Chess

hess is a very special game. It has a charisma and is surrounded by an aura of intellectual elitism (in a good sense). Perhaps these days chess means less than what it used to a few decades ago, and chess world champions are less popular than local baseball stars. However, I remember the times when

Borscht

Borscht (борщ), a cabbage and beetroot soup, is known in many, if not every, Slavic cuisine. I wouldn’t be wrong to say that this soup all-Slavic. Borscht is delicious, nutritious and can be stored in a fridge for a few days without losing its taste. It actually becomes better the next day than on the

The Napoleon Cake

The Napoleon Cake also is known as mille-feuille, a sort of custard slice cake, and has been one of the most popular cakes in Russia for two centuries. As Wikipedia says, “the exact origin of the mille-feuille is unknown”, however, one of the versions suggest a connection between the name of the cake and the

Pelmeni: Siberian Winter Food

Pelmeni (plural, пельмени in Russian) are dumplings consisting of a filling wrapped in thin, unleavened dough. The typical filling for pelmeni is minced meat with chopped onion, salt, and pepper. According to a legend I’ve heard, pelmeni was the favorite food of postal coachmen and hunters who had to cross endless snowy Siberian steppes. Sometimes

Russian Dragon

If there is a grain of truth in the folkloric tales, then we should believe that dragons lived everywhere on Earth. Chinese dragons are known worldwide. European knights were saving princesses from dragons for centuries during the early Medieval age. Aboriginal Americans had huge snake-like creatures that greatly resembled dragons. Even Russians had their own

Dust

Let’s face it: Russia is not the right country for white collars. And white jeans. And white t-shirts. And any white clothes at all. Because Russia is freaking dusty. If you don’t mind washing your white clothes every day, then OK, put your white jeans on and go for a walk, but don’t complain that

Russian Phone Numbers

Each country has its own tradition of writing phone numbers. Some countries prefer dots and some use dashes, in Europe, people add a double zero before the country code, while Americans tend not to add a country code at all. Sometimes, it is really hard to understand how to deal with a row of numbers

Why Russians Are Not Smiling

A German friend once asked me,”Why are Russian people so gloomy? Nobody smiles here”. I looked around and noticed that indeed, almost nobody in the Moscow subway was smiling. I said, “Why should they?” My friend raised his eyebrow in astonishment and changed the subject. I remembered our conversation and started searching for the answer

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