Junebug

OK, since it looks like I'm averaging a sad two and three-quarters posts per month, I should update you on the second half of May before delving into the first few days of June.

If you have looked at our photos or our videos recently, you know that we enjoyed a wet ride somewhere southwest of Vlad a short while ago. The irony was, Dan went back to a location about 150 meters north of where we forded that river/road three days later, to visit a nature preserve where some of the severely endangered Amur leopards live. (There is an interesting Voice of America piece whose second half is devoted to the leopards here and a World Wildlife Fund report on the recent incident that inspired Dan's trip here.)

There wasn't a whole lot more to report from late last month, other than another trip to the waterfront here in town for shashlyk and beer. Fortunately we were able to enjoy it some, despite the fact that this followed a very stressful departure from home, leaving Anya with a babysitter. We've moved her bedtime later, but we still don't have a regular babysitter who she's used to and who can come and play with her and put her to bed with a minimum of fuss. Last Thursday was the first of our attempts to do this (i.e. have someone come before she was already asleep), and hopefully it will only get better. (Well, seeing how upset Anya -- and subsequently I -- was that evening, I don't really see how it could realistically get worse.)

So, how is our June shaping up?

Well...., on Saturday we went to the mall. I guess we are about at that point in our stay here in Russia where we actually don't feel bad about doing that for an afternoon. Meaning, heck, we have no shame, why not spend an afternoon doing something wholly American in Vladivostok, as much as that can be recreated here? We found a store, "Oggi," that wasn't too expensive, selling women's clothing that was a good combination of fun and feminine and stylish, without being either garish, too expensive, or too cheaply made. I bought a couple of things.

We used our fold-up "umbrella" stroller that my mom got us in early February for what I am slightly sheepish to admit is the first real time on an outing beyond the area surrounding our house. Vlad is just not made for strollers (you'll see this when you visit, Mom), but I knew that the shopping center we were headed to had escalators, which makes it one of the few places in Vlad where a stroller is practical. Also, Anya is still growing into the stroller, and she's still a little small for it now. She's still a little slumpy no matter how you position her in the seat. But using it yesterday reminded me how nice and light it is, and how easily it folds up, so now I think we'll use it more when we go down to the waterfront and other specific destinations where you know there'll be level ground or not a great amount of stairs to climb.

We had a disappointing dinner out at Syndicate, the local steakhouse modeled on a (Russian interpretation of an) Al Capone, gangster theme that I described in an earlier post. We went there Saturday night with colleague out from Moscow on a short-term visit.

The prices had all gone up not insignificantly, including the sorry $10 per draught beer -- just too much. Entrees and everything had risen, too. I had an overpriced entree and a bottled Stella Artois; Dan and Cathy had burgers, and Dan splurged for a salad and a draught dark Leffe. Burger was very disappointing -- hard, dry, surrounded and overwhelmed by the fixings, too greasy to effectively eat without it spurting out from the bun and its sauces and trappings. Stellas weren't bad. My meal took forever to come; Dan and Cathy had finished their meals before mine arrived. The live music wasn't bad -- a jazz guitar trio. Too loud when we first got there, but we got used to it.

After the meal we headed for the waterfront, to drink another cheaper beer in a downmarket setting. Unfortunately we didn't know the place kind of closes down at 10:30. The shashlyk and beer places on the part of the waterfront that juts out into the harbor were nearly empty, and it was just as well, since the fog was coming in and it was getting chilly. (One of the only ways in which Vlad really is like San Francisco is the microclimate thing, and the way you need to always remember a jacket or sweater when you go out in on a warm evening, since it is guaranteed to cool down quite a bit.)

On Sunday, another great midday eating and walking around outside out at the Canadian brunch place and a walk in the sun, followed by the very sour disappointment of having bought the wrong Zodiac. After careful research by Dan on some films that got relatively high marks on the Tomatometer, including the recently-released "Zodiac," we bought a DVD of the less recent, shockingly low-rated "The Zodiac." (The lack of definite articles in Russian of course aided our mistake....) Also, the version of "Black Orchid" that we bought was of such poor production value (ahem, I realize I ask a lot, given the provenance of the disks) that we couldn't hear the undubbed English. (The movie looked terrible anyway, but, trust me, the muffled sound didn't help matters.)

Well, generally a couple of up and down days recently, but capped by an interesting evening last night among local and visiting historians. I'll presumably have more from the upcoming days of the conference they were gathered for, so stay tuned.

Back to the Blog

"Last post on April 7" -- ack! That smarts!
I have left this blog thing for way too long without any additions. I guess my only explanation is that, with the spring weather, we've just had much more opportunity to get out, and there hasn't seemed to be any time to write an update. But I'll try to get back to basics and add short posts more frequently after this one.

For now, here is a digest of the news collected over the past month:

China
As our photos on Flickr help to show, we made a successful trip to China with colleagues from Vlad's diplomatic community in the first half of April. It was really a fascinating visit, moreso than either Dan or I (and probably Anya) ever expected. I guess neither of the two of us adults ever really took a special interest in China, and so perhaps we didn't know what to expect. And perhaps it was particularly interesting to take the trip from Russia, with all the comparisons and juxtapositions in the forefront of our minds. Whatever it was, we both really felt extremely curious to know more about the place, the culture, etc., and it felt like a refreshingly new environment, after our time in Russia, which of course is just the latest in a long history of traveling to the former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc for both of us.

Two impressions of China:
(a) Chinese people really do have a remarkable love of babies. The first time we got out of the bus on a city street in the town of Hunchun, we could barely walk around, because at every step someone -- interestingly, both women and men -- remarked at Anya, approached us, talked to us, spoke to Anya in an animated way, squealed with delight, touched Anya's cheeks, etc. I guess I can see how that would get old (we know one diplomatic family with kids who were in Beijing, and the kids started just slapping away the loving hands after a while!), but it was quite interesting, and marked for us on our short visit. It was definitely not the same response a baby inspires in Europe or America.

(Well, I'm sure the people in the rooms closest to ours in the hotel in Yanji were not professing a love of babies, especially on the second night. Somehow this part has faded in my memory, despite the fact that Anya's crying kept us up almost all night that second night. And I think both Dan and I would agree that the trip was worth it overall, although we were cursing the idea all through that terrible night. I'm not sure what the answer is for future trips -- always shelling out for a suite, with separate room for Anya to sleep in? I'm not sure whether it was tough for her to sleep with us right there in the room, or whether the problem was the unfamiliar place and noises...)

And (b) even in smaller (by Chinese standards) provincial cities, that sense of wide open boulevards and impressive -- perhaps even oppressive -- public space that I must have gotten from pictures of Beijing, was also confirmed. Public spaces were also remarkably quite clean and tidy. This probably interests us more because we were visiting from Russia: most Russians who heard we were going warned us to be careful, especially taking a baby, that "China is dirty." (This from people whose own city can kind of look like a garbage dump in places, of course. Some people from here are able to see that and feel badly about, but I guess enough do not recognize it.)

OK, probably not the most interesting observations to you, but that was what impressed us.

Also the trip was a fun chance to meet local folks, actually more local officials and honorary consuls of foreign countries who were Russian rather than other foreigners.

Getting Out

We've really been enjoying the chance to get out more here in Vlad, with the weather so much better. We've enjoyed the great outdoors at some spots outside of town, and we've tried several new restaurants and eateries in town. As you'll see from our recent photos, Anya is getting really tan from all of her time spent outdoors with us and with her nanny, Marina.

The weekend before May Day was gorgeous, and that Sunday it got into the mid-80s F -- actually quite hot! We started out with brunch at the crazy little Canadian hotel and restaurant outside of town that is our guilty pleasure, and we followed our meal with a stroll in the park near the water that I described in an earlier post (when we went for a winter walk there, with the ice skaters and the ice fishers and strollers out on the ice). It was such a lovely day -- the brunch place had tables out on the patio for the first time this season, and the park was great, everyone out with their picnics, obligatory 100 grams of vodka, etc., and even some brave sunbathers. By mid-afternoon we ended up at a colleague's dacha for barbecued pork and other goodies, which was also lots of fun. Anya had a great time just playing with the grass in the yard, the first time she experienced this green stuff.

In town, our spring outings pretty much began with the Indian Weekend -- 5 Indian navy ships visited Vlad for joint exercises with the Russian Pacific Navy Fleet, and there were several events in honor of this first visit of its kind. We took Anya to a presentation of Indian dance at the city theater, which she actually seemed to like. Probably the interesting shiny costumes and movement caught and held her attention. Dan and I got to attend a reception at a new Indian restaurant in town, which was fun and held great potential for future dining. (We also cooked our first Indian meal at home, but that belongs in a different section. See below.)

Since then we've also tried out a surprisingly successful local brew-pub type of place and a pretty good seafood restaurant whose interior was very pleasant. The funny thing about the latter is that it is almost the only real thing to go to that is within walking distance of our house (except the grocery store and little shopping center that we often go to, and have gone to from the time we first arrived, when we went everywhere on foot). For some reason we just hadn't made an effort to try the restaurant -- probably for fear that it would be overpriced and bad. But after Dan and a colleague stopped by and ran into a local official whom we met on our China trip and heard his high reviews of the place, we decided to try it. We were very happy with our meal -- an octopus appetizer, a mussel salad, a salmon steak entree, and a curry seafood dinner plate.

All of this exploring is aided by the fact that we put out a call for more babysitters, and we've tried two new ones in the past week. It helps to have a handful of names of interested and reliable people, since up to now we have really just had one woman to call upon for evenings.

Staying In

Since the kid does require us (or a proxy) to be here while she snoozes all night, we've also been trying to liven up evenings when we're stuck at home:

• We officially rang in the start of the 'cuing season with some mixed grill for dinner guests one Saturday and two delicious burger nights for me and Dan.
• On a warm evening while Melissa was visiting in mid-April we invented a new cocktail: the "Rumdowner." Dark rum, Grenadine, a dash of bitters, and peach juice, shaken over ice. Mmmmm... it has become a drink of choice to take out on the balcony on a light spring evening.
• As I mentioned above, after finding some key ingredients we finally made our signature Indian dishes -- dry spice-encrusted lamb, and bhagan bharta (eggplant puree). That took a trip to the meat market and getting over the weird fear that I still have about the open food markets. It is some combination of not wanting to get ripped off, not wanting to get sick from meat that is butchered or kept in the open market, and just generally not liking the attention that always gets thrown your way as a potential customer (and probably an obviously foreign one) in the markets. Dan forced me to go and participate in a purchase of lamb, which did help me, and now I try to go regularly to get our produce at this one market. Also the lamb dish requires curry leaves, which we found for sale in a freeze-dried form at the local Hari Krishna vegetarian restaurant. (!) The dishes themselves turned out great, even if the "lamb" was a little more toward mutton and next time could use a bit more stewing time. Now we need to branch out more within Madhur Jaffrey's repertoire and make some new dishes.

Vlad Eats

I've been thinking of writing something about the food we're eating over here, and this weekend provided one interesting thing to say about that. We tried a recently opened restaurant called "Syndicate," a 1920s-, Al Capone-, Prohibition-themed steakhouse. I know, sounds cheesy. The logo here also would indicate that this is a place to be avoided. But, remember, we are in Vladivostok. We have limited options. So we went.

Be advised that the restaurants here in Vlad -- well, for that matter, most foods and manufactured products -- are actually no cheaper than in the US, and in many cases much more expensive.
A while back we poked our heads into a sushi place in downtown Vlad that people say is good, and were shocked to see that a small dinner of a few rolls, which probably wouldn't even fill us up, could easily cost over $100. The expense is not surprising in a place like shiny, world-famous Moscow, but that bite out of your wallet hurts a little more in a place like Vlad.

So we knew that Syndicate might be a little pricey. And we expected cheesy. But we went, together with a colleague and his girlfriend, and it was actually a quite a positive surprise! Dan in particular was raving about the place for hours after we went. It was not really overly expensive, considering that it's steak we're talking about. And the steak was surprisingly good -- cooked to just the level of done-ness that Dan wanted, pretty much medium-rare, and very juicy and flavorful. They evidently import their meat from Australia.

The interior was actually very comfortable and pretty -- lots of dark wood and brass, comfortable booths. The quiet recorded jazz playing when we first sat down was a welcome change from the booming dance music that is usually playing in places you go in Russia, and even the live music (played by two guys who probably unwittingly fit the contemporary visual stereotype of a Russian gangster very well -- a little scary), a violin and guitar, with the inevitable drum machine in the background, wasn't terrible.

One of our friends and I had burgers, which were not a total success (kind of just cooked, but not exactly tastily grilled -- probably also suffering from having been pre-formed patties, and also overwhelmed by all the other stuff that the "superburger" was dressed with). I think I'd get a steak next time. And as for the 'taters, as our friend said, "they have fry issues." Undercooked issues, to be precise. Our other friend had the seafood soup called "The Hudson is Resting" -- if anyone understands that joke, please let me know, because our Russian friend laughed right away, but I wonder whether her interpretation is what an American would also assume was meant. Anyway, she thought the soup was very tasty. And, for Russia, the service was actually bordering on friendly. That was another reason we are thinking this may just turn out to be a regular place on our circuit.

Oh, and I almost forgot: dark Leffe beer on tap! As well as Hoegaarden and (according to the menu) Stella "Artua."

In other food news, Anya is taking to solid eats, as our Flickr pictures and YouTube videos recently showed. She is almost bored with rice cereal and has shown enthusiasm for applesauce and pureed pears. Next we are deciding between peas and plums. Both are waiting in our freezer, dolloped into little servings in an ice cube tray especially reserved for this purpose.

And we continue to prepare a range of food at home that is not half bad: homemade Mexican -- with refried beans from scratch -- is helped greatly by the tortillas we make at home, and by the Armenian lavash flatbread we use when we are lazy; Georgian stews have turned out well thanks to our adoptive Georgian mom's spice reserves and recipes; chili has turned out well in the slow cooker, and skillet cornbread was just as successful as at home; and we have even added a new pizza to our repertoire: thanks to our neighbor's deepdish pan that was the only form available before our household shipment arrived, we now make a pie that -- blasphemy, I know -- rivals SF Bay Area Zachary's!

P.S. I can already tell that this article is being read and forwarded by many back in the US, but I'll get on that bandwagon myself and say that the recent "Unhappy Meals" piece in the NYT Magazine has had me thinking even more critically about food lately. Although I have to say, the reason I am so in love with the article, and Michael Pollan's other recent writings, and itching to read his book, is that this just echoes so closely what I've been thinking about food and eating for a while already, independently of what Pollan or others are writing (despite my admiration of a good steak...).