Tuesday, August 24th

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

There is a challenge associated with shopping in Moscow that I’ve not encountered anywhere else in the world. Here you have to be ever vigilant when purchasing anything that is liquid, to make sure it has not been opened, some removed, and either left partially empty or filled with something to make it look full. This is true with water, milk, cream, car windshield clearer and anything else that is liquid. There are very few things here that are tamper proof, so you need to be on guard. Shortly after we arrived and Cindy picked up her car, she was told to get the best possible windshield cleaner possible because the cheaper ones are often partially emptied by store employees and then filled with water. They then can sell the stuff they have stolen, and I’m sure diluted, on the ever-present black market.

Being forewarned I was forearmed and when I went shopping at Auchan the first time, I was very careful in looking at the various solvents for the car. Sure enough there were three different cleaners, one was twice as expensive as the next best and three times more expensive than the cheapest, but, it had a tamper proof seal under the cap. The other two did not have anything under the cap and the cap was not sealed as it is on water bottles. (If you have seen Slumdog Millionaire you know that that seal is just an illusion). Looking more closely at the cheaper products, I could detect a difference in color, subtle shadings, in almost all of the bottles. Needless to say, I selected the most expensive.

That incident started me thinking about other liquid products that I purchased and I became much more aware of this widespread practice. I have found cream containers that have had the cap seal opened and the tamper proof foil opened, I’ve found big jugs of water that have had the cap seal broken and a cup or more taken out of the jug. It now takes me a lot longer to shop since I’m constantly looking at the containers to ascertain their safety. I’m sure other shoppers just assume I’m a bit touched, and they might be right, but I don’t want to get cheated or sick because I wasn’t vigilant.

Speaking of black markets, I’ve not found one yet for caviar, but I have come across an interesting little scam, that I can’t figure out. There is one little spot, in front of a newspaper and beer kiosk, where I have watched people taking off car license plates and replacing them with other plates. This is not an auto shop, it isn’t a department of motor vehicle outlet, it is just one little parking spot next to a kiosk that provides a bit of shelter and privacy. Every day that I’ve walked past this spot, there is someone replacing plates. My thought is that the kiosk sells black-market plates that have the right seal or something, but that is just guesswork. The cars are not particularly elegant or recent models so I don’t think it is trying to retag stolen cars, but hey, what do I know.

We were up at six this morning thanks to the garbage truck alarm. Our bedroom faces the garbage container area for the apartment complex. There are eight large containers and since garbage isn’t sorted or recycled, each container has glass, cans and other noisy objects that shake, rattle and roll as they are being dumped into the trucks. This is a daily event, but not always the same time, so I suppose we need to close our window to dampen the noise, but that means no fresh air. Choices, always choices. Anyway, it was a brilliant morning and Cindy used the extra time to take a quick wake-up walk while I stripped the bed and started a load of whites, before making coffee. Today the cleaner comes back and I want to make sure all the bedding is cleaned and ready. Since we don’t have our shipment yet, we are still using the only set of sheets and pillowcases that came with the apartment.

Last night I repurposed the remains of the Basque Chicken, took the meat off the bones and added this and that to make it a Creole Gumbo, which actually turned out to be quite tasty. To start the meal I made a caprese salad with pesto and served that over some fresh greens with a ring of fresh poppy seed bread. One of the great advantages of shopping every day is that you come across some things that weren’t there the day before and you know won’t be there tomorrow. Such was the case yesterday when I found a display of beautiful fresh Brown Turkish figs. We were to full after dinner to eat them but this morning I cut them up for breakfast and my what a feast. They were perfectly ripe and not too sweet and just bursting with flavor.

Here is a very interesting site that provides a nice background on Moscow. I keep forgetting that Moscow is in Europe and that it is the largest, by land mass and population, city in Europe. This link has some lovely pictures of the grand train stations, some Metro shots, a bit about food and don’t miss the very end of the article on toilets, priceless!

http://www.anaga.ru/travel/moscow.htm

Cindy has a dinner party tonight at the Director’s home so she won’t be back in time to proof this. Just wanted you all to know that all mistakes are mine and mine alone!

Best to all, Cindy and Wm