2014 Olympics: Russia

The Winter Olympics have started, and as we usually do, we are celebrating with international food and drink. Tonight we made perogies and I had a shot of vodka to honor Russia, the host nation. Gail and I are struck each time we do this that the international foods with staying power typically have simple ingredients and are unusually satisfying. They are the comfort foods of other nations. The other thing that strikes us is the amount of work per bite that it takes to make many of these dishes.

These perogies are a seasoned mashed potato wrapped in a pasta-like dough. The dumplings are boiled and served in a sauce of onions and butter. They are very simple and delicious.

Olympics Day 3: Russian Shchi

I'm really enjoying the volleyball. It was a great outing for the men's and women's US teams. I also loved watching the 16-year-old from my home town of San Jose, California, Ariel Hsing, win her match in table tennis.

Gail made a Russian cabbage soup called shchi for lunch. We noticed that so many of our international dishes included cabbage. We will look out for cabbage overload. Gail took her recipe from food.com. I think it is the caraway seeds that give this dish its distinctive taste. It is both savory and sour, really amazingly meaty for a dish whose only meat is the stock.

I poured a Russian beer to accompany the shchi, a Baltica #4 Original. The beer's dominant flavor was burnt caramel to match its color. It had a strongly sweet finish, with a very slight phenolic, Band-Aid flavor. Overall, it was a smooth and easy drinking beer.