I’m Russian - AMA

[LillyCandC]

I moved here 15 years ago - ask me anything :-)

I believe we had the only one outside London up here in a small Yorkshire town.
The food was amazing but it closed in Covid
I would also like to know how to make a great Russian salad please OP

Also, is it a complete misconception that Russians drink alcohol a lot? The ones I have met seem to but it might just be a false stereotype

Those sound delicious @LillyCandC, and definitely new to me. Thanks!

@wherearebeefandonioncrisps thank you for sharing your family history and your lovely comment! I wish more Russians learnt from USSR history… my grandmother’s family were executed by bolsheviks leaving just her and her brother out of 8 children (they were lucky to be in another town when it happened).

Russian salad is incomplete without ‘dokrorskaya kolbasa’ in my opinion (some people do it with chicken breast though, in France you can buy cervelais which is similar to doktorskaya kolbasa) and mayo! I think polish mayo from Tesco’s is the closest substitute for the authentic taste :-)

@Flooper abolutely! A friend of a friend got excluded from uni for taking part in protests; I’ve heard of people losing their jobs. I think when you have a family to feed - it’s easier to keep your head down for a lot of people.

@Mydogatemypurse it is! I haven’t been everywhere because it’s so large but I absolutely love lake Baikal. Just so pure and magnificent both in winter and in summer.

@IntentionalError thats probably one of things I miss about Moscow. Georgian & Uzbek cuisine. I’m afraid I don’t know any id be happy enough to recommend here. If anyone knows- please share the details!

@barskits hmum…it’s my opinion … but I think it’s trust in Putin and years and years of propaganda. Russians believe that western leaders hate them and wish for Russia to crumble. According to Russian propaganda the West wants to keep Russia as a cash cow due to its resources but doesn’t want it to have any significant impact on world politics. By West I mean mainly US. It vastly believed that Ukrainian present is a US puppet and therefore is anti-Russian. As Russian and Ukrainian identity are so closely intertwined in Russian mind it’s easy to go down the ‘let’s free Ukrain and stop NATO’ narrative.

@BirmaBrite we don’t celebrate Christmas but we celebrate Nee Year in similar fashion. So we have Grandfather Frost bringing the presents together with his grand daughter Snegurochka. Christmas is on 7th Jan and is purely religious. My favourite tradition is to have all the family around Ne Year’s table ;-)

That's blanket statement though. Perhaps the wealthier who enjoyed the consumerism and who had more freedoms don't (but they wouldn't necessarily voice this outwardly) but many, and older people do I believe? My friend who is in her twenties doesn't see the war as an invasion!

@Bookaholic73 i really miss the culture - it’s not that expensive to go to see a ballet or an interesting play; there are a lot of things for Children as well and many museums have great collections (in Moscow and St Petersburg). Also, i love Georgian and Uzbek food and it just doesn’t taste the same here. I miss the kind of friendships that we have when someone will bring a guitar and everyone will join in singing whilst cooking something like pilaf all together. And I miss snow :-)

@geraniumsandsunshine i didn’t make the blanket statement.. you’ve quoted me quoting the OP.

Wrong person

@barskits haha nope, I can’t ice skate and I don’t do ballet. I shoot pretty well though and can ride a horse!

Meant for @Byelaws sorry!

Was Lev Yashin better than Gordon Banks?

Years ago a Russian friend made me a wonderful traditional cake/dessert. It had condensed milk and seeds and she had to leave it in a fridge for a while to set. When done it was quite hard and not cakey in texture. It was so delicious. Any idea what cake it was? I'd love to re-create it but no idea what it is called!

@WuTangGran haha my knowledge of the subject is not deep enough! My grandad will probably is the best person to answer this one

What made you choose to come to live in the U.K. Lilly?

Are you responding to another poster and got mixed up with my post about ballet?

I know very little about politics I'm afraid.

@CinnamonSodaPop hmm… did it have meringue in there or was it more like this one?
m.povar.ru/recipes/orehovyi_tort_starinnyi_recept-61588.html I wonder if it was a variation of Kievskiy cake…

That’s it! Apologies - I’ve hit the wrong name!

@Justisme ooops!

@AdaColeman initially I came to study art business and wanted to come back to Moscow to open my own contemporary gallery. Ar that point it sounded like a good and interesting thing to do and there was no competition (something that Abramovich’s Ex wife did later). But I met my husband and the rest is history!

@geraniumsandsunshine you’re right, it’s a very generalised statement and I corrected myself afterwards. None of my friends do but I believe a lot of people, like your friend, don’t see it as an invasion (which they won’t support) but as liberation (which they do)

Would you be surprised if Putin didn't stop at Ukraine? There's lots of noise about his 'end goal'

Hey! My parents left a little Soviet state and came to the UK before I was born. I now live in the country they ran away from. I can vouch for what you say. I agree that the Russian character is a "strong" one. We are very worried where I am about what happens next.

Cinnamon was it poppy seeds and condensed milk?

Hope you don't get a hard time here, loved visiting Russia, and the people 😊