snacks

All this peanut butter talk has made me hungry.

Here are some Russian snack foods...or, more accurately, snack foods you can buy in Russia. My Russian teacher had never had the one pictured on the left before coming to my flat for a lesson. Now, she's competely hooked. The large snack on the left is called "crunchy". It's tasty--sort like peanut brittle. Aside from its tastiness, I also appreciate the innovative, forward-thinking that went into it. (I don't see a lot of that around here.) Basically, the bakery at Okey took the leftover seeds and nuts from the day's breadmaking and tossed them into some buttery-sugary concoction. I don't buy this often, but it is yummy.

The smaller snacks are called "dry". (At least with these names you know what sort of snack food you're getting.) They're my pretzel substitute. Yes, we do have pretzels here now, but we didn't when I first arrived. As least, I didn't find any. But, even with pretzels available, I choose these instead. I've gotten hooked on them. When I still drank Coke (Ahhh...good times.) that was a perfect complement to these. I still eat them now, though not as often. I do keep a bag at school for emergencies. As you can see, I like my "dry" with poppy seeds. There are also plain varieties.

Enjoy!