Last week, I wrote about what we teach our kids on money. There are many creative ways we have taught them about it and still continue to do so on a daily basis, but for last week I shared about one perspective that The Hunny talked about frequently to our kids. On the same vein, it has become a habit of ours to hunt for things cheap and things free anytime we are given the opportunity to travel. As parents, we learned that it's fun when we're intentional in hunting for such goods with our kids because they're engaged most of the time, thus, fostering a culture of gratefulness and contentment in our family.
When we moved to Moscow almost a couple of months ago, we were sure to embark on a mission to debunk a myth that Moscow is an expensive city to live in, perhaps, when possible, one blog at a time. Expensive it may be on some areas of concern like the cost of apartment rent here, but it holds true the same way you would discover living in Manila, Singapore, Jakarta, or HongKong, just to be fair.
Back home to our beloved Philippines, sour dough breads are pricey and you can only find them at delis and high-end specialty stores. The prices range from PhP 200 - 400 for a loaf of bread ( USD 4 - 8 / RUR 300 - 500 ). Incidentally, I have a little sister who ferments our own yeast and bakes our own sour dough breads!
I think my little sister who happens to be the third registered nurse among my siblings is a gifted baker. Sour dough breads are hard to handle especially on humid places, but she's handled our home-baked sour dough breads well. Her breads take center stage at our family get-togethers and we're dipping them in olive oil and vinaigrettes. Our working-class taste-buds have leveled up to that of the elites and we've become a brood of spoiled siblings now that we can't stand an ordinary white, tasty loaf of bread by the name of... it shall remain un-named. Below is her specialty focaccia bread sprinkled with chopped rosemary freshly snipped from my herb garden. ( RIP - my herb garden. )
See below photos:
Your shelves of freshly baked sour dough breads of different sizes and shapes which we discovered at one of our favorite grocery stores in Moscow named Auchan! The breads are still warm to the feel. It's like stepping in the winter wonderland of all breads sour dough.
For the price of RUR 43 ( PhP 30 / USD .65 ) per piece, that's almost a give-away! If you will zoom in further to the left, the tag reads, RUR 25 ( PhP 18 / USD .37 ). I can have a truck-load of these sour dough breads shipped to the Philippines! Be still my OFW-heart.
Look closely at this photo below. Have you seen how The Hunny holds his bread in his right hand? It's a parmesan roll and he's taking his time, relishing every bite because it was served to us for FREE.
Which reminded me of what we've had in Le Bar at Sofitel Manila a few years ago. Their version of complimentary basket of bread, over-the-top serving, the French way.
But my favorite part took place recently, when we received our free sandwiches, much to our surprise, from the coffee shop we go to almost everyday to have our online homeschool done. What a way to experience their pabaon or take-away present, a genuine Muskovite generosity ( for being their loyal customers, I suppose. ) "Spasiba, spasiba, spasiba," meaning "thank you" in Russian. That's all we could say that afternoon as we parted ways with our barista, a talking Barbie. Take note that the croissants and lettuces still looked fresh, the two large slices of ciabatta breads were neatly tucked inside the styro container, enough for the four of us to have a feast. But we've been so much blessed this day and decided to take the opportunity of sharing one of them with our Babushka at the concierge to our apartment. Did we make one Babushka happy when we handed her a pack of this, see below.
I love the famous adage that says, "when it rains, it pours." This particular day was a proof to that. It literally rained and poured on a late summer afternoon here.
Which brings to mind that back to our beloved Philippine Islands, it is the rainy season already. And when it's raining and cold outside, for our merienda, we would wash our pan de sal by dipping it in a steaming cup of kapeng barako.
PHOTO BELOW: Presenting, the delectable coffee Java-ness of Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago. And speaking of Indonesia, I remember taking this photo at exactly the same time last year right in front of our villa in Bontang Island where we stayed for a month. Though we have lived in our suitcases during the entire duration of our stay here, who would forget the friendliest and most hospitable people of Bontang, Balikpapan, Jakarta, and Bali? It was a quiet Sunday evening as all other evenings of the entire week. We've enjoyed our unlimited java coffee. Ha! For free. And that is deserving another blog entry my dears, Lord-willing?
