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).