Year: 2019

Recipe from Russia: Napoleon Tort (торт наполеон)…


Sveta said I have to do a recipe on Tort Napoleon it is a favorite of Russians at the holidays and according to Russians it is now more Russian than French. Other words it is a Russian recipe whether we like it or not… :)

Ingredients:
Use Puff Pastry for the crust layers. Just bake the puff pastry first and set aside until you combine all ingredients. Just bake them per instructions that come on the package. You need twelve crust layers to work with, plus one layer to crumble…

Now For the Custard Filling:
• 10 Egg Yolks
• 1 Egg White
• 2½ cups Sugar
• 6 tbsp Flour
• 6 cups Milk
• 1 tbsp Vanilla Essence
• 250 g Butter
• Finely crumbled Chocolates (Hershey chips are perfect)

How to make Napoleon Tort:
• Bake each layer (12 + 1) of puff pastry on a buttered baking pan in a preheated oven to 190 degrees C until golden brown for about 5-10 minutes.
• Remove and cool.
• Prepare the custard filling by heating milk in a large saucepan. Do not boil.
• Combine egg yolks, egg white, and sugar. Beat until creamy.
• Add flour and mix well.
• Pour the mixture into milk and stir until thick and creamy.
• Stir in vanilla and butter.
• Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Stir frequently to cool the mixture.
• Place cooked pastry layers in a platter and now pour an even layer of filling. Then lay another crust. Do this until all crusts (12) are piled on top each other with filling between all layers.
• Crumble last pastry layers on the top of the whole tort. Place a platter on top of the whole tort and put a book (Or small bag of rice!) for weight to crush the tort together. I use wax paper to keep things from sticking to the platters…
• Refrigerate for several hours.
• Remove and decorate with finely crumbled chocolates or liquid chocolate or shredded chocolate… (If using chocolate chips put them on before you press the tort. Then they will embed into the top and not roll off.)
• Serve chilled.

I promise you that this desert will create a stir at a family get together. It is rich and delicious…

It actually is better if you wait until the next day to eat it because all the flavors soak into the crusts overnight in the refrigerator. You do not have to crush the tort but I feel that it gives the tort a better look. So go ahead and make a tantalizing desert for the family of friends and they will think you are the best cook in the world after they get a taste of this delicious tort…

WtR

PS: Sveta –  Now we have our Napoleon Tort… :)

Russian Apple Dumplings Recipe…. (Kletski)


How about a delicious Russian dessert?

Of course all Russian desserts are delicious. This one is no exception and will tantalize the family every time you make them…

Ingredients:

3 or 4 Apples, peeled, cored and finely diced – according to size.
2 tbsp real lemon juice
2 tbsp real orange juice
2 tbsp finely grated orange or use the lemon rind or use both
100g/4oz sugar
2 whole Eggs, whipped
50g/3oz fine chopped white breadcrumbs
Water for boiling
Powdered Sugar for topping

Instructions:

1. Place all the ingredients (apart from the water and powdered sugar) in a mixing bowl and mix well. Cover with cling-wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 to 45 minutes…

2. After chilling, remove from refrigerator and form into small balls about the size of a large walnut…

3. Bring a large pan of lightly (pinch) salted water to help the boil, reduce the heat so the water is bubbling steadily not boiling vigorously, then drop the apple balls into the water, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes…

4. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen towel paper…

To serve – cool dry and dust with powdered sugar. Can also be served with a fruit syrup poured over top or just dip them in it and eat…

WtR

Good Ole Days: Easy to Lie…


Yum Yum Yum

Damn, it was so much easier for the coterie to “cock and bull” to the collective peasants, when we only had telecast  analog networks, with Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Dan Rather, Howard K. Smith, and etc. etc….and everyone had antenna on their roofs covering their humble abodes and had to beat the side of the TV to get the picture to straighten out…

Grab that TV dinner and a TV tray…

Tell the kid to change the channel….and or get a beer…

Turn the antenna to get a better signal….and or the kid holds the antenna…

There a picture!

The USSR did what?

WtR

A Store I buy groceries at…


https://ярче.рф/

Called: Ярче – Yarche – Brighter…

Just some prices. ($1 = 64 rubles today…) Easy Peasy: if it is under 64 rubles it is under a dollar, I still mentally dollar everything, yet I also automatically ruble it at the same time. It become easy to do after 13 years… 🙂

You may see some things that you know, as per brand….I grab their flyer and plan my shopping. Good quality, good prices and the help is usually decent. It is a good company…

Like the chicken is 119.89 rubles a kilo: That is $1.87 a kilo which is 2.20462 lbs per kilo and that means: 85 cents a pound in American measurements. I can find better prices for meats at another store, but just used it as an example for easy conversion….I usually hit three stores to buy everything at a good price…

I would go shopping today, but I have a bad sore throat and Svetochka will get grouchy with me if I go and run around…

Bear feel kinda bad today…

WtR

Seven Wonders of Russia! by Svetochka


Today I’ll tell you about one of our interesting past projects! Maybe you are interested?

Russia has summed up the results of a national contest devoted to most beautiful places in the country. Seven Wonders of Russia had been announced on June 12, 2008, during the celebration of Russia’s Day on Moscow’s Red Square.

Seven Wonders of Russia include: The Valley of Geysers in the Kamchatka region, Lake Baikal, the complex of palaces in Peterhof, Columns of Erosion in the Komi Republic, Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd, Statue of Motherland in Volgograd and Mount Elbrus.

The Seven Wonders of Russia contest had been organized in the autumn of 2007 by several media outlets of Russia to attract the public attention to the need of recreating and preserving unique historical, cultural and natural objects in Russia. An official site of this contest – .

More than 25 million people took part in the online voting to select the winners. The first stage of the voting ended with the selection of 49 biggest places of interest in the country. Fourteen of them were left on the list after the second stage of the contest.

I. The Valley of Geysers is the only geyser field in Eurasia (apart from the Mutnovsky geyser field) and the second largest concentration of geysers in the world. This 6 km long basin with approximately ninety geysers and many hot springs is situated on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, predominantly on the left bank of the ever-deepening Geysernaya River, into which geothermal waters flow from a relatively young strato-volcano, Kikhpinych. It is part of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve, which, in turn, is incorporated into the World Heritage Site “Volcanoes of Kamchatka”. The valley is difficult to reach, with helicopters providing the only feasible means of transport.

II. Peterhof, originally named Peterhof, the Dutch for “Peter’s Court,” is a municipal town within Petrodvortsovy District of the federal city of Saint Petersburg on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland (population 64,791 (2002 census)). It hosts one of two campuses of Saint Petersburg State University. A series of palaces and gardens, laid out on the orders of Peter the Great, and sometimes called the “Russian Versailles”, is also situated there. The palace-ensemble along with the city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

III. Lake Baikal is located in Southern Siberia in Russia, near the city of Irkutsk. It is also known as the “Blue Eye of Siberia”. It’s famous for holding a volume of water larger than that of all the North American Great Lakes combined. At 1,637 meters (5,371 ft), Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, and the largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, holding approximately twenty percent of the world’s total surface fresh water. Like Lake Tanganyika, Lake Baikal was formed in an ancient rift valley and therefore is long and crescent-shaped with a surface area (31,500 km²) less than half that of Lake Superior or Lake Victoria. Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. More than 25 million years old, it is the oldest lake in the world.

IV. Saint Basil’s Cathedral is a multi-tented church on the Red Square in Moscow that also features distinctive onion domes. The cathedral is traditionally perceived as symbolic of the unique position of Russia between Europe and Asia.

The cathedral was commissioned by Ivan IV (also known as Ivan the Terrible) Moscow to commemorate the capture of the Khanate of Kazan. In 1588 Tsar Fedor Ivanovich had a chapel added on the eastern side above the grave of Basil Fool for Christ (yurodivy Vassily Blazhenny), a Russian Orthodox saint after whom the cathedral was popularly named.

Saint Basil’s is located at the southeast end of Red Square, just across from the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin. Not particularly large, it consists of nine chapels built on a single foundation. The cathedral’s design follows that of contemporary tented churches, notably those of Ascension in Kolomenskoye (1530) and of St John the Baptist’s Decapitation in Dyakovo (1547).

The interior of the cathedral is a collection of separate chapels, each filled with beautiful icons, medieval painted walls, and varying artwork on the top inside of the domes. The feeling is intimate and varied, in contrast to Western cathedrals which usually consist of a massive nave with one artistic style.

V. Columns of Erosion in the Komi Republic.
Rock pillars (it is a geological monument on a Man-pupu-ner mountain in Troitsko-Pecherskiy region of the republic of Komi. The height of the pillars varies from 30 to 42 meters. The origin of these pillars is unknown). Man-pupu-ner is a mysterious site in the northern Ural mountains, made out of seven rock towers bursting out of the flat plateau, also known as the “7 strong men“. Man-pupu-ner is a very popular attraction in Russia. Their height and abnormal shapes make the top of these rock giants inaccessible even to experienced rock-climbers. Man-pupu-ner is very hard to reach, it lies in a very harsh environment, but once there you’ll be able to enjoy a view unique in the whole world.
People who have visited this incredible site, say they have no cravings for water, food or rest, they just want to contemplate the 30-80 meter rock towers, where natives say spirits used to gather in ancient times.

VI. Mamayev Kurgan is a dominant height overlooking the city of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) in southern Russia. The name in Russian means “tumulus of Mamai”. The Mamayev Kurgan features a memorial complex commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad (August 1942 to February 1943). The battle was a decisive Soviet victory over Axis forces on the Eastern front of World War II and arguably the bloodiest battle in human history. At the time of its installation in 1967 the statue of the Mother Motherland formed the largest free-standing sculpture in the world (82 meters from the feet to the tip of the 27 meter sword).

VII. Mount Elbrus is a mountain located in the western Caucasus mountain range, in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia, near the border of Georgia, in the northern Iranian plateau. A strato-volcano that has lain dormant for about 2,000 years, it is the highest mountain in the Caucasus. Mt. Elbrus (west summit) stands at 5,642 meters (18,510 ft) and can be considered to be the highest mountain in Europe; it is also the highest point of Russia. The east summit is slightly lower: 5,621 meters (18,442 ft).

Best wishes,
Svetochka

I am a numen and I yearn!


It is the doom of men that when they forget to have humility before the universe, they seek to become gods on earth. Variants of feudalism are a far better approach for them to become a deity, than being limited by governments of falsely proclaimed democratic republics with liberties and justice for all…

The Western Elite are there, currently, they desire to enact their yearnings…

And altercations there must be…

WtR

PS: I call them Wannabe Hitlers and Napoleons…

Long Road Home: Marking Fifth Anniversary of Crimea’s Reunification With Russia – Sputnik International


MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On 18 March, the Republic of Crimea is celebrating the fifth anniversary of its reunification with Russia.On 27 February 2015, the State Council of Crimea amended a Law On Holidays and Memorable Dates of the Republic of Crimea, making 18 March an official holiday to be celebrated every year as the Day of Crimea’s Reunification with Russia.Crimea and Sevastopol became Russian regions after a referendum held on 16 March 2014, when 97 percent of those who participated in the vote sup

Source: Long Road Home: Marking Fifth Anniversary of Crimea’s Reunification With Russia – Sputnik International

WtR

Svetochka and her camera…


Pictures of life in Russia….and one grouchy BEAR!

I dislike my image taken by the way…

WtR