US Flag Day in Moscow

Happy Flag Day!  I went to the embassy today so that I could salute and say the pledge of allegiance in front of the giant flag in the courtyard.  I mean, that’s what holidays are for, right?

It rained most of the night and morning resulting in Minnesota on the Moscow, land of 10,000 lake-sized puddles.  I swear we must be in a bowl in this neighborhood. There is water everywhere and you have to plan a route carefully or you end up confronting a large body of water and have to turn back. Drainage isn’t one of the grand things about Moscow.  There is, however, an up side to this problem. As I was waiting to cross a street, a big black SUV parked in the crosswalk on the other side of the street. Now I had been thinking about how I was going to get around the puddle in the crosswalk just as this bozo leaped out of his car and submerged his Gucci loafers up to the tassels.  Oh it was a grand and glorious event and he did not react well, which made it even grander.

I almost timed my trip to the embassy perfectly, but the last twenty minutes of the trip were filled with heavy rain.  I was carrying my backpack, which was filled with liquids, and it was heavy. That combined with the light rain jacket I had on provoked a good deal of perspiration and gave me a very good workout.  It is now bright and sunny, of course, but I’ll bet dollars to donuts that it rains like crazy when we are ready to walk to dinner.

Pasta with Salmon and Green Beans

Attempting to prepare dinner last night taught me a few tricks that I’ll use from time to time. Since I really don’t have a decent frying pan anymore, I decided to ‘stew’ the onions and garlic in butter that I placed in a small saucepan.  Once they were soft I added salt, pepper, tarragon and some chives and continued to slowly cook it for another few minutes to release all the flavors.  I then turned the heat off and stirred in about a half a cup of smoked salmon that I had cut into small pieces.  When the pasta water was hot I added a mixture of spinach and egg fettuccini, which was languishing in the cupboard. I returned it to the boil for four minutes and then added lots of whole green beans and cooked everything for another five minutes.  Meanwhile I added a half-cup of sour cream to the salmon mixture and gently heated it as I added a half-cup of chicken stock.  I had already grated the remains of the wonderful pecorino that we had in the fridge and I was now ready to assemble and serve. The drained pasta and beans went back into the big pan, followed by the salmon mixture, which was incorporated into the pasta. Off went the heat, in went the cheese, out came the mixture onto the hot plates, a little sprinkle more of cheese and voila!

It looks like you can take the Commie out of Communism but you can’t take the privilege away from the privileged. Very happy I was not on that flight.

Fifteen days and counting. Best wishes, Cindy and Wm