Russian markets

Cold-cuts - the cold-cut manufacturers (international foods mostly) make up funny names for salamis. For example> Putinskaya - not they care for balding KGB president, not at all, but they named a salami after him (there is some pun in it, but I can't figure it out) Then there is Stalinskaya - dark humor - but the salami is good. Yevreiskaya(Jewish) salami - beef.

Black Forest ham, canadian bacon, and double ham ...hams...

Some day, I'll stop this internet forum nonesence and type up all the names of all foods in one menu - in English - open a store and become the next D'Agostino

sweet tea - I don't know, the store I told you about, the one on nostrand, elderly 'americans' shop there and you know how fussy they are about us immigrants, people from the hood acress the street shop there humming hip-hop tunes - they especially love the small pastries called eggclairs (sp?) with cream. or "napoleon" cake (layered thin crusts spread generously with white butter cream)

smoked makarell (called skumbria) is good, ballik is another type of salted fish.

Chicken Kiev - chicken cutlets with bread-crumb crust fashioned to look like drumsticks - they have butter inside so when you heat them the butter tends to dribble when you bite. I suspect Col. Sanders hot his idea for fried chicken from tasting Chicken Kiev, only he could not figure out how come there was no bone inside the drumstick.

Another dish that I like is French Blini - yep, we took some French ideas back in napoleonic times and made them our own. Basically, a blin (pronounced bleen, like spleen) is a flat pancake cooked fast by pouring pancake batter onto a hot skillet swiped with oil, it takes the shape of the skillet or a pan, then a stack of them cools. Knishes are made with mashed potatoes wrapped in a blin. French blini are sliced chicken and mushrooms sorteyed on a skillet with onions and then wrapped in a blin. It has the appearance of a tubular golden brown roll. If you are going to order these say "blini po Franctzusky)

Blini are also served by themselves with syrup, honey, sour cream, fruit preserves or a combination of all of these You can also buy alrady rolled blini with cheese (bline s tvorogom)or with cherries (blini s wishney) Or, simply by ready-made blini and some red caviar ($20 per pound) (don't buy black caviar unless you've made your mortgage payment already) -- simply put a teaspoon of red caviar in the center of the blin, wrap it - it goes well with vodka.

Ask to taste the caviar before you buy it - at twenty bucks per pound you've a right to taste it. It should be granular and separate but not too tough so as they pop when you bite them - no the contrary, the grais of caviar must melt in your mouth, skin too - rubbery or tough grains mean it's not fresh and not worth the money.

Ask to taste everything before you order.

Chebureki (pronounced che - boo - reki) This is more eastern or Cent. Asian dish. They resemble tacoes from Mexico - made with a circular flattened dough, cut up meat with onions and green herbs are placed in the middle of the circle, the dough is folded to resemble a half-moon and fried. Served with pickles and beer they go like hotcakes.