Ice sculptures 2010

Every year, during the holiday season, there are beautiful ice sculptures to go see in Novosibirsk. By the Ob river, one can see the ice-city, a type of city fair built in ice, with a different theme every year; and in downtown, artists from different Russian cities compete for the best sculpture. This year, we waited for the weather to warm up a bit before going there. We finally gave in and drove to the city last night once we understood that the thermometer would not exceed -25C for the next few weeks.
The ice-city by the river was built around the "ice age" theme, very appropriate for the season. I wished I took more pictures, but the battery of my camera did not like the -28C and lost power really fast. Still, you can see that the statues of the main characters of the ice age movie were pretty well done. I was impressed and I did not regret paying the 100 ruble entrance fee, even if we did not stay more than 10 minutes before we rushed back to the car to warm up our frozen fingers and toes.






The sculptures in downtown are more artistic. See the slide show below:



I believe the sculpture which won the contest was the butt-like pair of pears, but don't quote me on this one.
If you want to see these sculptures, don't worry, no need to hurry up. They are exposed until it gets warm.

The truth about Belokurikha

We decided to spend the week-end of January 1st in Belokurikha, a resort at 450km south of Novosibirsk. As we prepared our trip, and talked with others, we heard a lot of interesting rumors about this place:

1-There is a micro climate in Belokurikha because it is exposed to southern winds from Kazakhstan that keep the place warm. In the summer, they even grow water melons.

A picture of the microclimate in Belokurikha,

with the slopes in the background.

2-The website shows that the skiing is great there, with one chairlift... but at the same time, we heard from acquaintances that it is a terrible place to ski: the slopes suck and the lift up costs ca. 250 rubles per ride (ca $8).

3-There are lots of prostitutes in the street who hand you their contact card.

Myths or facts? Here are my conclusions:

1- If the wind was coming from Kazakhstan, then I'll have to conclude that winters in Kazakhstan are also cold. Yes, the weather was warmer than in Novo, but we still had to ski by -28degC in the morning. When I was on the chairlift, I was really hoping for that Kazakhstan wind to stop, because it was F** cold. Katya's nose was so cold that it built a white layer of frost.

That's Katya and her white nose.

2-The chairlift says in big letters that the ride is 250 rubles. But if you read the fine print, it says that with skis or snowboard, it is only 100 rubles. Too bad for our acquaintances who, 2 weeks ago, did not read the fine print and decided not to ski because of the cost.

100 rubles is a good price for a very slow 25-minute ride uphill, on a metallic chair with an excellent heat transfer coefficient, optimized to suck your entire body heat by the time you reach the top. We got so cold that at each ride, we had to stop for a 130 ruble glut wine on top of the hill, and then again at the bottom. So in the end, the ride up is expensive.

The chairlift of Death.

The skiing in Belokurikha is OK. The slope is steep, so it only takes 7 minutes to reach the bottom and be ready to sit again on the chairlift.

3- I did not see any prostitute in the street. I would not have been able to take their contact card with my hands frozen in my mittens anyway.

Our reservation in the hotel had everything included. After our first prison-like lunch (see picture below), we skipped the other meals and went to the restaurant instead. It turns out that the resort is nice, with good restaurants.

All inclusive meal at the hotel.

Cabbage soup and beef tongue.

In the end, on a scale from 1 to 10, I'll give the place a 5, mainly to reward their nice effort. I can't really blame the place for not getting more of that warm Kazakh wind. To make it a world class resort (as it is claimed in the resort's website), I suggest they work on the reliability of their power grid, so that 'all inclusive' also includes the electricity with the meal at the restaurant. Eating Chinese food in the dark with chopsticks was tricky.

More pictures of Belokurikha here:

Going to the market

We decided to cook big dinners for the holidays, so it was the occasion to go to the market in town for our shopping. I never went to the market in the 2+ years that I have been in Novosibirsk, because I was quite happy with the frozen pizzas from the store down my street. That was before I had my menus revised by Katya... Of course, now, I eat much healthier food. For example, this is what we brought back from the market for our snacks:

What's on the left is not rotten tomatoes, it is "hurma". They are actually quite rotten, otherwise they taste bad. I think they are called "kaki" in France, but here, we have got many sorts of them, all of them requiring to be rotten before being eaten. We took 2 kilograms of those because it is such a delicacy and because there is no concern about them perishing any further. On the right, this is our "tvorog" that we now eat for breakfast. It is a kind of cottage cheese. I am not an expert and I can't tell what makes a good tvorog vs a bad tvorog, but I was told the one we got from the market was a very good one. So we took 1 kilogram of it.

We also bought a duck from the lady butcher, and 2 kg of beef for the beef bourguignon that I prepared for the Christmas eve dinner. See the good meat at the market below.

So as you see, we can find almost everything at the market... except pearl onions, which can't be found anywhere in Siberia apparently. So I have to change my recipe for beef bourguignon.

Happy holidays!

Schnauzer's hell

I bet you probably figure that hell is full of creepy creatures like snakes, spiders and crawling little bugs... But there is another belief that hell is populated with animals that you have abused or been bad with, and you're sent to hell so they can retaliate on you for the eternity. If this is true, then I am afraid I just had a glimpse of what hell is going to be like for me... I've been bad with our schnauzer Urmik and I know should stop throwing him in the 3-ft deep snow and watch him struggle. So yes, I saw what's coming for me when we went to the Siberian dog show this Saturday. I brought back a small video of it below, but I should warn you that it is not for the faints of heart, and that parental guidance is strongly suggested before you let your children watch these puppies.

So maybe if I get my little bunny Tim back , I can abuse him bad enough so that by the time it is my turn, hell is populated with bunnies and not schnauzers? (I don't think I'll make it to Heaven, I might as well change tactics).

Real hockey

Last Sunday we decided to go watch a game of "real" hockey. "Real" implies that, unlike my Monday night games, the teams are composed of players who know how to skate backwards and stop, and who don't try to get rid of the puck like it's a hot potato whenever they get it. The other difference is that it costs 500 rubles to watch (while you can come watch us play for free in Berdsk on Monday nights).
The game was showing Sibir (that's the name of the Novosibirsk team) against a team from Kazakhstan (Baris) . Sibir won easily, 6-3 if I remember well. "Real" hockey is quite impressive to watch: the players skate fast, they pass each other the puck faster than I will ever be able to shoot, and they hit each other quite hard. I guess it's easier to hit someone when you don't have to worry about being hit back the Monday after.
To make up for the lack of entertainment provided on Monday nights by the beginners who accidentaly run in the walls or fall hard on their butt, "real" hockey uses cheer leaders who get animated every time the game stops. Not as fun, but interesting enough to get the crowd all cheered up. That's a good trick we'll have to keep in mind if we want to start charging on Mondays.

My life with Urmik

Urmik is the schnauzer that has recently come from Moscow to live with me, here in Akademgorodok. I know that this move represented a lot of sacrifices for him and I am very grateful he left behind his many friends and his chewed soggy bone, and spent a night in a bag in an airplane to come here.

I lack the precise vocabulary and the theoretical knowledge to describe exactly Urmik and how he fits in the Schnauzer race. I believe Urmik is a blend of D 615GY and D698BL, but a cuter version.

Schnauzers in general (if I can assume that Urmik is a representative sample from his race) adapt quite well to Siberian conditions. It seems the perfect place for them to practice their favorite hobbies such as chasing snowballs. A hobby we also appreciate as it does not require any extra equipment or gear, provides hours of fun and gets Urmik very exhausted and he leaves us alone after that.

Urmik also likes the long walks on the frozen lake. An occasion for us to take good pictures while Urmik feels the connections with his cousins the wolves and huskies.



Walking on the frozen lake is a bit cold to my taste, and I still am a bit apprehensive that Urmik takes a giant leak and melts the ice while we are in the middle of the lake. So we are still working on building mutual trust...

Halloweeeen!!

Look at these creepy dishes that we prepared for a small Halloween gathering at our place.

Note it's not so easy to export Halloween in Siberia, because the stores don't carry the basics: no chemical coloring agents for food, no jello to make the classical oozy brain snacks. For a moment, I even thought I'd have to stuff the olives with paprika myself, like the Greeks were probably doing 2000 years ago. So without the basics to do the typical Halloween recipes that can be found on Google, we had to think hard to get our creativity going. I was happy that Katya turned out to be very imaginative about creepy stuffs, which is a quality I appreciate on a once-a-year basis.

Finger foods were a blast. Everybody drank the old witch's brew like if it were milk. And the mushrooms with pepper made very nice little eyes... As for the caviar-made pumpkins, it's a treat that you won't find in the US.

Happy Halloween!