This is about my level...

Russian for Beginners, 1977 -- this is about the level where I can actually understand every word (almost) that they are saying :-p
(Except the numbers -- I never could keep the difference between, say, fifteen and fifty straight.)

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Though I can't help feeling that being landed with an unexpected kitten brought home from school (especially when you already have a dog in the flat) might be a mixed blessing so far as the parents are concerned...

Another variant on kulebyaka

I made another successful kulebyaka to use up the rest of the tin of sardines I had opened in order to make a pre-war "Fish Loaf", a.k.a. large baked fishcake roll (I had mashed in a single sardine as a substitute for anchovy essence!)

This time I used a couple of fillets of cheap frozen white fish, and used the fishy water in which I had defrosted them in which to cook up 3oz of stiff semolina in lieu of fish stock, into which I mashed the rest of the tin of sardines. I hard-boiled and sliced a single egg, chopped and fried an onion, and arranged the whole in layers with some (supermarket) fresh dill and seasoning interspersed.

The main problem was that I'd rolled the dough out much too *long* for the rather small and narrow fish fillets that I had available, and ended up folding it up four-square as a sort of flat parcel rather than lifting it up into the intended pasty-shape with a seam on top. This meant that I had a triple layer of yeast dough on one side and a single layer on the other, and the pie also split and leaked along the fold when baking. It still tasted good, though!

Crackfic memo to self

I realised this morning, on coming across a copy of "Jo's Boys", that I couldn't actually *remember* the crackfic idea that I'd had for a crossover of something or other with Jo's school set-up in "Little Men" -- who were the couple I'd vaguely envisioned as filling in for Amy and Laurie as the generous rich relations, and what canon had it been?

Light suddenly dawned again in the middle of my singing practice tonight (concert in a week and a half, alas). It was of course the crackfic idea about Athos' school for gentlemen( Read more... )