Windows to Russia

Rasstegai: Rasstegai are little pies with a filling exposed from the top. Their name comes from the Russian word rasstyognutyi meaning “opened up”. The filling for the rasstegai can be made from rice, mushrooms, chicken, eggs, sausage and or many other food items…

You are limited to only what you desire. In this case lets make a mushroom and black olive filling…

Ingredients:

For dough:
800 – 900 grams (1.8 – 2 lb) – flour
1/2 liter (1 pint) milk
30 – 50 grams (1.5 – 2 oz) yeast
250 g (8.8 oz) butter
2 – 3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp oil
salt and pepper and garlic just a pinch. (Or More!)

For Mushroom and black olive Filling:
100 g (3.5 oz) boiled rice
100 g (7 oz) dried mushrooms, washed
100 g (7 oz) dried black and or green olives, washed
1 onion, tiny
2 – 3 tbsp butter
1 egg yolk, 1 oz butter – to brush top of the the rasstegai.

Directions:

First of all you need a yeast dough…

Make the dough: place all ingredients in the bowl, knead the dough by hands, than make it into a big ball, and leave it in a bowl to puff up, covered with a damp cloth for about 45 minutes in a non drafty warm place…

Then while waiting for the dough to rise…

For a stuffing: Lets use mushrooms and black olives…

Soak the mushrooms and the black olives, then cook. Minced and fry the mushrooms and black olives with butter in a sauce pan, add the chopped onion. Fry thoroughly. Combine with the cooked rice and mix thoroughly. Makes a yummy paste (do not keep tasting the filling!) I like to add salt, pepper, garlic powder and what ever as per my taste to the filling mix….Yes and that last tiny piece of cooked chicken breast goes perfect diced up and tossed in also….Stop eating all the filling! You need some for the little boats you are making!

Now lets roll some dough and make little boats for the stuffing…

When it is puffed up good and fluffy, divide it into small portions. Roll the dough balls out on a floured work surface, and place a spoonful of the stuffing in the center… (Did you eat all the filling?)

Pinch up the edges of the dough around the filling to make round or oval pies (this is where the artists get to shine in design,) leaving the center uncovered. Remember do not cover the whole pie completely. Put the rasstegai on a baking tray greased with butter and leave in a warm place for the dough to rise the second time. This time filling inside…

Different ways to make them…

As soon as they are ready, brush with egg yolk and bake in the oven 200 – 210 C. 20 to 25 minutes (or less) in a preheated oven, They do not take long, for all you are doing is baking the bread…

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These are really simple to make and can be made with just cheese inside too fancy as you desire, of a filling as you can imagine. Just make sure all filling is a cooked product first. Do not try to cook raw meats inside these boats of dough…

Save some of these delicious hot pies for the rest of the family. Or make two batches if need be! 😉

WtR

One thing I love about living in Russia!

Is the drift I feel back to the old days in America. One example is when you buy food items…

Literally everything is available, but usually the so called western standard food types are in small amounts and mostly always unsold…

If you go to a normal large chain grocery store, you will find carrots from Israel and such, but they are in bags, clean as a whistle and perfect. These carrots do not sell and are expensive. But! Next to them in a huge bin is carrots from Russia….These carrots sell like crazy…

These carrots are covered in dirt, bent, broken and ugly.

Ugly to a westerner, but beautiful to a Russian. The only way to get good veggies is if they still are covered in the original dirt that they cam out of the ground with. This is true and ten years ago, I was stunned at the mess that veggies are kept like in a store…

The huge supermarket has the equivalent to a roadside stand of fresh picked veggies. Not cleaned, not perfect and definitely grown nearby in most cases. Thus in Russia, even the grocery stores are very seasonal in what they carry…

Packaging image does not mean anything about what is inside…

The reason this came to mind right now is about something I just bought. I just bought a pastry for 10 rubles and on the sealed package was a picture of the Russian famous evaporate milk fillings; made from evaporated sweet condensed milk. This is a taste treat delight to Russians and can be found in plentiful supply everywhere…

I bought it, it was cheap and I wanted a treat. I walked home and decided to eat it. I opened it and expected that thick creamy and hardly enough to tantalize your senses, sweet milk. Instead I got a huge supply of apple filling…

I looked at the wrapper and looked at the inside of the pastry and smiled. For that is Russia in a nutshell. You never know what you are going to get at anytime, any day and anything. Russians accept what they get and are happy that they got it. I smiled because the pastry was tripled filled with apple pie filling and if I had the other as it said on the wrapper, it would have been a tiny amount…

Should have bought ten at that price…

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Another thing that amazes me is that Russians stand in lines.

They queue and they queue even when the same exact item is next to them. Good example is this…

You could have two places that sell cheese right next to each other and or maybe it is a place that sells bread. The exact same bread and or cheese and the price is exactly the same…

The Russians will all queue up at one place. They stand in line and wait their turn. Silently and not at all unhappily. Russians know that the line they are in is for the best cheese or bread, but is it?

Well in my experience after looking around. The same truck supplies both places and the same people own both places, thus the food is the same and I have watched the cheese being taken from the less busy store, out the back door and in the back door of the other store. Thus, the cheese and or bread is the same…

Don’t get me wrong; the cheese is priced good and is an excellent product. I just go to the empty line to buy it… 😉

Even in the Big Village I shop at when at the Tiny Russian Village. They have a truck that sells out of bread everyday before noon. Get there early and wait. The bread comes from the bakery right across the street and if you go to the bakery, you never wait…

Russians young and old wait in lines and it is not because they have to. It is because of something inside of them keeps them doing it. You can shop all over Russia and find this phenomenon going on. Be it for cellphones and or bread…

A market in Russia is a good example; You can go to one shop that usually has what you need. They are out at this moment. They holler at the shop across the pathway and get it from them. Everything is interconnected and interwoven. Usually one store is surrounded by many of the same stores and they all have the same products…

I guess it is a social kinda thing. You also know that they will not run out of cheese, for they will just get more from the store next to them. Win win for everyone, I guess?

Vova called!

Vova from the Tiny Russian Village and he wants to know when I am coming back to the village. Looks like he is missing me and I hate to tell Svetochka this, but Boza and I are missing the Tiny Russian Village very badly…

It is a Catch 22 for me and for Boza. We want to be with Svetochka, but both Boza and I are already suffering from the Big City life. Boza needs his freedom to run and I do to. I am limping again and Boza and I both need the fresh air and water of the Tiny Russian Village. It is just better for him and I. I have to weigh many things and if I could just get Svetochka in the village with us. Life would be perfect…

I think I have become Russia!

Maybe I will write a post about this fact? later…

I wrote the opening pages to a book.

A book that just went to print. It was not much (three pages,) but what I wrote, made me think…

US Military’s Progressiveness Leaves Civil Society Behind: and Other Observations of the American Empire

I realize that I love America, but the America that I love is gone!

Sometimes we have to let go those we love the most!

Letting go has been a part of my life since my dad died when I was young…

WtR

“Does anyone seriously think that Russia can somehow influence the choice of the American people?” Putin wondered during a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi on Thursday.

“Is America some sort of a banana republic?” he asked rhetorically. “America is a great state. Correct me, please, if I’m wrong.”

ba·nan·a re·pub·lic – Banana Republic!

noun – derogatory
A small nation, especially (but not limited to) in Central America, dependent on one crop or the influx of foreign capital…

Hey, “influx of foreign capital,” I see something important in that definition!

No Putin, you are not wrong and you phrased it perfectly…

WtR

One thing that stood out to me was the political undertones from the American Embassy in Ukraine that infiltrated into the Ukraine Governmental section. America is and has been buying the Ukraine government for some time now. Biden just bought and paid for Ukraine’s help to rearm Georgia. That is a No – No and should be stopped. American politics need to stay out of Ukraine or any other country for that matter…

Now look at Ukraine!

Bad America…

WtR

I have desired a different diet drink in Russia. Ten years I have desired something other than a diet cola…

Well here it is, “Diet Dr. Pepper!”

I see lots of cars running around Moscow with Putin on them. Interesting and this car is sitting outside in our parking lot. I also see lots of T-Shirts, coats and hats with Putin on them. Kinda a craze right now…

Putin has real support in Russia, not like the marginal support that most western leaders get. I have thought about this happening and realize that western leaders for the most part do not understand the concept that the people are actually behind someone and likes their leader…

Maybe it is time for western leaders to change how they lead?

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Yesterday I got sick. 38.8 temperature and Sveta stayed home and tried to make me well? I feel much better today and Boza and I have walked twice. Sveta walked Boza yesterday and that made a big difference for me…

Today I will walk to the store and get chicken necks to cook for Boza. They are dirt cheap and he loves them. I like them also and they make a great soup. Boza eats the necks, I eat the broth. Win Win for all…

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Coffee is cheap now. As is the price of most foods here in Russia. Prices are dropping and it is starting to show on the total price as you buy stuff. What a blessing. It never was that bad, but anytime prices drop, it is a good thing for us average people…

I will go to our dollar store equivalent today. They have really good coffee at 50 rubles per 100g. That my friend is a good deal and I will stock up. Coffee is one of those things that the price can rocket at any second. Happens all over the world and when the price is right, “Get It!”

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White Bread 15 rubles a loaf…
Eggs for 10 in carton – 39 rubles…
Milk 29 rubles a liter…
Whole Chickens off a truck- 68 rubles a kilo…
Flour Tortillas – 4 pack – 25 rubles…
50 Black Tea bags in a box – 25 rubles…

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Lets put it this way; 100 rubles ($1.60) will buy you many meals…

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Pregnant women, multiple children families and happy families…

Everywhere is a mother pushing a stroller and the playgrounds are full of little monkeys kids. It has become a explosion to be exact. The population is growing in Russia and from what I am seeing, Russians have taking the declining population issue seriously and working day and night to reverse the trend… 😉

Interesting to see this happening…

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There is a quandary that I keep coming back to!

Out of one side of Americas face, they spout, Russia – “doesn’t make anything”

Then out of the other side of the face or is it “out the ass?” They say, “Russia has released the first image of its new nuclear missile, a weapon so powerful that it could wipe out nearly all of the United Kingdom or France.”

My quandary is!

If Russia does not make anything? Then where does all the food in the stores come from, the weapons of mass destruction come from, the advanced defensive weapons, the equipment, tools and you name it? Russia makes stuff. Damn good stuff and other than the tiny exception of not finding peppermint candy in Russia. I see most everything else… 😉

Okay! I admit China makes a bunch of stuff, but, much and actually most tech is from Russia in the first place. China has been given massive amounts of defensive tech to develop defensive weapons with and all in conjunction with Russia. Just like India has done the same…

But, if Russia does not make anything?

What the hell is everyone so worried about Russia for?

They do not make a damn thing! They are just a gas station, They are poor, They are devastated, They are dictated to death and even North Korea has a better life than Russians! ~SARC~

Believe you me! Russia makes things and they make extremely high quality things, At a reasonable price and much less waste than we are use to in America. The big thing Russia makes?

Defense Weaponry to counter the Western Empire!

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Yes and one last thing…

Life is actually very good here in Russia. I cover Russia from the Tiny Russian Village to the Huge City of Moscow and I find life good, safe, happy and full of friendly intelligent people…

WtR

Having worked as an upper management for McDonald’s many years ago, I rarely go into one to eat. But, today I decided to walk to the mall and sit for awhile and eat two cheeseburgers and a small diet coke…

I needed to get a few groceries and before getting them, I set and watched Russians living life at McDonald’s. I am telling you this because, like all the other countries we Americans allow to be destroyed by our government and its cronies, Russia is a very advanced country…

Before we tried to change Syrian, Libyan, Afghanistan and Iraq heads of states. These countries were all very advanced and very pleasant to live in. Say what you want, but democracy has destroyed these countries and their living standards are a tenth of what they had before we brought love and bombs to them…

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I set and watched the electronic kiosks at work. Russians love these devices and other than me, everyone was using a debit card and keeping the kiosks busy. It was a social event to these people. They talked and joked with each other, the young couples discussed what they would buy together and mothers had to pick their kids up and allow them to punch their food into the kiosk…

The two burgers I got could have been from America. The diet coke I sipped on, could have been from America. The music playing softly in the ceiling speakers, was from America and all in English. The families, kids, moms and elderly all looked like Americans…

The teenager who was suppose to be wiping tables, was playing on his cellphone. Just like America…

The 70 to 80 year old elderly couple, cut their hamburger in half, divided the french fries and shared a soda, just like in America. Pinching pennies, just like in America…

The kids had a birthday party going on in the party play room. Yes, just like in America. In fact, at this stage of my life here. I just had to close my eyes and it was America. That is how much the normal people are to us Americans…

Just wanting to live a life and not worry about who will drop a damn bomb on their heads. Is the biggest difference in Russian and Americans…

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I listened to a table nearby and it was full of about twenty years old. Five of them and they were talking about America…

Obama had turned out to be a fake (and his Nobel Prize is a joke in their eyes) and they all know Hillary’s track record as Secretary of the State of America. Trump is well known also and is known for being a ruthless oligarch. Russians know about them well…

Then the conversation turned to Putin and one of the five disliked Putin. After a heated argument and the one hater of Putin, spouting CNN, BBC and several other western media sources. The others shut him down and laughed at his choice of information. He got up and said a few choice words, as a Babushka scolded him for those words, and he left. The other four watched him leave and then went back to talking about Russia and Putin…

It all sounded just like America to me…

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I walked home with my groceries and stuff. Two moms with their doggies had a dog fight going. Another doggy came from across the park, as his owner yelled at him and joined the fun. Everyone got tangled up in the leashes! And guess what?

Just like America…

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I want you to realize that 100% of the countries that our America has destroyed and tried to reshape, is a failure. It is a failure in all but the profits made for the few…

Russia does not need to be changed in anyway. Russia is flawed, but flawed in a better way than how we are flawed. Russia had its ass handed to it years ago and has come back from the brink of death…

Putin is good for the people and the people need his kind of strength. The issue that arises is that we Americans need a person like Putin and we have not had that person for a long time in America in the White House…

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America needs to become like Russia, instead of Russia becoming like America. America needs to wield a big stick, but use it only when necessary. It seems that our big stick has become a way of life and that is where I hope Russia never becomes America…

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment. – Mahatma Gandhi

Amen to that…

WtR

With all we now have gathered about the US government including Obama’s lackey brigade, the Clinton’s and all their sack men and ladies and water bearers of the propaganda in the journalistic world and all the criminal movement and untruths and debasement available to see first hand, even with e-mails as proof. The flagrant in your face robbery and nonchalance for Security, of the all deceiving democracy within the crusade to elect Hillary and so on…

You would think that people would see for themselves….You would think that when black is black and white is white, that nothing could be questioned and nothing is left to debate…

However 50% of Americans are as yet ready to vote in favor of Hillary Clinton….that lets me know that half of America has mental or enthusiastic issues.

This is not the typical conduct of a refined, educated and balanced society.

It is the activity of a mentally programmed crowd who think there is something in it for them to gain by her election…

The same goes for Trump, but in reality something is amiss there in that situation. The Republicans and Democrats are working day and night to convince us that Trump is as pathetic as the mainstay meal of the old days called SOS (Shit on Shingle!)

Either way you gather the data about these two future presidential wannabes just does not add up. Trump has at least shown a desire to change, but he gives no hope to the masses of freebie lovers and that scares them…

In my opinion Trump is scary in that he while sounds perfect for a better future; is still a multi-billionaire and is only in this life to make money. Selling his soul for money is still his foray and or is his forte. He makes a living at doing what makes Trump money, just as Hillary does…

Therefore, as a vote for president of the US is set between two people. One a known political cheat and liar and the the other a well known power broker cheat and liar, Trump wins by default. He is the unknown and politically could mean change for the better?

Politically we have already destroyed our country and yet 50% of the people still want to keep that guaranteed way for destruction going. The other 50% want to try a new way to destroy ourselves. That 50% is more correct than the other 50%. We have to embrace the new, especially when the old is fungicide and rotten…

The land of the free has become lacking in intellects!

This has been accomplished through degraded schooling, political correctness, handouts financial and or material to the masses, constant propaganda about how great we are and fear/scare tactics being used on a daily basis…

The same tactics used time and time again to keep the masses in check and certain desired people in power. History repeats itself, time and time again…

The fact that both presidential hopefuls are who they are; excludes them from office…

We as a people of a country as great as America and who use to be looked upon as a leader of the free world. Deserve a real president. We deserve someone who is no affiliated with politics, money and or greed. It is a shame that a person who works the land and lives week to week struggling to survive, has knowledge of the Good Book, budgets the little he has, raises a family to work by his side, believes in morals, remembers the horrors of the war he was in, cares who his kids date, cares where his kids are at night and life/nature is of the utmost importance….Is not able to be our president…

I am tired of the Bush’s, the Clinton’s, the Kennedy’s, the the the the and more more more, so called royalty of America. From Hollywood to Washington DC…

We need someone we can relate with and or to in the White House!

That there is the issue! We are a hodgepodge of different races, mentalities, genders, ages and everyone has had Burger King’s, “Have it your way!”, drilled into their heads until they think that is what life is about…

Not the typical conduct of a refined, educated and balanced society!

I guess I want to much?

WtR

Windows to Russia was getting Google errors about mobile issues. Google has decided to weigh mobile much higher than Desktop and they are pushing to get people to make mobile friendly sites…

The last few days I have been revamping windowstorussis.com and making it look one way with a desktop and another way with a mobile device. This includes laptops, tablets and phones…

I finally got Google to okay the site and they have given me good marks on all aspects….See below image…

Therefore, I have been able to get the best of both worlds. I have my very favorite desktop look and then for the mobile, I have a very friendly mobile adaptive look. They do not look anything alike and the mobile is the nearest to the old template. The desktop look is my favorite, but it can not be turned into a mobile, no matter what I try to do…

I was actually forced to make these changes, Google sent me a email and said that they would degrade this site if I did not follow their rules. Thus, I followed their rules and they are happy…

I have one last thing to solve and then the site will be at its best. I have to get images under control. That means; I have to compress and change the way images are presented to whatever device is seeing the page. Google says, “Optimize your images to minimize their size and thus reduce their load time. They remove non-visible image information and apply high-efficiency compression techniques. This can result in a data saving of 50% or more.”

I guess that is next? Oh Well!

So we have this now…

Hope it works okay for you? IF not leave a comment and I will try to blend the needs of readers with the desires and demands of Google!

WtR

Russia’s Big Guns Go to War

Friday, October 21, 2016 – 12:03 By Petri Krohn, editorial article

The two largest ships of the Russian Navy, the nuclear powered  battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy (099) and the aircraft carrier ‘Admiral Kuznetsov’ (063) are now in the English Channel, steaming toward the eastern Mediterranean. Their mission is to establish a 1,500 km naval exclusion zone outside the coast of Syria and to sink any US carrier strike group willing to challenge them.

NATO says the ‘Kuznetsov’ is on a mission to “bomb rebels in Aleppo”. This is true only as much that this is a combat mission; not a summer cruise, a training exercise, or just showing the flag. In fact, this is the first time any Russian or Soviet aircraft carrier has seen combat.

Quote: “Russian warships off the coast of Norway are carrying fighter bombers that will likely reinforce a final assault on the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo in two weeks, a senior NATO diplomat said on Wednesday citing Western intelligence,” reports Reuters.

The Russian battle group, once it is assembled in the Mediterranean may be the largest European naval formation to see combat since the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Wikipedia

Most likely the battle group will include several nuclear attack submarines, of the ‘Akula’ and ‘Oscar’ classes. Wikipedia

Their mission is to stop the planned American war on Syria and to prevent the US Navy from launching airstrikes or  Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian Arab Army or the Russian forces in Syria. This is a repetition of the situation in August 2013, this time with an even larger Russian naval presence.

Soviet capital ships were designed to sink American aircraft carriers. Their main weapon is the P-700 Granit supersonic anti-ship missiles carried on the ‘Pyotr Velikiy’, the ‘Kuznetsov’, and the ‘Oscar’ class submarines. Wikipedia

If the Russian force is threatened, they will be supplemented by ‘Tupolev Tu-22M’ strategic bombers carrying ‘Kh-15 and Kh-32’ anti-ship missiles with operational ranges of 300 km and 1,000 km respectively. The bombers may be deployed to Syria or the Hamadan Air Base in Iran.

The US is now openly preparing for war against Syria. Their previous attempt in August 2013 failed because of the Russian naval presence outside Syria. The events were mostly kept secret from the Western audience.

The standoff was first described by Israel Shamir in October 2013: “The most dramatic event of September 2013 was the high-noon stand-off near the Levantine shore, with five US destroyers pointing their Tomahawks towards Damascus and facing them – the Russian flotilla of eleven ships led by the carrier-killer Missile Cruiser Moskva and supported by Chinese warships.

Apparently, two missiles were launched towards the Syrian coast, and both failed to reach their destination.”
The Cape of Good Hope.

A longer description was published by Australian voice in 2015: “So why didn’t the US and France attack Syria? It seems obvious that the Russians and Chinese simply explained that an attack on Syria by US and French forces would be met by a Russian/Chinese attack on US and French warships. Obama wisely decided not to start WW III in September 2013.” Can Russia Block Regime Change In Syria Again? Link to source.

In my own comments from 2013 I tried to understand the mission of the Russian fleet. This is what I believed Putin’s orders to the fleet were:

1) To sink any NATO ship involved in illegal aggression against Syria.
2) You have the authority to use tactical nuclear weapons in self-defense.

I am sure NATO admirals understood the situation the same way.  I am not sure of the American leadership in Washington.

Petri Krohn, editorial article

DONi News Agency

It is what it is and the issue is; The western press is ignoring the truth! But that is normal!

WtR

NASA wrote a nice “ignorant” post!
Do you see what is wrong?
Here is some help to read the wrong spot…

“NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and two Russians launched to the International Space Station” Read that quote…

Still see nothing wrong?

Okay! I give up!

We literally ignore the fact that two Russians are on board with just one American. We name the American and yet we somehow lost the names for the two Russians. Just two Russians, not Russian Astronauts, not a name for them and we simply state, “two Russians” …..

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLwcT3Zl2yg/

Respect please for the two Russians who are nameless in NASA eyes…

Thanks to Spaceflight Now…

With commander Sergey Ryzhikov monitoring an automated approach, flanked on the left by flight engineer Andrey Borisenko and on the right by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, the Soyuz MS-02/48S spacecraft docked at the station’s upper Poisk module at 5:52 a.m EDT (GMT-4) as the two spacecraft passed 250 miles above southern Russia.

And yes the Russian is in charge! Jeepers weepers…

WtR

PS: If it has to do with Russia? I am most likely reading about it, doing it and or living it! NASA bad!