Russian Monday: "Romovay Baba" - Rum Baba

When I was a child we were allowed to go by ourselves to the local food store for simple shopping such as getting bread or milk. Very often in my early age I had basic grocery shopping as a chore. Our nearby bakery was nothing special. They stocked few varieties of breads, some breakfast pastries as well as few cakes were always available, but that was all. But sometimes, if you were lucky to come to the store at the right time, you could find number of sweet treats behind glass display. One of such treats was rum baba, soaked in sweet syrup, rum and covered with white sugar icing.

Russian Monday: "Gribnoy Soup" - Mushroom Barley Soup

Mushroom and barley soup is one of my favorite soups since childhood. The only difference between now and then is that years ago the soup had to be made from dried mushrooms. Back then in Russia it was not possible to buy a lot of fresh food during winter time, especially mushrooms. Summer was a busy season for making jams, picking wild berries and mushrooms in a forests. However, to be used throughout the year these had to be dried and frozen.