Russian salad OLIV'E

There is a salad, that everybody who is interested in Russian culture must try. You might not like it, but you need to know what the fuss is about. Oliv'e is mandatory for New Year's parties. Here is how to make it:
You will need:
mayonnaise you may replace it with something similar to it if you don't like it)
1 can of peas
1 jar of pickles
4-5 potatoes
4-5 eggs
2 packs of ham
cooked chicken breast or just chicken or turkey ham (I prefer turkey ham just because it is so much easier to cook with)
You need to cut everything into pieces roughly of the same size. The main rule when you put together the ingredients is all ingredients should be in the same proportion. Right before you serve the salad, add mayonnaise or other dressing you use.


that's all what you need. Easy and cheap :). I like to use double quantity as the work will be almost the same and we will eat everything up anyway.


peas. Make sure you don't put much water from the can.


ham


and pickles.


Eggs and potatoes.


Now mix everything


and mix.


the salad :)

First Monolithic Dome Home in Russia

Workshop graduate builds a dome-home

Sviet Raikov, a native Russian, who attended a Monolithic Dome Workshop in 1994 and returned to Moscow with one of our Training Paks, reports the completion of a 36’ X 18’ dome home — the first of its kind in Russia!

According to Sviet, there are two bedrooms upstairs with built-in beds and desks. The staircase turns back in on itself; it uses less room than even a spiral staircase would. As one enters the home, the kitchen is on the right and the living room, with a fireplace, is on the left. To protect the home’s interior during cold winters, the entryway has a double door.

The dome is a 36’ hemisphere and is quite striking in a neighborhood of conventional homes. Its tiny United States flag on top attracts even more attention.
A new page

Sviet writes about his experiences: “You know, I had such a wonderful feeling when the Airform was inflated, it is like give birth to a baby. I know that today was open a new page of my life and lives of my friends. The couple we are making this building for said that there are a whole bunch of their friends who are excited to have domes constructed, so we are now like the concert performers playing in front of the big audience.”

“We spent a lot of time on the stairs. We had to come up with an inexpensive way to build it. Most troublesome was the railing because of the spiral form. But, as you can see we found the way and although it takes some handwork it looks beautiful and the material is not expensive.”

http://www.monolithic.com/stories/first-monolithic-dome-home-in-moscow-russia

more mushrooms

The picture says: "Son, that wasn't опята (agaric honey)". Certain mushrooms may cause hallucinations, like fly agaric is used for this purpose. You may read about it in the book „Generation «П»“ by Viktor Pelevin, a famous modern Russian writer. He describes experience of using wild mushrooms as a drug. 

Russians and mushrooms

The other day I was walking in a park here and right on m path I saw 5 or 7 different mushrooms, of course nobody would think go "mushroom hunting" here, so these creatures (scientists argue that it's something in the middle of animals and plants) are allowed to grow freely.
That wouldn't happen in Russia - mushrooms have a big part in Russian culture, that is they hunt for mushrooms, cook them and eat and from time to time get sick :).
Every part of this (except for getting sick) is like a poem.
I'm talking about wild mushrooms - cep (or better white mushroom (белый гриб) how it's called in Russian, saffron milk cap (рыжик), chanterelle (лисичка), agaric honey (опята), russule (сыроежка) and so on. The mushroom you know it's champignon and it doesn't deserve a poem, it has no aroma, no character, no taste.
Picking up mushrooms is called "hunting". Families or friends get together and go hiking for the whole day. The prize is - the biggest white mushroom, which is supposed to be the best (it has more proteins than meat), or just any biggest mushroom. It is really captivating, as sometimes it's not that easy to notice a mushroom somewhere under leaves. But what a joy to run against a place where mushrooms sprang around within last several days (they grow VERY fast), then you will be done for the day!
They boil, fry, dry, salt, marinate mushrooms. There is a mushroom soup, a mushroom pie, fried mushrooms, marinated mushrooms and so on.
So, when you are in Russia go to mushroom hunting with your Russian friends, it will be an experience for you :).

Russian movies

I just watched an American movie White nights with Michkial Barishnikov, the movie, actually, is stupid, but I still like it, hard to explain, maybe because there was Barishnikov...

Anyway, the movie reminded me another movie  - a  Russian one - with more or less the same plot, but much much more closer to the reality and much smarter, East-West, a great movie! You just have to see it, although it's drama and the end is kinda not happy. The actors are great, if the name Oleg Menshokov says nothing to you, maybe you heard of the French actress Catherine Deneuve.

As I am speaking about Russian movies, I also want to recommend another Russian film - Heart of a dog (Собачье сердце) by Michkail Bulgakov. The book is a masterpiece and the movie is like the book. That rare happens when a movie is not worse then a book and here is the case.

And if you want to learn more about Russian revolution, watch the American movies the Reds,  it's a true story about John Reed, an only American buried next to the Kremlin wall. Isn't it something? 
All above-mentioned movies are about dark side of communism in Russsia, after having watched these movies you will learn a lot about Russia and its history, all these movies worth watching, probably just White nights is not the best.

Here you may read more about these movies and buy them if you want.