Windows to Russia

Salo; a food that is endearing to the Russian Villager almost as much as Vodka is. Salo is considered a food of the foods and the one who brings Salo to the party is the guest of honor. But…. it better be good homemade Salo… 🙂

Good link as any to what Salo is…

I heard that, “Ewwww!”

Here is how we made Salo at my buddies Vova’s…

Gather what you need…

1.) A kilo of Pork Belly…
2.) At least two cups of Sea Salt…
3.) Two Bay Leaves…
4.) Ground Black Pepper and or Peppercorns… (to taste)
5.) Fresh Garlic and an Onion… (to taste)

Lets make Salo…

Place the pork belly on a plate and let it sit for at least an hour or two in room temperature. This allows it to soften properly…

Grab a glass container large enough to hold the kilo of raw fat and has room on all sides to allow turning the chunk of fat to make sure it is covered thoroughly… (Do not cut the fat, leave whole.)

Put about an inch of sea salt in the bottom of the container. Then finely dice half the garlic and half the onions, layer onto the salt, with pepper and a bay leaf…

Then  place the kilo of fat on top of the salt, garlic, onion and bay leaf. Press into the salt bed the fat…

Then layer a bay leaf, peppercorns (? up to you and or crushed red pepper is fantastic), ground black pepper and diced garlic and diced onion on top of the chunk of raw fat and cover it fully with salt…

Leave it in the fridge for 2 to 3 weeks, check on it occasionally, to make sure no one is bothering it and it’s done! Take it out of the salt mix and wrap and put in the freezer and wait for your drinking buddies to show up and proudly show them your creation

Lets eat Salo…

– Take Salo out of your freezer, slice thin your Salo… (smile as you buddies exclaim how wonderful you are!)

– Slice thick your black bread… (Or white if that is all you have?)

– Smear your bread with a good layer of hot mustard and lay Salo on top… (Some like raw garlic at this point also!)

– Pour a shot of vodka and say, “To your health!”

– Down the shot of vodka… (Straight please!)

– Grab Salo and bread combination and eat…

– A Salo sandwich can be used for several shots of Vodka, but you may find it so good that you eat it too fast… (Or maybe not!)

Sides with this Russian treat are; salt pickles, whole small raw onions, whole garlic toes and what ever catches your fancy…

Just drink and eat food every time, that is the Russian way…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: Salo cured this way will last a year in the fridge easy, but in my place it will last only a few days. I like Salo…

Interesting times to watch WW3 develop. Right now the financial issues are knocking on everyone’s doors and the sight ain’t pretty at all. The term “Dog Eat Dog,” is looking like a perfect fit right now and when the last few dogs are standing, then the real fighting begins…

A sad thing has kept going around and around in my mind in the last few weeks. I mentioned the talk I had with someone from the government in Russia and he mentioned, after asking me what I thought about the possibility of World War Three? He said that they were getting ready and that it would happen…

I said, “World War Three? It is now!”

He shook his head in agreement and we sat silent thinking in our own thoughts about what has happened to our world, a Russian and American, can get along, I know, I do everyday…

WW3; Not maybe, but it will happen and not a matter of could happen, but when it happens, things will get real bad, for this time, the goal is to let the U.S.A. taste what she has wrought upon the earth. This is seriously a big thing in the world now. The fact that America has never been tested with true carnage upon her soil in recent times, has not gone unnoticed by the world. The world is being treated like gutter rats, as America likes to bomb humans into dust and gore…

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It is interesting to watch countries riding the fence; like that is going to matter in the end. One second they smile at China or Russia and the next second they kiss the U.S., they want to fall off the fence on the correct side as the war starts and then they will run to gather the spoils as the dust settles. But spoils will be spoiled, with radioactive particles, settling all over the world…

Raping, reaping and pillaging, just ain’t what it use to be like in the old days…

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I was sick yesterday and slept four hours extra, during the day, I woke with a though in my head and today I wrote about that thought. Then as I wrote, I realized that this is only for me to understand it better. For the bottom line is that I have lost faith in my people and my country that is causing all this and either you wake up or you wake up as you die and it all is because you do not correct what a small percent of the population is being allowed to do…

But it is interesting to watch how we expiate minor issues and pay no heed to issues that will kill us and destroy our existence; financially and physically…

* * * * * * * * * *

I guess the U.S. needs to get real; either quit lying and trying to be righteous or just tell the world, you want to rule it. We all know you do and truth will at least set you free. Literally everyone I know in America, thinks that the world is a place of ill repute and America (plus Israel,) is the cats meow with sugar on top…

Now ain’t that being a bitch?

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

190 Americans Admirals and Generals Oppose Iran Deal – by John Stanton

According to Carol Greenwald writing at American Thinker on 27 August 2015, Washington Post writer “[Carol] Morello does not mention how incredible it was that a few people, mostly a woman named Marsha Halteman from New Orleans, in one week could get 190 flag officers to sign a public letter stating that “the JCPOA [Iran Deal] would threaten the national security and vital interests of the United States and, therefore, should be disapproved by the Congress.”

Well not so incredible at all thanks to the Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs (JINSA) very successful Generals and Admiral Program that has been in operation for many years. It has been the pipeline for 400 American military officers to visit Israel. Israel also runs similar programs for US military academy students and US law enforcement personnel.

The purpose of bringing American military personnel—and military academy students—is to maintain “Continued and robust military-to-military dialogue between the American and Israeli defense establishments is central to JINSA’s philosophy. The annual Generals and Admirals Program to Israel, in which recently retired American generals and admirals are invited to visit Israel with JINSA to meet the top echelon of the Israeli military and political leadership, ensures that the American delegation is well briefed on the security concerns of Israel, as well as the key role Israel plays as a friend and ally of the U.S. To date, JINSA has taken close to 400 retired officers to Israel, many of whom serve on JINSA’s Board of Advisors.”

As of this writing the Washington Post does not appear to have updated its story on the incredible effort of Marsha Halteman who is the recipient of a prestigious award from a US combatant command. “It gives us great pleasure to announce that JINSA’s Marsha Halteman will be honored by the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) with their Outstanding Civilian Service Medal for her tireless work on JINSA’s Soldiers Appeal, which raises funds for military members and their families who are in need of financial assistance. Her selfless and hard work is instrumental in actively supporting a USSOCOM priority – enhancing the quality of life of the individual warrior and family. Established by the Commander of USSOCOM in September 1998, the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal recognizes civilians who have provided outstanding support or service. For Marsha, this work has been both an act of love and admiration for our men and women in uniform, as well as above and beyond the call of duty. She has truly made a difference in the lives of so many soldiers and their families and she is most deserving of this award. This prestigious award will be presented to Marsha by a senior member of the USSOCOM Command at JINSA’s Spring 2014 Leadership Conference. Details of this meeting and a formal “Save the Date” will be released soon. We hope that many of you will be able to join us for the meeting and to honor Marsha.”

If the US national security and political establishment had the dedication, tenacity and thoroughness of the Israeli’s—in their pursuit of their national security interests, the USA would be a far more powerful country abroad and maybe at home. Israel’s interests are represented in every nook and cranny in the United States at the local, state and federal levels. They believe in Israel, nothing else. That deserves respect. American leaders, comparatively, are pathetic.

John Stanton is a Virginia based writer. Reach him at captainkong22@gmail.com

I found a broken down home that squatters are living in. I saw them peaking out from the old overgrown road, from their home they have moved into. They have been getting water at night from the well and today I decided to follow the trail they have left to their home, a home buried in the weeds. It is a very old man and his wife and I will keep an eye on them, for if they stay this winter, I hope they will be okay…

Today I found three new places, that I have never seen, but it helps to walk the oldest road that no one uses and we discovered several homes that did not burn down when the fire took the whole back side of the village many years ago…

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Sveta arrived safely in Moscow this morning and I already miss her, but Boza and I have tons of stuff to do. Well I should say, Boza is the straw boss and I am the laborer… 😉

It is going to get up to 25 C. today and then turn cold again. This weekend will rain and I will burn all the saplings I have cut down. The rainy days are perfect to burn everything up. I filled up my benzine potable tank and now I can finish clearing the stumps and saplings around the home. Then I will start rebuilding the back side of the village home. It is time to get ready for winter, for winter comes fast in Russia and in “Mother Russia; winter loves you long time…”

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Sveta needs to meet with her family from Great Britain. Svetlana from the GB is like a sister to Sveta and I am glad that they could come to Russia to visit the relatives. They moved to GB a long time ago and raised two daughters there. So Sveta has British relatives…

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Today I start stacking firewood and see if I need to buy a splitting maul to continue increasing the wood supply or wait till next year to get the maul. I have a bunch of wood already and I think it is sufficient for this winter…

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I rebuilt the carburetor on the Sammy the Volga and she is running like a new girl. I had bought a carb kit when I bought the new fuel pump and actually forgot about it. So a few days ago I rebuilt it and found that I need to get another kit, for it looks like our Volga has to have a carb overhaul almost every single year. That is the life of a benzine carburetor on our Volga, but that is all good, for we have propane also and that effects the carb’s life…

Time to go, Boza and I have lots to do and we need to get going. It will be warm enough today that we will have to siesta after lunch, so I am wasting the day, as I sit here and write…

Have a nice day and see you tomorrow…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Woke up kinda sad this morning. Sveta leaves today and a bunch of villagers are leaving this weekend. My buddy Nikolai and his wife will take off this weekend and not be back until next summer. Nikolai went to the Big Village Tuesday on one last trip for this year. He had so much fun traveling to the Big Village every week with me and he thanked me very much for taking him…

But the sadness only last a short time, for I have so much to do and not enough time to do it. Sveta and I talk everyday by phone and she wished she could stay longer in person, but she has family in from Great Britain, thus, she must get back home and meet them all…

I am hoping also that Sveta and her mom take a trip to the Black Sea and do some swimming. They need to, but I do not control what others do, just myself and it seems only a 50/50 proposition right now. Sveta has a wonderful mom and those two need to spend a few weeks traipsing around Sochi or the Crimea…

Sveta also needs to ride her bike a bunch more, for Moscow has had a bike resurgence and bike trails are everywhere. The Muscovite’s are bike nuts right now…

* * * * * * * * * *

They are repairing the fish nets at our lake and repairing the docks. It looks like soon they will harvest this lake. I have my tripod for the camera and will take some serious pictures of what they do. I have perfect seats to watch the process and will post a few pictures in the future. Almost fish (ryba) time… 🙂

* * * * * * * * * *

Therefore I will leave this post. I have walked Boza, the neighbor is burning a fire to keep warm and Sveta is stirring under the covers of the bed. Time to fix breakfast and get going for the day. Sveta leaves tonight…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Summer is an interesting thing in Russia. There just is not a summer most years. Seriously, there has not been over a week that anyone could swim in the lakes this year. Oh, some diehards decided to try to, they ended up sitting on the beach in their swimsuits shivering.  Now as I looked this morning, the leaves are falling and turning yellow and red. It is faint, but they are turning…

It was 4 degrees above this morning when I first got up and after the sun poked her head-up, it became a more manageable 6 degrees. The sun is still warm enough in the day to get us back into the 20 pluses, but the nights are getting long and it is single digits from now on…

This is one of my seats overlooking the lake. This is where I catch images of Mamma Eagle as she hunts and fishes. That is my sidekick (Boza) in crime watching birds behind me. I want to thank Sveta for taking this image, for it captures the Bozka and I as we study the world. The man in the moon is even watching with us…

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Sveta will be gone Wednesday and then Boza and I will watch the village empty of people, the auto magazine will stop running to our village and the days will get short. I have to leave for Estonia sometime in October, but that is a ways away, then after about two weeks in Moscow, Boza and I will come to the village for the winter. I will stock up on food for me at that point, I have stocked food for Boza, there is about thirty boxes of food for him (three months worth now,) and I need to get that to about four months worth of stock, before winter sets in…

For Boza and I will be walking and taking pictures all winter in the village. It looks like at this point it will be only Boza and I, plus one woman at the top of the village, near the monastery. Vova is going to move in with his new girl for the winter (in her huge home,) as soon as he gets all his animals taken care of…

I know Sveta is starting to wish to stay here also, for she has found an amazing thing has happened this trip. Sveta’s issues she has with health, have simply cleared up and almost went away (in another week they would be non-issues,) that is after same issues disappearing on a trip a month ago and coming back when she got back to Moscow. This is what I keep saying, “The village heals…”

Boza is starting to get his winter coat of fur and I am getting ready to acclimate to cold. It is time to get tough again and live a clean life. I plan on dropping more weight and getting thin, it is strange to remember when I weighed 225 lbs playing sports of all types. I leaned to 185 lbs in the army and could do push ups with my Drill Sargent standing on my back, I really disliked him for that… 😉

I understand that sometimes we must dig and find our roots again. It is important and Boza and I have dug and we have found the roots, now we have to learn to live with those roots of our souls…

Boza is no longer a city dog, he eats fish heads and chases ducks with joy. Life is a bowl of cherries for Boza, and he does not care a darn about the pits…

I guess that is what I will learn to do this winter, “Life is a bowl of cherries and to hell with the pits!”

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Sveta is so happy to be here and she will stay until Wednesday. This is good and she will take a whole bunch of new pictures for me to use. She looks at life different than I do and thus, takes different images. Like below…

She loved the flowers and thus the village in the background was secondary, yet it looks perfect to me… 🙂

She uses a Samsung Zoom Camera phone and it really takes fantastic images. I am now using my new Olympia 24X optical zoom compact, that Sveta brought and the images at near the top are from that. 5000 rubles is all that camera cost and that is about $75. What a deal, should have bought two of them at that price…

Have a nice day, Sveta and I have to run to town and pay for internet, it is just about to run out…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I have been getting ready for Sveta to come to the village and I picked her up late last night at a very busy train station in the Big Village. People everywhere, getting on and getting off the trains. It was good to see my sweetie get here safe…

I have lots to do and Sveta is sleeping, Boza and I need to walk…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

They dug up the monastery grounds and removed much of the tunnel system. It was a hazard and needed done, for the young were finding the entrances. That includes me… 🙂 I knew about them years ago, but now after they found the main chamber, they dug it up, removed the items inside, hauled off the brick to the lake dam and refilled the holes and ditches left, with black dirt from the fish farm. All courtesy of the Fish Village Farm…

Three black Mercedes cars roared up the hill, full of monks. Then soon followed a huge Mercedes windowless van, driven by more monks with guns, that was a typical armored van for banks in Russia. After they all left, we the pions, were able to run around and look at the left overs. They tore our road to mush and that happened, because they hauled 50 loads of brick out and 50 loads of dirt back in. The brick became dam filler after the important stuff disappeared in the van… Cool huh?

Oh, if you have not gathered, the Orthodox Church is a very powerful organization in Russia. If anyone benefited from the fall of the Soviet Union, the Orthodox Church did. Just a tidbit of info to let you contemplate reality for a few minutes…

Yesterday was a very profitable day for the Orthodox and Pará Lake, the fish farm…

An interesting thing coming out as they dig around the bell tower, the base of the tower is deep in the ground and yesterday they discovered that there is, as I said years ago, at least two levels below the surface of the bell tower. They really thought that they could easily uncover the foundation and have since found out that only the wall sections are shallow at around two meters deep. The buildings are deep, deeper than comprehension, but since the bell tower does not have stress cracks from settling and we are on nothing but old sand dunes. It makes sense to me that they had to go deep, really deep and set many pilings to support this huge building. You do not just toss a brick monolith upon an old sand dune and hope it stays in one piece. The lower levels are just normal for the course, when you build a tower like this…

They also found that when they removed about a meter of soil in front of the bell tower, they found a massive ceiling to the lower levels of brick. This has put a change of plans in to place, for it is unknown at this point how far away from the tower does all this brick go?

It is amazing to think about construction of a tower like this back in 1906 and in the middle of nowhere, by hand, horse and cart. It really is a masterpiece of construction and I wonder if we are even capable in this day and age of do such detailed strong work. It makes me wonder, what has happened to us in this world?

Best shallow spot of the brick level buried under ground. I found four unearthed spots, one spot as far as 25 meters from the tower. Another piece of the puzzle…

There are things that only the dead know about, but if the living takes its time, we will discover all that there is to discover in this holy of holiest villages. Just wait until they find the Saints burial spots!

Female Saints, buried here in the past, are crying, desiring unearthed status and respected, all within this tiny village…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Now I understand the connections that Vova has. I knew he had friends everywhere, but how high I did not know. I have a friend now up high and it is someone I met a few years ago. I guess you need to read this article first; (http://windowstorussia.com/travel-in-russia-are-you-a-spy-and-other-thoughts-part-1.html)

Errrr, well actually you need to read all these, but the first one will give you the main idea…

http://windowstorussia.com/travel-in-russia-are-you-a-spy-and-other-thoughts-part-2.html
http://windowstorussia.com/travel-in-russia-are-you-a-spy-and-other-thoughts-part-3.html
http://windowstorussia.com/travel-in-russia-are-you-a-spy-and-other-thoughts-part-4.html
http://windowstorussia.com/travel-in-russia-are-you-a-spy-and-other-thoughts-part-5.html

and last but not least…

http://windowstorussia.com/american-spy-in-russia-now-my-experience-this-last-week-makes-sense.html

I guess you can see that I became absorbed for a few days in what happened to me at the time…

Okay now that the ground work is laid, lets talk about today…

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Vova called me to come up to his home. I did not feel like it, but a friend of Vova’s from a few weeks ago, ran down and grabbed me. He insisted and he wanted me to meet his son. (Now I will leave names out, you will understand in a little bit.) Vova’s friend is very proud of his son and talked about him the first time I met him a few weeks ago. Well I sat down and then as this man turned to me and introduced himself, the past slid back in place. We both registered immediately as to our last encounter and shook hands under a more opportune moment…

I just sat for hours while an FSB played guitar, his father sang Russian songs and Vova (he called Vova, Uncle) danced as he played the spoons. Then he played American songs, which his father just loves and they were the happiest Russians in the whole wide world, for I knew the words to these songs…

Finally they got tired and all wanted naps. Russians seem to always, at least in the village, sleep in the afternoon. It is siesta time, like in Mexico and Vova calls it just that, “siesta!”

I had my hand shook again and was told if problems tell Vova and he would tell his family. Then if able, things would be worked out…

I walked away, shaking my head in disbelief, for what a small world it really is and you never know who you will meet and rub shoulders with. Sometimes we meet turmoil and other times we meet harmony…

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Well, what did I talk about yesterday?

Fish; and now I have more fish than I know what to do with…

One of the managers of the fish farm came by and handed me a sack of fish. Five fish to be exact, so I spent the time and cleaned them and froze them. This time I was smart, I froze them individually in food bags…

I am going to save them for Sveta, she loves fish and I know how to cook it perfect for her… 🙂

I say, “Money poor, but fish rich!”

It is a fish farm; you know?

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The monastery is busy, it is Apple Orthodox Holiday and people are everywhere. I was told not to work, but since it is a holiday, the church has three backhoes, three dump trucks and a bulldozer tearing up the village. At least it seems that way and sounds that way…

And they found the gold!

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It looks like I have found my home, not a house, not a place to live, but a home of where the heart is. It looks like I have found a place that accepts me as me and does not try to alter me. It looks like I found home and I realized such; when those empty places in my heart were filled, by Sveta and the Russian Village…

Strange, for sometimes home and love is on the other side of the world…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: I was told something that is weighing on my mind and from the source, means that reality is exactly what I thought it was. I have to sleep on it and think for a few days…