Inproving International Relations

Often happens through diplomatic discussions, the signing of treaties and agreements, and other various official methods. Well, another way of achieving such ends is to have two women in the same kitchen cooking for each other a national dish. Well, this is my favorite type of diplomacy, on that involves good food!

Instead of having a normal class in one of our language school’s classrooms, Julie and her teacher Eleana decided to meet in our apartment to do some cooking. Originally, the goal was for Julie to learn how to make pelmeni, which is sort of like the Russian equivalent of ravioli, though they come in many different flavors and can be stuffed with many different ingredients—beef, pork, lamb, fish, mushrooms, onions, garlic (other less traditional ingredients include: cabbage, cheese, jam, fruit, and the like). As you can see in the picture (they are just to the left of the rolling pin on the plate), the results turned out very good (though I have yet to taste them as it isn’t dinner time yet).

But, when they finished, there was still plenty of time left in their 3 hour class to try another dish, and this time it was the American’s turn to teach: apple pie was on the menu. Last Friday, we had both of our teachers and one of the owners of the language school over for a dinner of Mexican food (quite an exotic experience for them) followed up by apple pie with a crumb topping. They absolutely LOVED it all, including the pie. Since then, our teachers have been begging us for the recipe—so, what better way to teach it than by demonstrating it.

So, as far as I, and my stomach, are concerned, this international delegations are wonderful!