What's for dinner today in your Russian-American kitchen?

[eekee 182]

I hate most Russian food. Right now I am eating penne pasta with bolognese sauce from a jar. I will also eat finnish flatbread with high-quality spreadable cheese.

Why do you hate it?

Aren't you Russian as well?

What did you eat when you lived in Russia?

I don't like dill at all, and all of the oil and fat upsets my stomach. Plus I just don't really enjoy it, and if I'm going to eat it's going to be something I like.

My family is Belarusan, but I grew up in America and on American food.

I am back in Russia now, actually, and I eat pretty much the same things I do in America. If you know where to go you can find whatever you want, except for Doritos.

[NYGirl 0]

I hate most Russian food. Right now I am eating penne pasta with bolognese sauce from a jar. I will also eat finnish flatbread with high-quality spreadable cheese.

Why do you hate it?

Aren't you Russian as well?

What did you eat when you lived in Russia?

I don't like dill at all, and all of the oil and fat upsets my stomach. Plus I just don't really enjoy it, and if I'm going to eat it's going to be something I like.

My family is Belarusan, but I grew up in America and on American food.

I am back in Russia now, actually, and I eat pretty much the same things I do in America. If you know where to go you can find whatever you want, except for Doritos.

If I am not mistaking, Belorussian food uses a lot of sour cream?

[eekee 182]

If I am not mistaking, Belorussian food uses a lot of sour cream?

So does Russian. I like sour cream, but I'm also lactose intolerant.

[NYGirl 0]

If I am not mistaking, Belorussian food uses a lot of sour cream?

So does Russian. I like sour cream, but I'm also lactose intolerant.

Russians do use a lot of sour cream but not as much as belorussians, belorussians use absolutely EVERYTHING with sour cream

[eekee 182]

If I am not mistaking, Belorussian food uses a lot of sour cream?

So does Russian. I like sour cream, but I'm also lactose intolerant.

Russians do use a lot of sour cream but not as much as belorussians, belorussians use absolutely EVERYTHING with sour cream

Doesn't matter to me either way as I partake in neither.

[payxibka 10,047]

Last night it was Plov not Lasagna

[NYGirl 0]

Last night it was Plov not Lasagna

Why change of food?

I like good plov but not everyone can make it good, the good one is the one that's made with oil and I do not digest oil at all and that's why can't eat good plov

[slim 1,530]

We usually end up eating different things. (We're on different schedules... 3rd shift sucks!)

However, when we do eat together, and she cooks something, it's usually somewhat Russian in nature and she adds some salads or greens on the side for her. If we eat American food, she still grabs some pickles or cucumbers or something to "make crunchy green" stuff on the side. She simply cannot eat without having a salad on the side.

I am making progress with getting her to eat "$#!tty food." I'll sneak in some chicken wings, pizza, and the new treat is the microwaveable BBQ rib sandwiches (like the McDonald's McRib, only more ghetto!) that I take in my lunch to work. I buy an 8 pack and only get to eat about 6 of them. Where the other two go, I'll never know!

[akdiver 3]

Are you guys on the diet or something? or vegetarians?

No, just lazy.

What kind of salad, just greens?

Well, mine has lettuce, tomato, cheese, carrots, radish, cucumber, kidney beans, bacon bits and Catalina dressing.

I don't know what all my wife puts in hers - I know it has lettuce, tomato, cucumber, some kind of peppers - and I dunno what else.

[Okiebollweevil 0]

We usually end up eating different things. (We're on different schedules... 3rd shift sucks!)

However, when we do eat together, and she cooks something, it's usually somewhat Russian in nature and she adds some salads or greens on the side for her. If we eat American food, she still grabs some pickles or cucumbers or something to "make crunchy green" stuff on the side. She simply cannot eat without having a salad on the side.

I am making progress with getting her to eat "$#!tty food." I'll sneak in some chicken wings, pizza, and the new treat is the microwaveable BBQ rib sandwiches (like the McDonald's McRib, only more ghetto!) that I take in my lunch to work. I buy an 8 pack and only get to eat about 6 of them. Where the other two go, I'll never know!

The "Boss" ate bugwheat and borscht, the menial worker ate jambalya w/chicken. Too spicy for the Boss.

[slim 1,530]

Wow, you guys have titles and everything. Is that just for the kitchen?

[Okiebollweevil 0]

Wow, you guys have titles and everything. Is that just for the kitchen?

Hmmm, how best to answer? Perhaps my perception of being married to a Russian woman. I just post these like this in the hope that others will enjoy or on the faint chance my wife reads my posts will correct me (with discipline please the big belt not the small one!) in a very fitting way. "that is not how we live Jeffrey" you are the boss and I am the menial worker, okay honey have some jambalaya I just made, if you are the menial worker you will enjoy, noooo tooo spicy for my sensitive Russian taste buds. Hence, no Mexican, Thai, Cajun or other spicy foods that make me drool, but there is always bugwheat, curds, borscht, Manka, and other food that tends to the bland. The best food I had in her hometown and Moscow was Armenian, although the cherry preserves were good.

[peejay 327]

If I am not mistaking, Belorussian food uses a lot of sour cream?

So does Russian. I like sour cream, but I'm also lactose intolerant.

Russians do use a lot of sour cream but not as much as belorussians, belorussians use absolutely EVERYTHING with sour cream

Belorussians are also fond of potatoes. My Belorussian buddy that is similar in age to me (50ish) told me that when he was in the Red Army stationed in Kazakhstan in the 1970's that the Soviet soldiers from other Soviet republics called them бульба, which is the Belorussian word for potato. Apparently their love of potatoes was noticable. My wife is not Belorussian, but is a Russian that lived in Belarus for 19 years before arriving in the USA in 2004. She is also a big fan of potatoes. On my many trips to Belarus to visit my mom's relatives I also noticed that potatoes are very prominent in Belarussian cuisine. Digging potatoes in the rural countryside and the country dachas of the city folk often comes up in conversations during my travels to Belarus. The recipes for potatoes are too numerous to mention.

What else? Beets are also very popular both to Russians and Belorussians. My Russian wife and my mom's Belorussian relatives often prepare grated beets mixed with grated garlic, mayonnaise/sour cream, and garnished with grated nuts on top. Another variant the Russians make with beets is the previous recipe, but in a layered salad with a layer of minced smoked herring and a layer of pototoes. My wife's Russian friend here in Houston said that I am the only American that will eat her smoked herring/beet/potato salad. Her American husband spit it out when he tried it. My guess is that the smoked herring was too strong for him. I told her it must be genetic because I'm 100% American, but have 1/2 Belorussian blood in me. I love the smoked fish and cavier of Russian cuisine.

Of course there is red beet borscht. My wife makes the cold summer variety and the winter hot variety. My wife dumps huge spoonfuls of sour cream into her bowl, but I like mine without. My wife buys fresh beets and prepares them from scratch. No canned beets.

Mushrooms are also very prominent in Russian/Belorussian cuisine. My Siberian wife and Belarussian relatives often talk about hunting for mushrooms in the forest. There are various recipes I have eaten for mushrooms.

Many of the American guests we have to dinner at our house take an instant liking to грзчка (buckwheat). My first aquaintance with buckwheat was on a visit in the early 1990's to the rural village my grandparents were born in. My mom's cousin walked out into a wheat field and pulled up a handfull of ripe wheat stalks. She rubbed the tops between her hands to separate the wheat kernels from the chafe and boiled it like rice. It has been a favorite for me since then. In fact, my wife prepared grechka and chicken for dinner tonight. Yum-Yum!

To be honest, my grandparents immigrated to the USA in their early 20's and lived in the USA 3/4 of their life. It wasn't until I visited their (my) relatives in Belarus and Russia that I was reintroduced to the cuisine of my ancestors from my mom's side of our family. My only memory of Belorussian dishes my mom and grandmother made in the USA frequently was голубцы (cabbage rolls). They made it with ground meat, rice, and various ingrediences wrapped in cabbage leaves and baked in a tomato sauce. My mom and granny used ground beef, but my Belorussian relatives and Russian wife use ground pork.

I have noticed that beef is rarely used in Belorussian/Russian recipes. Pork and chicken dominate.

I've gained about 20 pounds during my 4 1/2 year marriage to my wife. She prepare her meals from scratch with very few processed ingrediences. We rarely dine out in restaurants.

I'm sure I missed mentioning lots of my many observations I have made among my Russian and Belorussian friends, relatives, and acquaintances' recipes. Not to mention lots of other the tasty food products from there that Americans are missing out on from Russia.

I forgot to mention vodka. There is always vodka in formal dinners with special guests. There must be at least 3 toasts minimum, but many celebrations include rounds and rounds of food and toasts. Amazingly the rich foods in between the toasts mitigate the effects of straight shots of vodka.

My rural relatives make their own moonshine vodka that is called самогон (samogon). That stuff is deadly. It will burn the hair out of your nostriles and bring tears to your eyes in addition to getting an average American sh*tfaced drunk in only one shot. My advice...stick to the store bought stuff.

[eekee 182]

Belorussians are also fond of potatoes. My Belorussian buddy that is similar in age to me (50ish) told me that when he was in the Red Army stationed in Kazakhstan in the 1970's that the Soviet soldiers from other Soviet republics called them ??????, which is the Belorussian word for potato. Apparently their love of potatoes was noticable. My wife is not Belorussian, but is a Russian that lived in Belarus for 19 years before arriving in the USA in 2004. She is also a big fan of potatoes. On my many trips to Belarus to visit my mom's relatives I also noticed that potatoes are very prominent in Belarussian cuisine. Digging potatoes in the rural countryside and the country dachas of the city folk often comes up in conversations during my travels to Belarus. The recipes for potatoes are too numerous to mention.

What else? Beets are also very popular both to Russians and Belorussians. My Russian wife and my mom's Belorussian relatives often prepare grated beets mixed with grated garlic, mayonnaise/sour cream, and garnished with grated nuts on top. Another variant the Russians make with beets is the previous recipe, but in a layered salad with a layer of minced smoked herring and a layer of pototoes. My wife's Russian friend here in Houston said that I am the only American that will eat her smoked herring/beet/potato salad. Her American husband spit it out when he tried it. My guess is that the smoked herring was too strong for him. I told her it must be genetic because I'm 100% American, but have 1/2 Belorussian blood in me. I love the smoked fish and cavier of Russian cuisine.

Of course there is red beet borscht. My wife makes the cold summer variety and the winter hot variety. My wife dumps huge spoonfuls of sour cream into her bowl, but I like mine without. My wife buys fresh beets and prepares them from scratch. No canned beets.

Mushrooms are also very prominent in Russian/Belorussian cuisine. My Siberian wife and Belarussian relatives often talk about hunting for mushrooms in the forest. There are various recipes I have eaten for mushrooms.

Many of the American guests we have to dinner at our house take an instant liking to ?????? (buckwheat). My first aquaintance with buckwheat was on a visit in the early 1990's to the rural village my grandparents were born in. My mom's cousin walked out into a wheat field and pulled up a handfull of ripe wheat stalks. She rubbed the tops between her hands to separate the wheat kernels from the chafe and boiled it like rice. It has been a favorite for me since then. In fact, my wife prepared grechka and chicken for dinner tonight. Yum-Yum!

To be honest, my grandparents immigrated to the USA in their early 20's and lived in the USA 3/4 of their life. It wasn't until I visited their (my) relatives in Belarus and Russia that I was reintroduced to the cuisine of my ancestors from my mom's side of our family. My only memory of Belorussian dishes my mom and grandmother made in the USA frequently was ??????? (cabbage rolls). They made it with ground meat, rice, and various ingrediences wrapped in cabbage leaves and baked in a tomato sauce. My mom and granny used ground beef, but my Belorussian relatives and Russian wife use ground pork.

I have noticed that beef is rarely used in Belorussian/Russian recipes. Pork and chicken dominate.

I've gained about 20 pounds during my 4 1/2 year marriage to my wife. She prepare her meals from scratch with very few processed ingrediences. We rarely dine out in restaurants.

I'm sure I missed mentioning lots of my many observations I have made among my Russian and Belorussian friends, relatives, and acquaintances' recipes. Not to mention lots of other the tasty food products from there that Americans are missing out on from Russia.

I forgot to mention vodka. There is always vodka in formal dinners with special guests. There must be at least 3 toasts minimum, but many celebrations include rounds and rounds of food and toasts. Amazingly the rich foods in between the toasts mitigate the effects of straight shots of vodka.

My rural relatives make their own moonshine vodka that is called ??????? (samogon). That stuff is deadly. It will burn the hair out of your nostriles and bring tears to your eyes in addition to getting an average American sh*tfaced drunk in only one shot. My advice...stick to the store bought stuff.

Belarusans consume the most potatoes per capita out of any nation in the world.

Grechka is my least favorite food ever. But I do love samogon. My friend makes it and it is very smooth.

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

My future mother-in-law makes the best! I actually prefer it to vodka, very smooth and flavourful.

But I do love samogon. My friend makes it and it is very smooth.