The streets were dark and cold. It was winter in
Siberia. It was silent. No people
around, except us. The old brown log
house was lit by only a weak lamp.
They brought us down in the basement. Heavy brown chairs and tables. Small bronze statues of working class heroes.
The the red flag with hammer and sickle. Old pictures on the wall. Pictures of Yury
Gagarin and Leonid Brezhnev, and the hockey team from 1985; Krutov, Larionov, Makarov,
Fetisov and Kasatonov. The best team
ever, raised and trained under the red star. An old TV set showing a classical Russian movie.
Black and white.
We were back in the Soviet Union. Retro style. Even the menu. Russian vodka and Russian
beers. Traditional Siberian dishes. Fish from Lake Baikal. Steamed sig. Frozen omul in thin slices, eaten raw with
salt and onion. It’s called Stroganina. Siberian sushi. Sig and omul. That’s
the Russian names. The English names of these species of fish I don’t know. But the fish was very good.
(The pictures were taken at the restaurant, Unfortunately, my crappy cell phone camera takes bad pictures in the dark. Sorry about that. I need to get a new one.)
I'm curious how you made chewing gums?! The one you had at the restaurant sounds interesting - I would like to try it. It must be fascinating getting to see the place as the "locals" do.
ReplyDeleteThe gum I got in Siberia was made from pine resin mixed with beeswax, they said. Various oils and spices can be used to add taste, but I think the bitter taste of pine will always be there.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were kids we basically chewed just dried (or semidried) pine resin, collected from trees in the forest.
Try the resin+beeswax mix. I'm curious to know about the result >:)