Happy 2017, our dearest readers! What I was thinking about today is whether this NYE turned to be really unusual only for us or everybody where kinda lacking that festive mood and excitement? Frankly speaking, me and Alex welcomed this year happily sleeping in bed:) And it was the first time for me to avoid overindulging and staying up till the early morning, what was always my favorite thing to do! So instead of sharing that missing vibes, I wanted, yes, once again discuss some food moments with you (don’t you feel I’m a bit overusing this theme lately? Seems like I’ve been really obsessed with the delicious cuisine!) – and let it be Christmas and New Year food this time.
I guess, while I’m writing this post, our Russian relatives and friends are already robbing their fridges for the NYE food leftovers. We always cook too much that day – because there is a week of lazy vacations ahead and who wants to cook on vacations when you can continue on celebrating and eating traditional New Year food all these days long?
Among all the dishes, that are now tightly fitted into Russian fridges will definitely be one the most well-known and beloved one – Russian salad, that we call Olivie. Pronounced as [Olivje]. Don’t be surprised by such a French-sounding name. The most Russian salad you could probably think of was actually invented by a French chef, who worked in a Russian restaurant in Moscow many years ago. He was so happy with his new recipe, that named it after himself:) Within the years this salad gained such a huge popularity, that hardly a single family in the whole country avoids it during the New Year Eve.
It is a very satisfying, comfy food, that looks more like a garnish, rather than a normal salad. Olivie contains ham, eggs, potatoes, carrots, pickles, canned peas and tonns of mayo. Yes, we love fulfilling dishes! Wait for the description of our famous "herring in a fur coat" (yes, a salad as well!) – you’ve probably never seen anything like that:) I cooked Russian salad for the Christmas dinner we visited a week ago and was really happy to see, how local people enjoyed it – my giant bowl was empty in a sec! Honestly, I expected others to hate it due to the fact that kiwi salads are all normally low in calories and super packed with vitamins.
At the same time we were lucky to try some traditional New Zealand dishes, like dessert Pavlova, that locals are super proud of, and a tasty fruit, cream and alcohol pudding (the last one was sooo fat, but Gosh so yumm!). Feel like my next few days should consist of fruits and veggies only!
We are often asked what do local people normally eat or what do Russians normally eat and the disappointing answer is that when it comes to food we have a lot in common:) Both nations adopted international recipes in their everyday life and live on burgers, pastas, granolas and coffee. So it is always nice to try something special and unique! The next step is to learn how to cook those dishes:)
And what is your traditional Christmas or New Year food? Or what was the most unusual food experiment you had during these events?
