A Year of Russian Feasts

"Foreigners who spend time in Russia soon learn that there are actually two Russias -- one public and the other private. The public Russia is typically cold and dark, backward and wary. The private Russia -- the Russia of tea at a friend's kitchen table or of sauteéd mushrooms in a village dacha -- is almost unfailingly cozy and kind."--From the Introduction. Travel to Catherine Jones's "private" Russia on a journey that takes you to a springtime bliny festival and Easter feast, to a small Russian village to discover and preserve nature's bounty, on a mystical quest for fall mushrooms, and to Red Square for New Year's and Christmas celebrations. Stop along the way for a vegetarian dinner in a communal apartment, a birthday party, a baptism, a tea party, and a Russian wedding. Equal parts travel memoir and cookbook, A Year of Russian Feasts combines Jones's warm, insightful writing style with her sensitive approach to discovering her family's cultural heritage and its cuisine.