Inside Brighton Beach's Babushka Beauty Pageant A lovely short film on Brighton Beach's Your Highness Babushka Beauty Contest.
Short Film: Anya A touching, short, CGI animated film looks at 20 years in the life of a Russian orphan.
Canning Worth Its Salt What better way to celebrate the shifting seasons than with a review of the delicious things you might find stored away in a Russian pantry for colder days. Recipes included!
A Soviet Bake-Off and Blini Julia Frey's parents, Victor and Victoria, created beautiful feasts in the Soviet times. For Victor, it meant getting cake equipment tailor-made and becoming the best baker in town. For Victoria, it was cooking a Russian and Ukranian storm. Julia cooks, bakes and reminisces about her "great childhood" in London.
Siberia: Land of Pines, Exile, Cold... and Bird Cherry Cake. Siberia is surrounded by stereotypes, but there's more to it than exile and cold. It has amazing forests, pine nuts and delicious bird cherry cake.
Milk Foam Pancakes is Only the Beginning Traditional Yakut meals get a second chance thanks to local museum. Tuyara, museum employee and part of the program to bring back these recipes, shares her story.
Piter's People – Natalia Kapiturova We begin a new project, in which readers meet regular St. Petersburgers, to learn about their lives and their favorite places in the Northern Palmyra. First up: coffee!
Piter's People – Nikolay Predtechensky St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 as a port on the Baltic Sea, and about 10% of its surface area is water. So we meet a boat rental company owner and find out the best place for pizza in the city.
Piter's People - Katya Kotlyar Graphic designer, traveler, instagram explorer, Katya Kotlyar knows her home city inside out, and sees it as an artist would, as a beautiful backdrop for living.
Smolensk Irina Novikova explains the resilience of Smolensk, its legends, ghosts, churches and fortress. Oh, and why people stop by a city park to stroke the genitals of a bronze deer.
Rostov-on-Don Sveta Balashova-Kuzmina gives us a tour of her hometown, Rostov-on-Don, at the apex of five seas.
Krasnoyarsk Krai Elena Chernyshova, 34, lives in Norilsk. She sends us pictures of this mining town, as well as the Siberian city of Kodinsk.
Volgograd Sergei Karpov was born and raised in Volgograd, which he calls "the most depressing of Russia's million-resident cities."
Valeria Miloslavskaya Tea Sommelier, St. Petersburg I am a patriot of my country. Really, this is a very strange question. Can I have a moment? Because I truly love my country, my relatives, and they live here. And therefore I adore my country. I cannot tear myself away from my relatives, my work, my friends.
Ksenia Tsukareva Deputy Director for Marketing and PR, Sochi Hockey Club I can call myself a patriot, because I am committed to my family, my business. I give my full 100 percent not because that is what is needed, but because that is what I want. Because I truly believe that if it comes from within, then it is much stronger than any affixed stamp of citizenship or responsibility. Patriotism is that which comes from within.
Yakov Somov Co-founder and general director of Lektorium MOOC project, St. Petersburg In general, it's rude to ask a person if he is a patriot or not. I am a patriot of public education. But does that mean I am a patriot? I don't know. I work in my country, I work for it. I also work for the whole world. Yes, I am probably a patriot. In my circles, it is not proper to ask someone if they are a patriot or not. You either do good work, or don't do good work. I do good work for my country, including for the place where I studied. I graduated from this school in 2000, and have been working here for seven years. And so I am investing in the children who study here. And I work with the teachers who teach here. You've caught me off guard. You have, probably, a very well-formed question here.
Valery Nikolaev and Larisa Ilyinikh University professor, Oryol (Valery) I am a patriot of my city and my country. Why? Of course there are many shortcomings and many problems in our country, but I probably don’t know a better country than Russia. Economist, Oryol (Larisa) I too am a patriot of my city and country. Most likely because I was born here and my famly and all of my life is here, and because I like it here.