Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Observations...

Today, a potpourri of observations...
Steve was given our apartment key on his last trip to Moscow several weeks ago.  While finishing our moving prep in Atlanta I asked him if we needed to make a couple of copies.  He said....”well....I don’t think we can...”  Here’s why: This is our apartment key!  



Can you believe it?  I knew we were going back in time - but this looks a touch medieval. At least it doesn’t get lost in my purse.  I almost impaled myself with it when I went diving into the car to get out of the cold.  I like to think of it as the “key to our castle”.  Guess who’s the Princess?  (I also respond to Queen).  
On the nights Steve has been out of the country (three of the last four since we arrived....side note, he’s currently in Baku, Azerbaijan), I have taken in as much Russian fare for dinner as possible.  This is what I order most nights:  


Russian Borscht!  This really needs no explanation since, per the name of the blog, I’m still trying to find out who moved mine.  Simply stated, I LOVE BORSCHT!  Russian beet soup with a dollop of sour cream - complete heaven.  I plan to have it every day.

Salmon caviar and Bellini pancakes!   Another completely melt in your mouth delicacy as far as I’m concerned.  By the way, Steve will have none of the afore mentioned, (I’m sure many of you are saying “smart man”).  I give my amazing mother complete credit for my love of caviar and Bellinis!  She is known for passing this hors d’oeuvre on special occasions and I believe the tradition started with her amazing mother.  The tradition lives on...
The traffic.  Holy smokes.  It took me 1 hour to drive 2 miles from the apartment to our hotel this evening.  Now, I will say, this is a bit unusual as the other nights have not been this bad.   But when it is bad, it is really really baaaad.  It makes D.C. and Atlanta traffic look like childs play.  I just took this photo from our hotel window...


Some big performance must be going on in the center of Moscow tonight - unbelievable.  In the middle of the photo you can see the Moscow River - it froze over last night and is covered with snow.  Quite Christmasy, really.  It’s currently -5 degrees, but only feels like -20, thank goodness!