Russian Gourmet: Kompot
When I was growing up© the ultimate summer non-alcoholic drinks were kompot and kvas. Kompot is a fruit drink made by boiling available fruits with sugar and then letting it chill. I am not sure if there is any recipe for a kompot, almost any imaginable fruit and berry can be used. Apples, peaches, plums, pears, strawberries, blueberries and especially sour cherries make the most delicious drink in about 20 minutes. Just cut the fruits (you don’t even have to peel the apples if you don’t feel like it) and add all of the ingredients to the pot of water. It still should be mostly water, it’s a drink not a meal. When it boils, add sugar to taste. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes – no need for the fruits to disintegrate. Turn the heat off and leave covered to cool down. Kompot is the best when chilled and it only gets better after a day or two. In winter dried fruits can be used but dried fruits sold in this country are infused with sulfur dioxide to make them more presentable which coincidentally kills their taste.
Kompot tastes so good that people used to preserve (can) it for winter when not too many ingredients were available. It’s not some colored chemical compound that kids drink nowadays. Give it a try, you won’t go back!
Soon I will be making kvas and will post about it then.
Continue reading →Holocaust Remembrance Day: Extermination of Odessa Jews
The Holocaust Remembrance day falls on May 2 this year and in the few following posts I will publish several documents concerning the treatment of the Jewish population in my hometown of Odessa, Ukraine issued by the Romanian Authority which occupied Odessa from 1941-1944.
At the beginning of the occupation there were 80,000-90,000 Jews who did not evacuate from Odessa. When the city was liberated on April 10, 1944 there were reportedly only 600 left. Somewhere in the Odessa Region my 6-year old Father survived in the ghetto with help from kind people and lots of luck. The area where he lived with my Grandmother was occupied by the Italians who were not very enthusiastic about being in the war and their relative reluctance to torture and execute the Jews might have resulted in more survivors than in the areas controlled by Romanians who proved themselves to be ruthless murderers.
Many places in Odessa and the Region have memorial markers where the executions were conducted, such as a place where over 25,000 Jews were burned alive shortly after the occupation started. Unfortunately, I never stopped or paid attention to them, probably like most people. I saw more memorial markers today, while researching this post, than I remember seeing when I still lived in Odessa.
The Russian text is found in the National Archives of the Odessa Region, translation mine. If I have time and patience I will also try to translate a personal memoir written by a survivor; translation is a long and tedious process, and even though I start with a machine translation, it still doesn’t always come out right. Feel free to let me know if I can correct some grammar or spelling errors.
Continue reading →Let The Alcohol Brighten Up Your Holidays
For thousands of years alcoholic beverages drastically improved countless holiday parties on every continent in every political and social system. Here is an appropriate illustration from the Life Magazine Archives taken in Leningrad in 1956.
Before:
After:
Caption reads:A party at the home of a so-called “typical Soviet worker”, the Dmitriev family. The father, a skilled metal worker, is actually a member of the Communist Party & does much side work for it, so they live far above working class average. (the line about side work for the Communist Party doesn’t make any sense to me, not sure what it means).
Continue reading →Old Photos: Kansas City 1954
I’ve used a few photos from this batch in my previous posts about the tough looks of old-time bosses, about a day in life of a Kansas City Ford dealer (this one received a comment from someone in the photo), and about the schoolchildren visiting the Nelson-Atkins. These pictures were taken for the feature story “Kansas City and St.Louis: Picture portfolio shows some contrasts between striving city and a settled one“, published in March of 1954.
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Care And Feeding Of Old Folks
Before you bring old folks to your house make sure their shots are up to date and they are toilet-trained. Old folks like to sit around and watch TV, read newspapers or pretend to solve puzzles while secretly peeking into the back page for the answers. Leave your old folks plenty of room to walk and play. Keep your house temperature around 75F, old folks tend to feel cold. They will let you know they are hungry by shuffling around the house and aimlessly opening and closing the refrigerator. If you want to feed your old folks, there is no food they like better than “Old Folks” Country Sausage Gravy, and it says so right on the box! It’s fatty, nutritious and doesn’t require chewing. Remember to scratch your old folks behind the ear while they are eating, they will enjoy it.
After 4 weeks of feeding your old folks with the Country Sausage Gravy you will notice a youthful spring in their movements and a healthy shine in their hair. They may try to use their gravy-fed youthfulness to escape. Keep your doors locked at all times. If you properly care for and feed your old folks they will provide many years of fun and companionship.
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