In Russia I remember...

When I was in Russia one of the things that I remember seeing when I was being driven to the airport were these little stands on the side of the road shaped like a strawberry. I so wish now that I had gotten a chance to stop at one but we did not. I remember thinking strawberry picking was one of the things that my parents would do with us in the spring.

Having gotten the chance to stay with a Russian family in Cheboksary in last summer I learned that fresh berries were a big part of their diet. Berry trees surrounded the apartment building and during our evening walks in Russia I remember seeing men and women walking home with baskets of berries. During those meal in the summer time berries were served each day. The one berry was a sour like a small blueberry. Elena from my host family ground them up with sugar and made a type of jam but it was different then what we would think of because it was more liquid. She told me she ground them up with sugar and then just put it in the refrigerator. She served this with small cookies and tea.

Yesterday Me-Me, La-La, Hans, Anna and I decided lets go pick some strawberries. What a wonderful day it was for picking fruit. First there were cherries which were so sweet. Gerard why don't we have a cherry tree?? The peaches were small but we still got a few. Anna is not a big vegetable eater but we still got some sweet peas and she does seem to like them. Believe it or not we were late for the strawberries but were still able to get some small ones that are so sweet and juicy.

Next we are planning to go for blueberries in a week or two.