Out of the mouths of babes (or 9 year old boys)

Breakfast is important, I think.  Especially since Boys #1 and #2 are so skinny that if the wind blows too hard I worry they might fall over.  So we try to eat a decent amount every morning, and one of my go-to energy boosters is porridge.  Only one problem; Boy #2 recently announced that he didn't like it any more - not even with maple syrup on the top.

Thins morning, then, I thought we would try things the Russian way by putting a teaspoon full of raspberry jam on the top of his porridge.

Jam is a Russian cure-all.  Want a sweet taste with your (black) tea?  Help yourself to a little dish of jam from the bowl in the middle of the table and use a teaspoon to feed yourself little bites in between sips of tea.  Feeling fluey or have a cold coming on?  Jam will definitely help.  Want to boost your intake of Vitamin C?  Yes, jam is just the ticket.  You get the picture...

I have to be honest, I didn't hold out much hope that jam would sort Boy #2's porridge-avoidance, but with Weetabix and toast on standby, it was worth a try.

He stirred it in and cautiously took a mouthful.

Boy #2:  "Mmmmmmmmm.  That's delicious!  I love it!  I'm going to eat the whole bowl!'

I smiled quietly to myself as I chatted with Boy #1 about his busy schedule and sorted out various things around the kitchen.  Job done.  Then...

Boy #2:  "It tastes just like raspberry pie!"

Me - blinking.  What?:  "But, hang on - you don't like raspberry pie..."

Boy #2:  "That's your raspberry pie, Mum.  Gran's raspberry pie, I like - and that's what this tastes like.  Mmmmmm...."

Oh.  Right.  That put me in my place, then.

Goodbye, sweet poison...

Sometimes, I catch glimpses of you across a crowded room, always looking cool, sleek, and refreshing.  For over half of my life you were an integral part of my routine; I couldn't imagine twenty four hours passing without your featuring in it at some point.

Sure, there were days that I had to make do without you, but it was never by choice.  Sometimes, other people who didn't understand how important you were to me just didn't want you around, so I was forced to do without you.  I couldn't bring you everywhere with me; that would have been rude and crazy, so from time to time I was forced to replace you with others.  I knew though that they were just pale imitations; they never lived up to what we had together.  They never quite delivered the same hit that you did, that same rush.

I'm a clean-living girl.  I don't drink (much) (anymore) (only at weekends), never smoked, was never interested in drugs. I eat healthy food, and not to excess.  Sure, I could exercise more, but other than that I'm boringly 'good'.  So it always came as something of a surprise to others when I confessed that I couldn't do without you.  I used to laugh it off;  "I'm allowed to have some kind of pick-me-up, surely?" but the fact that you were such a habit used to bother me, I admit.  Not enough to do anything about it, not really, but the concern was still there at the back of my mind.

My relationship with you was toxic.  Just a little bit, mind.  But still toxic.

And then recently I caught the flu, and suddenly you didn't seem so appealing. In fact, I found even the thought of you uncomfortable.  The next time our paths crossed I stood looking at you, temptingly decked out in red and silver, and I realised; I didn't need you now.  Why not try life without you for a while? I didn't imagine I would manage it for long; in similar situations in the past the craving has always crept back in the end; a few days or a couple of weeks were the longest I could do without you.

But it's been 10 weeks since I last reached in your direction.

So whilst we had good times for over 20 years, now? I really think I might be over you.

Goodbye, Diet Coke.

Organic growth...

When we arrived in Moscow over three years ago, doing the weekly shop was a little different to what I had been used to in central London.  Gone were the weekly deliveries of seasonal locally* grown organic vegetables, the free-range eggs in the supermarket along with organic & free range dairy, meat and poultry, and sustainably fished & line-caught fresh seafood.

Instead, I found myself searching for a new bare minimum of what I considered to constitute healthy eating; apples that hadn't been tossed into the display basket by shop workers for whom the concept of unbruised fruit was as yet unknown, wholemeal bread that wasn't so preserved it lasted two years, any wholegrain pasta (there are whole supermarket aisles devoted to pasta here, with perhaps two product facings of  the wholegrain version), poultry that wasn't pumped full of water, minced meat that didn't give half a pan full of grease when cooked, and fish that looked and smelt as if it had been caught within the last couple of days rather than two weeks ago, frozen, refrozen and thawed to be sold as 'fresh'.

Of course, there were and are high-end retailers that could deliver all of the above, but at an exorbitant price - and we operate on a tight budget.  Consequently it took a while before I reached the stage where I felt comfortable on where to find the right goods (usually in a number of different stores to make up a shopping basket that back home would have been available in a one-stop shop) at the right price - and crucially, where they would actually be in stock when I wanted them.

Three years on, and things are slowly starting to change.  Wholemeal pasta is still something of a rarity, but decent bread is a lot more readily available, and the basic levels of produce in many stores has improved markedly.  Hell, you can even buy Cathedral City cheddar now in Auchan (I blogged about the red letter day when I found it instore, here - sad sap that I am...).  But what you have not been able to reliably buy is locally farmed organic & free range produce.

Oh sure, you can buy a limited amount of what is supposedly organic & free-range, but I'm afraid to say that I have become extremely cynical on these matters since living here.  Russian farmers are as quick as the next nationality to see the opportunities for increased margins on food labelled as organic, but unlike farms in western Europe they are not subject to the intense study of their land and methods that The Soil Association and similar subject organic farmers to, because there quite simply isn't a similar organisation here.

However, the wind is finally changing.  Today, I found organic milk in a mainstream supermarket I trust (the taste test as to whether it's up to the boys' standards happens tomorrow), and yesterday I went to visit LavkaLavka where Jennifer Eremeeva of The Moscovore blog was running a cooking session on the supergrain Quinoa.  I learned how to make quinoa delicious (no mean feat) and  liked everything I learned about LavkaLavka; the environment, the cafe, the staff, the produce available for purchase at prices that were less steep than I'd feared, and the attitude to sourcing sustainably produced locally farmed product.

Now.  If only I could persuade them to start stocking wholegrain pasta...


* When I say 'locally grown* I mean not airfreighted and from within a few hundred miles, obviously.  Come on - we lived in the UK and woman cannot live on carrots, potatoes & swedes alone ALL winter...

Little Dish & the Russian Ingredients Challenge...

So, it's review time again. Last summer, when I was (sob) still living in London, Little Dish were kind enough to send me some ready meals for my boys to try. The taste test was - mostly - a success, and I blogged about it here. Not so long ago, they got back in touch and asked if this time I would be interested in reviewing the 'Little Dish Favourites Cookbook'.

Now, I live in Russia these days. (You might have noticed - that fact has featured on The Potty Diaries once or twice...) And whilst there are many things you CAN easily buy here, like, um, well, honey... and umm vodka, healthy ready meals are not one of those things. Consequently scratch cooking is majorly back on the agenda in the Potski household (except for Fridays which is religiously Pizza night - I deserve one night in seven off, surely?) and having fallen into something of a rut on the meal-planning front, any and all inspiration is welcome.

So, the Little Dish Favourites Cookbook; how do I rate it?

The opening section on First Tastes contains simple and practical advice on weaning your baby. It probably wouldn't do as the only book in your repertoire, but it contains easy purees and is a great place to start, especially if you're a first time mum and have no idea where that might be.

It does contain a recipe for homemade chicken stock and whilst I have nothing against that per se I would say to all new mums introducing solids for the first time: on the subject of home-made chicken stock; DON'T DO IT. Your house will stink, you will stink, and since Waitrose (amongst other places) now sells a perfectly good salt, additive and preservative free alternative, buy a couple of packs there, stash one in the freezer for when you next need it and save yourself a whole heap of time and effort. (Sorry Annabel Karmel and any other Domestic Goddesses reading this, but life is just too short to make your own chicken stock...).

The main bulk of the recipes come under the Family Dishes section and in the interests of properly reviewing this book, I decided that rather than just reading it and making my mind up, I would walk the walk and use it to cook from. I chose one recipe per day for 5 days this week, and here are the results (It would have been 6 but, come on, Friday is pizza night after all...). So. What did I cook, and how did it go?

Sunday: GG's Chicken Supreme (p 78)

This was easy to make (even when having to substitute Russian ingredients like Smetana for the soured cream), and it was great to know that having put it together the evening before, I had minimal fuss on Sunday evening to pull dinner out of the hat. Plus it was absolutely delicious. We all loved it - even fussy Boy #1. I will definitely make this again.

Monday: Monty's Favourite Fish Fingers (p54)

Not a success. In fact, after my first bite I took pity on my sons and told them they didn't have to eat it, and we dined handsomely on vegetables and ham instead; however, this is much more down to the completely rubbish quality of white fish generally available here than anything wrong with the recipe. In actual fact I would expect this recipe to work fine with most fish you could get from a fish counter in the UK.

Tuesday: Chicken Enchilas (p76)

Pretty yummy. Boy #2 and I wolfed it down, Boy #1 - after initial negotiations concerning non-consumption of the flour tortilla had been concluded - did the same. With the exception of the tortilla, obviously. (What it did contain, which he usually never eats, was cheese. He didn't notice. This is a Result in my book - it's going on my List).

Wednesday: Easy Fish in Foil (p50)

I know, it's not fair to make the book run the fish gauntlet twice but I'm looking for any way I can to make the fish available here palatable. This time I used imported frozen salmon (from Norway), so the start point was a bit better, but I have to say the reaction from Boy #1 was still wholly unexpected. He pronounced the first bite 'Delicious!' and came back for seconds. Yesss!

Thursday: Spanish Tortilla (p122)

No fish today, and I decided to give ourselves a break from genetically modified meat with genetically modified eggs instead (seriously; you should see the size of the average chicken breast here. It would dwarf many turkeys back home...). This recipe was - OK. I enjoyed it, as did Husband who ate more than half of it without pausing for breath, but the Boys objected to the use of parsley and I would probably leave that out when I make it again for them (which I will). Again, it contained cheese and again, Boy #1 didn't notice (or at least, didn't identify that as one of the things he didn't like about it).

Overall then, I would give this book around 8 / 10. I will use it again, and already have my eye on some of the other recipes, so culinary boredom has been postponed for a while longer in the Potski household. Thankyou, Little Dish!

This was a sponsored post. (I got a free copy of the book, in other words).