Из России с любовью к сыру!!

Привет (Hello) fellow traveler!

Don’t speak Russian?...Don’t worry, neither do I, but that didn’t stop me from purchasing a Russian book about cheese. In all fairness, I thought the book I was purchasing was about cheeses in Russia…not a book about cheeses in Russian! Oh well!...It was still exciting to receive a book sent from the Ukraine, opened by the U.S. Post Office, then finally shipped to me. From the time I ordered it, until the time I received it took about 12 weeks.

So once I received it, now what? Well, thank you Google Translate for helping me to start deciphering all of this cheesy goodness. 

But now my mind was really thinking about the cheeses in Russia…What were the fresh local ones like? Did they age cheese in caves?? I decided to get in the car and drive down to my local international market to see what I could find.

KP International Market is really a feast for the eyes and senses. The market starts you in the produce section with varieties you would expect, but then there are some fruits and vegetables rarely seen. This area is always bustling with shoppers and clerks. Just hearing all the different languages as you walk through the store is a treat in itself.

Once you make it through the produce department, the store is really broken up by region/nationality. From Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Hispanic, and finally European and Middle Eastern. There were food products from Lithuania, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Poland, and Russia. Even though U.S. labeling laws declare that all of these products have some sort of labeling that would explain the ingredients, nutritionals, etc., not all of them did which made this food hunt all the more exciting.

Sticking with my Russian theme, here are some of the ones I wanted to share with you:

Svalia Farmer’s Cheese – Looking like a fresh cheese, I thought that this one would be perfect for breakfast, and I was right! This fresh cheese was young, creamy, and slightly sweet like cooked milk. Drizzled with honey, it was the perfect complement to this Russian Завтрак (breakfast).

Golden Reserve “Melting Cheeses” – These processed cheeses I thought would be good for snacking. They had many flavors such as Herbs, or Wild Mushrooms, but I decided to get three of the lesser known flavors: Russian, Druzba (friendship), and Slivochni (creamy). I paired these with Kyivhlib “Dry Bread Dark with Seeds”. These hard crunchy little toasts seem to work perfect with these spreadable little blocks.  At only 3 oz. each, I could see how they could be used for casual entertaining or snacking.

The last cheese I saved for dessert -  Kapat Chocolate “Melting” Cheese. This processed chocolate cheese spread was actually very good! I paired in with Morozova “Sugar Cookies” which were slightly sweetened cookies that reminded me of “Digestive Biscuits”. This chocolate spread was not overly sweetened, and that’s why I believe it would have many different uses.

So many different cheeses from so many corners of the world. I am sure that I will be back to this market soon. 

Well, Google Translate and I have about 100 pages to go in this Russian cheese book, so I should put on a fresh pot of tea, finish enjoying this chocolate spread, and sign off for now before I board my next flight…

Many thanks to my friend Alya for helping better understand the translations!

до следующей недели…

Trevor