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See you in 2026…
Happy New Year
WtR
How about some common Russian New Year / Christmas recipes that are easy to do and quick. Russians have lots of tasty things to eat this time of the year. It is holiday time you know! These recipes will make even your Christmas / New Year holidays a better, yummy time. Russia has her Christmas like time at New Years, but I thought I would post these recipes early enough to allow the West to make a few Russian treats for the New Year…
Baked Tomatoes With Cheese:
Description: Delicious light appetizer is right to the holiday table. Cheese with tomatoes and mushrooms will be to everyone’s liking…
Method: Slice tomatoes and arrange on the baking pan evenly, season to taste with salt and pepper, cover with chopped mushrooms and top with grated cheese. Put in a preheated oven (med.) and bake until cheese is melted…
Ingredients: 4 ea large fresh tomatoes; 300 g cheese; 1 can stem and pieces mushrooms…
Vitamins Salad:
Description: The name of the salad speaks itself – rich with vitamins, it is a must in wintertime on your table. Such a salad will decorate any holiday table and serve a wonderful appetizer…
Method: Cube lemon with the peel in small cubes. Grate turnip, carrots and apple finely. Combine all the ingredients and add sugar to taste…
Ingredients: 2 ea big carrots; 1 ea apple; 1 ea lemon; 1 small turnip, sugar to taste…
Salad Olivier:
Description: This salad is the creation of a French chef, M. Olivier, who in the 1860s opened a fashionable restaurant in Moscow called The Hermitage. The present-day version has veered quite far from the original, but Salad Olivier continues to be a favorite hors d’oeuvre and side dish for entrées…
Method: Serves 8-10 as an appetizer or 6 as an entrée. Cut the cooked chicken and potatoes into 1/2-inch cubes. Peel the cucumbers and also cut into 1/2-inch cubes. In a large bowl, combine the meat, potatoes, cucumbers, green peas, and onion. Add the mayonnaise and mix gently, so those ingredients are not mashed. Refrigerate the salad until serving time (but for no longer than 4 hours)…
Variation: Vegetable Salad Olivier: Omit the chicken or veal to make a delicious meatless side dish…
Ingredients: 1 whole chicken breast, poached, boned, and skinned, or 1/2 pound lean cooked veal; 1 pound all-purpose potatoes, boiled in their skins and peeled; 2 medium Cucumbers in Brine; 1 cup cooked fresh or frozen peas; 1 medium onion, finely chopped; 1 cup Mayonnaise; 2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered; 8 large black Greek olives; 8 sprigs parsley…
Corn Salad:
Description: Corn salad has become very popular for last years. It is very easy to make, will bring pleasure to you and your kids as well…
Method: Shred cabbage very thin and grate a carrot. Chop crab sticks (crab meat). Add corn and salt. Stir mayonnaise into the salad. Mix the salad and refrigerate for a while…
Ingredients: 250 g canned sweet corn; 250 g crab sticks or crab meat; 1 ea large carrot; 200 g cabbage; 200 g mayonnaise; salt…
Cod Liver Salad:
Description: Try this delicious, quick and easy recipe for your next party! Cod liver is rich in vitamins and perfect for dietary cooking. Serves 6-8…
Method: Place the cod liver in a colander and let the oil drain off. Mash the liver with a fork and combine with the chopped eggs and onion in a serving bowl. Add salt to taste and decorate with parsley sprigs and olive halves. Serve with bread….
Ingredients: 190 gram can cod liver in oil; 3 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and chopped; 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped; Salt to taste; Parsley sprigs; Black oil-cured Greek olives, halved…
Sandwiches With Red Caviar:
Description: Sandwiches are a perfect food; they are great for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sandwich must be made in a beautiful way to attract the attention and water the mouth. Ingredients are given for 10 portions…
Method: Slice bread finely. Cut out crusts from bread. Put a small hump of caviar and a decorated piece of butter on a bread slice. Decorate with greens…
Ingredients: 150 g red caviar; 20 g butter; 300 g bread; greens…
Christmas Duck:
Description: Unique taste of Christmas you will find only in this dish! Unusual marinade makes the dish unforgettable for the whole year…
Method: Grease the duck with the marinade and leave for 2 hours. Then put it in a stewing-dish. Don’t add any fat, as duck itself contains a lot of it. Cook for 2 hours on average heat until brown color…
Ingredients: 1 ea duck; Marinade: 100 g dewberry jam; 5 ea cloves; salt; ground pepper…
Fish in Aspic:
Description: Fish in Aspic is famous for its high gustatory qualities that gives the right to consider this dish a true dainty…
Method: Wash and clean fish. Cut the head, tail and fins and pour over cold water. Add roots, onion, salt and cook 25-30 minutes, then add sliced fish and cook until done. Take the fish carefully and arrange as the whole one on a dish. Strain fish stock and add soaked in water in advance 15 g gelatin, bring to a boil and strain again. Decorate the fish with carrot slices, parsley green and pour over half stock carefully. Let it to congeal a little and then pour over the rest…
Ingredients: 1 kg fish; 1 ea carrot; 1 ea onion; parsley; 1 ea bay leaf; gelatin; salt…
Mushrooms Stewed in Cream:
Description: Mushrooms Stewed in Cream is a true Russian dish. Almost every Russian loves mushrooms and can’t imagine winter table without at least pickled mushrooms…
Method: Wash mushrooms carefully and scald them. Chop finely and fry until light brown. Bring cream to boil. Put mushrooms into a baking pan and pour cream over. Make a bunch from celery and dill and put on the top, add salt, pepper and a bay leaf. Cover tightly and put in a heated oven for an hour to stew. When mushrooms are ready, take the green bunch out…
Ingredients: 500 g fresh mushrooms; 1 c cream; 1 tb butter…
Nut Cookies:
Description: Such cookies are very easy and quick to make. Enjoy the pleasure of cooking with your kids and cut out funny animals…
Method: Combine all the ingredients and knead dough. Roll out a flat cake 2 cm thick. Cut out different figurines with a knife. Bake in a preheated oven 230-250 C until golden…
Ingredients: 300 g butter; 300 g sour cream; 3 ea yolks; a pinch of baking powder; 5 c flour; 2 c chopped nuts; 2 c sugar…
Cake “New Year Clock”:
Description: This cake is great just because it is very simple and you don’t need to bake anything…
Method: Ground butter with sugar, add yolks, one at a time and melted chocolate. Chop fruit jelly finely, crumble shortbread and sprinkle with cognac and stir thoroughly. 15 minutes later, put the dough on a dish and shape a cake. Leave the cake in a cold place for a night. In the morning on 31 of December cover the cake with whipped whites with sugar and draw a clock with hands…
Ingredients: 250 g butter; 200 g powdered sugar; 3 ea yolks; 100 g melted chocolate; 250 g fruit jelly; 500 g shortbread; 50 g cognac; 3 ea egg whites…
Fruits And Nuts in Cognac:
Description: This drink will be not only a delicious dessert on the holiday table, but also an excellent gift if you pour the cognac in a beautiful bottle…
Method: Put all the ingredients in a glass bottle and pour over cognac. Cover tightly and leave in a dark place for 3 weeks…
Ingredients: 250 g dried figs; 125 g dried dates boneless; 125 g walnuts; a pinch of cinnamon; 1 ts vanilla; 4 ea cardamom seeds; 1/2 ea lemon peel; 50 g sugar; 0,75 l cognac…
Sbiten:
Description: Hot drink made from spices and herbs with honey or sugar. It was purchased in general only in Moscow in crowded places. Sbiten is considered Russian national winter beverage…
Method: Bring water to boil, add honey and jam. 5 minutes after add spices to the water and cook for 5 minutes. Serve hot…
Ingredients: 5 liters water; 800 g berry jam; 200 g honey; 2 g ginger; 2 g cloves; 1 g cinnamon…
There that should give you something to keep you busy this holiday. You can find something to tantalize someones taste buds in that array of recipes…
Have a nice holiday from Kyle and Sveta…
WtR
Snow is so wonderful…
Local New Year Tree.
SweetPea giving heart sign to me.
Pumpkin Pie
Snow Family
Been snowing for days and we had a huge Christmas meal. Fed Chickadee and walked a bunch in the snow…
WtR
Happy New Year Everyone…
Stop: While you are contemplating packing that Christmas tree away until next year. Think about leaving it up until the 7th of January…
New Year Tree
In Russia we have just finished putting our trees up and are getting ready for the holidays of all holidays. The Russian New Year and then the Orthodox Russian Christmas…
The trees all come out for sale after Western Christmas and everyone is in a tree buying frenzy for a week. Even today the 26th, people are carrying trees on their shoulders everywhere. The tree stands are selling out as you read this…
You see Santa (Ded Moroz) has not come to town in Russia…
Russians use this time of the year to go all out on the New Year. Firework stands are everywhere. People are dancing in the streets and Babushka’s are cooking up a storm with their secrete recipes. I also heard a crazy figure like “Russians will drink (insert unbelievable number ###) liters of Alcohol this New Years?” and to recover, they get a whole bunch of days off….but I am seeing that the rest of the world is working on being heavy drinkers also…
The Christmas looking tree is a New Year Tree in Russia; kinda looks like a Christmas tree! Huh?
So call your tree a New Year Tree and leave it up for a few more days. In fact since Orthodox Christmas is not until the 7th of January keep the tree up even longer…
The Russians do…
WtR
In October 2025 I noticed gold unstoppable and said something…
I am thinking that we better not ignore precious metals such as gold, silver and much more…
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Hmm, not the first message I expressed…
Kinda wondering if real physical gold is starting to act very canary in the coal mine?
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Gold
https://goldprice.org/gold-price-history.html
VS
USA debt
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We have just recently seen record numbers and we just might see $5000 gold. But for my thinking, we already are seeing it. If the West did not work overtime beating gold down? It would probably be 6 to 7 thousand…
And the beat goes on as debt and gold climb to an unknown apogee…
Me thinks the Canaries are dying and the fat lady is warming up her vocal cords…
La La La Tra La…
WtR
Big exciting recipe time of the year…
How about since the holidays are still going and Russia just loves her holidays. Lets talk about some foods that are sure to be found during these Russian holidays. I will give a link to the recipe that I have posted in the past and you can use the next few days to practice these Russian dishes to feed the family delicious foods…
Lets start with a Russian favorite that will be found at all gatherings of friends and family…
Salat: Salat is a word for the Russian salad which is prepared using eggs, pickles, bologna, onions, lettuce etc and is layered with mayonnaise. The hard boiled eggs are used as garnishing. Or if no bologna use just eggs, as in the recipe that I have supplied…
Recipe From Russia: Salat Iz Yaits – Russian Egg Salad…
or…
Pryaniki: Pryaniki is a sweet gingerbread cake that is distributed on Russian New Year ’s Day by Grandfather Frost, a folk tale character in the Russian culture. Pryaniki symbolizes best wishes for the New Year…
Prianik or Pryanik: A Russian Recipe…
or…
Sharlotka: Sharlotka is another popular Christmas and New Year holidays dessert. It is an apple cake cooked and served during the holidays…
Recipe From Russia: Worlds Easiest Apple Pie!
or…
Kutya: Kutya is a sweet pudding which is served along with a potato and vegetable salad…
Kutya or Kutia: A recipe of a Russian Pudding…
or…
Borschst: Borschst is a popular soup that originated in Ukraine. It is prepared with beetroot which gives the soup a deep red color and is served with sour cream…
Recipe From Russia: A Simple Borsch! (Yummy)
Vegetarian Borscht: for those times that meat seems just too much…
Recipes From Russia: Borscht Stew – Kyle Style
or…
Siberian Pelmini: These are dumplings which have a stuffing of vegetables, mushrooms, fish, turnip etc and is a popular snack during the Christmas and New Year holiday season…
Recipe From Russia: A Simple Delicious Pelmeni Recipe!
or…
Sbiten: Sbiten is a traditional winter beverage in Russia and is prepared using fruit jams, honey and cinnamon and adding different flavorings. It is served steaming hot…
Sbiten (сбитень, also збитень) is a Hot Russian Traditional Winter Drink…
or…
Piglet: This is a traditional dish cooked in Russia during the Christmas holidays. After the piglet has been scalded, the insides of the piglet are rubbed with salt and the outside is layered with sour cream and butter. It is then baked in the oven until the skin becomes golden. It is served with fruits or vegetables…
Recipe from Russia: Christmas Piglet…
or…
Koliadki: These are Russian Christmas cookies which are prepared using eggs and sugar. The cookies are rolled and then folded into squares and filled with cottage cheese (called tvorog). Sugar is sprinkled once the cookies have been baked…
Koliadki for Kolyadka: Christmas Caroling Cookie Recipe…
or…
Bobal’ki: These are small, bite sized biscuits which are layered with honey and sprinkled with sesame seeds. This is a popular snack during the Christmas season.
Bobalki, bobalky, babalki and or babalky a Russian Recipe…
or look at the recipe section in the menu above and or below the post…
This above is a very small sampling of the Russian Holiday Dishes, so maybe I will do another post as we get closer to New Years. Orthodox New Year is still ahead, as is Orthodox Christmas, so we still have lots of time…
Have great holidays…
WtR
Windows to Russia (WtR) wishes all a Merry Christmas…
WtR
In the days of the Soviet Union, Christmas wasn’t celebrated very noticeably, but it was still celebrated even if silently. New Year was the necessary time for enjoyment. Currently Christmas in Russia is widely known normally to be on January seventh. The date is completely different as a result of the Russian Orthodox church uses the previous “Julian” calendar for non secular celebration days. The Orthodox Church conjointly celebrates Advent. However it’s normal dates, beginning on twenty eighth November and planning to the sixth January, therefore it’s forty days long…
The official Christmas and New Year holidays in Russia lasts from thirty first of December to the tenth of January. The Russian Christmas greeting is “S Rozhdestvom!”…
Some Russians fast (don’t eat anything) on Christmas Eve, till the primary star has appeared within the sky. Folks then eat sochivo or kutia a porridge made of wheat or rice served with honey, poppy seeds, fruit (especially berries and dried fruit like raisins), chopped walnuts or typically even fruit jellies!
Kutia is usually eaten from one common bowl, this symbolizes unity. within the past, some families prefer to throw a spoonful of sochivo up on the ceiling. If it stuck to the ceiling, some folks thought it meant they might have sensible luck and would have an honest harvest!
The Russian word for Christmas Eve “sochelnik,”, comes from the word “sochivo”…
Some Orthodox Christian Russian conjointly do not eat any meat or fish throughout the Christmas Eve meal/feast…
Other fashionable Christmas Eve foods embody beetroot soup (borsch) or vegan potluck (solyanka) served with individual vegetable pies (often created with cabbage, potato, or mushroom); salads usually made of vegetables like gherkins, mushrooms or tomatoes, and conjointly potato or different root vegetable salads…
Sauerkraut is main dish within the Christmas Eve meal. It may be served with cranberries, shredded carrot and onion. It would be followed by additional pies or porridge dishes like buckwheat with fried onions and fried mushrooms…
Dessert is usually things like fruit pies, gingerbread and honey bread cookies and fresh / dried fruit with additional nuts…
A drink called Vzvar – (meaning ‘boil-up’) is usually the toast of the meal. It is a sweet drink made of dried fruit and honey, boiled in water. Vzvar is historically at the birth of a toddler, therefore at Christmas it symbolizes the birth of the baby Jesus…
Дед Мороз & Snegurochka
Following the meal, prayers may well be said and folks then visit the midnight Church services. They usually do not wash the dishes till they get home from Church – typically not till 4am or 5am!
The New Year celebrations are very important to Russians (considered as a Christmas)…
This is when – when ‘Father Frost’ (known in Russian as “Ded Moroz” or “Дед Мороз”) brings presents to kids. He’s invariably in the company of his Granddaughter (Snegurochka). On New Year’s eve kids hold hands, create a circle round the Christmas tree. They await the magic to see the star and different lights on the Christmas tree light up!
The standard greeting for Happy New Year is “S Novym Godom.”
WtR
3a – PDF download for your records…
Memorandum of Conversation. Subject: Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation
Date
Sep 16, 2005
DescriptionPutin meets the U.S. President in the Oval Office for a plenary that covers mainly issues of nonproliferation and U.S.-Russian cooperation on Iran and North Korea. The conversation shows impressively close positions on Iran and North Korea, with Putin presenting himself as an eager and supportive partner. Bush tells Putin “we don’t need a lot of religious nuts with nuclear weapons” referring to Iran. Putin gives Bush an extended presentation of the Russian understanding and concerns about Iran’s nuclear program as well as reasons Russia is engaged in the Bushehr reactor project. Putin asks Bush if the U.S. is developing a small nuclear weapon. After Rumsfeld’s detailed explanation of actual discussions of such a design, Bush says “Rumsfeld just gave away all our secrets.” Putin says he read all of them on the internet. Usual banter as seen in most Putin-Bush conversations. Moving to North Korea, Putin describes his recent visit to the country and suddenly gives Bush an insight into his own past commitment to communist ideology: “I used to be a member of the Communist Party. I believed in the ideas of communism. I was prepared to die for them. It’s a long road to inner transformation. People are limited to the cubicle they live in. And many are sincere in what they believe.”
Source – National Security Archive FOIA lawsuit, George W. Bush Library
WtR
PS:
READ THE Documents
Document 1
Source
National Security Archive FOIA lawsuit, George W. Bush Library
In this first personal meeting at the Brno Castle in Slovenia Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush express respect for each other and desire to establish a close relationship. Putin tells Bush about his religious beliefs and the story of his cross that survived a fire at his dacha. In a short one-on-one meeting they cover all the most important issues of U.S.-Russian relations such as strategic stability, ABM treaty, nonproliferation, Iran, North Korea and NATO expansion. Bush tells his Russian counterpart that he believes Russia is part of the West and not an enemy, but raises a question about Putin’s treatment of a free press and military actions in Chechnya.
Putin prefers to talk about the need to combat terrorism and security threats. He is assertive and dominates the conversation, deflecting Bush’s question on press restrictions. He gives Bush a brief history lecture on (his interpretation) of the breakup of the Soviet Union: “What really happened? Soviet good will changed the world, voluntarily. And Russians gave up thousands of square kilometers of territory, voluntarily. Unheard of. Ukraine, part of Russia for centuries, given away. Kazakhstan, given away. The Caucasus, too. Hard to imagine, and done by party bosses.” Putin raises a question of Russian NATO membership and says Russia feels “left out.”
Document 2
Source
National Security Archive FOIA lawsuit, George W. Bush Library
Putin meets the U.S. President in the Oval Office for a plenary that covers mainly issues of nonproliferation and U.S.-Russian cooperation on Iran and North Korea. The conversation shows impressively close positions on Iran and North Korea, with Putin presenting himself as an eager and supportive partner. Bush tells Putin “we don’t need a lot of religious nuts with nuclear weapons” referring to Iran. Putin gives Bush an extended presentation of the Russian understanding and concerns about Iran’s nuclear program as well as reasons Russia is engaged in the Bushehr reactor project. Putin asks Bush if the U.S. is developing a small nuclear weapon. After Rumsfeld’s detailed explanation of actual discussions of such a design, Bush says “Rumsfeld just gave away all our secrets.” Putin says he read all of them on the internet. Usual banter as seen in most Putin-Bush conversations. Moving to North Korea, Putin describes his recent visit to the country and suddenly gives Bush an insight into his own past commitment to communist ideology: “I used to be a member of the Communist Party. I believed in the ideas of communism. I was prepared to die for them. It’s a long road to inner transformation. People are limited to the cubicle they live in. And many are sincere in what they believe.”
Document 3
Source
National Security Archive FOIA lawsuit, George W. Bush Library
This is the last meeting between Putin and Bush, taking place at Putin’s residence in Bocharov Ruchei in Sochi on the Black Sea. The tone is strikingly different from the early conversations, where both presidents pledged cooperation on all issues and expressed commitment to strong personal relationship. This meeting takes place right after the NATO summit in Bucharest where tensions flared about the U.S. campaign for an invitation to Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO. Putin is a gracious host and Bush is a polite guest, but they cannot avoid disagreements. Still it is impressive how they are still able to discuss substantive issues in a constructive manner. Putin gives a good explanation of the Russian perspective of missile defense deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic. Bush hears the Russian concerns but would not change his position. Turning to conversations in Bucharest, Putin states his strong opposition to NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia and says that Russia would be relying on anti-NATO forces in Ukraine and “creating problems” in Ukraine “all the time,” because it is concerned about “threat of military bases and new military systems being deployed in the proximity of Russia.” Surprisingly, in response, Bush expresses his admiration for the Russian president’s ability to present his case: “One of the things I admire about you is you weren’t afraid to say it to NATO. That’s very admirable. People listened carefully and had no doubt about your position. It was a good performance.”
Last time I was here my kids came. This time I got business done…
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- Airport
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- Left my room going home
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- New room to rent being built
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- Church
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- Church
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- Every morning she sweeps with her homemade broom
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- Drove wire through my foot
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- Stopped bleeding and got supplies
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- Let me get back to walking
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- Neat
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- I call it Yerevan Seeping – 5 am
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- Invasion of bears
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- Mt. Ararat
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- Little Ararat (left) and Greater Ararat (right)
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- More bears
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- More of mountains
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- Beautiful morning
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- Christmas time
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Big fireworks display downtown Yerevan… (video)
So a week in Armenia and now back home in Russia…
So nice to get home to my SweetPea…
WtR