Царский ужин, Tsar's Dinner

Vasiliy and Irina invited our family over for a special dinner called the Tsar's Dinner. It was once a feast that only the Tsar's ate due to the special fish. It was made up of three fish: trout, sturgeon and small sturgeon (I don't know the translation but this fish is not very common and therefore 'special') plus salads, fish soup and desert. It was very tasty and Sophia enjoyed all of it.

Sturgeons served with lemons and pomegranates, mmmm. One of the 'treats' of this feast is to eat the spinal cord of this small sturgeon. It can be eaten after the fish has been cooked, used for soup or used in pies. Nobody else would try it, so I thought I would give it a shot...I had to get Max to take a picture of me eating it...

I wasn't told what it was before I ate it, but since no person who understood what it was, would eat it, I knew it had to be something odd. It was a bit jelly like on the outside and crunchy on the inside but it really didn't have a flavor. Oh well, I figure it had lots of nutrients...
Spinal cord anyone? This is the equivalent spinal cord in regular stugeon.

Smoking is still very common in Russia, athough less that what it used to be. This cracked me up. I am not sure how Vasiliy managed not to drop any ashes on our fish!

Part of our Russian family: Max, Denis, Me, my Mom, my Dad, Maria (Irina's daughter), Sveta and Irina. Despite some strange cuisine, the dinner really was tasty and I would gladly do it again!

Maria has a four year old daughter, Ksenia. She took an immediate liking to Sophia and Sophia to her. They were able to play, watch movies and argue over who gets to sit on the one stool that was there, without any difficulties which is awesome considering that neither of them really speak each other's language.

Sophia loved playing with all the cats. Denis and Sveta have one (Masyana) and Vasiliy has three. This one, Cheena, was the nicest of the three and was willing to be carried by each of the girls for a short distance. It was funny to watch as the cat is about the size of Sophia and I think her poor paws were dragging on the floor:)