Category: Russia

I Decry Minibuses in Russia…

• The Changes To Moscow Congestion and Traffic… (windowstorussia.com)
• Russia: Her Drivers! (windowstorussia.com)
• Russia: Siberian Traffic Officers Tell True Ladies, How To Drive! (Ouch) (windowstorussia.com)
• Russia: New Metro (Subway) Rules! (windowstorussia.com)
• Emails and Coffee… (windowstorussia.com)
• Long Haul Trucks in Russia Now Allowed From America… (windowstorussia.com)

On Thursday September 8th, 2011, Russia marked 70 years since the beginning of one of the longest and deadliest sieges in the history of warfare – the blockade of Leningrad by Nazi troops…

Now on Monday January 27th, 2014, Russia marks the end of that deadly siege…

­Bombed out, isolated and taken to the brink of starvation, Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, survived 872 days cut off from the rest of the country…

When the German army encircled the city it was not the shells and bombs that the inhabitants feared most, it was hunger…

“It got far worse when the famine spread. There is nothing more terrible than famine, than to be there when your nearest and dearest starve to death,” remembers blockade survivor, Irina Skripachyova…

Those trapped inside the city had to resort to whatever means necessary to survive…

“A horse slipped on an icy street and collapsed. Immediately, people rushed out of their houses to chop it up. Our dad went out with an axe. He managed to get something like a hoof. The whole family lived off it for a week,” recalls Zinaida Goncharova, another blockade survivor…

Sometimes the need to eat saw people take drastic action…

“There were days when I would step outside my house and see dead people lying in the snow, with their buttocks severed for meat. This isn’t something we should try to cover up with heroic stories. That would be unfair to the history of the siege, and the people who endured it,” says Viktor Vilner, reflecting on what he saw back then…

70 years ago that terrible siege ended, but the memory has lived on within the Russian people..

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Big Mac price: I have found it interesting and I have also found it very important. The price of a Big Mac in Russia is much less than what you will pay in America. Now why is that? The burger is exactly the same. I mean exactly the same and having been a regional manager at one time for McDonald’s I can say, “They are exactly the same!”

I used The Big Max Index and information from the Economist and found that $4.62 cents buys you a Big Mac in America (Average price!). Then I found that they tell that Russia is selling them for $2.62…

So I walked up to the local McDonald’s and looked at the menu…

89 rubles is what I would pay! (Exact converted price below, at time I wrote this!)

So the Russian price is pretty accurate…

That means I expect the American price to be just as accurate…

That means that Americans pay a hell of a lot more for exactly the same burger, from exactly the same company, exactly the same ingredients and exactly the same taste, flavor and quality. Exactly my point! Why?

Russia is not the cheapest place in the world for a Big Mac, but most of the world eats cheaper Big Macs than you do in America and that should be a warning sign to everyone and do not give me any bull about how some make more than others and some are in better countries than others and all that bull crap. The fact is that a Big Mac can be produced cheaper and sold profitably all over the world and we do not look around us as we spend way to much money for a product…

Good grief look at India: Big Mac $1.54, wish that price was back… (Though no beef usage might make a difference in that price!)

Make any excuse you want, but the eastern world eats cheaper Big Macs than the western world and I am here to tell you that while McDonald’s is hardly profitable in America it rocks and rolls profit wise in countries like China and Russia. I am not in the loop with McDonald’s as I use to be, but it seems as with most world companies, the eastern world is carrying McDonald’s, as with most western based companies and fueling their growth…

This McDonald’s near our home, just does a phenomenal business. It is attached to a mall and they make some serious gross sales and that translates into serious profits…

You should be thinking about what is real and ask a question, “Why do I pay so damn much for a Big Mac and those guys over there pay less than half what I pay?”

Now that is reality and GDP has no bearing on those feelings…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The Russian Krendl Bread is a bread that is not exactly easy to make and that puts off the doers, so the eaters never get this bread very often. Russians serve this at the holidays and during the other religious times. It is rich and delicious…

Lets make a Russian Krendl and I think that you will find it disappears as fast as you can make it. My suggestion is that if you are an eater and not a doer, give many hugs and kisses to the doer, for then they will make more of this wonderful bread and to eat it out of the oven with fresh butter, is heaven…

Ingredients:
Active dry yeast – 2 ounce
Warm water – .5 cup
Salt – 1.25 teaspoon
Sugar – 3 tablespoon
Vanilla – 2 teaspoon – (fake or real)
Warm milk – 1 cup
All-purpose flour – 6.5 cups – (I sift)
Egg yolks only – 7 – (slightly beaten)
Butter – 1 cup – (Melted and cooled – your choice to ruin the recipe with margarine!)
Sugar cinnamon mix – .25 cup of sugar plus 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Fruit jam filling – 1 cup (I use fresh fruit mushed up and drained well – your choice!)
Egg yolk – 1 – (beaten with 1 tablespoon water)
Water – 1 tablespoon
Powdered sugar – 6 tablespoon

Lets Make:
First make sure you have lots of room to make this recipe…

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Then immediately add in salt, sugar, vanilla, and milk. Mix gently but well…

Then once thoroughly mixed: Beat in 2 cups of the flour to make a smooth creamy batter. Once that is accomplished, blend in egg yolks and .5 cup of the butter, then beat in 3.5 cups of flour to make a soft dough…

Turn dough out onto a well floured board; knead until smooth (10 minutes), adding flour as needed to prevent sticking. Place dough over in a greased bowl; cover with a cotton cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled (about 35 to 45 minutes)…

Punch dough down and divide dough in half…

Roll each half into a 9in by 30in rectangle…

Brush each rectangle with the other half of the remaining melted butter, then sprinkle each with half the cinnamon-sugar and half the fruit filling…

Starting with a long side, roll up jelly-roll fashion; moisten edge with water and pinch to seal.
Place each roll, seam side down, on a greased baking sheet…

Cover and let rise until almost doubled (about 35 to 45 minutes)…

Brush loaves with egg yolk mixture…

Bake in a 350° preheated oven center rack, for about 40 to 45 minutes or until loaves are beautifully browned and sound hollow when tapped…

Let cool on racks for 20 minutes, then brush each with half of the powdered sugar. Or just shift on top of them. If you are able, make a glaze to pour over top. Like a cinnamon roll…

Slice them in half inch thick slices and watch them disappear when your favorite eater finds them. Oh and served warm is the “Cat’s Meow!”

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I wrote this post and then hesitated a few days. I decided to post it anyway! The reason I hesitated was because years ago, Ukraine blocked my website, when I wrote about interesting happenings there. It took me two years (many e-mails and a lot of work) to get my site unblocked in Ukraine and now they are the third largest readership I have. That amounts to a whole bunch of traffic. But since I write from my heart and my thoughts and my feelings, I have to post this and jeopardize my site again in Ukraine. I am not saying anything that many do not already know, but I am saying that I know, from past and present situations, that America is behind the riots in Ukraine. The icing on the cake of proof was when McCain waltzed into Ukraine and sucked face with the opposition. That my friend was proof positive that much money was handed over and the paydays started to countdown to this riot…

What do you think McCain went there for: Vacation?

Can we say Libya, Syria, North Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba, Chili and you could add many more to this list: Plus now add Ukraine again and again for the multiple time…

I write this because my heart hurts to see such a wonderful country being destroyed by outside forces. Ukraine has its problems, but some humans will do anything for a buck. Just like some humans will beat other humans for fun and then kill them for spite… (Now the article!)

*************************************

Gerald Celente has said, “When people have nothing left to lose, and they’ve lost everything, they lose it.”

I see the same thing happening in Ukraine that is happening all over the world. Gerald Celente was right and it is happening, but the fact that it is going to happen, does not give the right for America to interfere and help it happen. The instigation is the part of the whole aspect that has to stop. I am all for people trying to stop tyranny, but when outside forces have to be brought in to stimulate that effect. Then it is not what the people want…

Once again America has opened mouth and inserted foot over Ukraine and stimulated a riot situation, by supporting the wrong people for the wrong reasons.  This is time and time again as if we are trying to set off a world war anywhere in the world. The world sees what America is doing and one day: Mark my words, “Payback for the USA is going to be Hell!”

What I see in Ukraine and many other places in the world, needs to happen in the US!

This photo to the right is of a peaceful demonstration in Ukraine at the American Embassy in Kiev. This happened yesterday and as you see it is peaceful. These are the real Ukrainians. The ones that care for the country. They are protesting the American involvement in the riots and the usage of money as a carrot stick to drive the opposition… (Yes people showed up to tell the world that America is involved and no one listen! Imagine That…)

Now lets look at a photo below and see what a bunch of monkeys that are supported by the American government are up to. They are kind of involved in some serious crap and they have destroyed a huge section of Kiev. They have destroyed buildings, cars, buses and anything not tied down is being burned. The fact is, this is the work of a bunch of paid lackeys. The police have been restrained to a point, but it looks to get real bad before it gets better. The police are now throwing the bombs back at the people and the more people that shoot at the cops, will mean at one point the guns will come out…

I cannot find a better picture of the peaceful protest, as the news sources ignored that. But there is a whole bunch of photos about the destruction of Kiev by the opposition. You know the good guys are the opposition right? Well I have to tell you that they are burning a beautiful city and destroying what many love in Kiev…

The day is coming and the way that we in America have allowed our country to add fuel to the fires in all these countries will come back on us. One day when no one gets their food stamp money and no one gets their welfare check and no one gets any subsidies. The riots will start in America. The saturation point was reached a long time ago in many countries and all it takes is a simple few dollars spread around. The saturation point is almost there in America. Once that point is reached, then a few dollars spread around by some helpful countries, will light a fuse to a bad end result…

We need to keep our nose out of other countries and quit playing both sides of the coin…

Mark my words: “Payback for the USA is going to be Hell!”

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The end of the world comes in many forms and Kiev is looking at hers if it does not stop…

Interesting facts about the monastery:

1. The monastery was begun around 1330 by a Tatar convert, Prince Chet, whose male-line descendants include Solomonia Saburova and Boris Godunov…

2. In 1613, it was announced that Mikhail Romanov, who had been in this monastery at that time, would be the new Russian tsar…

3. The Ipatiev Monastery was disbanded after the October Revolution in 1917. It has been a part of the historical and architectural preservation for awhile now, but recently the local authorities decided to return it to the Russian Orthodox Church…

4. A majority of the surviving monastery buildings date from the 16th and 17th centuries…

5. In 1442, the Ipatiev Monastery was allowed to transport goods across the River Kostroma and barter with neighbors. Then in the middle of the fifteenth century, the monastery owned two complete neighboring villages. By 1562, it possessed over a thousand acres of land to farm on…

6. The walls were 518 meters long, one and a half meters thick and up to seven meters in height. They formed an irregular rectangle with round corner towers and square entrance way towers…

7. On 15 May 2008, the Ipatiev Monastery was visited by then president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who spoke of the need to rebuild the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, which had been pulled down in the 1930s. Later that year, a new foundation stone was laid…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

This recipe is one of my favorites. It is not one that I can make in Russia very easily, because we do not have Russian style dressing in Russia. You know that famous Russian, Catalina dressing that is yummy on salads. I was always amazed that we have a Russian dressing and Russians are like, “What? You mean Mayo?”

I guess you have to live in Russia to understand that remark above! Never the less I have yet to find my favorite salad dressing in Russia and it is even called Russian. You would think – Nah lets not think…

Lets just eat and make a wonderful tangy chicken that will tantalize your taste buds, even if it is not actually a Russian recipe. Well in name only…

Ingredients:
1 kilo of boneless skinless chicken breasts
10 tablespoons Russian salad dressing
8 tablespoons apricot preserves
1 (1-ounce) package dry onion soup mix
1 cup hot water

Make:
Place chicken in a large covered glass baking dish and set aside…
In a bowl, mix Russian dressing, preserves, soup mix and hot water…
Pour mixture over chicken…
Cover and let marinate in refrigerator 4 to 6 hours…
Important to do this in the fridge for safety reasons…
When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350 degrees…
Bake the chicken with a covering on, in center of oven, for about an hour or until the chicken is tender and the juices run clear when stuck with a sharp knife…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I have reached a saturation point on the ridiculous rhetoric coming from the west about the Winter Olympics in Russia. For years it has been hardly tolerable, but now it has reached a level of stupidity that even the west should be embarrassed about. The anti-Olympic propaganda is totally out of control…

As Sveta says, “We have always been treated this way by the west!”

Nuff said…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Moscow is getting geared up for the Orthodox holiday of Epiphany celebrated on January 19, 2014. There will be set up some 70+ areas in the city for the people who want to scrub away their sins by bathing in icy cold water…

Epiphany commemorates the time of the happening of the baptism of Jesus Christ in the River Jordan…

Last year over 350,000 Muscovite’s took part in the traditional yearly ritual…

Russia: That Is Cold!– Epiphany

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Want to see some good pictures. It is the same site that I got the one image above. I am telling you that people are nuts and jumping in icy water, blessed or not, is crazy… (Link Below)

Submerging into holy water: Russian Orthodox Baptism of Christ

I write everyday. Most is not on Windows to Russia and actually most is within 4 novels I am writing. Three are near completion and I hope that within a year. One of them will be done. I have had to learn much patience when it comes to writing. That is my cup of coffee thinking this morning…

Some days I write 10,000 to 15,000 words and that took me a few years to get to that point. When I first started it was like running for the first time. 200 to 300 words and the well dried up. Now 200 to 300 words is just a fart in the wind of life. I have learned how to put a bunch of farts together and make a big fart and that makes it more fun… 🙂

Today I am going to write about writing. I have a million things that I could and want to write about, but I am in no mood to get all political and upset. The bottom line is that I am going to sip my coffee and ignore how pathetic we treat our planet and fellow humans. I enjoy writing and I am doing just that. Now I will tell you a few things to think of, if you desire to write. I do and have discovered my dream. I write and write and write…

But writing takes time to build up to speed…

Start just writing: Just write. Just read and write. Just do it and do it and do it. Do not care what anyone thinks and do it. Write and write and write. If you have a hangnail on your right thumb? Then write about it. Open a blog and write…

But my grammar and spelling is terrible: So what! Write and write and write! While you write and write and write, learn some basics and please use a spell check. Regardless write and do not allow anyone to upset you. The grammar.spelling police are some of the main people who never write over 10 words at a time. It is much easier to write if you call writing 10 words. I turn out 10,000 words and then go back over the next few days and correct things. Or maybe I go back a year later and correct stuff. The bottom line is write and do not worry about the grammar police…

My Blog does not have readers: Again, “So What!” It takes time and besides you are worried about your grammar and such. Write and write and write. You will get better – Practice Makes Perfect! Besides write it your way, for burgers at Burger King are not the only thing you can have your way. One day if you keep writing, you may find a bunch of readers that never say anything, are reading everyday. This blog you are on right now runs about an average of 3000 unique visits everyday (Unique visitors refers to the number of distinct individuals requesting pages from the website during a given period, regardless of how often they visit. My records record someone as new every 12 hours. So if you came 10 times an hour, you are still only recorded once in 12 hours.) and that is about a million unique hits a year, nothing to sneeze at… (Hits are different and I run over 6 million of those per year!)

Everyone writes: Sorry hardly anyone writes compared to the non-writers. I have no idea the discrepancy but I know that non- writers out number us writers by a whole bunch and there needs to be more writers. For reading and writing go together and that is what the world needs, more reading and writing. Not war…

I do not know what to write about?: Excuse me, but you really like to make any lame excuse not to write! What did I say earlier?

“If you have a hangnail on your right thumb? Then write about it.”

Just write and write and write! For if you do not, you will never get big enough writing muscles to write properly and you do want to write or you would not be at this point of this blog post reading about writing…

As I end this post today, “It is simple!”

People ask what came first the chicken or the egg? Writing does not have such a paradox. You can not read without writing first, for Reading is what follows writing…

To read, someone has to write!

So write…

To read…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…