Cooking Around the World: Russia

We are trudging ahead in our Cooking Around the World Adventure. This dinner wraps our tabletop trip to Russia.

A few fun facts about Russia...

• The official name for Russia is the Russian Federation.
• Russia shares borders with many countries, including China, Ukraine, North Korea and Norway.
• In terms of land area, Russia is the largest country in the world.
• Russia is located across 9 time zones.
• At the beginning of 2013, Russia was estimated to have a population of around 143 million.
• Russian is the official language of Russia but there are many other languages used in various parts of the country.
• The capital and largest city in Russia is Moscow. Other major cities in Russia include Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk.
• The currency used in Russia is the ruble.
• The world’s first satellite, named Sputnik, was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957.
• The Soviet Union (USSR) was a socialist state that occupied much of northern Asia and eastern Europe from 1922 until it was dissolved in 1991. Former Soviet states include Lithuania, Georgia, Latvia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and others.
• The official residence of the Russian president is the Kremlin in Moscow. The name Kremlin means fortress.
• Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake in the world. It reaches 5,387 feet deep and contains around one-fifth of the world’s unfrozen fresh water.
• Basketball, ice hockey and football (soccer) are popular sports in Russia.

Here's what we cooked...click on the title to go to the original recipe post.

Bitokes (Russian Meatballs)

Borsch (Root Veggie Soup)

This was filling and fulfilling. Delicious! With this, we're moving on with the list. We'll be cooking Rwandan next.