Windows to Russia

Sveta 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…

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This 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…

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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… 🙂

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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…

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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…

Have a nice day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

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… 😉

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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… 🙂

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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)

How 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…)

Image 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)

Sveta and Boza are snuggled in bed after I walked Boza this morning. Sveta is a sleepy bug and when she gets half a chance she sleeps and sleeps and sleeps. I am different and after a certain amount of time in bed, my body makes me get up, for I can only lay down so long. People are different in many ways…

The sun is up this morning and…

Just perfect for a Christmas…

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I am going to make a sweet potato pie for Sveta. This is in place of a pumpkin pie. We are going to have beet salad, Olivier salad, sweet potato pie, steamed chicken breasts, my famous mashed potato dressing and whatever else I put together… And of course hot tea with pumpkin spice in it… 😉

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Gotta go, lots to do and Christmas meal to cook!

Everyone have a Merry Christmas…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

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

 

Boza and I walked and walked and walked. The weather was good and the temperature was even better. I used the tiny cellphone camera and just snapped images. What you see is what we saw as we walked and we also as you see found a road deep in the woods. The woods got mistier and mistier as we went deeper and deeper. It was cool…

What a wonderful walk we had…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

The day is; Sunrise – 8:58 to Sunset – 15:58! Exactly 7 hours long today, then starting tomorrow it is one minute longer and goes up from there. This is the shortest day of the year December 22nd, 2015…

The days are very short, but after today, I get to look forward to more and more daylight everyday, then we get to see the never ending daytime in the summer. 🙂

Have a nice day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia

At 9:30 p.m. I will be at the train station and pick my sweet pea up! Boza and I are lucky, we have family to be with us for Christmas…

I have spent a bunch of Christmases alone or without family in my lifetime. Starting at an early age as I sat in trenches amongst the war zones. War zones that we Americans many times did not acknowledge nor care to inquirer about. I can remember many times being ship born on the oceans to the next assignment. Yes they had Christmas aboard the carrier, but what is Christmas about steaming steadily and going to kill people who do not want you on there land?

Therefore, since being a little kid, I will have a rare, but not rare since being in Russia, Christmas. Sveta will come to us grouchy grumpy guys in the village and make us happy smiling guys…

Sveta is the family I never properly had and she naturally is capable of doing what is right, even when I seem to be incapable, due to my past…….

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I had a bad night last night and I am not sure why? I feel okay this morning, but I slept three hours more than normal and so did Boza. He never once asked to get up and go out! We went out and found it raining and after doing our business, we both decided to step back inside until daylight and then take a long walk…

Thus, that daylight has approached and we need to walk. We have a bunch to do today to get the home ready for a girl. Our favorite girl is coming and we need to tone guy stuff down and get girl stuff put back out for her to use ad get extra water in buckets and just make the home more presentable for Sveta to feel at home here… 😉

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Happiness is the best half of the family coming to say, “Hi!”

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Sochivo is a traditional dish of the Orthodox Christmas Eve. Sochivo is a special vegetable dish made from scalded wheat grains, and sometimes rice or lentils, mixed with seeds (poppy seed, almond or hazelnut), juice,  and honey, which is approved by the Charter of the Orthodox church to be eaten during Christmas Eve. In fact from what I understand Orthodox Christians are required to eat sochivo. Christmas Eve in Russia is the 6th of January…

According to Orthodox Church Charter, eating sochivo partakes in the evening on Christmas eve after complete abstinence (fasting) from food during the day…

Of course like all Russian dishes there is a zillion ways to make this recipe and everyone has a better way than the next one… 🙂

So, Lets make a very special dish for that Russian Christmas Eve…

Ingredients:

16 oz wheat (1 pound)
4 oz honey
6 oz poppy seeds
7 oz walnuts
salt (to taste)

Method:

Filter the whole wheat (other words pull out the chunks of dirt and rocks), wash and put in boiling water. Bring to a boil, drain and wash under cold water, bring to boil, cover tightly and put in the oven until soft. (Or boil for 5 hours in pot.) Then take out and cool down.Put in large mixing bowl… (Idea is that whole wheat is hard to cook and it takes time)
Wash poppy seeds, scald in boiling water then wash under cold water and grind up until homogeneous and white, many people do not do this and leave the poppy seeds whole. Mix into the wheat in the large mixing bowl…

Then add the honey and a bit of salt. Most like to heat the honey so that it is thin and will mix better…

Combine all ingredients with the wheat wheat thoroughly.

If sochivo is too thick, then just add some water. At the end of mixing add chopped walnuts all over the top…

There you go and now you have made a dish that is approved by the Orthodox church to eat on Christmas Eve…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The copy scores 71.5 in the Flesch Reading Ease test, which is considered fairly easy to read…

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• Ikra ovoshchnaia (Vegetable Spread Recipe…) (windowstorussia.com)
• Cottage Cheese and Coffee… (windowstorussia.com)
• Coffee Thinking’s in Russia… (windowstorussia.com)
• Russia: Is There A Santa Claus in Russia? (windowstorussia.com)
• Coffee and Our Volga… (windowstorussia.com)
• Last Night The Wail of the Train Could Be Heard… (windowstorussia.com)
• Coffee and Teaching in Russia… (windowstorussia.com)

The wind changed direction yesterday and what was a northern deep freeze, became a southern heat wave. I have noticed that weather is reliant on many things, but the most important issue here in Russia is the direction the wind blows. It basically flows from the north or from the south and according to that, is the temperature. Therefore it has become warm for us here and all the snow is melting. It will be short lived and the deep freeze will be back, but with the warmth, came a beautiful noise this morning…

I stepped outside with Boza at 4:30 a.m. and I heard a babbling brook. Now I do not live near a brook or creek and it struck me as odd. The wind was soft and from the south and the snow was almost gone. I stood and sipped my coffee, as Boza ran to get his ball. When I stop in the yard too long, Boza gets worried that I might steal his ball and he goes to guard it! 😉 Poor little guy…

I was not thinking about stealing his ball, but I was thinking how beautiful the noise was of a perfect babbling brook right near our front fence. I realized that it had to be the melt-off running down the road. Though I normally never hear such a sound as this perfect. I had the flash light and investigated. I found that the road was still icy, but water was steaming down the hill on the ice. The water talked all the way down the hill as it meandered down the ruts in the road…

I stood mesmerized by the sound, as I turned off the flash light and closed my eyes. I allowed my imagination to take over and remembered when I was about 7 years old, deep in the woods in my native Missouri. I could remember the sharp odor of the cedar trees which were so abundant and the screaming of the Blue Jays. I was hunting with my BB gun and came upon a babbling brook. The same noise I heard then as I heard now. The brook ran over rocks and the ice acted to create the same sound as then, when I was little…

Boza stood next to me and listen also. I am not sure what he heard, but if his daddy is listening, then he knows to listen also. We stood and I remembered my buddy then, a female mutt named Gidget. Gidget hunted with me and she sat with me as we watched the brook babble and twigs and leaves hurried along as they went to another world away from our sight. Gidget was much like Boza…

What a beautiful sound this morning!

Have a nice day and may you find that babbling brook to listen to also…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)