When I was growing up© there were 2 kinds of cooking oil: refined and unrefined sunflower oil. Until the 1970’s all the oil was unrefined, but eventually the more expensive refined oil was introduced to the Soviet People. Sunflower was the main source of cooking oil in the USSR which is amazing, considering that the sunflower plant is native to the North America, where it’s currently not nearly as popular. Olive oil was so rarely available that I don’t recall us ever having it at the house. The oil came to the store in giant metal 55 gallon drums, the hand-pump was installed on top so the oil could be dispensed. An oil-seeking customer had to bring his own jar or a bottle – the store couldn’t be bothered with the packaging.

As a matter of fact, there were hardly any prepackaged foods at that time, store clerks weighed and wrapped everything to order, which contributed to the long lines.

At the time the unrefined oil wasn’t my favorite because of its pronounced smell and taste of the roasted sunflower seeds, but a few years ago I tried a salad dressed with it and realized how much I missed that taste.

Unrefined oil is pressed from the sunflower seeds with minimal processing allowing it to retain its natural taste. The byproduct of the oil production used to look like this…

…and is normally used for feeding cattle. During the starvation years of the WWII it was considered a treat for the people and my parents recalled eating it in their younger ears. I tried it once, it’s just compressed sunflower seed shells and solids and it tastes accordingly.

Locally the unrefined sunflower oil can be purchased at the Russian store (as much as I advertise for them anonymously I should never have to pay for anything there, ever!).

Look for the similar words as I underlined on the bottom of this label “нерафинированное” which means “unrefined”. There is usually an English label as well, but the one I have didn’t say if it was unrefined. Refined oil has no taste, so there is no point of making a trip to get it there. 1 liter bottle is $4.19.

This oil is good on salads as well as for cooking; pan-fried potatoes are my favorite. However, I want to emphasize that it has a fairly strong smell and taste, which may be too much for some people, but if you don’t mind extra virgin olive oil you shouldn’t have a problem with the sunflower oil either.

On your trip to the Russian store make sure to pick up some smoked fish, a jar of pickled tomatoes and, of course, some candy.

And now we dance – Natasha Koroleva “Sunflowers”

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNm3X76FXD4

*photo of the Soviet store was taken here.

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Some toys end up at the mass grave at the Community Yard Sale:



This is one morbid-looking doll:

Sturdy Play Suit – made for hard play (if you know what I mean):

A pin from a lot more innocent times:

Naked golf balls no more:

Other toys get to live in the museum:

Jewel Secrets Ken – draw your own conclusions:

In the hindsight it might have been inappropriate to write “my arms and legs are pauseable”, “ages 3 and up”, and “no batteries required” on a Pee-Wee Herman doll. If you own an Ernest talking doll, you might be a redneck:

Some PEZ dispensers:



Lastly, you may have seen these “urban toys” before:

I guess these peope got their inspiration from the “Bag O’ Glass”, “Bag O’ Vipers”, “Bag O’ Sulfuric Acid”, etc.

Where would these end up in 20 years – the dump or in the museum? Time will tell.

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There are so many websites covering all things food around this town that another one is hardly needed, however, I feel it’s my duty to continue with the coverage of cheap foods and places that don’t rip you off.

I recently visited La Cocinita Mexicana – a place where my friend Chimpotle has been grazing lately gaining fat for upcoming winter hibernation. This place is located in a usual Johnson County strip mall so despised by people looking for “character” from across the county line. I am happy to admit that I never ate in Mexico outside of the buffets of Cancun so I will not be judging authenticity of the food, it looked Mexican to me and everyone behind the counter was speaking Spanish, which is the case for many restaurants around here, including Chinese. The owner/manager/chef XX was extremely enthusiastic and insisted that we try a variety of fillings before we made our selections. He mentioned several times that they are better than Chipotle, I would have to agree. Two large tacos, one good tamale and a Mexican pop – little over $7, that’s my kind of place. Both tacos – beef and chicken – were pretty spicy, with good amount of filling and plenty of toppings we chose from the topping bar. I’d definitely go there again for good food, low prices, friendly staff. Plenty of seating is available.


Speaking of Mexican food, I finally bought salsa mix from Bebo at the City Market. I see Bebo at the Market every Saturday and he frequently calls into local radio shows never forgetting to plug his products after every conversation. A co-worker recently brought some excellent salsa to work and it was apparently made with one of the Mama Socorro’s mixes made by Chef Bebo (see I can play that “chef” game too).

Chef Bebo recommends to mix one package with a 28 OZ can of crushed tomatoes or a similar amount of chopped fresh tomatoes and let it set for 1 hour or overnight. Mine is doing it right now. Chef Bebo is offering other spice mixes and prepared salsas at the City Market and many local grocery stores. Here is another review of his products.

Lastly, as if this being the Best Kansas City Blog of 2008 and recent presidential elections were not enough to make you think that the secret communist takeover of this country is going on as planned, Russian vodka now has its own billboard over I-35.

“The Russians Are Coming” is so 1966. The Russians are already here…

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@kcmeesha is there anything you haven’t blogged about?

@theDLC

As my friend The DLC pointed out, I have now blogged just about everything and now pathetically spend my time posting links to my own blog, where I previously opined on whatever subject is being discussed. I constantly catch myself thinking about writing something just to discover that I wrote about it at length last year or the year before. That’s why when we came back from the apple orchard on Sunday all I had to do is search and find my last year’s post about apples and another one about the apple recipes. Even my photos looked the same – the same place, the same apples. Luckily we made a little detour or I would’ve had nothing at all.
The Main Street in the city of Ottawa, KS hasn’t changed much since the old days. As a matter of fact it looks very similar to the old photos of Neosho, MO I recently posted, they must have used some standard project for the smaller rural towns.
This is what the Main St. in Ottawa, KS looked like in 1942:

This is what it looks like now:



We got off the highway in Ottawa to wait for the apple orchard to open and promptly found ourselves in the middle of the antique car show known as  Ol’Marais River Run. I don’t consider myself a giant car fan and all the talk about cubic inches, shaved hoods and custom paint jobs does nothing for me, but it’s hard not to stand in awe admiring the time when a car was a work of art. These cars may not have been the safest or the most technologically advanced but they represent the era when the car was still a wonder, an object of pride, an engineering dream trimmed with chrome.

Due to some peculiar historic and political circumstances the cars of my childhood looked almost identical to these, so strangely these shows are just as nostalgic for me as they are for someone who grew up here.

The car show had a feel of a State Fair complete with signage:

…Elvis and Marylin:

…delicious food:


…Republican Party:

…and boyscouts:

In the olden days, before the Ad Wizards took over our lives, the states had simple nicknames. Nebraska was known as a “Beef State”:

Iowa had to settle for the “Pork State”, Alabama went with the “Heart of Dixie”

Arizona called itself “The Grand Canyon State”

and Missouri was known as it is known now as “The State That Thinks It’s Better Than Other States But Is Sadly Mistaken” but is was hard to fit on the license plate.
After the show we finally made it to the orchard:

This year seems to be one of the best years for apples, trees were heavy with fruit.

I spent a few minutes on the pond:

enjoying the wildlife:

Here is what the pond sounds like:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a28tgsr3jRg

We picked 25 lbs of apples:

…paid a visit to the country store:

Took another look at the giant apple in the sky where all the worms go after they die:

…and were home in no time.

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Trans World Airlines has a special place in American History. On October 21, 1992 a special anniversary flight from Moscow to New York (via Brussels) brought my family and me to this country, full of hopes, dreams and dressed up in full-blown winter attire on a nice 70F fall day.
TWA is now a fading memory but some photos from the Life Magazine Archives may remind you of the olden days when the word “stewardess” wasn’t frowned upon, smoking was cool and the sexism was a solid corporate policy.

According to this article TWA was training the stewardesses at the corporate headquarters until the opening of the Breech Academy in 1969. More on TWA here but the link at the top of this post will let you take a look at the original TWA website. The rest of the photos are here.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iZV4JW0Nbo

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXPwn_HaZm0

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