blini, anyone?

It's Maslenitsa Week (the week when everyone is supposed to eat pancakes, after which comes the Great 40-days Fastening), so I'm here to share my favorite pancake recipe.

All right, I admit that it's the end of the week already; but I had no idea it's Maslenitsa. Thankfully, Sensei called from the monastery (he's still building the bell tower there) and asked if I made blini for the kids.

What?

Oh, I see. No, I didn't know it's Maslenitsa (no surprises here -- I'm completely lost in time most of the time), yes, of course I'll be making them.

So today we had a breakfast of delicious pancakes, and I thought I'd invite you over (it's a super easy recipe, and you most likely have all the ingredients in your kitchen anyway):

2 eggs
1 tbsp sugar
a pinch of salt
500 ml milk
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp baking powder (or 1 tsp soda)
200g flour

1. Mix everything in a bowl.













2. Make sure you have no lumps (those things in the picture are bubbles, not lumps -- obvious for most of you, but guys who have poor eyesight like me might get suspicious).

3. Put a pan on medium heat, oil* when it's hot and pour some dough. Spread it evenly (I shake the pan to the sides in circular motion).











4. Turn over in a few seconds.












5. Enjoy super simple, yet delicious pancakes.










They're good with almost anything you can imagine -- fish, meat, chicken, cream, honey, sugar, jam -- you name it.

Blini with salmon are my favorite. Or with honey, if I want them sweet.

Now off to eat them till there're a few left (these are super George-and-Alice-approved).

*this is how I oil a hot pan: take an onion (or a potato), cut it in half, stick a fork into it, put it in a saucer with oil, and then oil the pan with this oiled half-onion-on-a-fork. Do it before you pour dough for every pancake -- it gives it just the right amount of oil. I know there are fancier tools out there, but I prefer it the old school way.

Oh, and hey -- what's your favorite way to eat such pancakes?

fried cheesecakes

All right, I totally made this name up. Here in Russia we call these little pancakes "syrniki", but I'm yet to find a proper English name for them.

Basically they're just small pancakes made of curd or cottage cheese, and they do taste like fried cheesecake (hence the name). Personally, I'd trade them for a classic cheesecake any day (cause unlike your ordinary cheesecake they're hot, cute and have a delicious crust!) So easy to make, too.

Here's how:

2 tsp vanilla sugar

50 g sugar

2 eggs

100 g flour

400 g cottage cheese

1. Put a pan over medium heat. 

2. Mix eggs with cottage cheese.

3. Add sugar.   

4. Add flour. 

5. Mix till the dough looks like this.        

6. Pour oil into that preheated pan.          

7. Start making little balls of dough by rolling them in flour.

8. Press them a little bit.  

9. Admire rows of little flat cakes.

10. Fry them over medium heat.

11. Turn.

12. And enjoy! 

They might turn out so good that your kids are actually gonna fight for them.

a nice way to start a morning

I love tea, and I love coffee, and I love the process of making both just as much as I love the drinking (if not more). But not so long ago I decided to start a morning with a glass of lemon water (no worries, there's still time for tea and coffee later in the day), and I truly like it.

Here's how it goes:

I wash a lemon.

Slice it in half, and then slice one of the halves in half again.












Squeeze all the juice from one fourth of a lemon into a glass of water.












And then drink it!

Yes, shocker, I know. Such a new and sophisticated idea. But I like the taste, it's fresh and awakening, and it sort of tunes me on healthy living. So I thought I'd share.

how to make pancakes

These are the greatest, the easiest and tastiest pancakes I know. Made for breakfast today (and would be made for breakfast every day if my son were in charge).

Here's how to:

2 eggs

5 tbsp sugar
500 ml kefir (yogurt)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
250 g flour

1. Put a pan over medium heat.

 2. Mix eggs, sugar, salt and kefir in a bowl.

3. Add soda and flour.

4. Add some oil to the pan (and maybe put a kettle up to boil - that will take just the right amount of time for the oil to get hot enough to fry pancakes).

5. Pour a few pancakes on the pan with a tablespoon.

6. Turn them over.

7. Enjoy them!













And we're off to have some tea.

how to make vanilla sugar

I don't use a lot of sugar, but when I do, I usually use vanilla sugar.  Make it myself, of course (as it's so simple).

Here's how:

Take a vanilla pod. Split it in half lengthwise. Put it in a glass jar. Fill the jar with sugar and close the lid.

That's it! This vanilla pod will last forever (especially if it's a good quality one). When I take some vanilla sugar out of this jar (for hot cocoa, coffee, pancakes or baking), I just add some more plain sugar in, and it takes on the aroma.

How to choose good vanilla:

Good vanilla pods are soft, flexible and oily to the touch, dark brown, or even black-brown in color. The best ones have a thin coating of whitish crystals. So if the pod is light in color, hard, opened, or brittle, its quality is low.

Good quality vanilla has a beautiful, incredibly steady aroma (which would stay the same for more than 36 years if the pods are kept right).

how to make hot cocoa

There is something about winter that makes me think hot cocoa is a good idea (we drank nearly a liter at one go today).

Here's what's needed for an ultimate cup:

cocoa powder - 1 tsp

sugar - 2 tsp

milk - 1 cup (200 ml)

We made 4 cups, so I took 4 tbs cocoa powder and 8 tbs sugar and 800 ml milk.

The process goes like this:

1. Heat the milk. 

2. Mix cocoa powder with sugar in a dry cup. 

3. Add a bit of hot milk into the cup and stir really well. 

No lumps allowed.

4. Pour the liquid into the pan again, stir until it's mixed well with the rest of the milk, 

and heat it over medium heat...

5. ...until it boils. Then it's ready. 

6. And delicious.