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

Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
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...
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

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.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

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.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
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.
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.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

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