Caviar and Банья

This past weekend I tried two very Russian creations.  First, Friday we had an excursion with some of the Russian students at Smonly University to a restaurant where we ate very Russian dishes.  The first course was some kind of mushroom potato salad.  The second was caviar and блини (blini- thin pancakes similar to crepes).  I started out by trying the caviar by itself and found it very fishy.  We tried an orange caviar which is supposed to be fairly salty so I think next time I would get the black instead. After trying the caviar by itself I tried it the Russian way where you put a sauce on the blini and then the caviar on top of that.  It definitely tasted better that way but I was still not the biggest fan.  The main course was salmon and rice, which I have had a few times now and is one of my favorite dishes.  Lastly, you ALWAYS have tea or coffee after a meal and dessert if your not completely full. 

The second Russian adventure this weekend was to the банья.  The banya is the Russian version of a sauna.  First you go into a boiling hot room and sweat (I mean really sweat) for about 10 minutes.  Then you leave the room and either go into a pool or dump cold water on yourself.  The next time you go into the room you traditionally have someone whip you with dried birch branches.  You can repeat the process as long as you can handle the heat.  It might sound strange but it is actually one of the best things I have ever done.  The best part (besides having incredibly smooth skin afterwards) is going out into freezing Russia and having the weather be perfect for a change.  I will definitely be going back to the banya at some point.