Cistern Froze… :)

This morning in the dark, I went to get water. Our water is in a cistern and or as we call it a well. The water level right now is a good six feet below the surface and we have a long hook to get the water out in buckets. I pulled the lid off the well and hooked a bucket to the rod and dropped the bucket into the well. All I got was a bouncing bucket. The rod was not stout enough to break the ice; so?

The surface of the well had frozen last night…

Then I sat on the edge of the well and thought a second, while my butt started to freeze and remembered a very long steel rod I have. Very heavy, but very long (over 6 feet,) it is an old piece of over an inch wide rebar. Darn thing is heavy and I had to be careful not to drop it in the well. But it worked and I cracked the ice and got my water. I will get more buckets later…

Now if you want to know how cold it got last night, then what I said above should tell you. Our thermometer said -20 and less; no way to tell how much less. The next two weeks will be as cold and it looks like it could be a challenge to get water from the well. So today, I will fill up all the buckets that I can, for emergency…

Besides we have tons of fresh snow daily to melt down also… 😉

* * * * * * * * * *

It seems that the only camera that I can keep going on a walk with Boza is my cellphone camera. It is so cold that everything else freezes up and simply has no battery or will not expand the lens out. I do not want to tear them up so I will just take pictures from the cellphone and be happy with that. I can take images nearby the home, by starting the Olympus up inside and going out for a short time. That is no good for a long walk and it just freezes very fast…

My cellphone is a beast and has a huge battery. No moving parts and just works under all conditions…

My cellphone…

Kyle and Boza reporting from The Tiny Russian Village…
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Got up late and Happy New Year 2016…

Vova New Year TreeBoza and I got up at 5 a.m. and walked this morning. That was late for us, but there was a reason…

Vova was busy as a beaver all day. He was cooking, decorating and getting ready for his huge party. Then the party never happened… 🙁

No one showed up except two people and one was his newest girlfriend from a nearby village. I stayed away, because, well, I do not like to drink and party, but…

Sveta called me and it seems that Vova called her and was kinda complaining that I did not show up to his party and that he cooked tons of food just for me… 😉

I felt guilty and went up to see what was happening at the Vova house hold. The image above is a certified Vova decorated New Year Tree and I like it. It looks about correct for a guy tree and I would have done the same. He puts up a tree every year…

The weather last night became simply put, “Too Damn Cold for man or beast!” Thus no one could make it and I understand. It seems that Vova had big dreams again and as par relevance, they ended up being reality checked in the process…

That is why I like Vova…

Therefore, I ended up sitting in Vova’s house watching Putin talk about the year and the future of the next year and ate wild boar, rabbit, chicken, farm pork, salads and toasted a sip of champagne at midnight. Russian champagne by the way and actually very good…

The two that showed up at Vova’s was his girlfriend Natalia and a guy named Sasha. Sasha disappeared as soon as I got there, for it was snowing like crazy and the temperature was dropping fast. Natalia was a nice girl and she was spending the night with Vova. He was all happy about that and after about an half hour, I bid my adieu and we went outside to watch the fireworks in the distance. Vova grabbed his rifle and fired off two rounds in the air as he danced and then he had a single one shot roman candle and he giggled as the green ball of flame settled to the earth…

The fireworks were everywhere in the distance and I counted twenty displays going off at once across the horizon…

I hugged Vova and wished him Happy New Year (s novym godom) and went back to my humble abode with Boza waiting. I talked to Sveta on the phone and told her happy New Year and Sveta was staying with her mother. I was glad for that and truly I was worried about Sveta being alone. I know that Sveta is happy when she is with her mother and I am glad that her mom wanted her to stay. Her mom has turned 80 this year and the more times Sveta stays with her, the better…

Then I read a book until 2 a.m. and went to bed thinking…

What a wonderful place… (Just need Sveta here!)

All in time my friend and everyone have a wonderful New Year…

S Novym Godom

s novym godom – с новым годом – Happy New Year

Kyle, Sveta and Boza…
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Happy New Year, Russian style…

happy-new-year-2015

Happy New Year from Windows to Russia…

Sveta, Boza and I

Sveta, Kyle and Boza…

2015 ending and 2016 Starting…

2015-2016
2015-2016

To be honest with you, I thought at times that 2015 would be the last year that you or I would see. We came close and it was not for the trying part by the west to start a war. I have been in the heart of battle and I have seen the slaughter of many men, who did not deserve to die, on either side and I will be frank with you; We are either lucky or our guardian angels are working overtime…

I suspect that God has kept us here, for we (America) showed such stupidity in the geopolitical arena that only the hand of a higher being could have stayed the execution of the end results…

America has waltzed from one country to another and pushed buttons, played games, tried to color revolutionize and or hundreds of other nasty things that we seem to enjoy doing to countries all over the world. I have to say that we are truly a pile of crap with a coating of icing to cover it up…

* * * * * * * * * *

2016 is going to be a interesting year and I pray that the people in America get off their asses and try to end the terror that is our government. I suspect that too many like the way it is and bar lack of food to the masses, we will all sit watching the Honey Boo Boo and or allow the Kardashians  to invade our last brain cells and squish the last semblance of life from our souls…

* * * * * * * * * *

The future of the world is up to the people and this is more so than anytime in history. Never in the past have we had such technology to allow the world to come together as a one, instead of an array of individuals, all hating and scrounging for resources. If instead we acted as one and spread the resources all around the world and allowed everyone to have a life fulfilled with our desires and dreams…

But alas, what fun would peace on earth be?

* * * * * * * * * *

I think the situation with Bill Cosby sums up 2015 and a bunch of years before that. I looked up to the man, I enjoyed his work and now I find my self disillusioned…

I use to believe in America and tried to accept what we did, was at least the best of the situation we had when the cards were dealt. I looked up to my country, I enjoyed the abilities that we had and could achieve and now I find myself disillusioned…

I find that as we were deceived by a powerful man in the entertainment industry, so we have been deceived by a country that has death as its partner…

have a nice day and someday wake up and think about what it all could be, not what it has become and realize that we have the power to make it better…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Gotta post a second time today…

Сараевский американец Кайл Китон: «Россияне не хотят войны» – American from Sarai, Kyle Keeton: “The Russians do not want war”

kyle sveta

http://ryazpressa.ru/news/articles/saraevskiy-amerikanets-kayl-kiton-rossiyane-ne-khotyat-voyny_03-12-2015/

In Sarai area there was an unusual lodger. An American Kyle Keeton masters the Ryazan hinterland.

– “I grew up in the west of America, Missouri, where, too, are frost and cold. Only the winter there is much shorter than in Russia” – says Kyle. – “So I am not afraid of Ryazan province.”

Kyle calls the outback village “Dawn of Liberty.” It was here that he lived in a small house, bought his wife, Svetlana, 25 years ago. Generally Svetlana originally from the area, but her parents’ home at the time became dilapidated, and then collapsed. So I had to buy a new one because it would not let small homeland. Initially, Svetlana went here with her son, and now with her husband Kyle.

Read More >>>>>

The newspaper hit the stands and we are in print, not just internet…

No wonder the whole town knows about Sveta and I. We are local celebrities…

* * * * * * * * * *

IMG1190AEver tried to clean fish at -12 below Celsius? Well I got the pleasure again today and my fingers have just thawed out. I am freezing them for when Sveta comes and Boza got a fish head to eat today. Now that was a surprised doggy; fish heads in the winter! Oh My!

Up the hill came one of the fish village managers and I bought two fish for 50 rubles. Buddy bought a bunch (like 10 kilos) and he was a 100 rubles short, so I lent it to him. He is making fish stew for the New Year and I will get my money back in delicious stew made from these fresh fish…

Looks like big New Year party at Buddies and I will go early and stay away as the drunks get wild. I told buddy that I love Sveta and no way will I stay to chase women and or drink. For it seems that he has as many women (and twenty gallons of moonshine and twelve bottles of vodka) as he can invite coming and a bunch of guys also. After declining late night invitation. He (Vova) smiled and said, “Kolia lyublyu (Kyle love) Sveta!”

I said with a big smile, “Ya lyublyu (I love) Sveta!”

That sums up who is special in my life…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Oh Wow, the New Year is Approaching…

CaptureLast night was cold, my special broken thermometer said around -17 and I am going to get a new one as soon as I go to town. I built a fire and stoked it up at about 9:00 p.m. last night and it still has some warmth this morning as I got up. The home is doing good and I think it will be reasonably comfortable down to -30, with no problems. This is only about heating one room, so the room with the refrigerator is cold as a freezer. I have to think about that as I store food and such…

* * * * * * * * * *

IMG1188AI had several people ask me about the outhouse and what about sitting in a frozen place when doing your business?

That is a good question and one I asked myself and answered awhile back to myself. I just never knew that anyone else would care! The answer is to the left! <<<—–

I carry a padded room temperature seat bottom from the house to sit on. It works great and you do not have to worry about freezing your haft to the wood surface in -20 below weather… 😉

I might look stupid, but I am not!

* * * * * * * * * *

New Year is almost here. Sveta will be in Moscow and I will be here. I am sure that Vova has plans and personally I hope to be left alone. Boza and I like solitude and really do not want guests except for Sveta. I do have to go up to Vova’s today and gather a bucket of potatoes from him and I will check his blood sugar levels for him. I will also check his blood pressure! It seems that I am his doctor at times and I get to okay that he can drink and be merry for a holiday! 🙂 (Like he would listen anyway!)

I have a tin of cookies to take to him from Sveta and I already gave him a calendar from the Orthodox Church…

* * * * * * * * * *

I need to contemplate if I should make a trip to town today, for seriously, this is the New year holidays and Russian literally shuts its doors for a whole week, during this holiday. Most likely from noon the 31st of December to possibly the 9th of January almost nothing will be open!

But Magnet the big store will be open by the 2nd or 3rd of January, so since I have tons of food, I do not need to go! 😉 There that was answered and Boza and I will stay home…

* * * * * * * * * *

imagesYou know? I have to talk about Windows 10. I was upset and have waited for a few days to talk about the trashy piece of junk that Microsoft has decided to shove down our throats. I really gave Windows 10 a chance and I tried to solve all its issues. But there was an issue I could not overcome and that was its ability to eat data on the internet. When you live in the middle of nowhere and I mean literally nowhere! Every megabyte counts as you try to keep within a budget every month. One of the most expensive things I have to shell out for is internet and that runs about 900 rubles a month. That 900 rubles gives me basically 16 gigs of traffic usable for a whole 30 days… (I also get an extra 16 gigs of traffic from 1 a.m to 7 a.m. but, that is stupid and hardly counts in the life processes!)

Not the same as in Moscow with unlimited traffic for less money. Therefore, when I could not get Windows 10 to stop eating traffic, even if I shut it down for the night, when I started it back up, it ate traffic like a crazy fool. Then the camels back broke when, while Sveta was here, Windows 10 decided that 4 gigs of Ram was not correct and only reported 1 gig and at the same time refused to ever charge properly or report correct battery of the laptop. I also had over 2 gigs of updates it was trying to download and I simply screamed at it and told it goodbye forever…

Thus, I put back the original operating system, Windows 8.1 and it is acting very civilized and proper now. The machine is designed for 8.1 and that is what I will stay with. I am installing updates one at a time through Belarc and will not allow it to try to update to Windows 10 again and or even download the Windows 10 update of more than 3 gigs of data…

Damn you Microsoft! This has made me leery of them and I have deleted my account to help with testing beta software. I have reached the point of no return for Windows and will start back gathering my Linux past and reinstating a Linux Desktop in the future…

Windows 10 will not be in my future and support for Windows 7 and 8 will be gone before you know it…

There, now I am happier again! And yes I really tried, I know what I am doing and I really really tried to make it work. It simply did not want to play fair and that is the future of Windows OS…

All for itself and nothing for you but eye candy and clouds…

* * * * * * * * * *

Time to leave and get other things done. But I leave you with two images that I took yesterday in a lake bed. Looks like someone broke down many years ago and repaired a bulldozer(?), parts all over the lake bed and I have shown other parts in the past. I find it interesting what can be discovered when you walk a lake bed that is dry…

Have a nice day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Russian Village: Coffee Thoughts…

Coffee_MugThis morning at 5:30 a.m. the outdoor thermometer said, “-15”, actually it shivered and said that. I know it shivered, because after I tapped it to make sure it was settled, all the numbers below 0 fell off and went to the bottom and what did not fall is hardly enough to read the thing properly anymore…

What a bummer!

* * * * * * * * * *

Therefore, with the demise of our outdoor thermometer; Boza and I went walking in the frigid, crystalline, and clear sky of Russia. That is a rare sky in the winter. Oh, it is always clean and frigid, but clear, hardly ever, clouds seem to be the norm…

Boza checked his winter fur coat before going out and he was satisfied that he had enough fur to do the job, then I proceeded to put on long underwear, two pair of heavy cotton pants, three pair of socks, the heaviest coat, a stocking cap, scarf, gloves, emergency bag of peanuts, flashlight, three shirts (two – long sleeve,) and a partridge in a pair tree… (I am not as furry as Boza!)

I take a bag of peanuts with me, in case something happens on the long walks I take. Sveta appreciated them the other day, as we ate peanuts in the middle of the woods, in the middle of nowhere. They were really good…

I had two cups of coffee before we left and now I am sipping on a cup of hot tea as I write this article…

* * * * * * * * * *

I sat on my bench I made in the summer this last year. It was crisp, but I sat to hear what the world would say to me. I was attempting to hear what songs nature would sing today to me, for yesterday, I was presented with an orchestra that beats all orchestras. Today was too early and all I heard was cars in the farthest reaches and highest reaches were filled with jet engine noises, as I could see the dot of light transverse the sky…

But yesterday I had a song of nature…

Boza and I had walked for several hours yesterday and we stopped near the cemetery and sat on a log. Boza was busy taking a snow bath and I really thought he could try harder to make snow angels, but he refused to listen to me, as he rolled in a snow drift. I was listening to how quiet it was…

Then I heard a woodpecker. He decided that we were not evil and he went back to work. Then some chickadees joined in with their little chirps, then a few more woodpeckers joined in. Within a few minutes, a breeze blew and the trees creaked, the birds chirped, the woodpeckers pecked and all of a sudden; twenty more woodpeckers joined in and hundreds of birds and a single yelping Fox…

It was unbelievable: The woodpeckers were drums of various types, the trees were musical notes from wind instruments, the birds were the ringing of bells and other instruments and then from nowhere came our huge flock of sparrows. They run in a flock and were born in our yard. Sveta got a taste of them, when they buzzed us one day. They are a huge ball of fluttering wings and they decided to join the band as it played. The noises all went together and I for several minutes enjoyed a song of nature. Then…

A big fat stupid Raven, came uninvited…

He lives in the cemetery and he swooped down among us and saw Boza and I. Then he screamed bloody murder and told the whole world as far away as New York City, USA, that we were near his cemetery. The orchestra ended and I got mad…

I shook my fist at the Raven! He looked at me as if, “Gotta do better than that!”

Then I yelled at him and shook my fist! The Raven was undeterred. But Boza jumped on me and told me not to threaten a Raven. Then since I was really grouchy; I took my walking stick and showed the Raven who was boss. I waved the stick of death and destruction at him and he decided that this bear was in a really bad mood and he flew off, cussing all the way. Boza started to growl at me as if it was all my fault and told me to stop threatening the Raven with death and destruction…

Since I am the boss; I waved my staff of magical powers at the fleeing Raven and Boza jumped on me one last time and we stomped home… 😉

But, Oh what a beautiful song I listened to in the woods yesterday. Nature knows how to play music and I will try to go back and listen some more…

* * * * * * * * * *

The walk yesterday had another twist of nature and delights…

Boza and I were walking along the river. The river is full and wonderful, but as we walked we noticed that someone had been cutting down trees recently and we decided to walk over to the edge of the river bank and see what some human was doing. I could see no reason why some fool human would be cutting down these trees?

We walked upon the set of trees we saw cut down and I looked at Boza and said to myself, “Self, this is no axe or saw!” and or then, “Self, this is no human!”

Then right behind us, a tree fell…

I mean fell five feet from us and could have killed us. I spun around and Boza spun around. I looked at the tree and followed the trunk to where it was broke off, or should I say cut off?

I said,”What The! (and maybe a few choice words after that)”

Then all hell broke loose. There was three beavers staring at me and they did not know we were there…

The snow was a perfect muffler and Boza and I had sneaked upon a beaver family at work. The beavers screamed in terror, I screamed in terror and Boza yelped in terror. Then before you could blink, the beavers jumped of the edge of the river bank and took a slide down onto the ice. Slide off the ice ledge and slipped under it to their home. I stood there is awe and Boza finally woke up to the fact that something interesting had happened and started to bark as if he was in control of everything…

Then Boza and I walked the river bank and found that there had to be hundreds of beavers all along the bank of the river. We found trees cut off and path after path leading down to the river and we walked for over a kilometer. Fresh cut trees everywhere and now we were looking for falling trees. I snapped some images later in our walk after recovering, but need to go back with the big camera and try to catch the beavers at work…

These beavers all live in burrows in the river bank and I could not find a single structure or entrance anywhere. The water level is high and the holes are underwater. But I found the beavers…

* * * * * * * * * *

I guess that is enough for today. Our walks are interesting to me and I look forward to seeing new things everyday. One thing I have learned is that we are never to old to learn and never to old not to explore new stuff…

Just need to teach a beaver to say, “Timber!” Ouch…

Have a nice day…

Kyle and Boza
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Boza, I and Coffee…

Coffee-iconSveta is back in Moscow and Boza and I are in the Tiny Russian Village. The winter chill has set in hard today and we are going to see many -20 degree days coming up soon. That cup of coffee is sure talking sweet this morning and I am on a second cup as I write this…

What a wonderful visit Sveta made to us to guys! We walked, we talked, we laughed and we just got lots of simple things done. The trip was way too short, but I think that Sveta has seen the beauty, perfection and soul healing of the village. I see that the village is starting to talk to her and she sees it in a different light than they did many years ago, when it was simply a place to bring a child for healthy summers. Sveta sees a village home and a tiny village that is safe, secure and wonderful; all year around…

* * * * * * * * * *

imagesThis morning I reinstalled Windows 8.1 back on the laptop. I gave Windows 10 a better than fair chance and actually tried to make it work, even with all the flaws. I thought about going back all the way to Windows 7, but Windows 8.1 is basically the same with different eye candy and Windows 8.1 is still functional with basic tweaking. Windows 10 is truly a piece of CRAP! I tried Microsoft; for months, but you screwed up a good thing, all in the name of the all mighty dollar ($)…

Therefore, I am sitting here revamping all my software, images and what-knots and enjoying Windows 8.1. Never thought I would say that Windows 8.1 is actually an acceptable operating system, but compared to Windows 10, It is…

* * * * * * * * * *

I have never owned so many boots. I have even more than what is in the image above, but these are the main boots I use. They start from the left and smallest in height; rubber shoes, Velcro short boots, medium snow boots and extra tall deep snow boots. I also have some Finnish made boots, but they are not as warm as the Russian made boots…

This morning I wore the medium snow boots and they were just perfect. The one thing that has to be a fact in Russia is; you gotta have coats and boots and you never have enough of either… 🙂

* * * * * * * * * *

Boza is sad today and he always does this after Sveta leaves (Me to!) Today he will not eat and will be happy to walk, but he will spend his time looking around for Sveta. It makes me sad to see him this way, but by tomorrow, he will be back to normal (Me to!) and we will have a long walk then. Today he was excited to get to the frozen lake bed and he ran like the wind, chasing snow devils as they swirled across the dried lake bed. He is so fast and in seconds crosses the lake and I am just starting to walk across it. I have to call him and make him slow down, but he just looks at me like I am an old spoiled sport…

* * * * * * * * * *

Well I gotta work on the OS that I installed and get things updated. At least I can update when I want to now and not when Windows says I have to. Talk about eating up internet traffic data and that is something that is short on supply in a Tiny Russian Village in the middle of nowhere…

coffeematicHave a nice day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Sveta leaves today…

The weather was virtually perfect for the time that Sveta was in the village. It warmed up when she came and tonight after she leaves, the arctic blast will come back. It is as if Old man Winter likes Sveta and allowed some warmth to invade, just to keep Sveta a happy girl…

Therefore in counterbalance, by The New Year, it will be -25 below and wicked payback weather. Looks like half of January will be deep and deeper freeze… 😉

* * * * * * * * * *

Yesterday, The three of us walked for 3+ hours. We walked deep into the woods, we walked to the water source, we walked to the cement pond and well, we walked everywhere. One thing interesting happened as we were walking…

I heard a puppy yapping and this was while we were deep in the woods. Sveta did not hear it and Boza seemed to not hear it. But I did, therefore, I thought I was hearing things and when I heard a raven make its funny noises; I decided that I was hearing just a raven…

Then as we sat upon the bench at the Holy Water Spot! I heard a noise in the woods and as Boza and Sveta ignored all around themselves. Out of the woods popped two young guys and a puppy!

I was vindicated, for I knew I heard a puppy or a small doggy yapping. Sure enough, I tell Sveta to grab Boza by the collar and here comes a little puppy bouncing around as all wonderful puppies do and wiggled himself up to Boza to say, “Hi!”

The boys were looking for a fir tree (not a pine,) for New Years and they had a hatchet in hand to accomplish such a feat. I recognized them and they are from our village. Believe it or not, we have several homes with people going to stay the New Year and that is really great…

They were looking for Bald Mountain and Sveta told them just up ahead, that they were almost there. I could see the look of relief on their faces, for I know they thought they were lost. Then since the puppy wanted to stay with Boza and us. They had to pick the little guy up and carry him away as he whined in protest of leaving his new friend… 🙂

* * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * *

Tonight I drop Sveta off at the Elektrichka (train) and Boza and I are bachelors again, at least until Sveta comes to keep an eye on us. For you know, we are just guys; You Know?

Fact is that I am almost healed again. My feet have become healthy again, my diabetes is under control again, my heart is 100% more stable, the only thing that expresses itself with me in the village is my arthritis and it is really bad. I just ignore the pain and keep keep going. In the village I am much much healthier…

Another fact is, we miss our girl and she is the bright spot of our lives. Someday she will be here permanently and that I can feel in my heart, for she misses us also…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Sweet Potato Pie… (Recipe)

20151225_125324How about a Tiny Russian Village Sweet Potato Pie recipe? Easy enough to make in the middle of “Nowhere Russia!”

No, not Pumpkin Pie, but Sweet Potato! This pie was also baked in a tiny toaster oven, so you have to have the right size of pie dish to bake it in. I used a deep aluminum bread bake throw away pan. Contrary to popular belief, a toaster oven can actually bake and bake I did. I baked a real sweet potato pie and I have a sweet pea of a girl who will testify that it was delicious…

This was Sveta’s first sweet potato pie and I can see that it will not be the last. The issue is that in Russia, sweet potatoes are hard to find and these had to be brought with Sveta from Moscow. Now pumpkins are a dime a dozen, but Christmas is special and Sveta needed a special pie for the holiday… 😉

Lets make a sweet potato pie!

Ingredients:

Two large sweet potatoes,
One cup of sweet condensed milk,
One teaspoon ground cinnamon,
One quarter teaspoon nutmeg,
A pinch of ginger, (Two pinches for you, I have huge fingers!)
I small package of vanilla pudding mix,
Two eggs,
Three teaspoons of real butter.
A package of ginger cookies, any type will do and or gram crackers will do just as good! (and)
One can of spray whipped cream…

Lets Make Filling:

Start a pan of water boiling on the stove. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut up into the pan of water. Set on low heat and put a lid on the pan. Let boil lightly and check on it a few times. Once the sweet potato slides easily off a fork stuck into it, it is done enough…

Drain the water off the sweet potatoes and mash the sweet potatoes until you are happy with the consistency. I toss in one teaspoon of butter and it helps to make a smoother blending…

Now in the same pan with the mashed sweet potatoes; add all the sweet condensed milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, vanilla pudding mix, two eggs and once again blend well. Set mixture aside for now…

Lets Make the Crust…

Grab the cookie for the crust and crush the cookies. Ginger cookies are dry, so they crumble easily and Gram Crackers do to. But in Russia, we do not have Gram Crackers, so we find any ginger cookie to use. Put the crumbled cookies in the bottom of the baking pan and pour two teaspoons of melted butter on top and stir it up to coat the crumbs…

Then add the sweet potato mixture and fill to the level you want. I just poured it all into the pan and it was deep enough to hold it. Then after tapping the pan bottom against the table a few times to settle air bubbles out; off to the tiny oven…

All I can say at this point is that I baked the pie 15 minutes at a time (timer on machine,) 45 minutes on bottom only heat and five minutes with top and bottom heat. It looks like the last 5 minutes was really too much (bottom started to burn,) thus, turn top heat on during the last 5 minutes of the 15 minute cycle. Pie is done when a knife stuck in comes out clean… (Oven has no heat adjustment, just a mechanical timer! You have to adjust yourself to suit the needs of the greater…)

20151225_130639Image at left is what we had to work with as we ate it and if all the Ooo’s and Aaaa’s from Sveta are an indication, then I know I will have to make this pie again… 😉

The can of whip cream is a very important part of the dessert. Sveta would be grouchy without her whipped cream on top and we are lucky that we found it at the big village. This is one of those imported products and now Russia produces her own whip cream in a spray can. It is good…

This is called; The Tiny Russian Village Sweet Potato Pie…. Or as I call it, “Yummy!”

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)