A New Favorite: Tasting Menus

It's early in the morning here in Moscow.  The sun is already peeking through the sky with some golds and reds and it is just 4:30.  I woke up thinking about food, a common occurrence.

Within the last few months, I saw a television show on Netflix called Chef's Table.  This show looks at some famous chefs around the world, their restaurants, and what it is they are doing in them.  This became my favorite show in record time.  I love the music, the backdrop, the variety... and it is about people making good food for humans to enjoy.

One of those people was Gaggan Anand, a chef working in Bangkok at a restaurant called Gaggan.  The theme of his restaurant is progressive Indian, and he takes the flavors of India and the produce of Bangkok to make amazing dishes.

In February, Peter and I went to Gaggan, and it was absolutely stunning.  The menu was all emojis, one after the other, and the courses came out so quickly.  And, we have photos of every single dish, but I'll spare you the 28 different pictures, knowing that some highlights will suffice.  I'll admit that it is a trial to restrain myself, but this would be a mighty long post otherwise.

This is the emoji menu, with the different pieces.  The entertaining part of the menu was trying to guess which things would be coming based on the menu.  

This is Yogurt Explosion, one dish that Gaggan is famous for.  He took the yogurt of Indian cuisine and found a way to keep it in this egg shape, so when you eat it, it breaks into your mouth and the texture is incredible. 

This black dot was a highlight of mine.  I can't be certain what all is in it, but it tasted like charcoal bread, deep and rich and full, and it was almost crunchy in the texture.  At Gaggan, the textures were nearly superior to the tastes. 

This was the ice cream emoji.  

It is uni, in a crepe cone, and the presentation is enough to make you smile.

It was difficult to photograph this, but this would have been my favorite moment and close to my favorite dish.   It was the tomato emoji, and it was a tomato matcha that the chef had to prepare at our table.  He scooped in the powder for the tea, poured some water from the teapot.  Whipped it up with a special bamboo tool, shook it around to release the aromas.  The whole moment had this ceremony and this ritual to it that was simply wonderful, and when you put the bowl to your lips, the smell enveloped you in this incredible smell. 

And then, the chef himself.  We had such a great time at Gaggan, and I realized that I enjoy the lingering over dinner, the food that keeps coming and never makes you full.  We were seated around 6:30 and left around 9:30, so our meal was long and glorious.  A dish would come out, you could enjoy it, and then it would vanish and another one would take its place.  Plus, having the bite-sized food gives the opportunity to taste all these different meals and enjoy them all, taste them all, with a stomach that can manage.

In fact, I liked this Prix Fixe idea so much that I found another restaurant for it in Bangkok, for the next trip.

Sidebar: The food in Bangkok might be my favorite food.  There are so many restaurants there, of all kinds and calibers, and it might be my favorite place to eat.  I display as evidence this photo of me at a steakhouse called El Guacho.  Even coming from steak country, I've never tasted anything so delicious.

But that's neither here nor there.

In April, we went to a restaurant called Sra Bua, at the Kempinski Hotel.  There was a menu there, called The Journey, which was heralded in some of the local news as a fantastic modern Thai cuisine, and we wanted to give it a try.  I'm sad to say that we didn't get photos, because of Songkran.

The service at Sra Bua was some of the best I have ever encountered.  In fact, when I think back to dinner, the service was the tipping point to make it one of the fanciest meals I've ever had.  Every person on staff knew what was happening, knew service in this fancy restaurant, and made the effort, and it was just incredible.

Online photo. This was soup you drank from the straw. 

They started us with a special dish, for Songkran, a tasting of traditional Thai snacks.  In fact, I think we tasted at least 5 different dishes that were gifts from the chef, starters not on the menu, and Songkran specials, because we kept wondering if this was the first dish, or this, or this.  There was a little pouch of cashew nuts in basil, a typical Thai street food, and a small skewer that was flash grilled at the table.

Online photo. DIY Noodles.

The food was very Thai, and it honored the Thai traditions while still being new and fun and unusual.  There was a traditional soup in a bowl of sand with a straw, and diy noodles in a syringe, which you put into miso soup.

Online photo. Seabass with Apple and Celery. 

My favorite was the apple and celery salad, a nod to papaya salad, with the seabass and spicy sauce.  The textures and the tastes just converged into this delicious moment.  It was fresh, spicy, textured.  This place gave a menu that was more than a few bites.  Unlike Gaggan, where it was usually one mouthful, Sra Bua was a full, dish that you could get into, over and over again.  If a dish was enjoyed (and so many of them were), you could enjoy a few bites of it as opposed to just one.

But, back to Chef's Table.

One of the restaurants featured was White Rabbit, here in Moscow.  I have been to White Rabbit, and went back in the fall when I first arrived with some of the other new people.  But, this time, I went back to enjoy the full tasting menu.

This restaurant has a story of going down the rabbit hole into a whole new cuisine.  From the television program, the Russian style of food was taken back a few eras during the communism reign.  From a diverse set of foods into something more streamlined, Russian food has been undergoing a change back into the old style, and the chef (Vladimir Murkhin) has been facilitating that change.

I went to the tasting menu just a few weeks back, and I really enjoyed myself.  It was a bit absurd, and I've never had a meal like it.  I couldn't decide if I liked the food or if I didn't.  The tastes were so unusual, so different, so strong.

Here are a few of the dishes with a few descriptions for you.

Caviar, pear, and mead. And it was strong mead too.  Caviar is an unusual texture, with this burst in your mouth of flavor and intense taste. 

I loved this little drink, the raspberry/carrot with some vodka.  The bite tasted like farmland, with a strong cheese and dried salmon.

This bread with the fresh butter made me want to cry, it was so good.  The knife was strange, but that presentation and the smell and tenderness of the bread... Oh man.

A common Russian dish, schi, which was so bright and delicious.  The little sandwich is similar to a crabcake, but it was light, and airy, and beautiful like spring.

There's a whole section in the television program about this dish... Moose Lip dumplings.  I wasn't sure how I would feel about those, because they look so unusual on the screen.  However, this dish was quite nice.  I thought the dumplings overpowered the taste of the meat inside, but the sauces were out of this world.

A palate cleanser... Medlar.  This is a new favorite fruit, because we ate the ones that they brought us in addition to the sorbet.

As a non-sugar eater, this was my absolute favorite dish.  This is technically a dessert, a cake, a mousse, and an ice cream.  And, in the last restaurants that I enjoyed, the ends were too sweet.  At both of the other restaurants, I left the restaurant thirsty from excess sugar.  This dessert, though, was perfect in its savoriness.  The base was a black bread of some sort, slightly sweet, then a chocolate mousse, and the top was sour cream ice cream.  The black bits on top were some sort of garlic, leading you into a dessert mindset without killing you with sugar. 

During lovely dessert, they also brought us these noses.  Why?  It was unclear at the time, but each of them had a smell on the inside and a name on the outside.  I chose one that smelled like gingerbread, one of the more common sweets for fall and Christmas here.  Another one smelled like church incense.  We made our choices, and as we finished our meal, they gave us little bottles of perfume.  Why?  It is still somewhat unclear to me.

This ending had to be the finest ending of any menu I've seen so far.  This is a very light willow tea, and whipped honey.  The waiter was stirring this honey in the bowl, and eventually gave us each a spoonful of it.  And it was the best dessert.  It was light, and fresh, and so incredibly delicious.  I can still taste it, and still think about it. 

I leave you with an excited K at a table.  I believe that I will be searching for tasting menus wherever I go now.  

Winter Sports: Broomball

Before moving to Russia, I was living in the tropics, and I've never lived in a place where winter sports were a part of life.  Arriving in Moscow and then talking to those around me about winter, it sounded like the thing to do was get out of the house and do things.

This year, one of those things became broomball.

I cannot remember the last time I played a team sport, although softball and soccer were large parts of my school life.  But, when the call went out for new players, I was amazingly intrigued.  I signed up, paid some money, and joined the Canadian team: Chicks With Sticks.

The Canadian in action. 

Fun fact: There is only one Canadian on our team.  She won best defensive player in the league. 

My first item of business was to get some equipment.  The team, which operates out of the school and consists mostly of women that I work with, has a handful of equipment that gets passed down from chick to chick as we come and go.  So, I went down to see Kate, the elementary PE teacher, and defense player, to get my Ikea bag full of stuff.

This bag consisted of:

Chest pad

Shin guards

Long hockey socks

Elbow pads

Butt pads (like in hockey)

Broomball shoes (which are flat and have circle treads in rubber)

Tape

Broomball stick

Helmet

I also ordered a jersey, which has my name on it.... in Russian.

I took my giant massive equipment home, and then made it to what I assumed was a warm up for everyone.  I took a cab to the German Embassy (where the play takes place, because they ice over the tennis courts, which are outdoors), and nervously got changed into my gear.  I found a place to get changed, and kept waiting for more ladies, either from my team or another team, to join me and change also.  I fumbled with all my equipment, and nervously stepped out into the action.  I was, in fact, the only woman there.  So, I ended up learning some of the basics of broomball from one of the men's teams, "It Disney Matter."  I even a borrowed a jersey from them, with a picture of Pumba the Warthog on it.

Stick Making Preparations.

As a pre-game event, we also had a broomball stick making party.  Our sticks are made from the straw of the brooms, bound together with tape, force, and will.  I used the stick that was already created, and just added a small piece of the brooms and tape to add some width to my stick.

After this first, relatively terrifying, experience... Broomball became a favorite pastime.

Many members of the team live in the same housing complex that I do, so we would pick a time to car pool over to the embassy.  We have to go through security, with our passports, and try to cram a bag full of the things from above into a tiny metal detector.  It is not always possible.  Sometimes, they take our scissors.  We are also in our winter clothes, and trying to do security when a person's coat is twice their size must just be impossible.  

Just look at our gear!

We migrate to the changing rooms and get into our gear as a team.  There is, I learned, an order to put on the gear which must be followed.  We start with some thermal gear, warm tights, and long shirts.  Start low, with shin guards (then tape them onto your body), socks (then tape them onto your body), then butt pads and shoes.  Go up to the chest pads and elbow pads and find a friend to help you with your jersey (because even after 8 games, I still couldn't do it by myself).  I wonder how many rolls of tape we went through... although I did end up with a garter belt for my socks later in the season.  It is both the first garter belt I've ever owned and the best garter belt I've ever owned.

Chicks. With. Champagne.

We head up to the ice.  There are two courts at the Embassy, and we often played while the men were playing on the other court.  The ice is tennis-court sized, with snow banks that build up between the courts and on the sides.  (In fact, running on the snow that falls from the banks is a big advantage, because running on snow is shockingly easy compared to running on ice).  The ice changes a lot through the season, from game to game.  Some days, it is quite slippery, and our game is slow, with lots of falling.  Some days, it is easier to run and move around, and the game is quite quick.  This is our game. 

Frozen Assets... The American team.

There are three teams that we played in our four-team girls' league.  We are the Canadian Chicks With Sticks, with bright red jerseys.  There are the Americans: The Frozen Assets, black with red and blue.  The Germans: Eishexen, black with yellow and red.  And the Finns: Finn Ladies, in bright blue.  Each of them has a different flavor, a different quirk to their play.  

Eishexen, the German team.  This game was our last.... and it was incredible and dramatic.

And then, the game goes like this:  2 periods of 20 minutes, with a five-minute break in between, then 2 periods of 10 minutes with a two-minute break in between.  There are six players on the ice at any given time, one goalie, two defense, and three forwards.  It is not unlike hockey, this game, with passing and the stick, although we are on ice with shoes and not skates.  The ice is considerably smaller than on a hockey rink, and without the boards, sometimes our ball just decides to vanish into a hard snow bank, or behind it.  

Oh, and our "puck" is a small, softball sized ball, filled with air, and often with a Disney character on it.  

The Chicks have Disney princesses on all our balls.

Action shot of yours truly, with the ball made of air. 

We play and play and play.  I'm proud to say that the Chicks ended the season undefeated.  At the end of each game, we have ourselves and ancient maritime tradition of cracking open a bottle of champagne and pouring it for the person next to us.  Then, often, we retired to the local burger joint to enjoy a hamburger.  

The Broomball Carnivale party, with all of us matching. 

The season was a complete blast.  We would finish the games, and our bodies would be in pain from stretching on the ice, from running around and falling on purpose or on accident.  There were a handful of injuries, as the sport is wont to have.  It is so much fun, though.  Amazingly entertaining, full of laughter and camaraderie, and a peppering of violence.  

A Tour of the Bolshoi Theatre

Recently, I went on a tour that went through the Bolshoi theatre.  Wow.  I’m was stunned by the grandeur of the space, the architecture and the history.

Coat Tag.

Originally built for the Tsar of Russia, the seating center has a huge box for royalty and prestige.  When you stand on the floor and look back to the seats, it is the only thing you notice: a massive box, with lavish seats, in the most prime viewing location you could imagine.  Of course, the Bolshoi (which just means “big” in Russian) did burn down a few times and had to be rebuilt, but the most recent rebuild was designed by an acoustics expert who brought in special woods and fabrics that reverberated the sounds just right.  Every detail was handcrafted by this designer, the expert of his time.  That’s neat.

Chamber space with highly customizable floor.

There is a massive chandelier in the middle of the space as well.  Before the electricity, it had the ability to be lowered down onto the floor for the lighting of the candles, and only men were seated beneath it, so no ladies would be harmed by the wax. 

View from the top. 

The Bolshoi does have a few stages, as well.  There was the main historical stage, a smaller chamber music type of space, a modern stage that was built after one of the burn downs, and practice stages in the back.  It’s a massive space, which feels much more compact when you are inside of it.  It is a flexible space, especially the chamber music section, which can be cordoned off or opened up as necessary, with special floors that transform as they are needed.

Gold.... everywhere. Balcony sign. 

Interestingly, the costume shop with the sewing machines is on one of the top floors, with a fantastic view and windows.  I must confess, in my years of theatre, I never saw such a thing. 

Peek into the sunny costume shop.

There’s also a room that was created especially for the last Tsar, in his favorite color: deep red.  It has a few pieces of furniture and has a special acoustic feature.  Two, really.  According to our tour guide, he was a soft-spoken person, so standing in the middle of the room amplifies the speaker’s voice above what is normal.  You can speak in a normal voice and it echoes through the room.  Apparently, you can also stand in one corner and hear a person in the opposite corner as if they were standing right next to you.

Red.

Now, I’m still learning about the history of Russia and how it all worked, but what I understand is that the Bolsheviks were completely against the royals and the oligarchy that existed when they came into power.  Their influence brought the communism into Russia, swiftly and with great force.  They destroyed churches in addition to anything that was indicated the old ways of the Tsar.  Hence our surprise that the Bolshoi even exists.  Nearly every piece of the architecture and décor has a piece of Tsarist Russia in it.  Well, our tour guide says that when they first migrated to Moscow and gained power, the communist party couldn’t find many spaces to meet all together.  So, the size of the Bolshoi allowed for meetings of the group and thus was spared.  Eventually, they moved closer to Red Square, to the Kremlin, but for that time, this was all they could do. 

Imperial Russian decor.

The Bolshoi, I believe, is most famous for the ballerinas, and there is a fun fact of the space that makes this even more impressive than it already is.  They tell us that the Bolshoi stage is graded to make the action more visible to the audience.  So, the stage, where dancers stand on their toes and twirl around, is actually raked.  I honestly cannot fathom this, particularly since I am dancing on a regular basis and can barely keep my balance with a flat floor and a bar.  It is a bragging right of a Bolshoi ballerina, because the stage has a special floor to level it when a traveling troupe comes into the country.  The Bolshoi ballerinas are tough enough to manage a hill as they gracefully move about the stage.

The small chandelier.

We were fortunate to get to go into a practice space and see the prima ballerina and her partner practicing one of the duets, possibly of Sleeping Beauty.  They danced over and over again, and we saw the same piece three or four times before we quietly exited the room.  It looked so incredible from the beginning, and as we watched, the turns got a little sharper, and the chemistry a tiny bit better.  It took every single view to see the improvements that were made.  But… the mastery and the skill level… it was unfathomable.

A fun little gift we got when we left was a tiny little pointe shoe.  I even got a red one, which I was told was good luck. J

The First Russian Hockey Game

I attended my first Russian hockey game last week, with a few friends from school.  We didn’t really know what to expect; other co-workers had told us that the games were silent, that we could hear players talking on the ice with the silence in the arena.  I had trouble believing this, considering my last hockey game was so loud that I could barely hear the person next to me, but Russia has been full of surprises.

The floating blimps.

So, we met at the door of our building, got on the Metro to the other side of town, and walked in the cold (it’s about 10 degrees F most days now) to the arena.  It’s massive, with a ton of concrete space out front for meeting.  There were security stations at every door, and the women’s line with the female guard was short enough for us to get through with no issue.  And inside, the typical hockey arena.  It is food, gear, door, followed by food, gear, door.  The special Russian touch, though… is the coat check area.  I’ve never been someplace with so many coat checks in so many locations.

Ice dancer cheerleaders.

This brand new arena is what they’ve built for the Moscow home team: Dynamo. 

The game we saw was Dynamo versus their rival from St. Petersburg: SKA. (This is not to be confused with CSKA, a more local team also in Moscow).

Waiting for the team to emerge.

We got into our door (finally, after walking through the circle of the arena and passing our door with the way the signs fell).  We had our tickets checked by a man in a vest, and went down to our seats behind one of the nets.  On our seats were these cardstock announcements with the Dynamo logos, pieces that we could fold as a noisemaker.  How useful they were when hit against the palm of your hand.

Quick huddle.

As we waited for the game to start, there was an emcee on the ice getting the crowd riled up.  There was a mascot (a blue wolf) who also riled successfully.  There were some figure skating ladies dancing on the ice. 

The SKA cheering section.

We found out that alcohol is not sold for the general population, which appears to be a theme at the public events. 

Folding paper thing.

The game was also quite nice.  First period saw SKA open with a goal, then Dynamo retaliate with a goal that had the crowd wild.  There was a section in the nosebleed seats that was a SKA flavored cheering section.  They had a large drum that they beat in time to make cheers.  The large Dynamo section was at the other end of the arena from us, behind the other net.  They were considerably noisier and had a flag that was almost constantly in motion.  There were also cheerleaders that came to cheer on the steps around us, spaced throughout the arena.

I must say, I was most disappointed with the lack of fighting.  The Pens get in fights about every 10 minutes, but we only saw one skirmish and it didn’t involve the gloves thrown on the floor.  Even the penalty box was relatively clear, just a couple of players in for small infractions.  One of the bigger parts of the game was sticks left on the ice and knocked out of the hands of the players.

This ref. This ref was the best.

However, I wouldn’t fight with the refs that were in the game either.  There was one ref that kept telling the face off players to switch because they had moved too quickly, or kept watching the circle to ensure that no one was getting too close to the action before the puck was thrown.  He kept the players in line with his whole demeanor, chastising them for every toe that crept too far past the circle. 

A crushing defeat.

Sadly, Dynamo fell in the third period after a clever goal by SKA that pushed them into the lead, but the game was close, and remarkably entertaining.  Certainly an experience to repeat, and a quite inexpensive one at that.  It was not a quiet match at any moment, and the crowd was never silent enough that we could hear the players on the ice. 

In fact, I learned a new word: “dvai,” which I believe means, “come on!”  One man was repeating it over and over again for his team: SKA.

The Military Tattoo

Rapidly losing sunshine.

Allow me to set the scene.

Friday afternoon, after school.  It's a beautiful day, with the sun shining bright.  It's brisk, fall weather, a perfect temperature even for those of us who feel such comfort in the tropical heat.  My friends and I took the metro underground to the stop that is right behind the Bolshoi Theatre.  It's full of people milling about, because of a couple big things happening, one of which is a large science themed exhibition.  We kept seeing these science themed kiosks, with chemistry themed pictures on them.  Of course, the insides of the kiosks were moderately tame: coffee, souvenirs, fur hats, food, food, kebabs.  There was even a band playing some sort of music, though it was a bit far away.

He's the happy one.

We were very close to the center of Moscow.  This isn't just a saying, in fact.  Right outside of the gates to Red Square, there is a brass circle laid into the bricks.  It is the very center of Moscow, and all of the city is built around it.  The area is open, large, sprawling, and easily filled with people on a busy day.

Right before this center of Moscow, though, and the gates to Red Square, there was a line of metal detectors and police guards, and the inside of Red Square was nearly empty.  As one of the biggest tourist attractions in the city, you can imagine how rare this is.  We also heard bagpipes, and saw a few gals dressed up like belles, selling pictures with themselves and fighting off oglers. We decided to go into the Square quite early, so we gave our tickets to the men standing guard, got searched and metal-detected, and walked into an empty Red Square.

There were a few people milling about, eating the kebobs and street food on offer.  Some bleachers had been set up looking over a horse field, where people from Central Asia (perhaps Kazakhstan, but unsure) were riding back and forth in beautiful traditional garb, holding people above their shoulders as they rode.  I'm sure there were more tricks, but we became distracted by savory crepes and military men with hawks.  This non-smiling face you see is, in fact, the face we saw the whole time.  There was another one who smiled even less, which I'm sure you find hard to believe.  They were showing off their animals, and that was all.

View from the seat.

As we went forward, we found a gingerbread gun (which Rorey bought, which wasn't very delicious), the Scottish marching band that marched straight through this walkway with their bagpipes, and the giant stadium where the tattoo was taking place.

And so, we went to find our seats in the still empty stadium.  We were quite early, having been warned that security and the number of people sometimes become overwhelming.  We had this gorgeous view of St. Basil's Cathedral, and of a completely empty space in the middle.  Now, I came into this Tattoo without a full comprehension of its purpose.  I knew that there were Military Bands.  I knew that it was highly recommended for all the people.  I knew that it was fun.  I didn't have many expectations, but, they were shattered in the face of what I saw.

There was an announcer, speaking like the start of a boxing match in guttural Russian.  The first band emerges from the St. Basil's side, slowly marching towards the center.  They get into formation as the church bells toll.  The arena lights up red, and loud marching music fills the air.  I was thrilled from this moment forwards.

But wait, there's more.

Apparently, Military Tattoos also showcase their soldiers, and the gun twirling tricks that they have somehow picked up.  So, this particular band (Slovakia perhaps?) also had a long line of men acting as one with their gun movements.

Now, this was one of the more... traditional... Military Tattoo bands of the evening.  Things got a little ridiculous throughout the evening.

For example.

Scotland was there, with all the bagpipes.  Their set included a handful of pretty lady dancers with the coolest argyle socks and matching sweaters you've ever seen.  They were, of course, driven into the arena in fancy cars.

Hello Scotland.

During one set, a band played the Game of Thrones intro theme followed by an 80s song with a lady singer (who I believe also played clarinet?)

Mongolia had the most amazing outfits, with golden, tall, pointed helmets and a rainbow of colors.  Their set included the trumpet making horse-like sounds, and three traditionally dressed dancers who whirled around as the music picked up speed.

Mongolia, you win the beauty contest.

One band had a point where baton twirlers and the majority of the band surrounded a tuba player, then as he played one long, low, sound, they all fell to the ground as if collapsing from the power of the note.

Singapore had an identity crisis on the stage.  They had bagpipes in their band.  They had an Indonesian/Malaysian dressed drumline that jammed out on the stage.  Their dancers were dressed in a Chinese style, with long flowing costumes that had scarves at the hands.  And, they ended up playing both Bollywood and popular modern songs.

Belarus was among the favorites.  Hip music, fantastic formations, and all in all amazing work.

At some point, there was a featured singer (two even).  They were, in all honesty, my least favorite part of the evening.  But, the crowd went insane for them.  The famous lady was French, and she has a cult like following here.  It messed up my Tattoo groove, but the rest of the stadium was very excited.

All through the night, the Cathedral was lit up to match the colors of the performances.  It was neon, it was blue, it was white as snow....

And, at the end of this remarkable event, the Moscow University Marching corps came out, playing national favorites which the whole stadium sang.  They also wove in "Happy" by Pharrell, somehow.  They were the last set before the grand finale... which was...

Every band coming out onto the stage and performing a couple of songs as one giant mega band.

And then, in true Moscow fashion... fireworks.