The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

I have little sympathy for governments. They play their games against each other and confuse the country's interests with their own and friends' interests, meanwhile forgetting their citizens' needs. Without taking sides in what's been happening in Russia and Ukraine recently, my sympathies lie only with the ordinary people.

Ukraine is a country caught between two differing beasts - the EU/ the West and Russia. It's like divorced parents offering increasingly larger presents to win the child's affection. The reality is that there is no wisdom of Solomon being dispensed. Nor is there one, genuine mother willing to give up her child rather than it being torn asunder. The death toll of 4300 is sickening figure for geopolitical posturing.

Discussing Peace

Salad Olivier - the history

When I first arrived in Russia and started talking to students about food, it quickly became apparent that the two most popular Russian dishes in their eyes were pelmeniy and Olivier Salad. It was to their astonishment that I'd heard of neither.

Going off at a slight tangent, I once nearly made a group of Russian teenagers cry by telling them that Russian vodka wasn't the best in the world (seriously) and 'proving' this claim by pointing out, with a straight face, that Finnish vodka was about 4 times the price because of the relative quality (not true - it's tax) and that even Britain produced better vodka but Russia refused to import it so as to not lower the status of the domestic product (again not true - hell, I don't even know if the UK distills any, but it was a great lie and fun to see a class full of quivering lips and actually so angrily animated in English to defend their prized, national drink).

In the biggest blow to the collective, Russian, culinary ego since then, I'll start by pointing out the fact (yes, fact, not some fibs to tease a class) that one of Russia's most (self-)acclaimed dishes was created by the francophone, Lucien Olivier, probably Belgian, who had trained in French haute cuisine. Not Russian... cue lots of trembling lower lips...

New Year Comes Early (Recipe - Olivier Salad)

It's clear that New Year is coming... my wife's is getting cravings for salad. Not the British-style soggy lettuce, but the full-on Russian salads. The urges could not be contained and she decided on Salat Olivier, so here's the recipe...

A wing and a prayer

The Siberian Times reports that passengers had to push their plane as it had frozen to the runway at -52°C. There's nothing wrong with that - it's more of a problem when you have to get out to push in the middle of the journey!

Video below.

Disability in Russia

Nowhere's perfect, but the UK has come a long way in terms of increasing access for disabled people, with facilities to work around impairments and the legal right to equality. There's still some way to go here but it's also indicative of the improvements that you don't think twice about ramps in or leading to buildings, notices for subtitles or audio-described films at the cinema, mini, braille signs, wheelchair-sized elevators next to steps in buildings, signs for hearing loops or those knobbly slopes next to crossings and so on.

The differences are highlighted if you go to Russia, where there are far fewer (useful) adaptations...

Kazan: Source

photo of the month

This could be many places in Russia, one of a million courtyards between the blocks of flats - buildings which have a certain uniformity to them.

Tales: contractual problems #1

Samuel Goldwyn is supposed to have said, "A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on." In Russia, the same could often be applied to a written one.

You've got the contract, it doesn't mean you're going to get the cash...

I worked in EFL, teaching English to people who have a different first language. It's fair to say that this profession can attract one or two oddballs, who may not fulfill their part of a contract. Equally, the language school where I worked in Russia did not always deliver on its promises.