Janet Wilder wrote:
Well, first of all, you should check your itinerary. Moscow is not
really on the Volga River, although you can eventually get from Moscow
to the Volga through a long chain of rivers and canals.
But St. Petersburg is nowhere near Volga. In fact, it is in the
opposite direction from Moscow. Volga is way to the east of Moscow,
while St. Petersburg is to the north-east.
?A river boat trip from Moscow to St. Petersburg on the Volga River?
is like ?a river boat trip from New York to St. Boston on the
Mississippi River.? Make sure that you DO get to see the beautiful
city of St. Petersburg, especially in early summer.
But if you do come to the southern part of the Volga River, you should
try freshly made ?malossol? black caviar (especially beluga) and
various smoked sturgeon fish. But taste it before buying.
Believe it or not, but the visa process for Russians who want to visit
USA is 100 times worse. It is probably easier for a Russian to be
admitted to a competitive American college than to get an American
visa.
On Mar 10, 7:05 am, George replied:
Right. Of course, you will find maybe 50 times less variety of Russian
tortes in New York than in Moscow, and you won?t find any of the top-
end Moscow tortes that border on art, but you will get a good general
picture.
Well, sort of. Brighton Beach is to Russia what Manhattan?s Chinatown
is to China. Actually, Brighton Beach is more representative of
Southern Russia/Ukraine than of, say, Moscow or St. Pete.
On Mar 10, 6:51 am, Janet Wilder wrote:
I came to America from Moscow as a teenager more than 30 years ago.
Back in the 1970s, tortes had little nomenclature. I suspect that it
is still true today. Each large bakery in each large city in USSR made
several dozens of different tortes and gave them their own names aimed
at making them sound as enticing as possible: ?Surprise?, ?Ideal?,
?Winter Wonderland?, ?Berry Fantasy?, ?L?Amour?, etc. Many major
restaurants too had their signature tortes, and such tortes were known
among consumers by the restaurant?s name.
I often buy Russian style tortes here in the San Francisco Bay area,
but they are flown in from Los Angeles and New York. Every Russian
store here has its own supplier bakery. I don?t remember the exact
names of the tortes that I like the most. I just remember them
visually. The good think is that in USA, they are often sold by
weight, like cold cuts. So, depending on the particular store, you can
buy as little as half a pound to try. But beware: some bakeries are
good, and some ? not. Where do you live?
One classic torte is called ?Kiev?. Here is a close-up picture of one
home-made rendition:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/itkach/4661140854/#/photos/itkach/4661140854/lightbox/
Here is another:
http://www.kuharka.ru/images/users/gallery/2008/11/03/b_1841.gif
It even has a short Wiki entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev_cake
Kiev cake
Kiev Cake is a brand of dessert cake, made in Kiev, Ukraine since the
1950s by the Karl Marx Confectionery Factory (now subsidiary of the
Roshen corporation) . It soon became popular all over USSR. The cake
has two airy layers of meringue with hazelnuts, chocolate glaze, and a
buttercream-like filling.
//////////////////////////////////
I am not sure if this is a 100% correct description. In the last half-
century, different bakeries have used Kiev torte as a starting point
for more sophisticated creations, adding layers of souffl?, Bavarian
and other types of cream, fruits and jams, etc. I often buy a Kiev-
style torte with lingonberries (cranberries) but I don?t recall its
name.
Here is a torte type called Monastery Hut:
http://samsay.ru/uploads/posts/2009-08/1251150075_0_1f5c7_7a02a4ba_l.jpg
http://www.kyxarka.ru/images/stories-1151/1246-400-1.jpg
http://i073.radikal.ru/0807/f1/e5f5f82af481.jpg
Almond Souffl?
http://test.mediacenter.com.ua/catalog/birdmilk.jpg
Bird?s Milk
http://coffeegamma.ru/public/images/goods/big/219.jpg
Matisse
http://www.magic-cake.ru/administrator/galery2/goods/creative/horizont/creative20_b.jpg
Watermelon
http://www.akkanto.ru/files/items/picture_257_1.jpg
http://www.mkkit.ru/assets/images/photos/277.jpg
Forest Berry
Here are pictures of some tortes made and sold by one of Russian
bakery in New York:
http://moscowonhudson.com/rus/store/26/food/bakery/cakes_page1.html
Here is a nice page with pictures and recipes for home-baking that I
found:
http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/tokitoka65/tags/%F2%EE%F0%F2/
You can use Google translate to translate these recipes into English.
I would be happy to do 2 things:
1. If anybody is interested, I can list some products that I would
recommend buying from a typical Russian food store in USA.
2. If you want, I can tell you the exact food items/restaurants that I
would recommend you to buy/visit when you are in Moscow, although they
may be outdated by 5 years.
Russia and East Europe don?t have the same variety and sophistication
of main courses as, say, France, Italy, China or Japan, but what
Russia and Ukraine are great at are appetizers (smoked fish, smoked
meat and hams, salumeria) and sweets (tortes, jams, cookies, candy).
Again, a trip to Brighton Beach (or to your local Russian store, if
it?s very large) will give you a good introduction. You will find
hundreds and hundreds of hams and salumeria items there. They have
more different kinds and cuts of hams than the Safeway supermarket has
different kinds of breakfast serials, and 10 times more kinds of
salamis than Safeway has of different potato chips.
On Mar 10, 9:32 am, Nad R wrote:
For sure. Downtown Moscow or St. Pete are safer than downtowns in
major American cities.
Safety is no problem for tourists. Russian cities are quite safe in
terms of regular crime. Islamic terrorism exists but it is too rare to
affect you. One major explosion or hostage taking in all of Russia
every couple of years. Getting hit by a bus is much likelier.
That doesn?t make sense. What is a ?RadioActive meter?? How does one
look? I have never seen one in my life. However, most of my Russian
experience is limited to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Was your nephew
visiting some uranium mine town or the Chernobyl nuclear power
plant?
Great.
But my recommendation: go in the late spring or in the summer. June is
best. Autumns are often cold and rainy. Winters are long and severe.