A Russian Christmas Party

Saturday evening, Ryan's company held a New Year's/Christmas Party for employees involved on the project and their family members.  I really do not need to say much, the pictures speak for themselves.  It was a lot of fun and the perfect setting to hang out with everyone.

I did take a couple pictures before we left for the event:

All dressed up and ready to go.

Wait!?!  Who is the woman with Ryan?

Did I forget to mention I changed my hair?

The first bit of entertainment:

Some lovely Santa girls.  I am a dance machine and I would have rocked this routine.  We all know how much I love Christmas music.

A singing group.  

And this group.  Danced to Madonna's Vogue.

The magician was next.  The best part was Brad's (Chevron employee) participation.

Brad tying a rope around the assistant.   Notice Brad's suit coat.

They both are placed in this fabric tube. 

The fabric drops and Brad is trying to figure out where his coat went.  

Brad trying to figure out how the girl stole his coat and put it on. 

The dance floor opened and the random pictures began:

Best hair of the evening. 

Kim, my gym buddy in front of the tree. 

Making moves on the dance floor. 

Everyone was taking pictures in front of the cake.  I thought it was appropraite to have some Chevron expat wives.


Great way to celebrate the holidays and our last weekend in Russia. 

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies

This week, I was hit with the incredible urge to bake Christmas cookies.  I decided to turn my baking into gifts.  Recipients included my Russian Instructor Lena and our two drivers, Vitaly and Sergei.  I narrowed my selections down to some of my favorite Christmas cookies, with a mix of Ryan's and a new recipe.

The winners were:
Sugar Cookies (I will discuss these in the next paragraph)
Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, M&M (as if I need to say this, Ryan's favorite)
Chocolate Chip (Mr. Classic)
Snickerdoodle (ultimate Christmas tradition for the Pagels family)
Mint Chocolate (this was the new recipe)

Ok, now for the major topic of discussion.  I am a stubborn, stubborn lady and I refuse to let something beat me in the kitchen (referring to food).  Sugar cookies are the one thing, that time after time give me the most problems.  I can make homemade crusts like it's my job.  Homemade bread, not a problem.  But when it comes to sugar cookies and the poor amputated gingerbread limbs and decapitated snowmen, my patience and stubbornness are tested.  Luckily, my dear friend (Sugar Cookie baking queen) Jenn provided me with her no fail recipe.  I was ready this year, I had the best recipe (not some silly internet recipe), I was in high hopes, I was ready.

First batch of dough landed in the trash with a giant THUD.  It was at this time, I realized that Russian sticks of butter are not the same size as American sticks.  Rather than trying to salvage the hard dough, I decided to start fresh.  This time, I used our scale to weigh the butter after I Googled the amount of grams in American sticks of butter (113, in case you are curious).  With the right butter amounts (no applesauce when fighting with sugar cookies), I had a lovely dough.  I followed Jenn's instructions to a T.  My sugar cookies were a SUCCESS!!!  I only had one slight amputation, but as Jenn says, that is your taste test during the baking.

I did the icing (no Amaretto) and Ryan did the decorating.  

He decided the Gingerbread Men needed hats, gloves and shoes.  :)

You may ask, "Virginia, what did you learn from this experience?"

1. I won the battle against the sugar cookies.
2. I am thankful I only make these cookies during Christmas.
3. Any children Ryan and I may have, if they want to learn how to make sugar cookies, I am buying them the next plane ticket to Aunt Jenn's.

And the finished products:

I added packets of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate (brought from the States).  The little sign in the center says: A big thank you.
Cookies for you and your family.
Happy New Year

The smaller signs are names of each type. 

I loved the reactions I got from each person when I gave them their basket.  It's just something small and inexpensive, but I wanted to make sure I showed them how much I am thankful.
Nothing says thank you like a yummy cookie. 

Final Week Countdown...

I currently sit in our living room, it's getting dark outside and rain is falling.  I have our little Russian fireplace going and our Christmas tree is lit.  My Christmas music is playing and Macy is snuggling next to me (actually she has decided she wants to play and is currently pushing her toy at me).

At this time next week, I will be on a plane, most likely over the Atlantic, if not already entering over the United States.  Ryan is currently in Moscow, so it's just Macy and me.  I am constantly thinking about going home, I have so much to look forward to and I know I will be given a joyful welcome at O'Hare.  Allow me to share with you, what I look forward to most:

Family: Nothing beats being home for the holidays.  This is even more true now that I am living in Russia (last year I was in a different state and this year I am in a different country)!!  I am excited for Mother-Daughter shopping excursions and Daddy-Daughter hot cocoa drinking in front of the fireplace.  I am also excited (my parents too) that Chad and Carrie will be home too.  I can't remember the last holiday where Chad and I have been together for a holiday (I believe 2 Christmases ago).  Macy will also be meeting my family for the first time.  

Friends: I will be reuniting with my Indy roomies!  I can't wait to see everyone and catch up.  Hopefully my immunity to jet lag continues, since I will be seeing them the day after I land.

Chicago:  My mother and I will be making a trip before Christmas.  Ryan and I will be joining his family in Chicago after the New Year, before he flies to Scotland (more training) and I remain in the States longer.  

Utah: My inspiration for changing the blog design.  I will be making my first trip out West.  Ryan has a snowboarding trip planned.  I have never snowboarded or skied, but I will make my first attempts (fingers crossed I don't severely hurt myself).  We are leaving a few days before New Years and will spend New Years in Utah.  Brad and Linda (Chevron expats living with us in Russia) have been kind enough to open their home to us.  I will make attempts at snowboarding, but it will most likely turn into Linda and I shopping. :)

Shopping: I definitely, single handedly boosted the retail economy of Northwest Indiana when I was home in July.  I am ready to shop!  

Food: I know I mentioned this before I went home this summer, but as always, I am looking forward to eating.  I have become so excited for American brand foods, restaurants, etc. that I have completely lost my appetite here.  Also, Ryan is gone, so I never cook when he is away.  I sent my mother a "grocery list" which included Kashi cereal and vanilla yogurt.  Two things I cannot find here and desperately miss.  

Driving:  Look out folks, I will be behind the wheel again.  If it is anything like this summer, I will spend the first couple days driving UNDER the speed limit, but that will wear off with time.  I miss driving and the independence you feel when you can drive yourself somewhere.  I will not miss getting dropped off and picked up at the door of every place.  I will especially miss our drivers and that luxury when it is very cold and snowy, or the parking lot is full and I have to hunt for a parking space.   

Snow: I believe winter has settled in here.  The temperatures have been cold and it has been raining the past couple days.  I don't believe they get much snow here, but if it is anything like when we moved here in March, winter means cold, rainy and windy.  Ryan and I both say we would rather have snow than rain.  Now, I only want snow if it is the pretty, white, huge snowflake, fluffy kind (take note Mother Nature).  Macy got a small taste of snow in Moscow when we moved here, but she didn't get to play in it.  I can't wait to see what she does when she can run and play in the snow!!  

English: I talked to EVERYONE this summer.  I struck up conversations with cashiers at every store.  I even had random conversations with people while waiting in checkout lines.  I may be learning Russian (slowly) but I am nowhere near the point of comfort that I can carry on a conversation.  I will talk to Lena, my Russian instructor freely, but she understands my broken Russian.  Other than Lena, the only other person I speak to in Russian is our one driver Vitaly (Sergei is too shy).  I will ramble on like a Chatty Cathy with him.  Luckily he is patient and takes the time to listen.  My Russian isn't always perfect and a few English words sneak their way into the conversation, but all in all, it's a conversation.  Look out general population, I will be out and ready to TALK.

I think this covers the major points.  I am sure there is more, there always is.  I know I will enjoy looking back at this blog in the future and laughing at what random things I missed.  Oh, Russia, you're not awful, but you are no comparison to the United States. 

A Slow Cooker Week...

After a successful "chicken" Thanksgiving dinner and my first entire cooked bird, I decided to try my luck with another form of cooking I have not ventured into much.  The famous Crock Pot dinners.  I believe fall and winter is a popular time for slow cookers.  I have been receiving numerous emails from my fitness websites with a wide variety of slow cooker recipes.  Women have also been featured that used a slow cooker for each meal for an entire year.  I decided to dedicate a week to the slow cooker.  Unfortunately, I did not bring a slow cooker and the slow cookers in Russia are quite odd looking (so much that I cannot convince myself to buy one).  Luckily, my friend, Kim brought a Crock Pot in her shipment.

Slow Cooker....Check
Transformer in order to use Crock Pot....Check
Recipes.....Check (I had recipes, but, of course, I did not follow them)
Hungry Husband.....Check :)

First Dinner: Potato and Ham Soup

Below all the toppings (bacon, chili peppers, cheese and croutons), I promise there is a lovely bowl of ham and potato soup.  This was a low calorie recipe (shocking, I know) so Ryan felt it was only acceptable to add even more toppings.  We had a dinner guest this evening, Graham, one of the gentlemen that joined us for Thanksgiving.  Apparently my dinner was delicious enough for him to return again.

I was officially "pumpkined out" but I wanted to have a dessert to serve.  I found a light carrot cake cupcake recipe.  Rather than the typical cream cheese frosting, I decided to go with a basic sugar glaze.  Oh, but wait, I wanted to take it up a notch, so I added a splash (large splash) of Amaretto to the glaze.  Fantastic addition!!  I have decided to spike all future sugar glaze.

The guys added a scoop of ice cream and topped it with, as Graham refers to as "hundreds and thousands" (the British term for sprinkles).

Second Dinner: Turkey Vegetable Stew

I found small turkey medallions and wanted to make something with turkey.  I pulled a Mama Pagels and basically started throwing random things into the Crock Pot, hoping for a good turnout.  I diced some extra potatoes and carrots I didn't use in the Potato Soup.  Threw them in with the turkey, onion, some diced tomatoes, frozen peas and corn.  It became a throw in whatever you have around that you want to use up.  Upon first taste test, it was very bland.  I decided to start dumping in a variety of seasonings and what do you know, it was delicious.  Hungry Husband went crazy over this culinary creation.

Final Dinner of the Week: Chicken Vegetable Curry

This dinner may have won me "Wife of the Year" if Ryan were the only judge.  Again, I threw the recipe out and started throwing things in.  Why did I even collect recipes?  I wanted to use the can of coconut milk I found, so that started the dinner, add chicken, onion and tons of curry and various spices.  Let simmer all day (very tender chicken) about midday I decided on my vegetables and threw in cauliflower and green beans.  I didn't want to add potatoes or beans since we were going to have this over rice (too many carbs).

The curry was fantastic, but what really earned me wife of the year, was the homemade Naan (I know, I limited carbs in the curry, but then add bread to the dinner).   Ryan went crazy when he walked into the kitchen and saw what I was making.  Again, major thumbs up from Ryan.

The conclusion I have come to is that slow cookers are nice to have.  They are easy to use, but I did not really get a huge feeling of the so called "quick meals."  Maybe it's because I try to use lots of fresh vegetables, so they add time with cleaning and chopping.  Regardless, all dinners were yummy and hungry husband now has lots of frozen containers in the freezer to feed himself when I am still back in the States.  That brings up another point, Crock Pots are great when making large amounts of food.

Feel free to share any Crock Pot recipes, I may not follow them exactly, but they may inspire a dinner idea.

Macy look alike....

I can't believe we are ending our first week in December.  Time seems to be flying in Russia (ironically).  Maybe the countdown I have going until my flight back to the States or the thousand emails I have sent back and forth with my Mother in regards to Christmas gifts have occupied the majority of my time.  I love the holiday season so much.  My Mother and I are all about shopping and finding the perfect gift.  Also, since Macy will be joining my family for the holidays, my Mother has gone into "grand puppy" mode and is preparing everything to make it perfect for Macy's arrival.  You think I spoil Macy?  You have not seen anything yet.  Macy will be a complete diva and spoiled pooch after 10 seconds with my Mother. :)

The other day, I was flipping through my most recent Glamour magazine.  I was turning pages and oooooing over cute clothes and ahhhhing over cute shoes (there was also much fuming in regards to the fact I cannot find these items in Russia!!!).  During all of this page turning, I stumbled upon an ad that caused me to stop.  I found a Macy look alike!  Now, unfortunately the dog in the picture is advertising for Coach (I will keep all of my negative stereotypes of Coach owners silent) and not for an excellent handbag company like Kate Spade.

I do realize the one white eye is different, but you have to admit, it's a pretty close match!  

This picture is simply because I am reminiscing about how tiny she was when we first got her.  It was around this time last year.