Moscow Market

Many of you feared that you had missed Cindy’s birthday. Fear not, it isn’t until June 3^rd but we thought we would get a leg up and begin the festive event a tad early and then extend it until we are home.  Many of you also marveled at how great Cindy looks as she approaches sixty.  There is a secret to how she does this and I’ll share it with you today. The secret is that she allows me to do all the housework, shopping, cleaning, laundry, cooking, dishwashing and drying and assorted other tasks that could age anyone. So while she continues to look like Doriana Grey, I’m having seventy-year old women with crutches and canes giving up their seats on the Metro for me!!

We have had a fine day thus far.  In solidarity with New Orleans and the pending water issues they are again facing, I made Creole French Toast.  We had some day old multi-grain bread that I sliced into good-sized chunks and soaked for thirty minutes in two eggs that I had whipped with some milk, vanilla, and cinnamon - and here is the New Orleans part - a touch of bourbon.  I fried them until they were crispy outside and soft and tender inside and served them with sliced bananas, flaxseed, maple syrup and a touch of butter.  This gave us the strength to tackle our shopping at the big outdoor market at the far eastern edge of Moscow.

It only took us one transfer and about thirty-five minutes via Metro. I still marvel at how efficiently that system really works.  There was only one person trying to sell stuff on the Metro today. She was a woman in her thirties and she got on and once the doors closed she immediately went into her spiel trying to sell duct tape!  Yep, good old-fashioned duct tape, a rather thin roll but still in original wrapping.  I couldn’t understand what she was saying, but knew I could add about fifteen things to do with duct tape to her lengthy list.  No one purchased her duct tape so she moved on to the next car.

That's a Cosmonaut Suit to the left

Lots of Russian Dolls

Wolves and other furry things

Tons of Fur Hats

 I had thought the market would be really crowded but with overcast skies and fifty-degree weather, most sensible folks stayed home.  We had a shopping list of ‘typically Russian’ trinkets and gifts we wanted to purchase and this is the place to do it.  There are hundreds of stalls selling every item you can imagine and the price of everything is negotiable.  I love to bargain and Cindy hates to bargain so for the most part I would see what Cindy wanted and then start the process. Sometimes they wouldn’t budge, other times they would engage in serious discussions on price, especially when we walked away.  For the most part, everything is made in Russia, and the people selling their wares make much of it by hand.  We found a man we liked who didn’t speak any English but was making beautiful objects while we watched so we did a bit of negotiating with international sign language and we now have some really lovely pieces of his work.  They are signed by him and we took his photo with them, just for fun.

GenUwine Faberge Eggs

One of the most amazing deals at this market is the black market DVDs that they sell for one dollar. These are newly released movies that are in any language you desire. We purchased the King’s Speech and The Social Network, each for a dollar.  They will start negotiating price if you purchase four or more; amazing what they can do with technology.

On our walk back to the Metro we noticed that there was quite a bit of horse manure right in front of the entrance. We had noticed a woman on horseback ahead of us and she must have decided to just ride her horse on the sidewalk in front of the Metro, as opposed to on the street in front of the Metro - after all, it was more convenient for her.  Meanwhile everyone is walking all around this stuff causing needless confusion and congestion.  I’ll not miss that aspect of Russian culture.

The temperature has only hit about 52° for the past three days, which means that now our apartment is a cozy 62°.  The central heat has been turned off for several weeks and I don’t see them deciding to turn it on again until sometime in October.  According to the locals, Moscow always gets about a week of ‘unseasonable’ weather in mid-May. I have no idea what seasonable weather is in this city.  The five-day forecast has the temperatures gradually rising into the upper sixties by Friday.  Luckily we still have all our warmies at the ready.  This will be an excellent night to make a spicy dish to get us warm and toasty before bed. Last night I made a lovely garlic/sour cream/chive/Parmesan smashed potato dish to go with caramelized carrots and simply grilled tuna steaks with lemon.

Have a lovely Sunday, Cindy and Wm.