Windows to Russia

Maslenitsa Holidays

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee & thinking about pancakes while having breakfast with my wife. I have watched my wife enjoy Crêpes filled with raspberry jam & cottage cheese and or many other tasty delights, inside those Russian blini as the crêpes are called here…

You see in Russia, I many issues with food items (names & procedures)! I am a certified Chef, so I have learned a whole different world of cooking than what I see in Russia!

Several examples of my misconceptions that are stuck in my head, are these below:

Pancakes: A type of flat bread prepared from a sweet batter that is cooked on a hot griddle or in a frying pan. They exist in several variations in many different local cuisines. Most pancakes are quick breads, although some are also made using a yeast-raised or fermented batter. Pancakes are many times served with Butter & Maple Syrup!

Crêpe: (pronounced /ˈkreɪp/, French IPA: [kʀɛp]) is a type of very thin cooked pancake usually made from wheat flour. The word, like the pancake itself, is of French origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning “curled”. Crêpe are served many times with fillings such as whipped cream and jellies, then rolled up.

European pancake: called Pfannkuchen or Eierpfannkuchen in German, Palatschinken in Austrian, palacsinta in Hungarian, clătită in Romanian, palačinke in Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian, is thin and comparable to the French crêpe. Unlike thick American pancakes, it is filled with different types of food and can be eaten for lunch or dinner.

Therefore, I thought that I knew about pancakes, then I came to Russia to find out that Real Pancakes are non existent! McDonald’s does not even have a Pancake meal or have pancakes with their Big Breakfast! (survival has been tough in Russia 🙂 ~Sarc~) Not a drop of Maple syrup in McDonald’s? McDonald’s now does have the blini and sell us honey to dip them in… 🙂

* * * * * * * * * *

What does Russia have in place of Pancakes? Russia has Blini! What is this Blini you keep talking about?

What Is/Are Blini?

What is the definition of a blini, and what origin are they?

Blini are small, yeast-leavened, buckwheat pancakes that originally come from Russia. Classically they are served with sour cream, cottage cheese & caviar or smoked salmon.

Blinis had a somewhat ritual significance for early Slavic peoples in pre-Christian times since they were a symbol of the sun, due to their round form. They were traditionally prepared at the end of the winter to honor the rebirth of the new sun (Pancake week, or Maslenitsa). This traditionon was adopted by the Orthodox church and is carried on to the present day. Blini were once also served at wakes, to commemorate the recently deceased.

Traditional Russian blini are made with yeast batter, which is left to rise and then diluted with cold or boiling (zavarnye blini) water or milk just before baking them in the traditional Russian oven (to this day the process of cooking blini is referred to as baking in Russian, even though these days they are almost universally pan-fried, like pancakes). By Russian tradition the first blini is always destroyed while frying. Blintzes (blinchiki in Russian, considered to be a borrowed dish) are made from unyeast batter (usually made of flour, milk and eggs) and are nearly identical to French crêpes. All kinds of flour may be used for making blini: from wheat and buckwheat to oatmeal and millet, although wheat is currently by far the most popular.

Other words Pancakes that are so thin that you can read a newspaper through them & full of cottage cheese to make my wife happy! 🙂

What does this have to do with Maslenitsa?

Maslenitsa: (Russian: Ма́сленица), also known as Cheesefare Week, Butter Week, or Pancake week is a Russian religious and folk holiday. It is celebrated during the last week before Great Lent—that is, the seventh week before Pascha (Easter). Maslenitsa corresponds to the Western Christian Carnival, except that Orthodox Lent begins on a Monday instead of a Wednesday, and the Orthodox date of Easter can differ greatly from the Western Christian date…

We will eat “Pancakes all week!” (at least what Russians call pancakes)

Kyle & Svet
PS You want to know more about Maslenitsa? Watch the video!

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

• Russia: Is There A Santa Claus in Russia? (windowstorussia.com)
• You can’t feed a Russian without a Kasha… (windowstorussia.com)
• Russia Christmas is Here Soon in 2011… (windowstorussia.com)
• Interview of an American Living in Russia… (Paul Eng) (windowstorussia.com)
• Happy New Year Again: The Old Russian New Year… (windowstorussia.com)

The disillusioned psycho of a country (USA) that continues to repeat the same scenario over and over and over. Has just done the totally expected and repeated, once again a familiar pattern that causes chaos all over the world. Just so that the military complex from hell can profit, grow, and kill for pleasure…

Remember a man named Mikhail Saakashvili?

He was a man whom the U.S. installed in Georgia after a color revolution, a man who attacked and murdered his own people in an attempted war against Russia, he now resides in America, and he is a man who’s wanted for questioning, whom refuses to go before a tribunal as he hides in the west. He is almost done being put on Interpol most wanted, plus he is most of all – a paid lackey for the U.S.’s escapades…

This man who literally single handily destroyed a beautiful country such as Georgia, under U.S. guidance, is now being centered to become the next president or scapegoat, of Ukraine…

Ukraine has instilled a government full of foreigners and the latest western infiltration is Sassy Saakashvili; As the new non-staff advisor to Ukraine’s president, he made this first memorial quote:

“Helping Ukraine with weapons is the top priority now,” Sassy said, as quoted by independent Kiev-based TV channel, Espreso TV. Then he went on to say, “I will coördinate the issue in the coming days.”

Therefore, this man who ate his tie as Russia was bearing down upon him, after he so blatantly tried to destroy South Ossetia and killed hundreds of Ossetians, an enclave of humans trying to just survive and be their own people…

Is now going to slide slowly into the power position within Ukraine and take over the job, in some way or another as main coördinator between Ukraine and America…

Rinse, Repeat, Rinse & Repeat…

The American way to instill love around the world…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Sveta is amazing and she is a mathematics / computer programmer by education from Moscow University. Her intelligence is beyond anyone I have ever met (except her son and mine) and I am intelligent myself. I graduated from High school with honors and have a bachelor degree in Genetic Biology, but I feel inadequate compared to my sweetie…

My education pales in comparison to the education that the Soviets allowed their children to receive. I watch the new Russia and they educate much the same. The children go to school 6 days a week. Monday through Saturday, and that is that. Then they get free education all the way to a PhD and beyond. I have never seen so many PhD’ed people in my life. Then as a lessor resort, they get Masters at least. Forget anyone getting a bachelor degree. Associate degree? There is no such thing and when I ask about it, they stare at me as if I am stupid…

As a sideline; Sveta’s son Misha, puts Sveta to shame in the brains department, he is truly in the genius category, just as my son (Lyle) is back in America. The difference is that Misha had free education and took advantage of that fact. My son was very limited in his education options, due to cost in the U.S. I really wish that Misha and Lyle could have met and been friends, besides Lyle needs to find a good girl; whom he would find in Russia… (Time to come to Russia, Lyle?)

Back to Sveta; I watch her work on programming and or anything that she takes an interest to. I watch as she reads code, like I read a good book, 2500 words a minute and absorbed in the intricate details of the yarn being spun. Then she suddenly says, “Yes I can do that!” as she writes a program to solve the issue…

I guess she is part of a group of people who I admire in the world. The same as I admire someone who can play a musical instrument, or sing to perfection. Talents are either so under rated or so over rated in our world, for all talents are equal and expressed as such…

I also guess that this article is a byproduct of Valentines Day, even though there is no such day in Russia. Besides, in my life Valentines Day seems wrong, for I do not love Sveta for just one day a year. I love her everyday of the year and I love that she is smarter than I am, it makes me feel like a lucky guy to have such a beautiful, brainy, and happy girl in my life…

It seems to me that Sveta and I mesh together and where she is weak, I am strong and where I am weak, she is strong. It is a great combination and allows for many things unstudied brought forth and multiplexed in our lives. This is a uniqueness that I have never had the advantage to utilize. The basics of harmony and intelligence are vastly superior to degenerate system that we have so endeared all over the world…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

China, Russia, and North Korea plan in the northeastern Jilin Province to build and create a international visa and duty-free tourist zone. The region will lie along the Tumen River and will incorporate the Chinese city of Hunchun and a ten square kilometer range of territory in Russia and North Korea…

This is something that is part of the ultimate plan to bring North Korea into the fold with China and Russia. I also know that South Korea, Japan, and Mongolia are showing solid interest in joining this project and it all is part of the develop the east and leave the west program…

I am looking forward to this, for I would love to travel and see the blending of all the cultures together…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Years ago, I heard a perfect quote about America and Russia! I wished that I could have made it up because it is exactly how I see Russia and the US…

“America has, All the rights and no freedom!-  but – Russia has, All the freedoms and no rights!”

This quote is by Paul O’Brien owner of Starlight Dinners in Moscow, Russia. Paul has been in Russia for a whole bunch of years and knows Russia…

Now that is the difference between America and Russia in a nut shell and I guess that is what I have been trying to say when I say Russia is freer than America. Freedoms are totally different than rights. So do not confuse the two…

I prefer freedom because I’ll deal with my rights in my way and this all points to a huge issue in the U.S. America has lost both freedoms and rights, for a majority of Americans. Remember that word, “majority!”

I have serious freedom in Russia and that is the way I like it…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: When you live here it becomes clear to you the big difference…

What is the difference between a Right and a Freedom?

A RIGHT is a legal, moral, or social claim that people are entitled to, primarily from their government. A legal right is something that cannot be given to you one time and then denied another time. If you have a legal right, then some other person has a legal duty to see that this right is honored. If it isn’t, you can rely on the law to see that something is done about the matter…

A FREEDOM is the right to conduct one’s affairs without governmental interference. Unlike a right, no one has a duty to oversee or enforce this freedom. The government, however, still has an obligation not to unduly limit individual freedoms…

It seems to me that the U.S. government is as misinformed about Russia, as the civilians in America are. Obama talks as if he knows about Russia, the American news talks as if they know about Russia, and the commenters on websites from America, all talk like they know about Russia. It seems that all of America are experts on Russia and the world is sitting back and watching, just how ignorant the whole country is…

Now when we talk about the United Kingdom and how they are acting, we then realize that a country as close to Russia as Britain is, knows about Russia. Then the realization hits that America controls what is happening in Britain and the term, Lapdog, definitely fits the UK. They know about Russia, but are stifled against the truth. That is sad and the people in the UK should be really upset…

It is only two ways that it can be looked at, because the fact is that we started it all and we instigated it from the beginning, so:

1.) We are either so stupid, that we deserve to have had Russia take all of Ukraine…
2.) We are so pathetic liars, that we deserve to have had Russia take all of Ukraine…

I still am amazed that Russia did not just simply take East Ukraine and get it over with. The ability for patience is beyond my comprehension. I would have snapped Ukraine in half to start with and shoved the non productive half in Europe’s face…

This action would not have been met with any worse games, sanctions, screaming, and threats than what has already happened. I guess was easy for me to gather up what would happen when America tried to drive Russia from the Crimea. What happened is what would happen, in all cases with Russia. I just think that Russia should have taken the rest of the worth of Ukraine and told Europe and America to sit and rotate on it. Russia amazes me that they have so much compassion and patience…

The real issue of all that is happening in Ukraine is that I have seen first hand, that the West is simply, just that stupid and just that big of liars, that no one in the world should trust the west ever again and that is what is happening as you read this…

Isolation is what will become of the west as their finances collapse into the abyss of despair. We in the west have not grown better in this world, we just have grown more juvenile as time goes by…

Time to grow up, for we are lucky that Russia did not take all of Ukraine after what we did and tried to do in Ukraine. We deserve all we get and much more, for we have no idea about Russia…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

OR…

OR…

Life is simply a cup of coffee and if we would sip a cup, then think about life, we might just decide that it is worth living. Then we might decide that killing others all over the world, should stop. Then we might decide to change those that ruin our lives. Then we might find peace and harmony…

All because you sipped a cup of coffee…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Originally posted on Windows to Russia on April 4, 2012, then erased by western hacking attacks and now here it is in original form…

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We, the Russians, are afraid of our own past. We are still worried about the things that the Poles may say about Katyn, what the Americans may say about Stalin, the Estonians – about the “Bronze Soldier”, the Japanese – about the Kurile Islands, and so on. We are not comfortable to say the words “The Russian Empire” and the “Soviet Union.”

We want to strike something out, to forget and silence something, not to feel awkward for our own history, our leaders and the wars that we won. We, the Russians, always listen to what other peoples say about us. We may feel uncomfortable at times for defeating fascism and liberating Europe from the Nazi plague. The Europeans are aware of that, but they frequently reproach the Russians for our Great Victory. They do not want to admit that the Soviet Union defeated both Hitler’s Nazi Germany and the whole of Europe. The USSR defeated the Europe under the leadership of their Fuhrer Adolf Hitler.

We, the Russians, are very often compared to slaves, who only understand the language of force. That is so not true to fact. We, the Russians, have never given away the keys to our towns to the conquerors. We always fought fearlessly for every square meter of land. Slaves do not defend their land and their owners.

Estonia? Lithuania? Latvia? Georgia? Ukraine? Moldova? Are they independent states? Yes, they are. They are free of us, the Russians, and it was us, the Russians, who gave that freedom to them. However, as soon as those countries were “liberated” from the Soviet rule, they immediately found a new master for themselves. Their freedom is the freedom of deserters. They run away to obey the stronger. That is why they are always happy to find faults with Russia and the Russians in an attempt to justify their meanness and curry favor with the new master.

We, the Russians, do not want to issue any invoices to anyone for the past. Have we ever told anyone about the fascist and totalitarian regimes in Europe in the first half of the 20th century? However, they keep on reminding Russia of Stalin the dictator and the “Soviet occupation.” Russia does not hear any thank-yous for liberating Europe from fascism. This is natural and logic. If we do not want to call a spade a spade, then they will call a spade differently.

Russia has adopted the Western style of political correctness. We do not notice US army bases all over the world. We believe that those bases serve as tourist centers, rather than elements of the system to control continents and states. We turn a blind eye on the lies from the Western media and certain “think tanks” that measure the Russian freedom of speech, democracy, the economic development and the scientific potential, putting Russia next to Guadeloupe. It seems that if those “experts” decide to measure our skulls with a ruler, we will let them do it. They will conclude that we, the Russians, are only subhuman. We read their rubbish, but we prefer not to analyze where they take their nonsense from. We do not wonder why they keep on talking about Stalinism, Katyn, famine in Ukraine and the so-called “Soviet occupation” of the Baltic States. We do not realize that all of that is called information war, the goal of which is to make the Russians feel guilty for the past.

Let’s just assume that the Soviet Union used to occupy several countries in Europe. They are free now, aren’t they? Have they achieved anything with the help of that freedom? Where are their achievements in science, industry or agriculture? Is there any positive news coming from those countries? Yes, they are de jure free. However, they de facto moved from the zone of the Soviet influence into the zone of colonial rule of new empires, where transnational corporations dictate their rules.

You will never find Czech or Polish films in big movie theaters in the United States. The American market is not spending a dollar on the national cinematography of those countries. However, Hollywood is present in the whole world, endorsing its rules and norms.

Our former “allies” have sold everything they could, including themselves, to their new masters. They depend on international financial organizations, so they simply have to serve their interests right now. The “free” nations do not have any totalitarian regimes, but they keep quiet about their financial and economic dependence. Young people from Eastern Europe have to move to Germany, Britain, France, Austria, etc. to work for their economies.

Do we want to be “European?” Do we need to be a part of NATO adventures? Do we want gay pride parades in our streets? Or do we want to live under our own laws and rules?

We do not accept the aggression against Yugoslavia, nor do we approve the dismemberment of this country. We do not accept the occupation of Iraq, the coups in Georgia and Ukraine and the war in Libya. We believe their nonsense when they say that the revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya took place by the will of the people, rather than by the activities of special services.

They hail terrorist and radical Islamic groups for their efforts to build the Western style of democracy. Western politicians will never acknowledge that there can not be any democracy in those countries. Those counties will be ruled by the puppets of the West.

We, the Russians, must listen to the words from the West very attentively. If the West stops criticizing Russia, if they say that Russia is doing well and the Russian democracy is winning, then it would only mean that we, the Russians, have lost the war for the right to be the masters of our land.

Sergei Lunyov

Source Article – Politonline >>>

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease test – 64.2…

Everyday that I waken, is a day of interesting paradoxes against the bygone dreams of yearning for global domination by the Western Empire. These conceived facades of reality, that drive the demented into frenzies of pathological  waywardness, only matched by the extremist views of the vast campesiono, whom gather materials of compensation, to behemoth appeasement…

I aspire to dwell on this celestial body on which we preside, to wake, to see the end of quietus as a daily entree, served with the finest garnishment to the dwellers, by the opulent parasites of wealth…

Zephyr are the Amends, Intercontinentally. Listen carefully, you can hear the whispers, as foliage talks!

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease test – 44…

Numerous individuals in the US (75% plus,) including the conglomeration we call our government, essentially can’t hear what the woman in the video is stating. It is not that we can not physically hear her, it is that we are not programed intellectually to receive material such as she is presenting in her anger…

It’s preceded by the “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” that describes the USA, as a whole. They have gotten to be so saturated with their own internal and complete commonality, it has spread to the populace as a singular fantasy of their prevalent lifestyle, values, opportunities, riches, rights. Therefore, the expectation is that they desire the status of Emperor, but actually being paupers…

What’s more, they think everyone begrudges them and needs to obtain the same level of aristocracy. They have no appreciation that numerous outside nations have taken a gander at the West and passed. That idea can’t be fathomed by numerous Americans. They live in a universe of pretentiousness, grandiosity with feeling of qualification that this current video lady’s words basically can’t be processed. She will be seen as a “planted recruit ” as mentally programmed by “Russian State Owned Propaganda.”

Proof, actualities, evidence of anything counter to a narcissists convictions about himself, get overlooked, clarified away in a manner that can relieve their personality flaws, or countered by reveling into a celebration of self-image, calming that inner turmoil purposefully and publicly…

What she says is the truth and nothing but the truth! Thereby, you can not receive nor believe…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Flesch-Kincaid: 42.1…