
sugar powder 0.5 cup
lemon juice 1 tb sp

Cooled egg white whip with a mixer, add powder, in the end add lemon juice.

3. Construct the basic house, mortaring the pieces together with icing

This is where it really helps to have more than two hands working on a house, and why making a gingerbread house is so much more fun with company than alone. If you are working on this alone, it may help to grab some canned goods from the pantry and use the cans to help prop up the pieces while the icing mortar is drying.

4. Decorate the Gingerbread House!

Here's the fun part! This step requires a trip to the candy section of your local grocery store. You can decorate your house with whatever types of candy pleases you. Everyone can participate. Give each family member a wall or roof to do!

You can use dough scraps to roll out added decorative cut-outs to be applied with icing glue. These cutouts can be impressed with designs before baking. For example, you could make window shutters, doors, or figurines! They can be "painted" with colored icing.

My first ever Gingerbread House! Happy Holidays, dear Friends!

A Petersburg Tale

Привет, my friends! Last summer I took a trip North from Moscow on the overnight train to magnificent St. Petersburg!

St. Petersburg was founded on a swamp in 1703 by Peter the Great, the emperor of Russia, to become the heart of modernization in Russia and the capital of the country. Moscow became the capital after the Revolution in 1917 when the Soviet Union was established. St. Petersburg is considered the most "westernized" Russian city - it’s also called Petrograd, Leningrad, Piter and known as the “Russian Venice” because of the numerous canals that burst through the city.

The imposing St Isaac’s Cathedral, standing not far from the shore of the Neva River, is one of the world’s largest churches.

Often considered a symbol of Russia, St. Petersburg is actually an entirely atypical Russian city. Situated so close to Europe on the shore of the Baltic Sea, it expresses everything European that Russia has to offer, but in a unique and strange way that also incorporates old Russian tradition. Some think it's a mad city; some find it very inspiring! Many great Russian writers, poets and dancers began their work here. To get a feeling for this one-of-a-kind place, read one of Russia's most prominent authors - Feodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment, Notes from the Underground, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov). Even nowadays, people in St. Petersburg are considered a bit more intelligent, refined and polite than Muscovites.

 Peter the Great has me on his lap.

The city is situated on the banks and islands of the Neva river and Finsky bay. There are many natural and man-made canals and islands.

The city center is well organized - all of the streets are perpendicular. The main and oldest street in St. Petersburg is called the Nevsky Prospect. It runs from St Petersburg’s center of religion, the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, to the symbol of Russian power, the Admiralty, and passes by everything else along the way! The 4.5km length of the Nevsky Prospect goes over four different islands and across multiple channels and rivers. It is truly one of world’s great promenades - anything you'd want can be found along its course: stunning architecture, incredible palaces, world-famous museums and grand opera houses; the most fashionable shops and the latest fashions; sparkling five-star hotels, small bed and breakfasts and all manner of restaurants, cafes and nightclubs!

The Bronze Horseman - another Peter the Great Statue in St. Petersburg.

Here are some special things you can do with your time in St. Petersburg:

- Walk along the Nevsky Prospect and have a banana milkshake for breakfast in one of the little cafes.
- Take a boat trip along the channels.
- Climb up St. Isaac cathedral for a view of the city.
- Sunbathe on the green grass of the Summer Garden under the northern sun.
- Visit the wonderful Hermitage museum in Winter Palace! (Of course) But not all at once. It's so large that it's better to choose something specific you would like to see and to go especially for that.
- Walk along the Moika river embankment in the evening.
- Spend a sleepless night out during White Nights to watch the moveable bridges and The Scarlet Sails.
- Pet the Griffin Statue on the Bank Bridge over the Griboedov Canal and make a wish!

A good Russian tradition - to pet the Griffin's foot and make a wish. Does it mean I could make 2 wishes if I climbed it or even 3 if I made friends with this creature?

And here are some basic words and phrases which can make your life much easier. Even if you don't have any plans to speak Russian, learning these can be a real ice-breaker when you meet a Russian – they'll love it if you can say "hi" or "thank you" in Russian.

Yes                              Да                                                  Da
No                               Нет                                                Net
Hi!                               Привет!                                         Pri`vet
Bye!                             Пока!                                             Po`ka!
What                            Что                                                Ch`to
This                              Это                                                `Eto
I                                   Я                                                    Ya
I love you!                    Я тебя люблю!                              Ya tebya lyublyu!
Banana                         Банан                                             Banan
I don't understand.        Я не понимаю.                              Ya ne poni`mayu.
Thank you!                   Спасибо!                                        Spa`sibo!

The Winter Palace, well-known for the Hermitage collection. 

Spasibo and Poka, dear Friends!