Perhaps the most important part of study abroad experience...

I'm speaking, of course, about dining.  While Paris, St. Petersburg is not, I've found that Russia's poor culinary reputation is not entirely accurate. In fact, I've tried a number of foods I never would have tried elsewhere, and have even surprised myself in liking things I hitherto did not enjoy, such as beets. Beets, are of course, somewhat eponymous is soup (borsch) and salad (vinegret). Here is a rundown of my typical day of eating.

Breakfast is typically ready shortly after I wake up in the morning. There are a few variants, all of which are tasty. Ham and cheese omelets are the most familiar dish. Каша (Kasha) is probably the most common breakfast item, a sort of oatmeal/porridge which is always served with jam. The most unusual breakfast item, to me at least, has been сырники (syirniki), which are fried cottage cheese pan cakes, always served in my house with сметана (smetana, like sour cream) and strawberry jam. Sounds weird, but it's really quite good.


Lunch is typically eaten out, since I'm at school. Most of the time I simply stop by the little pita stand for a "shwarma", an unidentified meat carved from a rotating spit and wrapped up in pita, flat bread or served in a bowl with vegetables and sauce.  It's delicious and cheap (around $3).  They also serve up hotdogs, hamburgers, and personal pizzas, which are covered in tzaziki and spicy ketchup. If I'm looking to spring for a little extra, I head on over to the Santa Maria cafe, where some of my friends eat literally every day. There you can get a three course business lunch (salad, soup, entree + side, tea) for 160 rubles, or just over $5. Quite the bargain for such a feast.


Dinner is almost always eaten at home. My hostess does all the cooking, and while the food is consistently good, I do miss the diversity which I'm accustomed to in America. Dinner is always a three-course meal. First a salad, which is usually carrots and cabbage.  Sometimes it is tomatoes, peppers, and celery. For the first time today, I experienced a digression from these two salads and ate a ham and pea salad which was quite tasty. No matter the salad though, it is inevitably accompanied with a liberal portion of сметана. 


Next comes the soup, which can vary as much from a potato and carrot soup, to a potato, carrot, and cabbage soup, to a potato, carrot, and pickle soup. 


The main course is meat based. Today was ground sausage with a side of potatoes. Other staples include chicken cutlets, plov (an eastern rice dish with lamb, beef, or chicken), and pelmeni (meat dumplings akin to tortellini). 


The whole thing is washed down afterwards with a mug of tea. The meal is also, of course, accompanied by plenty of black bread. There is often also pickled herring (which I love) with the bread.

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In food-unrelated news, yesterday our weekly excursion took us to see the local hockey team, CKA, take on a team from Moscow, ЦСКА.  Unfortunately, the home team squandered a 2-0 first period lead and lost 3-2. It was fun, though, and some of us are planning on going to another game or two next time we get the chance, which could be as soon as tomorrow!

I enjoyed that Russian hockey fans create a soccer-like environment, with supporters groups, chanting, flags, etc... The stadium, however was probably only 70% full, which detracts from the experience at indoor arenas.  The quality of the hockey, though, was surprisingly high.  The ticket prices are very cheap, especially compared to the cost of Blackhawks games. The most expensive seats are under $20, while the cheap seats are just over $3 and pennies more than a beer at the stadium, which also seems fairly reasonable at $3.  This is a nice change of pace.