catch that cold

Ain't life a bitch

Last week I arrived at a sunny, blossoming Moscow and in just two days I got sick... not normal sick mind you, the kind that makes you unable to get out of bed just to go to pee.

I was looking forward to picnics, open air sports, walk arounds and going to Botanicheski Sad for some urban sketching. Now, I can go to the kitchen in 5 minutes, holding on to the walls.

Is this catching cold thing getting bigger lately or is it just me? (sneezing my reason away gradually...maybe). Countless people I know is sick these days and they all have the same shit. I hear "I used to get better on antibiotics, even if I don't, it would take me a week at most to heal. Now it's taking weeks for me to recover. Am I getting older?" I don't know how many times I listened to that sort of complaints.

For those who live in Moscow, (I don't know about the rest, I have no means of observation, plus I don't care that much)-(cranky when sick) getting sick is so common that nowadays we receive the news of a person catching a cold like it is a mosquito bite; "what else is new"...

It seems to me that catching a cold is easy when you move to a country where your definition of cold is not the same with the locals. It is amazing how being brought up in a certain way can affect your way of thinking what is normal.

Maybe I'm wrong, but tell me: is it normal to keep your coat, fur hat and your woolen scarf on when you enter a 28 degree metro station? Ok, the weather might be -20 outside, but when you walk into the station, it feels like a Turkish hamam! I begin taking some things out, just to keep looking not-so-foreign, then I cannot stand for long and take my coat, gloves, scarf and hat off and carry them around with me like a fool. Russian people don't, instead they come in and go out the same as if they are weather-resistant. I understand the tolerance to cold but they also have tolerance to hot. Maybe they are nonconductive...hmm

It is a dead end, we cannot be like them. It is both their physique and upbringing, both cannot be modified.

What we can do is first ACCEPT the fact that WE ARE DIFFERENT, so we should BE WEARING MORE.

I wanna add that we don't eat well here, we should take some vitamins as well. But who has the consistency to do so.

Ok I'm bored and going away from the computer. I remembered that I am in fact still sick. Downloading Lost and Sherlock Holmes (gonna see some Robert Downey maaan)

Stay tuned to hear from grumpy zenushka

^_^

kisses to all

take care

Back in town

Priviet!
I've been away for three weeks and I am back indeed (a silent "hiphiphurray" :)

I have a fierce energy to write and share, but unfortunately I have little time today.

I will only share a few pictures from my trip of love, serenity, lust and high-caloried pleasures:

take care and stay tuned
xxx

house party-go shawty it's your birthday

Garage Center now

Garage Center is hosting two exhibitons; Russian Utopias and Futurologia. If you want to explore Russian avant-garde art and infamous Kazimir Malevich's work you should stop by Garage (http://www.garageccc.com/)

skiing in moscow

There are 3 good options for skiing in Moscow:

First one is Sorochany ( http://www.sorochany.ru/ )

The slopes are mostly short but there are 10 lifts I think, so you won't get bored or very crowded. The longest slope is 850 m (lift no 8). The only problem would be, if it is extraordinarily cold that day, you would actually freeze on that lift since it is relatively slow.

Yesterday we went skiing in Shukolovo ( http://www.shukolovo.ru/?main=true )

I liked it better. It's hard to say that slopes are better but the place in general is nicer. They have about 11 slopes, the longest being 600 m. However there were less people, so somehow it was more satisfying skii&lift wait-loop-wise. Plus it is not far from Sorochany, they are practically the same distance from the center.

Café in the entrance was more civilized then Sorochany. We had soup and french fries before we head back.

Plus the lifts are much cheaper. There are different tariffes of course but in general the price for one lift in Sorochany is 100 rubles, in Shukolovo it's 50 rubles.

The third option is Volen ( http://www.volen.ru/ )

I haven't been there yet but Asko says it's more chic than the other two. However the slopes are shorter than the other two.

It's -12 now, with no snow :(

Let's just hope that skiing season lasts a little bit longer !

ice ice baby

Last week we went ice skating in Sokolniki Park. It was sunny and not that cold :)

Near the entrance there was this arena of some sort. On it, elderly russians were singing and dancing as usual. How can you not love this about Moscow.

As for us, we skated a little in the beautiful weather and also enjoyed the ringside view after we took off the skates. We also saw this young couple skating with the stroller.

Hey, check out the icicle outside our window.

But not everything is cold in here. The weekend before that we went to "We are Family" a new spot in town, after a birthday party (actually, as a part of the birthday party).

cantinetta antinori

Do you know who Arkady Novikov is?

Well, he is the founder of number of restaurants, some of them are big chains like Yolki Palki, Yapona Mama, or high scale places like GQ bar, Vogue Cafe or the matter in hand: Cantinetta Antinori.

Cantinetta Antinori was first opened in Florence, which I read great restaurant reviews about, but haven't been yet (or I don't recall). There are Cantinetta Antinori restaurants also in Zurich and Vienna. The one in Moscow is a joint project by Antinori wine house and Novikov Group.

I read the reviews before I went there because I chose the spot for our 7th anniversary with Asko-my hubby (btw it's our start-to-date anniversary, not marriage). But still I wanted to go to a nice romantic place with good food. Almost all the reviews I read about Cantinetta Antinori was negative, they said that it is a great restaurant chain but the moscow version is just not worth going because of the ridiculously overpriced menu.

Live and learn right?

We went there and as usual I was the only well dressed person there because it seems that mostly businessmen preffered the location since they could expense the meal. The prices are more ludicrous than Plyushchenko winning the silver medal.

I was in the supermarket earlier that day and waiting for Asko to come pick me up to help carry the bags. He got a little late so I walked around the wine part and looked at the prices a little bit. I swear I saw the half of the wines on the menu that night and it is beyond reason. 300 rubles a bottle Chile wines was priced for 600 rubles a glass. Have some commonsense!

So it is not a place to drink a lot of wine, ok...but the food? I consider myself an italian-cuisine fan, I couldn't believe my taste buds. I ordered spaghetti alle vongole and Asko ordered Tuscan bean soup and lasagna. My spaghetti came in 3 seconds which we didn't understand how? There were no shells to begin with...It is for me one of the best things about spaghetti with clams, you play with your food, you extract the meat from the shells. Plus you can see how healthy your clams are. Also it looks much better on the plate. Anyway...since it came so fast it got cold even faster. I really love asparagus in that dish but I've never had one undercooked. And pasta was overcooked. The sauce was more than juicy and it needed a little salt because there was nothing resembling a flavor in that dish. (it costs 1400 rubles btw)

Asko's soup was good but came in a very tiny portion and it costs 700 rubles (for 100 g of soup, figurati!). His lasagna was good but nothing special. I stand corrected that I make the best lasagna bolognese in the world (and I've been to Bologna).

The interior, I have to give them credit, was sweet and comforting. All the jars of pickles and pasta looked so enriching. However, I am not a big fan of FAKE flowers in that type of a restaurant. You over-charge anyway, give something back in return!

And for the complimentary stuff; like juice they serve as soon as you sit on table (very unnecessary) and the sweets they bring with tea are very inadequate, just for sake of serving something.

Soon I will try "Da Cicco" in Profsoiusnaya. One dear Italian friend of mine recommended it but it is so south we always skip it. After Cantinetta Antinori, I would love to try good italian food. Ah, what a disappointment...

I will soon write about El Asador, the spanish restaurant. I loved that one, but what you order is really important.

See you next post

xoxo