h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: How to Make a Proper Russian Table - A87822264
Author: Solnushka (Foundation) - U138596

Barring a bit of Russian at the bottom (how do I do Cyrilic script?) I have got a round to it and finished this.

Likely there will be misspellings. My computer doesn;t do spell check currently, and I forgot this before I GuideMLed it. Feel free to point them out and I will fix.

Wow - this certainly was an energetic read, although I expect that after one of those meals you certainly don't feel energetic!

As far as I can see, it leaves no questions open, and there are only a couple of spelling mistakes and typos which a subed will iron out. Maybe needs a few more links, but that's only a vague impression. Am looking forward to photos!

I do have photos, never fear. Salads a gogo. Tho I forgot to take them this last year when we had a particularly impressive one. Hey ho.

A very good Entry and a glimpse into a culture most of us are unfamiliar with.

I am reminded of a scene from 'Commodore Hornblower' A87772909 where he was invited to dine with the Czar, After filling himself at the tables full of food they opened the doors to the main dining room!

A point or two;

In your second footnote could you give us a translation of 'Davai' a phrase in parenthesis would be sufficient.

Also your desire to put your final thought in Cyrilic would be a fine thing, except I suspect it would be corrupted by most browsers, it might be better to just put it into phonetic English, and leave the footnote to translate.

Thank you

F S

Oh... my.... MMMMM... I want to go to Russia now! can't beat a bit of gluttiny... nice entry, I liked it... a lot and now I@m hungry

A fun read. One thing you might want to consider is breaking some of the big paragraphs down a little for the web format. Makes it easier to read on a screen.

I found this particularly interesting because the Jewish Sabbath meal - at least the ones of Jews of Eastern European extraction - follows an almost identical format. Now I know where it's from.

This is a lively and interesting article. I remember going to visit relatives in Hungary some years ago and being treated to lots of lovely food - particularly raspberries and cherries but also a dessert of sweet little dumplings.

I was intrigued by the seaweed salad. Isn't much of Russia a long way from the sea?

One or two comments/queries.
in the third line you say 'Socialising still centres around going around'. I would delete the second 'around'

In the introduction you mention 'vinegrette.' This is obviously different from the French vinaigrette which usually consists of olive oil, vinegar, some herbs, mustard and salt and pepper. But should it be spelled the same?

Hi Sol

Glad to see this here, I really enjoyed reading it

I'll look into how to make the Cyrillic appear. Maybe you could email me the phrase and I could test it out somehow?

I used Cyrillic in one of my entries....

It was A28008795

Give me five minutes and I'll have an entry explaining how to do it.

Here's how to do the capitals: A817085

I don't know how to do the lower-case.

Thanks! I appreciate that

Ooooh! Me too. Thanks Gnomon! I shall give it a go... except that FS makes a good point really, and since it is spoken perhaps the transcription would be best. But I need the script for another entry so it isn't wasted! Especially as now I will have to get on with it!

Good point aso about vinigrette. I suspect is is from the French, but no, clearly not the same. I shall consider whether spechmarks or spelling will convery this best.

Seaweed. I dunno how seaweed has got to be so popular, but Russia is huge really and they have inslfuences from all over. And sour is really there thing. Sushi, inscientally, is the take away of choice there, rather than Chinese or Indian or Mexican or whatever.

The line is very blurred between Jewish and Russian/ East European cooking of course, Leo.

Thanks for commenting guys and I'll make the changes soon.

Since you now have the code for Cyrillic you might include the Russian phrase, followed by the phonetic spelling in parenthesis for those of us who do not know how the letters should sound and then give the translation in the footnote.

Footnote 3 ‘Na zdaroviya’ You might add a bit about how this phrase was featured in the American film 'Fiddler on the Roof' so many people mistake this for a proper Russian toast.

Thank you for the education.

Is there a proper small toast like 'cheers' or 'Skol' that can be used if we find ourselves drinking with a Russian and want to show our respect for their culture?



F S

PS Looking forward to meeting you next month

Let me offer a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9J4RsUwMh4 the Russians enter at about the 3 minute mark. If nothing else it might give you chuckle about the US view of Russian culture



F S

One other important question;

In the 'Drinking Games' section you seem to imply that only the host, or their designated spokesman may offer a toast. In the West it is customary for every guest to propose a toast of their own in response, at a military dinner these are required by reverse order of rank (the lowest officer at the meal gives the first toast.)

could you clarify so we will not make a gaff if we are invited to such a meal?

In post 15 I missed you reference to ‘Za zdaroviya’ - never mind, I am not sure if I would notice the difference in my English speaking world. could you maybe give us definition of both 'Na' and 'Za'?

Thanks

F S

How's this coming along, Sol?

GB

Now that NaJo is over, there is some hope I may get to this before xmas.

OK, that didn't quite get done before Christmas, sorry.

But! I think it is done now.

Couple of things changed:

I have decided that 'Na zdaroviya' is a Russian-American thing, because Russian Americans do say it a lot.

I have added a few quote marks around names, especially 'vinigrette'.

I have decided not to transliterate or use Cyrillic script.

I have thoroughly road tested this again, and currently have even more pictures than before.

One thing I also seem to have done is lost the link to the place where I found the Vasya/Vanya story. If necessary I shall find a new one.