McDonald's Celebrates 25 years in Russia

McDonald's of Russia celebrated its 25th anniversary in recent days. Oh sure, we remember that red letter day in 1999 when the biggest-ever Mickey D's opened in Moscow. Folks waited in an hours-long queue for a taste of the west. These days, the wait's so much shorter. And since then, even bigger McDonald's restaurants have opened elsewhere. . .

Best of all, McDonald's eventually came to Rostov-on-Don, some 600 miles south of Moscow. That might have been 2003 or so and I stood in line for 15 minutes, all smiles. Rostov now boasts at least four McDonald's and across this vast land, more than 400 sites crank out burgers, fries, the works.

Here's the nearby McDonald's: See you're reading Russian!

Another view, another day: Saturday morning and headed over there for breakfast.

Rostov International Airport welcomed travelers with McDonald's Big Tasty RIO burger, celebrating the 2014 World Cup games.

Back to the anniversary. . .

Even the tray mats announce the anniversary: #25 together: Your History.

Another look, snapped in my photo studio, haha, with translation below. Such clever marketing, using social media.

Here's the translation ~ January 31, 1990, 25 years ago, on Pushkin Square, opened the first McDonald's in Russia. Since then, McDonald's has received more visitors than the entire population of Russia - and each of them left at McDonald's part of his soul. We have grown and changed together. On the eve of our twenty-fifth anniversary, we would like to invite you to remember and revive the brightest moments of our common history.

Share your story on our website or on our social networks, celebrate their friends using the hashtag # 25vmeste, and note our page in the living history of McDonald's in Russia.

Sure enough, visit the McDonald's Russia website and check out the Big Mac memories. Visiting McDonald's here in Russia is an event ~ it's a place to see and be seen, worthy of your favorite mink coat.

The taste of the season, the Beef a-la-Rus, pictured top, only.  My favorite, on a rye bun, with a country Russian feel.

Alexander Pushkin, the great Russian poet gazes hungrily at the McDonald's adjacent, across Voroshilovski Street. Sir, just tell us what you'd like: We'll handle your order, you can stay your pedestal and wax poetic. 

McDonald's: Who needs a drive-through or children's play area when there's free WiFi!

Perhaps you've been to a McDonald's in Russia or another exotic land? Please share ~ we'd love to hear about it!

Wrapping the Holiday Season: Russia Celebrates *Old New Year*

It's January 14th and today Russia finishes the holiday season by celebrating the Old New Year. This week, folks will be dismantling their holiday decorations and dumpsters will be full of Christmas trees. But before bidding a heart-felt dos vedanya (до свидания), that is, See you later to this season, please join me for a look around our beloved Rostov-on-Don to see a few decorations from the holidays.

Here comes a family on an outing, bet they've just been to see Father Frost. (Click to enlarge photo.) On the left, they're walking  past the *Kingdom of Furs.* Poster on right *(Congratulations) with the New Olympic Year! Rostov-on-Don. 2013-2014.

In Theater Square, the largest poster in town is probably on this bank building. It's simply massive. Again, *(Congratulations) with the New Olympic Year! Rostov-on-Don. 2013-2014.*

McDonalds is always fun, it's name still recognizable in the Cyrillic Alphabet. Windows are jazzed up with twinkle lights. This McDonald's on Pyshkinskaya Boulevard is a favorite hangout for university students. The free Wi-Fi certainly doesn't hurt! 

In the McDonald's window, *Taste of the Season Spicy* Items are Beef Roll Spicy, Caesar Roll Spicy and Royal DeLuxe Spicy.

Yours Truly with poster for Beeline, a cell phone service provider. Poster says *(Congratulations) with the Upcoming Holidays!*

The Old New Year is a throw-back to the Julian Calendar which Russia abandoned after the Russian Revolution of 1917, if I'm not mistaken, when they switched to the Gregorian Calendar as is used in the west. Oh, but to keep things interesting, the Russian Orthodox Church declined to switch to the updated calendar and even today continues with the Julian Calendar which means that they're two weeks behind. So although today is January 14th on the street, step into an Russian Orthodox Church and viola, the calendar spins two weeks in reverse, so that it's January 1st as per the old calendar. Thus the name, the Old New Year. 

What's the purpose of this calendar dance? Granted, there could be a profoundly spiritual reason to someone, somewhere. Or perhaps the Old New Year simply provides folks another opportunity to celebrate. And the Russian folk, bless their dear souls, are quite fond of celebrating. The traditional fare for Old New Year is vareniki and most certainly across Russia today, women folk have been busily mashing potatoes, rolling dough, filling and serving these little potato-filled dumplings. You might enjoy a favorite blog post about varenkiki, Here's to a Bean in Your Dumpling!

More about the Old New Year:

Vareniki or not, wishing you and yours a very blessed official end of the holiday season!

Strawberry Shortcake

Mondays are a good day to update my blog and occasionally that actually happens. But then at 4:30 pm local time, through the refrigerator door, came the sound of these fresh strawberries begging to be made into strawberry shortcake. Decisions, decisions. Company was coming at 7:00. . . wouldn't they love a classic American dessert?

Strawberry Shortcake

So here's the result, a culinary triumph, not because it's hard to make the shortcake and preparing strawberries is pretty basic. The major achievement here was that of finding whipping cream -- 35% fat, plus or minus -- no small feat here in Rostov-on-Don. But having found it, I stocked up, grabbed 9 cartons of whipping cream, just 200 ml each. At least they have a 6-month shelf life.

Oh but then company didn't show. Tempting as it was to scarf down several myself, I showed remarkable restraint, a trait I'm determined to acquire, and foisted these off on the hairdressers shop next door. Haven't heard from them since. . . Didn't notice any ambulances pulled up outside their door. Assuming they got into this classic dessert more than they would have gotten into a blog post. ;)

Wrapping up Maslenitsa Week

It's the final hour of Maslenitsa Week here in Russia, the week when blini, or Russian-style crepes, are cranked out like. . . like hot cakes.No surprise there! ;)

Blini are traditional fare for Maslenitsa for reasons both pagan and religious. As per old Slavic tradition, blinis' being round like the sun makes them perfect for welcoming springtime. Then, with pre-Easter fasting just around the corner - Orthodox Easter being May 5th this year - blini help the home-cook use up milk, eggs and butter which are excluded from a strict Orthodox fast as are meat and fish. In fact, maslenitsa, pronounced MA-slen-ee-tsa, has as its root the word for butter, maslo. 

Last week, I imagined that this would be the maslenitsa that I'd get good at cranking out blini. I have, after all, invested in a special blini skillet and off-set spatula. Alas, the week did not include blini-making.

I did manage, however, to photograph for you the nearby blini kiosk. They crank out blini here, fast food with yummy fillings, so popular with students. I translate the name of this place as Tasty Love and people laugh. . .

The first half of the word means  tasty, the second half means love. To me, that's Tasty Love. But locals would render it, I love (that which is) tasty! The banner hanging there posed another challenge for this language learner.Literally it's: Broad (wide) Maslenitsa!  Friend Herman says it means, Maslenitsa (is) for Everyone! Well that's so nice. . .

Not that the Tasty Love folks have any special menu items for the holiday, I checked just for you. However, fork out 300 rubles for lunch and, surprise, you earn a special maslenitsa magnet. Wonder if those are going like hot cakes?

Zoom on in: Care for Blini Fajitas? Yes, the Russian word there, фахитос is fajitas, transliterated, and it looks like the English plural is being used as singular. Well, okay. . .and for just 98 rubles, that's a bit less than $3, you can have one fresh off the skillet.

These Tasty Love blini are large, about 20-inches in diameter, and in the end, they're folded up rather like a burrito. They're for sale year 'round, of course.

Maslenitsa is only in the spring, just before the time of fasting. Here's more about Maslenitsa.

So dear blog reading friend, are you a blini pro? Have you celebrated Maslenitsa? Please do share!

February 23rd: Happy Defender's Day!

While it is still February 23rd allow me to say *Congratulations on Men's Day!* Actually, it's Defender's Day, more precisely Defender's of the Fatherland Day, more easily expressed in Russian than in English. 

Originally, 23 February was a day to recognize those who have protected the Fatherland by serving in the military. Now it has evolved so that guys of all ages are honored, even those who have protected nothing more than their toy cars and trucks.

Thought you might enjoy a couple of neat cards. First, a retro-style card. On the front you see an aviator, a soldier and a sailor.

It says, *23 of February. . . (Congratulations) with the Holiday!*  (The congratulations part is understood  from the grammar.) (Click images to enlarge.)

Here's the back, Thought you might like to have a look. I find Soviet-retro art so charming. Oh, and please forgive the marking on the verse. . . my beloved language teacher likes to scribble  mark all over my things in ink to help me understand.

Here's the first verse: Line 1) This day is the holiday for men  2) We traditionally consider for 3) our beloved men 4)  success and kind wishes. Verse 2: Line 1) May optimism help (you) 2) easily to move toward desired goals 3) And may life not stingily give 4) great success in all your favorite activities. (Russian's such a poetic language, you know, this has lovely cadence in the original language.)

Here's the perfect card for a boy. . .

*23rd of February. . . *

Click image. (*Wishing you. . .* is understood and built into the grammar)... Line 1) Decisiveness and courage in everything. 2) Wide horizons, brilliant goals, 3) good luck unchanging -- day after day, 4) Success without fail in everything you do.

And so dear men, young and old alike, CONGRATULATIONS on your holiday! Myself, I didn't give out cards, but did make up a double batch of chocolate zucchini muffins to share with neighbors and guys who work in nearby shops. Hold on, bet there's a picture here handy. . .

It's a fun way to meet neighbors, make new friends and say thank you.. Neighbors have been a major help to me over the years.

We need to show more appreciation to the men in our lives. Congratulations, dear ones!

Happy Old New Year!

Today is Old New Year's Day and in kitchens across Russia, many a cook has been busy making vareniki.

Vareniki for the Old New Year are filled with mashed potato with little surprises thrown in a few -- a coin, some salt, a button -- all of which are said to tell a fortune for the new year.

Homemade vareniki are the very best, of course, although in this era of convenience foods, prepared vareniki ( var-EN-ee-kee) await in the frozen food department.
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This nice lady was happy to demonstrate the fine art of vareniki shoveling.

In recent years, our congregation celebrated the Old New Year in a major way, mostly because it is the birthday of Igor Egirev, our beloved preacher then, before he and family relocated to another city. So it was to celebrate both occasions that several sisters met one January morning and cranked out dozens of vareniki, or, as expressed in Russian, they made tens of vareniki. Here's the scoop on all that.

Then on a recent visit to Ternopil, Ukraine, two dear Christian sisters, Valya and daughter Anya, make vareniki for our Sunday lunch. Vareniki are popular year round but only the Old New Year's variety have the little surprise fortunes.

Mother and daughter fun in the kitchen. Love their being so practical: cutting dough circles with a cup.

Confession: These might be something other than vareniki. If not vareniki, they're oh so very close.
Vareniki tend to be a bit smaller and are usually boiled and the dough is less puffy than that pictured. So I might need to be corrected on this. Whatever, these were so good, served hot and with sour cream, just like vareniki.

In case you're inspired to head into the kitchen and whip up some vareniki for your family, here's a helpul video. The narration is in Russian but you'll understand from the visual.

Interesting that the cook here is using a upright mixer. She might be in a commercial kitchen whereas most home cooks would be mixing this by hand. Wooden spoons are lots more common than are upright mixers.

So those are some highlights of the Old, New Year celebration. Whether there's a coin in your vareniki or a bean in your dumpling, here's wishing you and yours a splendid new year, indeed!

Now Showing at Rostov Theater

Rostov Kino, below, is the biggest theater in the city center. See the red word that looks like POCTOB? Well, that's really Rostov, pronounced Ros-TOV in Russian. Mixing up the two alphabets can provide such entertainment. . .

Speaking of entertainment, let's get up closer and see what's showing inside. (Click photos to enlarge.)

See anything familiar?

So, on the left is I'm Fourth. And then on the right is Invasion: Battle for Paradise (or something close). I'm not seeing that at Cineplex home page, so unsure of the title (not that I'll be losing much sleep over that, mind you). But would you happen to know the title in English?

By the way, here's a fun tidbid about the Russian alphabet, or the Cyrillic alphabet, to be more precise. On the left, in the I'm Fourth poster, the letter Я, that looks like a backwards R, is actually the vowel prounounced ya. And Я (ya), the last letter of the alphabet, is also first-person, singular pronoun, that is, the I in English. Okay, you would know all that, of course. Of course! But I've heard that sometimes a Russian mother will put a child in his place by saying something like, Don't get too big for your britches, buddy boy. After all, remember that я is the last letter of the alphabet! Another interesting thing the я is not capitalized when used as the first-person pronoun. It's like writing, for instance, i find that surprising! ~ without capitalizing the I.

Meanwhile, a mile or so west of the movie theater. . .

Here is a KFC location. I need to check it out sometime. What's noteworthy here is a word on the window. It's just above the sandwich, written in gold. It's transliterated from English straight into Russian. It's meant to be pronounced longer - or at least close to it, with a Russian twist. And that's exactly what it's meant to convey. Although that's not a Russian word. Or at least, not an official word just yet.

How about you, dear blog reader? Into KFC. . . after a movie? Or have you seen either of those movies?

Of Billboards, Elephants and Snickers

Advertising is so interesting. Especially when it's about eating. Especially when it's about eating nutrient-loaded candy bars.

So what's with this Snickers? Let's zoom on in a wee bit closer. Say, can you smell that yet? As for me, my nose is still processing the men's after-shave that just wafted past. . .



Have you ever eaten an elephant?

Snickers Super: The Very Biggest in History.

No connection ~ either implied or inferred (whatever that means) ~ between plowing through Snickers Supers and turning into an elephant.

Peanut Butter Supplies at Critical Lows

Peanut butter. Do you take it for granted? I can almost guarantee that if you're an expat, you do not. We hoard the stuff and it is difficult to find in Russia. For me, a spoonful of peanut butter helps the oatmeal go down. That with a few raisins thrown in is a comfort food from childhood. But peanut butter is out of stock at the moment. Except for the one choice, below. . .

Sad isn't it. Here we are in the ice cream section, where peanut butter is stocked but there's one lonely little jar sitting there, left. It's from France. It doesn't even speak Russian. We. Or Wii. Or Oui Oui. Nor do I. But there it is. See that's $7.70 for that jar (235 rubles w/ 30.5-ish rubles to the dollar) and it has a different taste. It reminds of peanut butter-flavored icing. Say, let's go check in the honey section.

Here we are in the Department of Honey. Click to enlarge because of course you want to see this yourself. ;) It's mostly honey but at the bottom left, there is some peanut butter squirreled away. But it's that French variety again. They call it pate because they're kind of fancy, even with peanut butter.

Seems as though twice a year, this big supermarket gets a shipment of peanut butter from Kentucky. It comes crunchy, smooth or light. I go for the crunchy, thank you for asking, komrads. So I stop by regularly to see if they're restocked so I can hoard. It's not inexpensive and it's not light to haul it home but, boy howdy, it's so good stirred into that bowl of steamy hot oatmeal. And in breakfast burritos with mashed banana and raisins. But to each her own.

Well, this honey is reminding me of something back across the store. Come along, please. May I call you Honey? Oh, that was my mother's nickname as a child. Honey. And according to family legend, that's the only name she would answer to at home. Funny though, we got away with calling her Mom. Come to think of it though, I'd gladly call her Honey, if that meant having a few precious moments together. . . Just realized that if my dear mother where still in the land of the living, I wouldn't even have to think about peanut butter, she'd be sending it to me regularly. Now that I'm complaining, you understand, just wistful.

Here's the Department of Honey from the Don Region, not to be confused with that commercially canned stuff from who knows where. Seems as though the Queen Bee of this little department has zipped on home for the evening but that doesn't stop us from looking. Look, all different kinds of local honey made from various flowers in the area. And I had to take this picture pretty fast because, well, there were reasons. . . let me just say that sometimes in these parts, we gotta be surreptitious about things.

Honey or nyet, there's no real peanut butter to be found in this store, and if it's in any other store, that's a well kept secret. You know, I used to haul jars of it from the US back to Rostov, back in the days when we were allowed two 70-pound bags on international flights. And I remember bringing back lots of peanut butter, thanks to cousin Earl who's with Smuckers, and they do peanut butter in a big way. But those days are history because can you believe, there are things more important to pack than peanut butter.

Interestingly, over the years, several packages sent me from the US have never arrived. Mysterious, yes. Those packages had one thing in common: They each contained a jar of peanut butter. Hmm, maybe the guys at the customs office have started adding peanut butter to their oatmeal, too. ;)

Random Russian Sights on an Autumn Evening

Glory be, tram fares in Rostov-on-Don have gone up from nine rubles to ten. So with the current exchange rate - 31 rubles to the dollar - that's from 29 cents up to 32. See, I leave the country and inflation runs rampant. Which it does, regardless. But anyway, we're on the tram now, so let's enjoy the sights.

The main sight here is. . . folks getting on and some major discussion between the driver and lady about her transport pass.

Grabbed this picture quick like with my new little camera (Thanks dear JTO!) that's rather unobtrusive and easy to whip out in seconds. I was hoping for a quick little shot that nobody much would notice. Shortly thereafter, I spotted a police officer standing just two meters behind me and he was quite aware. I like to think that he was off-duty, anxious to get home to dinner. . .

Oh, here's my tram ticket. With the increased fares, guess they're giving out tickets again. Reminded me of an amusing Russian tradition I'd heard about years ago. I turned to the lady behind me to confirm. She smiled and explained that back during her childhood it was a fad to add up the first three black numbers. And if that sum is equal to that of the last three numbers, you're in for some good luck. But, only if you eat your ticket. That's right. Open wide and down the hatch. See, feels lucky already, doesn't it? Oh, well maybe next time we'll win. . .

Down off the tram and heading toward the Rostov Regional Library. In its shadow is this collection of used books: think Half-Price Books a la Rus. And look what we have here, the magazine, *Америка,* all about America circa 1978. Let's zoom on in.

Well my stars. . . and stripes. Here's our Abraham Lincoln. Never know who you're going to run into here in Rostov. Excuse us Abe, but we've gotta hurry along. Continuing on into the library, we head to the Department of Foreign Language where the English Discussion Club meets. Oh, what an interesting evening. . .

After our meeting, about half the group tromped together down Pyshkinskaya Boulevard and here we are. These young ladies are all quite fluent in English and they want to practice their English. They need to practice their English, but not nearly as much as I need to practice my Russian!

Welcome to McDonald's. It's quite the place to go, brimming with tech-savvy college students using the free WiFi. Besides that, the menu regularly features new menu items. Here McDonald's is introducing two new sandwiches to celebrate Mediterranean Weeks. On the left is Fresh Italian with crab, on the right is your basic Fresh Italian. Hamburger, that is. Which will you be having today? Myself, I went with the crab and it was pretty good.

Thank you dear friends for sharing a glimpse into life in Rostov-on-Don. I'm so grateful for the privilege of being here and serving as your tour guide from time to time.

Just wondering: Have you ever eaten a ticket for good luck? Or for additional dietary fiber? Have you ever run into a US President overseas? How do you plan to celebrate Mediterranean Weeks?

Super Power Presidents Get Hungry Too

As you know, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev is in the US and getting the full dose of Americana.

A hamburger lunch is requisite, of course. Fun to see the presidents ordering lunch and interacting at this little mom-n-pop place in Washington D.C . President Medvedev offered to pay for lunch in English, good for him. Soon translator(s) joined them at the table but still his English would be miles ahead of President Obama's Russian. Still, Mr Obama earned a gold star for his efforts. During a joint press conference yesterday, sounded as though the president greeted all with a Russian Dobri dyen, or good day.

Crunchy Crab Salad

Got dinner plans? How about some crunchy crab salad! Crab salad is popular here for special occasions and this version is a twist off the usual. Typically it's crab, hard-cooked egg and corn for the basic ingredients. But this we'll call Crunchy Crab Salad because it's got some texture thrown in there.

(Click photo to enlarge.) So the crab we buy packaged and ready to go. It's probably that imitation crab with lots of added salt. Okay, whatever. This version has chopped celery and cucumber then canned corn. A bit of onion, parsley, mayo, salt. Oh, this recipe throws in chopped apple. I used a tart one, a Granny Smith. Got this recipe out of Liza magazine, can't take credit for the jazzed-up version.

This made a big container for our brother Volera who's in the hospital and dear wife Lyda, who's staying there with him. See, in the hospitals here, the dietary department is scaled way, way back. Seems as though the hospital provides a basic sustenance diet - like thin soup, bread. Mostly it's family who feeds the patient. He's flat on his back, so here's hoping this can be spoon-fed easily to someone who's horizontal. Myself, I scarfed down a bowl of it likity-split.

McDonald's Celebrates 20th Anniversary in Russia

In recent days, McDonald's celebrated 20 years in Russia. Yes, beloved komrades, it's true. On January 31, 1990, when Moscow's first McDonald's opened and 35,000 customers were served, all company records for an opening day were broken. I'm just thinking, that's a whole lot of Welcome-to-McDonald's-ing and smiling in a culture where such is generally reserved for those near and dear.



As the video mentions, twenty years ago, a trip to McDonald's was more than a burger and fries. It was a trip out of the then-USSR. McDonald's offered a taste of freedom and travel to the west without the hassle of a visa.



Across Russia, there are now 230-some McDonald's, three of them right here in Rostov-on-Don. I could eat at McDonald's once a week if I allowed myself, especially when the menu includes these great new burgers.

In time for the 20th anniversary, the Beef a la Rus with bacon was introduced. Oh it's delicious. The country-style fries pictured there have long been standard on the menu, an option to the regular French fries. Thing is, these burgers are already old news in these parts. Mickey D's has already moved on to a Big Mac redesigned for the Winter Olympics, another subject entirely. . .



Because you have the right to know, here's a zoom-in the placemat: Twenty years in Russia.

Here's the box top. Brought that home with me so you could see for yourself. It says, New for the season! (Or maybe, The season's new thing!) Beef a-la Rus with Bacon.

The audio on this video is in English, so I'm not sure who would be the intended audience. It's a little saccharine anyway, but the video makes it worth watching. Besides, I'm okay with saccharine. How about you?

How about you, dear Blog Reader? Have you eaten at a McDonald's overseas? How was it alike or different? Or any other American chain overseas?

Freezing Rice: Super Cool Kitchen Secret

Rice is nice. . .that's what they say. Rice is nice. . .throw some my way. Remember that song?

Rice can be great but come dinner time, I'm disinclined to fiddle around with cooking it, especially the ultimate - brown rice. But hal-le-lu-jah, there's an easy-peasy way. And that is to cook the whole big bag and freeze it in meal-sized portions.

You see, there was a kilo of rice that was sitting in the cabinet calling my name, singing that Rice is Nice song. So I gave in, cooked it up and most of it's frozen in small portions. Then come dinner time, throw the rice onto a hot skillet and it's done in no time. So here's the methodika, as we say it around here.

While water is coming to a boil, pick through for any pebbles, diamonds or other precious stones. Not that I've ever found any, but there's always a first time. Then run some water through the rice and boil it until just a tad under-done.


Talk about quick rice, here in the blink of an eye, in the flash of the cursor - our rice is cooked. Rinse it off in cool water using the strainer. Then cool to room temperature in shallow pans.


After cool, package the rice for freezing. These quart-size zip-lock bags I bring from the US and put 2 cups rice in each bag. That works here in this household of three, which includes two little birds. They're such gentleman though, they let me have all the rice. So package it according to how much rice you would serve at a meal.

In the freezer, these packets stack nicely. Being thin, it's easy to break of a chunk of rice and slide it out onto a hot skillet.


Happens that we have a hot skillet here, two in fact. One for heating the rice, the other for whatever else is cooking. In this case it's chicken chunks, straight out of the freezer too.


And here we have an easy lunch, ready in about 15 minutes.

Try freezing rice sometime. It's more economical than the boil-in-the-bag packets, which are not always available here. It's so handy come dinner time because there's no messing w/ a big pot of water and then cleaning it up after. So that settled, altogether now, a rousing rendition of rice is nice!

Pumpkin Fruit Bread

Steamed pumpkin today for making wonderful pumpkin fruit bread next week. Will mash the pumpkin here in a few minutes and then freeze it. Pumpkin fruit bread or muffins is/are always a hit. I hope to make it for orphanage staff for Thanksgiving. Here's easy secret of how to freeze unbaked muffins and then have them freshly baked for a special breakfast. And then here's the recipe. Oh it's so good. So is the batter, by the way. . . ;)


Freshly steamed pumpkin - oh can't you just smell it. Look at all that Vitamin A just sitting there. Fabulous!

Say dear blog reader, what favorite recipe(s) do you plan to make for Thanksgiving? Does your family have a favorite fruit bread or nut bread recipe?

Local Cuisine: On a Roll, in a Dumpling

Anybody else partial to McDonald's? It's a great place to meet people. And besides that, their country-fried potatoes with cheese sauce on the side are simply yummy. Say, does your McDonald's have Caesar Wraps? Well, welcome to Russia!


In Russian, it's just called Caesar Roll. (Click image to enlarge.) It's breaded chicken with salad ingredients and dressing. Pretty good, actually. Oh, and about that green neon sign on the right. As you see, it says РИС, pronounced reese. It's the Russian word for rice and that's a little suchi restaurant. Not that I have an intention.ever.of trying that any time soon. But we digress. . .


Back to our Mickey D's billboard here, let's zoom on in. The black word in the upper left says Caesar. In Russian, it's pronounced very close to the English. But the first letter represents a sound that we don't have in English. *Ц* is pronounced ts which is so close to the English s sound to my ear. But I'm often corrected to get the t sound in there too. The Russian ear can really hear the difference. And this is the land of the Russian ear, after all.

The next consonant is *З* which is like the English letter z. And then the last major letter, the *р* makes the r sound. The little squiggle after that, much like a small b is the soft sign. And we won't even start talking about the soft sign, now will we? Nyet! ;)


Hey, while we're here in the neighborhood, just beyond this Caesar Roll sign is a major supermarket. This is where I find exotic stuff such as peanut butter and celery. Say, how about a stroll in the freezer section. Because there in the freezer section we will find a classic Russian fast food, pelmeni!

These are little dough dumplings that need only to be boiled in water. A serving might be 8 to 10 of these. Pelmeni can be filled with ground beef or potatoes or cabbage. And then there are sweet ones filled with cherries and such. As I recall, the sweet ones are called vareniki. (Now please don't make me look that up. I'm already past my look-it-up quota for the day.)



Looking down the aisle. The whole array of dumplings. Your mouth watering yet? These little pelmeni can be ho-hum. But they're easily jazzed up. Hold on, I recall a photo of jazzed up pelmeni here somewhere on this very computer. . .


Ah yes, here we go. . .

Here's a bowl of your basic ho-hum pelmeni. Usually served with a dollop of sour cream and a spring of parsley. And that works. Those garnishes - sour cream and greens - are nearly requisite here in Russia. So these are the bare bones pelmeni. But hold on, there's more. . .


Here we go. Looks like red peppers, celery and. . . oh yes. My personal chef remembered mayo - which will do in the absence of sour cream - and something green. Oh yeah!

You know, much as I like the McDonald's Caesar roll and country-style fries and meeting new people there, I can be happy as a clam with a quiet dinner of pelmeni while watching the all-news channel out of Moscow.

How about you dear blog reader? McDonald's in Russia? Pelmeni - ever make it yourself? How 'bout Russian garnishes? Want to hear about your experiences!