Everything from Scratch

Cooking here is a labor of love, with the emphasis on the word labor. Few convenience items that we have in the States -- like pre-shredded cole slaw, baby carrots, or salad in a bag -- are available here. Ok, make that none. The few microwave dinners that we can find are expensive (about $5 each) and take a long time to heat in the oven (we don't have a microwave). I suspect that I will spend a good chunk of my time here in Russia in the kitchen. To give you a sense, I spent a full hour this morning washing, peeling and chopping carrots and potatoes for dinner. Luckily, I was waiting for a delivery, so I had to be at home anyway. Seems that the staples of our diet will be potato salad and cole slaw. Ingredients for both are in plentiful supply. It'll be like one big year-long picnic!

For simplicity's sake, we have a dairy-only kitchen. We decided this would make it easier and cheaper for us to stock our kitchen here. But we're quickly learning that finding protein sources is tricky, especially with meat out of the picture. We can get peanut butter (thankfully), eggs, beans, and plenty of fish, although the good stuff is quite pricey. The soy products that we subsist on at home have not yet made it to Russia.

Russia seems to be stuck in the sushi craze, with sushi places on nearly every block. Dining out is going to be our little indulgence. We've already started a mental list of places we want to try. For now, though, I am looking for recipes to make from scratch. (The kind I avoid at home!) Please email me recipes -- anything with potatoes, cabbage or beets gets extra credit!