Images from the Week

It's been a relatively quiet week.  Pat's been traveling.  And it's no where close to being Spring.

Happy Easter to all of my friends & family who celebrate the holiday!  This year, the Orthodox Easter isn't until May 5th, so no one over here is even talking about it.  But we do have a nearby Catholic church with a 9:30am English Mass, so we are covered. 

View from the apartment early this week.  Let it snow, let it snow, .......

These guys were catching smelts (it's hard to see, but the guy towards the top of the photo is having success).  The big smelt season is coming up.  They are good with a cold beer if you like that sort of thing, which I do :)

Sweet boy outside the market.  I need to do a post on my market..........

This is the "salt" that they spread all over the sidewalks to help melt the ice.  Nasty!  I'm not sure how much actual salt is in it, but I can say it's destroyed more than one pair of my shoes & boots. 

My Easter care package (thanks M & D!)

Last Friday evening, Pat & I went to the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.  The Grand Hall is located in a beautiful old building, near lots of restaurants & cafes.  And only a 20 minute walk from the apartment 

 Love the chandeliers

They played Haydn, Kancheli, and Brahms.  And the 1st part also included the Smolny Cathedral Choir.  It was a great show 

me

I'm teaching myself how to bake this winter/spring.  It kills the time on long cold nights.  And there are no mixes or convenient products over here.  I do like Russian brown bread, and we have lots of bakeries, but I need more variety.  This week I made:

Dutch cheese & pumpkin seed scones!

Southern biscuits, which were good but I accidentally used salted butter!  We were up all night drinking water.  We called them salt bombs

Pretty night, looking out one of our back windows.

Happy Easter!