Chapter the Third: In Which I Consume All the Cheese

I neglected to blog yesterday, so while I'm procrastinating about doing my homework I decided to make up for such a grievous oversight on my part.

Yesterday, Corinne and I went to a cooking class at Volodya's apartment. Sergei took me, Corinne, Brenda and Elizabeth to this awesome farmer's market type of thing to obtain supplies; I'm totally gonna go back at some point because they had some really good stuff there. I know how to ask for recommendations, how to ask to sample a product, and I've basically mastered the art of the monetary transaction at this point.

We were buying supplies to make syrniki, which Google will translate as "cheese cakes." That's basically what they are; pancakes made almost entirely of cottage cheese. They are delicious. I don't know if I'll be able to bring myself to eat US dairy products when I get home, because you just can't get cottage cheese and sour cream there the likes of which you can find here. The sour cream we got was so thick, you could almost chew it, and it was awesome. If any of you would like to try to make some syrniki, here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS
- About a pound of well-drained cottage cheese/cheese curds
- 3 eggs
- Pinch of salt
- 3-4 tbsp flour, depending on how wet your cottage cheese is, plus more flour for dredging
- Oil for frying; we used sunflower
- Toppings (sour cream, jam, honey)

Put the cottage cheese in a large bowl, crack in the eggs and mix them together. Sprinkle in the salt and add a couple tablespoons of flour; the end consistency should be really similar to cream cheese. Roll them into balls about 1.5 inches in diameter, roll the balls in flour, and then flatten slightly. Fry in a pan with a little oil for 2-3 minutes per side, then transfer to a plate when finished. Eat immediately, topped with sour cream and jam or honey. Makes about 4 dozen, maybe more.

They are delicious, but they are also fried pucks of cheese, so tread carefully. We all ended up eating probably six of them apiece, because they're tasty and because Sergei kept forcing them on us. We discussed words related to food and cooking, as well as toasting and the delicate art of refusing more food (which Brenda needed, because her host mom keeps making her way too much food). Once we all just couldn't possibly eat another one, we sat around and talked for a while in Volodya's apartment. His place is really nice; I'm always astonished by how large such an objectively small space can seem. I mean, my apartment isn't huge, but it feels much bigger than it is because of the way it's laid out and stuff. His is definitely a nicer facility, though. He also has a kitty named Fanta, short for Fantasia (but the cat is Russian, so "Fantasia" has 4 syllables--fan-tah-see-yah, not fan-tay-zia). She's adorable, and spent most of the visit inspecting and guarding our shoes and bags or peering at us from around the corner.

After we took our leave from Sergei and Volodya, the four of us decided to hang out a bit because no one had anything really pressing they needed to take care of on Saturday. We went to this Irish pub (I swear, I was such a good girl until I suddenly had friends over 21!) and just chatted for a little while over beer (cider for me), then we went to a little produkty and picked up some snacks, because apparently we could still eat more after all that cheese. We got some black bread and caviar spread, some gingerbread cookies, some smoked string cheese that were reminiscent of dog treats, some pickled tomatoes and this chocolate cheese bar, because we needed more cheese. At Brenda's suggestion we also bought more beer, because we needed more of that, too. We decided to grab a few bottles and share, being fancy and drinking beer from wine glasses. We picked up two dark beers and one light beer that we bought specifically because of the name. "Redd's Velvet Fire." It was so ridiculously feminine that we simply had to try it, being firmly within the target demographic.

If Danielle Steel were a beer, she would be Redd's Velvet Fire. It is to beer what her romance novels are to literature. It was ridiculously sweet, more like a vaguely beer-flavored wine cooler. I have to wonder if there are people out there who actually like this stuff and prefer it to...you know, real beer. I wish I could bring some back with me, just because it is something that must be experienced to be truly understood, but customs would probably have a problem with that. Also, I'm not sure it's safe for my male friends to handle. Kind of like how it's not safe for women to handle certain medications designed to treat hair loss or ED.

I had a lot of fun hanging out with Elizabeth and Brenda last night, but today I can barely will myself to move, having eaten far too much. And with all that cheese, it ain't going anywhere anytime soon. The most productive thing I've done yet today has been starting my laundry and it's already 4 in the afternoon. Maybe I'll make the vinigret tonight, or something. Elizabeth and Brenda are coming over to our apartment Tuesday night, because we have so much fun eating and drinking together and our bodies are crying out for vegetables by now. And so none of us has to be alone on Valentine's Day, because even those of us with SO's are thousands of miles away from them right now.