November 07, 2019

Tis the Season for Pickled Ferns and Ice Cream


Tis the Season for Pickled Ferns and Ice Cream
Pickles with a Far Eastern twist.  retsept v zakladku

Quote of the Week

“Despite the well-established rule, eating ice cream while one has a sore throat or a cough is not harmful. It is reasonably nutritious, and the chill helps with pain.”

– A Russian doctor quoted by the government agency Roskachestvo, disagreeing with every other Russian. It’s cold and flu season; stay healthy, and (apparently) eat cold dairy products. 

 

Pickles, Playgrounds, and Part-Time Jobs

1. Russians are certainly not in a pickle when it comes to the production of canned food: they have figured it out quite well, with the help of not only family recipes, but also the internet. From August through the middle of October, there were 35 million Yandex (basically, Russian Google) searches about storing food for the winter. The most popular searches among preserves were for cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, plums and currents, but ferns are the thing to pickle in the Far East. The overall number of searches declined this year, however, probably due to the relatively poor harvest, but pickled cabbage and mushrooms became more popular this year versus last. Yet it’s hard to imagine how Russians could become even more excited about cabbage and mushrooms.

2. Gryaz might mean “dirt,” but a playground in the town Gryazi, Lipetsk Oblast, is anything but trashy. Pensioner Sergei Borodin built the playground entirely from recycled materials. He started with a concrete block left over from a construction project, which he painted to look like a train from a Russian cartoon. When it became popular with local kids, Borodin added a swing set, then a ship and sandbox, then cottages, a traditional Russian oven, and more, all made with materials like scrap metal, old tires and broken bricks, and decorated with distinctively Russian fairytale flair. A project like this is certainly not child’s play; Borodin has won multiple awards for his hard work, and, of course, the gratitude of the children.  

Russian pensioner who built a playground
This playground is a game changer for the community. / Vesti Lipetsk

3. Getting a side job may no longer be a foreign concept to students studying abroad in Russia. Valentina Matviyenko, chair of the Federation Council, announced plans to introduce a law to the Duma that would give foreign students the right to earn some money on the side while at university. According to her, this right to get a side job, “just like we all did, just like Russian students do,” will make Russia a more attractive destination for foreign students. The law is planned to be adopted by the end of this fall, which means that, as early as next year, foreign students studying in Russia could earn side-rubles to pay for all the travel, nightlife, and cultural events that may have drawn them to Russia in the first place. 

 

In Odder News

  • In general, Russians are spooked by Halloween and refuse to celebrate, but those that do pushed up pumpkin prices 30 percent this year. 
  • Got milk? Moscow does. The region has gained 20 dairy farms in the last 5 years.  
  • A man in Kaliningrad caught a 57 lb (26 kg) fish. Even though he definitely doesn’t have bigger fish to fry, he still chose not to fry this one, but rather release it for other fishermen to enjoy.
Giant fish caught in Russia
That is a very big fish in a (relatively) small pond, Karpovoye Ozero. / Vesti

 

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.
 

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
At the Circus

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
22 Russian Crosswords

22 Russian Crosswords

Test your knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history and society with these 22 challenging puzzles taken from the pages of Russian Life magazine. Most all the clues are in English, but you must fill in the answers in Russian. If you get stumped, of course all the puzzles have answers printed at the back of the book.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955