Thursday, July 28, 2011

Eeeny, meeny, miney....surprise!

Grocery shopping continues to be quite the adventure here in Moscow.  It’s the popular  game called “what’s inside the box?”   The primo challenge is the hunt for baking items - sense of humor mandatory!  Sugar?  Nyet, salt.  Baking powder?  Not so much...turned out to be some sort of custard filling.  Major victory in finally finding cornstarch last week.  It only took 8 months to realize Google Translate would become my very best friend.  Popped in “cornstarch” in the translate box and out came “кукурузного крахмала”....then the “match this phrase” game begins at the store.  No surprise, grocery shopping is typically a longer process here in the motherland.
Interesting choices abound...

Plentiful produce, you can find just about anything...

Russians LOVE their cakes...they are beautiful!

Prepared food, haven't ventured here yet...

This is as much of the sausage lane as I could get on my camera....add 10 feet on either side...

Again, add about 10 feet to these bins... (see below)
Found in the refrigerator section, about the length of your index finger...some sort of cake with fruit filling....interesting, sort of.

The yogurt aisle actually goes the length of the entire store - lots of drinkable...

Dairy products come in varying degrees of fat...here you can see 0%, 5% and 9%...the higher the fat, the thicker the product.  I believe this is сottage cheese...

Mayonnaise for days!!!  Add 10 feet in either direction to this aisle - lots 'o flavors that come in stand up pouches...we'll call it interesting...
Available year round - very bitter...

These peaches grow flat - actually very tasty!

I call this the white albino bell pepper - a little light on taste...

Corn is often sold like this (already cooked) or in a jar (also pre-cooked) that looks like some sort of science experiment...
Gave it a try....one and done...

Always SO happy to find items like this...appears to have come from Germany...?

If really in doubt, there's always Wendy's....this just opened!!


Note curly fries, instead of regular fries and an unidentified food item 2nd from the bottom on the right....?

Friday, July 15, 2011

Big day out!


Big, big day for Steve and me this past Saturday.  For the first time in 8 months of living in Moscow, we actually drove ourselves to a grocery store.   Hallelujah!  

I know this sounds strange.  But...when you live in a large European city, can’t read the road signs, traffic signals and rules are different (well, actually non-existent), and everyone on the road is “driving like a maniac!” (as my mother would often say)... then, we’ve leaned to the more rationale side - safety first, of course. Many ex-pats have drivers for this very reason.  Steve and I opted to buy a car - which Steve drives to and from work...a relatively easy drive that doesn’t take him through the  driving abyss through town.  This girl is on foot 100% of the time - thank goodness for the amazing metro!  But this calls for limited grocery buying as I can only buy what I can haul....hence the happiness brought on with the drive on Saturday.  I took Steve to the store that has some US brands - we stocked up on Nabisco, Duncan Hines, Old El Paso and Kraft products ... heaven!

A few people have asked about the process of obtaining a drivers license....quite easy, really.  No driving or written test needed for ex-pats - come one, come all!  Our US licenses were translated into Russian - and we were free to hit the streets!


I witnessed a driver turning right onto a road full of drivers waiting at a traffic light.  Rather than drive down to the end of the waiting drivers, make a U-turn and get in the back of the line, the driver U-turned immediately under the light in the very front of the waiting line of cars.  Now that’s efficiency!

This doesn’t mean people don’t get pulled over for traffic offenses.  This is actually another reason we are careful when we drive.  The scenario:  traffic accident....you don’t speak Russian....the police officer and other driver do....you’re asked to sign off on a police report, written in Russian, of course...any guess who is at fault?  Not typically a winner for the non-Russian.

Garmin is also in Russian...the hunting and pecking through the Cyrillic alphabet is a bonus round for the adventure!


Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Pomme frites s’il vous plait!


Just back from a wonderful week long vacation in France.  We joined the best man in our wedding, Bruce Lander, and his wife, Lori, after Bruce finished Ironman France in Nice, (and did quite well, I might add!).  The start - south in Marseille then west to Toulouse, Bourdeaux, Alloness and Paris.



Steve and I were fortunate to have dinner with good friends in Moscow a week before our departure who own a home in Toulouse.  We got the insiders scoop on what to see, where to go - merci Joanna and Derek!  My favorite dinner of the trip was at L’Entrecote.  This is a chain of restaurants in France based on a brilliant idea:  Serve one thing...and serve it very very well.......... (drum roll) .........Steak frites!  For those who know me well - this would be my last dinner request, (particularly from One Midtown Kitchen in Atlanta!).  
So glad the French only use a tiiiiny bit of butter....

Heaven!
And my favorite “experiential” touch - the sound of cows mooing, loudly, in the restrooms - loved it!!!!


We also went wine tasting in Bordeaux....Steve even mixed his own award-winning blend, (80% merlot, 20% young cab)....and we watched the racers dancing on the pedals at the “Tour de....”!  One of our favorite things to do...
 




I heart France!!

Friday, July 1, 2011