Beer Week in Sacramento

Sacramento's Beer Week was from February 25th to March 6th. And today, it ended in a big festival on Capitol Mall. Due to the unpredictable rainy weather, I went on a brewery tour instead investigating Bike Dog Brewing Company, Oak Park Brewing Company, and ending at the Rind for a satisfying bowl of macaroni and cheese.  As I am identifying and refining my beer palate, I am realizing that I am not a fan of blondes, pale ales or saisons, but enjoy coffee stouts or ambers.

Bike Dog was packed to the brim with children, adults, and their dogs. It was a fun atmosphere with games, but little room to sit. To stave off hunger, I ordered 'Hulk fries' from the geek-pleasing food truck, The Culinerdy Cruzer. The truck was full of comics, figurines, and was complete with a wearable Darth Vador Mask. Our fries with pesto, artichoke hearts, and spicy roasted tomatoes doused in mayo (my choice) hit the spot. While I was waiting, the chef was experimenting with a stout and a dessert recipe.

At Oak Park Brewing Company I shared another flight of beers pictured above. From left to right is the Salty Dog Coffee Porter, the Joyland Imperial Red Ale, the Steampunk Farmhouse Saison, and the Neck Thumper Russian Imperial Ale. By far my favorite was the Salty Dog porter due to the strong coffee taste.

Urban Gardening at Schools: A Garden In Every School Symposium

This weekend Soil Born Farms hosted 'A Garden in Every School Symposium' at Luther Berbank High School. As a volunteer opportunity for Sacramento Slow Food, I assisted chef Brenda Ruiz from Biba. Brenda teaches food literacy classes in local schools. She is specifically interested in incorporating food literacy into ESL courses.

For the weekend, we focused on two presentations. The first was Teaching to English Language Learners: Developing Taste. Here, Brenda developed an exercise with cilantro, romaine lettuce, lime, salt, sugar, soy sauce, and vinegar. She had the attendees try each element by itself and explain in terms of palate: bitter, sweet, salty, sour. Slowly the participants were asked to combine different flavors to eventually form a salad that incorporated all of one's palate. Afterward, she discussed teaching techniques for English Language Learners and how they specifically related to teaching food literacy.

Within this session, the feedback was incredibly interesting. Several teachers had ELL classes, where the majority of students had different native languages; therefore it was incredibly necessary to focus on the grading of the language. Other teachers gave examples of how their schools were already incorporating multi-cultural food literacy through potlucks and parent-student cooking classes.

On Sunday, the sessions were less lecture style and more experiential. Brenda facilitated a lesson with few instructions that encouraged participant creativity. Before everyone arrived, we placed all the required equipment on the table (knives, cutting boards, mixing bowls, mixing spoons, towels). We then created trays full of different vegetables or fruit such as a tray with different kinds of lettuces (focusing on bitterness) or one with various types of citrus (focusing on sour and sweet).  The class was required to create a salad with their ingredients and create a presentation explaining the process and the parts of the palate that their salad activated.

It was fun to see the how creative the students were know matter what age. Additionally, I believe the course was a good learning moment for many because they were not familiar with all of the names and tastes of the ingredients included in their baskets. The weekend opened my eyes to how much our communities need food literacy in order to take advantage of the abundance of produce we have in the US.

Solyenka

Spending the holiday seasons alone and abroad is pretty intimidating. It’s nice to have local friends to fill one’s free time. One night some of my friends came over to teach me how to make solyenka, a Russian meat soup.

I tried this soup first in a restaurant in Kazan and wasn’t impressed. But after discussing recipes at the banya with the ladies, I decided to give this soup another try, and it was so worth it. Think of it as a Russian pizza soup (minus the cheese and mayo). Or as some Russians advise me, it’s the best soup to cure a hangover.

Ingredients  (8-10 servings)

Four pieces of beef with bone (look for little fat, or cut this off before, and mostly bone)

1 lbs of beef, cubed

10 cups of water

A log of pepperoni, cut into matchsticks

4 hot dogs (We bought two different kinds, milk and “normal”), slice like coins

1/3 lb of cured ham, about a cm cubed

A jar of pickles (salted pickles, rather than vinegar pickles is more common here), cut into matchsticks

1 onion, diced

¼ cup of tomato paste

2 bay leaves

1 jar of whole green olives, sliced in half long-ways

1 can of black olives, sliced in half long-ways (Save the juice)

Salt to your taste

Lemon, capers, and sour cream for plating

1.       Place the beef in a large pot with water. Let water boil into a broth for about 2 hours. While the broth is developing take a spoon and scoop off the foam that forms on top. The foam isn’t necessarily a problem. Without it, the broth is more pure and looks prettier. You can make the broth at any time, just refrigerate until use.

2.      Preheat oven to 250 degrees F

3.       Place cured meats in a pan and place into the oven for 10-15 minutes. This allows you to throw away some of the fat.

4.       Place onion, pickles and tomato paste into a frying pan until onions are cooked. Add to broth.

5.       Add meats, bay leaves, olive juice and olives to soup.

6.       Let it simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt to your taste.

7.       Cut the insides of the lemon in to eighths (no rind or pith). Place a lemon slice and a spoonful of capers at the bottom of each bowl. Then ladle the soup on top and add a dollop of sour cream on top.  Enjoy!

Home Sweet Home

People say that it takes a village to raise a child. I would argue for an expat, making a house (or an apartment) a home also takes a village. A little over two weeks ago, my flatmate and I moved into our new apartment. We were looking for more independence than living with a host family had afforded us.

My new apartment is in a district outside of the city center. It’s a spacious (2-bedroom, balcony, kitchen, and full bath+ washer) first-floor apartment close to the bus stop. As soon as we paid the retailer (9,000 rubles—highway robbery) and the owner left, the benefits ended.

In the midst of grading final exams we moved-in. We found ourselves with a mold-ridden bathroom, a seat-less toilet, a leaky faucet, see-through curtains, and furniture infested with fleas and bed bugs. Our freedom had turned into an arduous challenge.

Over break I have made it my mission to make the apartment livable. Many people have helped us clean the apartment. Others have donated accessories and information about where to find cleaning supplies. Honestly, I have never been more excited in my life to receive a new pillow and blankets for Christmas/New Year’s presents.

So now, after the extermination of the bugs, I can finally make a cocoon in my bed and relax for the rest of winter break. 

Pictures of us hanging up curtains that are not see-through.

Sled Babies

As many people know, I love baby and toddler accessories from Northern Europe. This year, I have not been disappointed. During my time in Estonia, Finland, and Bishkek (Fine, it’s not Northern Europe, but it still gets snow and ice.), I have never seen anything as functional and adorable as these winter sleds/strollers for children. In general, I have observed that parks are usually full of families taking a stroll with the newborn during spring, summer, and fall, but these sleds provide a wonderful option for winter. Of course, there are many styles depending on the child’s height and weight, but the main components include runners with wheels attached to the back (for non-snowy areas), a seating place, and a handle. Here are some of my latest creeper shots from my romps around Dobroe: 

The Beginnings of Winter in Vladimir, Russia

     After completing my internship in Bishkek, I moved to Vladimir, a small historical city in Russia, to work for a company called The American Home. As you can see, the building actually looks like an American home. 

     Our fall semester is quickly coming to an end. In general, this means piles of journals and quizzes to grade, but it also means snow has come for good. As one who has lived in the South for half of her life, the first day of snow was exciting and terrifying. Usually, two fallen snowflakes in North Carolina bring about school delays, bank closures, and a massive rush to buy all of the bread and milk in the grocery stores. Luckily, I am not the only teacher from the South. We all comiserated the day we looked out the window, saw three inches of snow, and gasped as the trolley buses were still working. 

      Now that we have become accustomed to the snow, I've begun to notice that there are vast differences in snowfalls. In North Carolina, we just have the big, slow, falling flakes that encourage you to grab an oversized sweater and some hot chocolate. But in Russia,during the “warm” winter nights, you can sometimes see glittery snow. It’s the kind of snow you would see in old 1940s or 1950s Hollywood films (but probably in those cases it was actual glitter). It’s the kind that is perfect for a jaunt around your Soviet apartment block.

Summertime in the States

I am back in the States for the summer break. Before I leave for my next contract in Russia, I am slowly getting closer to a successful recipe for lepyoshka (лепёшка) without a tandori.