There is a saying here that if the food is too salty, it means the chef is in love. Based on the cuisine I have been exposed to, every Russian chef is so distracted by their lover that they lose control of the saltshaker. Recently though, I have had a few opportunities to take over at the stove. Last week in a Tatar cooking class I learned how to make the classic ish pish mach, a tasty potato and meat filled pastry with an awesome name. While learning how to make this local dish was delightful, nothing is quite as therapeutic as comfort food. Although my host family originally scoffed at the idea of macaroni and cheese claiming that it is “too simple” (referring to the lack of meat, I think), my homemade masterpiece changed their minds.
Last weekend we went to visit the Gabdullah Tuquay museum, which is about two hours north of Kazan. The villages we drove through to get there were really quite lovely, even in the rain. Tuquay is said to be “the Tatar’s Pushkin”, their national literary figure. His is most famous for his poetic retellings of traditional Tatar fairytales. An English translation of his poem “The Shurela” can be found at the following address: http://www.gabdullatukay.ru/eng/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=165&Itemid=37. Yes. It is a poem about a monster that tickles young maidens to death. Enjoy!
I apologize for the brief post, but there is more to come! I promise! Much love to family and friends back home; I hope you are all doing well!
~abby~
~abby~
dude, that poem is cool! reads less like pushkin than like a combo of washington irving and edgar allan poe (tho maybe that's a matter of translation). thanks for the link. now i'm curious both to read more and about what his house is like!
ReplyDelete