Call you Nastya from now on, I will
Attention, don't copy the structure of the title in your own speaking or writing for it is just 'Yoda-speak' and a little joke to Anastasia/Nastya/Yoda, any of which we may call her now!
I read the description of Russian food and learnt something new. My knowledge of Russian cuisine is limited to dishes my husband likes and those on the menu at the numerous Russian eating houses here in Beijing. There are a couple called ‘Traktir’, a famous one called ‘The Elephant’ and one near the Russian embassy called ‘White Nights’. My husband, Rossen bought me some pirogi home this week from a restaurant, they were filled with minced beef and were in a broth that had onions, mushrooms and slivers of liver (do you like my mini-alliteration there!). I wonder what ‘saulty soup’ is, is this a typo for salt soup!! Surely not because who would eat soup that is basically brine! I’m sure you’ll clear this up in your reply. I agree that Russian food is not exotic, but it is hearty and heart-warming and is what we call ‘comfort food’. I am not a mad lover of soups in general however for borsch I can make a huge exception as I adore it. Rossen sometimes makes a huge pot of it for us, it takes him 4 hours to make and takes us 4 days to eat as he makes so much of it. For me, it has to have huge dollops of sour cream and copious amounts of dill. Talking soups, have you ever tried Thai soups? They are amazingly good, my all- time favourite being ‘Tom Yum Goong’, it really is a taste sensation. Do you have any foreign restaurants in your city Anastasia? In Beijing there are loads and loads so it’s lucky for people like me who live to eat. By the way, look at this picture of a huge steak I ate on my last visit to the UK. It weighed 32oz and the manager of the pub made a bet with me that I couldn’t manage to clear the plate. I was victorious, to everyone’s surprise I polished it off and I won a free dessert (strawberry cheesecake) that I couldn’t even eat one bite of as I was ready to burst! 
I don’t eat this much every day, honest! I just was in the mood for a big slab of cow. I apologise to all the vegetarians out there who might find the picture and the description I just wrote repulsive but ‘each to his own’ as we say in English. Who can tell me what that means?
This week, Rossen went to the Russian embassy to do the paperwork for a new passport. I thrust the camera in his hands as he was walking out the door and gave him strict instructions to come home with pictures of the Embassy for you to have a look at. The picture he took (below) isn’t very inspiring but it is from outside looking at the main gates, the reason the Russian embassy in Beijing is worth mentioning is that it is the biggest embassy (by area) in the world. Don’t say I never teach you anything!! That is your trivial knowledge for today
I loved your love story! Is the tale of Mr. Rabbit and his friends going to become an epic? Have you ever thought of writing children’s books for a living?! I think you have a flair for creative writing. It seems as if you have a penchant for animal stories too. About your corrections, they were all right except 2 and 3, just see below
2) Not to the extent where you know all the important names. There, I have said it (it only required changing ‘here’ to ‘there’, a nit picky error)
3) The construction is to be on the edge of one’s nerves, so your sentence should be ‘we are all on the edge of our nerves at the moment’
How are you spending this weekend? I taught two classes this morning and will go out in the sunshine later on-sorry that you are still under heavy snow. I almost feel guilty when I look at the blue sky and sun outside my window today but it’s still nippy here too. All the talk of food at the beginning of this blog made me peckish but now at the end of the blog, I could eat a horse so I’m signing off for today so I can raid the fridge!! Just to prove that I am not just an eating machine and I take my health, fitness and physique seriously, look at this picture of me training for the Beijing Olympics...
Look how hairy my armpits are!!!
If you are going to describe Russian weddings and related traditions in your next blog, how about sharing the story of how you and Alexander met? Don’t forget to tell us who proposed and how?!
Bye for now
Trudi
Vocabulary
eating house restaurant
sliver (n) very thin slice
alliteration (n) the same sound or letter at the beginning of two or more words together
brine (n) salty water
hearty (adj) large and filling
dollop (n) a lump of soft food
copious amounts of something lots and lots
victorious (adj) the winner, triumphant
polished it off finished it all up
ready to burst too full after overeating
slab of cow a huge beef steak
repulsive (adj) disgusting
trivial (adj) unimportant
epic (n) a long story with heroic deeds and exciting adventures
have a flair for natural ability to do something well
penchant (n) a special liking for something
nippy (adj) chilly, a bit cold
peckish (adj) a bit hungry
to eat a horse eat a lot
raid the fridge find things to eat from the fridge
physique(n) appearance and size of the body
Comments
Hi Trudi, I was bit out of touch last days as to read yours and Anastasia's blogs regularly. I read all of them now and felt i really missed to post my comments on them. Anyways, writing now and will go all out to enlist my posting in time. In this blog i could well realise the great interest of yours in presenting the blog with the spice of something new and different for us. your all attempts somehow encouraged me a lot to write back immediately. As you mentioned the ‘each to his own’ implys every one has his own choice, or have own ideas. This is what i could think of it by racking my brains. You mentioned about my growing good expression. The credit goes to the whole team of BBC. All are very worthy to be appreciated as dumb like could learn English more easily even have no one around to interact in second language. Now i have started job might get conducive ambiance to learn it more quickly. Trudi advise me please how could i learn idioms and phrasal verbs rapidly. I dont want to be tagged as finding shotcuts to learn the language but want to increase my pace by doing differnt activies. tell me where on net i could find the best exercises to solve them as to get my concepts clear. This problem is difficult to hack but i hope you must have some solution or suggestion for it. thanks for your encouraging me. Love for little Teah and best regards for you. bye
Hi Trudi, I was bit out of touch last days as to read yours and Anastasia's blogs regularly. I read all of them now and felt i really missed to post my comments on them. Anyways, writing now and will go all out to enlist my posting in time. In this blog i could well realise the great interest of yours in presenting the blog with the spice of something new and different for us. your all attempts somehow encouraged me a lot to write back immediately. As you mentioned the ‘each to his own’ implys every one has his own choice, or have own ideas. This is what i could think of it by racking my brains. You mentioned about my growing good expression. The credit goes to the whole team of BBC. All are worthy to be appreciated as dumb like could learn English more easily even having no one around to interact in second language. Now i have started job might get conducive ambiance to learn it more quickly. Trudi advise me please how could i learn idioms and phrasal verbs rapidly. I dont want to be tagged as finding shotcuts to learn the language but want to increase my pace by doing differnt activies. tell me where on net i could find the best exercises to solve them as to get my concepts clear. This problem is difficult to hack but i hope you must have some solution or suggestion for it. thanks for your encouraging me. Love for little Teah and best regards for you. bye
Hello Trudi :-) How to understand a woman? First you say you are not a lover of soups, then you say that you adore borsch, then that Thai soups are amazingly good and that 'Tom Yum Goong' is your all-time favourite. Next strange thing about you is that you are slim and say that you live to eat. I know some women who say 'I don't live to eat but I eat to live' and they are not as slim as you. By the way, not only your armpits are hairy but your physique is definitely male :-) Have fun - wherever you are and whenever you can!
Hello Trudi! Wow! What a plate you´ve eaten :-). Anyway, could you take the dessert to home with you? I guess 'each to his own' means that every person have the right to chose his or her personal preferences and tastes; you chose what is better for you. Well, I´m looking forward to seeing the right asnwer. Have a nice Sunday, Ana Paula.
Hi,Trudi How are you and all your family? Especially how is your honey pie,Teah? It was my son's shool's half-term last week and I ran around like a headless chicken to entertain him... but "hooray"!he's gone back to school and I have enjoyed me time,which is luxurious and peaceful for a coulple of hours. I am trying to give you an answer which you asked us the meaning of "each to his own" last week. i think it means that everyone has their own oppinions.I hope it is right.Oh, no! when I saw your bush on your armpitS i covered my eyes with my hands but when I saw Nastya's more hairy armpits i thought it was in fashion.So I might stop waxing and go with flow(ha ha ha..).Have a good day!xx
Hello! Nice to meet you=) You are really very strong and sport woman=) I am going to go to Beijing this summer, i just have to get an olimpic ticket it won`t be easy, but i`ll try=) I am occupated with archery...hope to find you in China if you will be still there=)
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