Three days in Moscow

[liuzhou]

21 hours ago, gfweb said:

How is Russian medicine? Acceptable?

 

Thirty years ago, I spent time working in London and Moscow on a joint-governmental medical exchange program.

 

In the 1940s, Stalin declared the Soviet healthcare system to be the world's best and therefore it had nothing to learn from anyone else. So he cut off all international scientific and medical cooperation. This lasted well into the 1980s, when tentative cooperation began.

 

It rapidly became clear that exchange was going to be largely one way. Soviet medicine, like so many other facets of life, had stagnated and the system was near bankrupt. And corruption was endemic.

 

London, we issued invitations for Soviet medical staff to visit the UK and take part in exchange programs lasting from a week to several months. This was partially government funded, with the rest being made up from charitable and institutional funds.

 

We immediately hit a problem. It was always a priority that any knowledge exchange be sustainable - i.e. that the immediate beneficiary of the exchange be able to pass on that knowledge to colleagues back home. This required identifying the right personnel to invite.

 

Instead, what often happened was that Hospital XX would receive an invite for say an anesthetics specialist, a nurse trainer and a cardiologist to take part in the program, only for three party officials with no medical background to turn up.

 

I then spent the next year full time in Russia vetting the applicants to see if they knew which end of a thermometer was which.

 

One area we were never able to be effective was in nutrition. It's very limited what you can do to introduce theories of best practice when there is no food.

 

Hopefully, my info is very outdated and things have improved immeasurably, not only in the restaurant business but in medical catering and nutritional awareness.

Edited June 29, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[chefmd]

7 hours ago, Shelby said:

Holy crap, how cool!!!  Nose molds!!!!

 

LOVE the couches that you sit on.  Was it comfortable to eat on them?

 

Everything looks so good.  Were those mulberries in the spoon next to the cheese?  Love the pea presentation and also love the wooden spreader for the butter on the bread.

 

 

Couches were very comfortable.  

 

Those are are indeed mulberries.

 

i loved the peas idea as well, they were beautiful and delicious   I plan to serve goat cheese stuffed sugar snap peas as appetizers.  I will probably open the pods like a book and pipe goat cheese on top.  

[chefmd]

@liuzhou

 

I graduated from medical school in Moscow in 1991.  The textbooks were largely terrible and professor's answer to questions was often "because I said so".  Even on this trip we heard that gynecologist's answer to a young lady's fertility problems was "if you really wanted to have a baby, you would be able to get pregnant".  I almost exploded hearing that.

 

 

[BonVivant]

11 hours ago, chefmd said:

We were tired and decided to eat in our hotel room.  Got bread, butter, salmon roe from fancy looking Eliseevski grocery store. http://www.eliseevskiy.ru/e_history.htm

 

What's the beer and how was it? Industrial swill?

 

I like how normal it is to just buy roe in Russia and Baltic countries. It's sold by weight, they scoop it out of a big pail full of (salmon) roe!

 

That's also how I got it in Tallinn, Estonia. From a big pail.

 

 

 

[chromedome]

14 hours ago, chefmd said:

One fancy dinner for my son and me at White Rabbit, one of Conde Nast 50 best restaurants in the world.  

We had tasting menu.

full menu here http://whiterabbitmoscow.ru/images/menu/dishes-en.pdf

 

 

 

My GF and I have just gotten to that episode of Chef's Table on Netflix. Haven't watched past the intro yet, though, because it was late by that time.

[chefmd]

7 hours ago, BonVivant said:

 

What's the beer and how was it? Industrial swill?

 

I like how normal it is to just buy roe in Russia and Baltic countries. It's sold by weight, they scoop it out of a big pail full of (salmon) roe!

 

That's also how I got it in Tallinn, Estonia. From a big pail.

 

 

 

Beer was good according to my son.  Salmon roe is indeed sold by weight.  About 10 US dollars for 100 grams of better quality roe.  Prices outside of central Moscow are probably cheaper.

[chefmd]

Last night in Moscow.  We splurged on black caviar.  Also bought a bottle of Georgian wine.  Both, my son and I decided that we prefer much cheaper salmon roe.  What can I say, we have pedestrian tastes.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

21 hours ago, BonVivant said:

 

 

 

 

Bon Vivant,

 

May I ask what these sprouts are? Chives? I love sprouts, clover, alafalfa, mung bean, radish, bring it on! But I've never seen anything like the ones you have there on offer in the US.

 

Caviar is either prohibitively expensive or pretty terrible here, or both, so I can't suppress a little jealousy. The best I've ever had is when I lucked out on a couple of occasions and found roe inside a female Maine lobster. You can tell them apart by the "swimmerets" under the tail. The females are softer, so it is easy to remember. I always look for females, but they do not always have roe. It is a better chance than the males, though, who will never have it. Finding the roe is like the best bonus on what is already a delicious splurge meal.

[MetsFan5]

On June 27, 2017 at 9:56 PM, liuzhou said:

 

I took many photographs in the Kremlin in 1989 and 1990. There were no restrictions that I recall.

 

1990 was also the year that McDonald's opened the first Soviet branch, attracting tens of thousands of people while dumping on a glorious architectural site. Philistine.

 

 

 

  I graduated high school 19 years ago but did take classes that were focused on Russian history. It's been a while so I'm likely mistaken about the pictures but I do know graduates of my prep school have rare privileges when accessing the Kremlin. 

[BonVivant]

58 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

May I ask what these sprouts are? Chives? I love sprouts, clover, alafalfa, mung bean, radish, bring it on! But I've never seen anything like the ones you have there on offer in the US.

 

 

I think it was (sping) onion.

I prefer cresses.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

9 minutes ago, MetsFan5 said:

 

 

  I graduated high school 19 years ago but did take classes that were focused on Russian history. It's been a while so I'm likely mistaken about the pictures but I do know graduates of my prep school have rare privileges when accessing the Kremlin. 

 

Also you all are both moneyed foreigners to be impressed. I would be surprised if it wasn't different back then for the average Russian citizen. But what do I know, because I've never been there? I will say that dissidents, at least from media reports here, even if they are rich and powerful like the energy giant guy, wasn't it Gazprom? can be crushed like bugs there. That's pretty scary. But again, what do I know? chefmd's report reflects a different picture than what we consume in our media, and I am loving it. It is an inside peek to the country from an expatriate that we will never see in our media.

[chefmd]

We left Moscow very early this morning, connecting in Vienna on the way to Washington DC.  

 

Moscow is a very pleasant city to visit, my son loves going there.  I on the other hand, prefer to travel to other places.  Growing up there was tough.  Also I now go mostly to take care of my father and that is depressing as well.  To be honest, every time I leave, there is a little voice in my head saying: now they are going to stop you at the customs control.  I am sure my fears are unfounded but stil...

 

Moscow is beautiful, safe, with plenty of historic and cultural things to explore.  Exchange rate is good if you posess dollars or euros.  I highly recommend it if you have time and means to go.

[MetsFan5]

On 6/27/2017 at 9:56 PM, liuzhou said:

 

I took many photographs in the Kremlin in 1989 and 1990. There were no restrictions that I recall.

 

1990 was also the year that McDonald's opened the first Soviet branch, attracting tens of thousands of people while dumping on a glorious architectural site. Philistine.

 

 

I meant in the tombs— Lenin and Stalin’s specially. 

 

Ive been emailing with my alumni association to try to organize a trip. Not in the winter though!