shameless plug | needs re-write

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Delicious black bread via Yogurtland.

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I've been reading these Russian posts on Sunshine Supercars (go visit, I guest blog there!) for over a year or so - stories filled with mad Russians racing their super-fast cars at evil speeds on public roads, seemingly without a care in the world.

They fascinate me, these Russians. I want to know more about them. How do they think? Where do they live? What - most importantly - do they eat?

You all should know I'm a bit of a foodie, so it seems a natural enough question to me. You should also know I have a real problem with Ohio winters, so how do these Russians get through theirs? By loading up on that superb Russian staple: bread!

I was as surprised as you probably are to learn that bread is one food item a Russian table is rarely without.

Now, we all know that no decent human can deny the satisfaction of a freshly-baked loaf of crusty bread, but the Russians elevate its importance to an intense level of seriousness. The Russian intellectuals have asserted that "the quality of bread is the quality of our life".

The importance the Russians have placed on their bread isn't recent, either. During the Cold War, the baking of bread was industrialized, and the Soviet government fixed its price, making a bland, homogenized, and stereotypically communistic sort of bread accessible to all.

In the home, more traditional wives and grandmothers prided themselves on their mad bredmakin' skillz. How did they organize culinary throw-downs in Russia? By pairing off a dense and chewy Borodinsky against a Chorni Chleb - a particular black bread with more than twenty ingredients, including rye flour, chocolate, shallots, coriander, and caraway seeds ... it sounds divine.

All this emphasis on bread and baking follows the Russian proverb, "bread is at the head of everything," and it seems to do a body good


And, finally, because I couldn't resist ...

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IN SOVIET RUSSIA BOBBY FLAYS YOU

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... ah, Yakov. You taught us well.

The Feve | Black River Belles

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The Feve is a local restaurant that is many kinds of awesome, if for no other reason than bringing tater tots back into my life after I'd convinced myself I'd outgrown them.

The Feve is also the only cool restaurant/bar that's open past 11:00 PM in Oberlin's corner of northern Ohio, and it boasts a kick-ass micro-scene with patrons like Tym Switzer, Stevie Wonder, and Danny DeVito passing by to share chocolate and wine with Jason (the bar's owner) and his crew of pretty college-age employees.

I was lucky enough to duck in during a Black River Belles concert last Sunday. The Belles are a terrific blue grass folk band made up of three cute Southern gals who Rock Out to the classics, but who are also capable of belting out a few originals which are equally convincing.

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Unlike Dave Matthews, this sounded better live.

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The Belles are fronted by Helena Thompson, who has become my heroin by virtue of her delicious butterscotch voice and tolerance for whiskey. She also claims to be a good kisser, but I will neither confirm nor deny this fact.

Can you tell I'm a bit smitten? GIRL CRUSH!

The other band members seem just as skilled and gorgeous as Thompson. Erin Lobb is on Cello and sings backup (listen to her version of Shankill Butchers), while Sara Sasaki's little red cowgirl boots lead me to believe that could pull off one of Paganini's violin pieces, no sweat.

Overall, the Belle's performance was very involving - and it was refreshing to see performers who aren't afraid to sweat on their instruments.

Really, I've seen so many "big, rich, rockbands" give half-assed shows at expensive venues with zero effort made to connect to the very audiences who paid for their Lear jets and Bluebird tour buses ...

... and that's my review of last Sunday at the Feve, people! I hope you enjoyed it and I can't wait to go again. See you there!

Black River Cafe | Pork Sandwich

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Oberlin has quite a lot going for it, if you're into the sorts of things Oberlin has going for it: organic meats, cheeses, and produce, riding a bicycle, walking in a very relaxed manner, strange hairdos, wearing cow costumes on the street, great music, and businesses that open whenever they damn well feel like it, to name a (somewhat random) few.

Oberlin's famous notorious Black River Cafe epitomizes all of the above qualities.

It's a pleasant surprise when the BRC's actually open, and what you order off the menu is usually organic and always high quality. The waitresses tend towards the beautiful, funky, and languorous type, and will get to you when they get to you (unless you know their names and majors).

I happened upon an open BRC just today, in fact, and was greeted by "Amy", a red-headded history major who used to work at the local Chinese restaurant- and she remembered me! I was seated within five minutes of being there.

Five minutes is fast for the BRC. Really.

I ordered a pulled pork sandwich instead of my usual BLT today. The gorgeous sandwich is pictured, above, with its crisp baguette, slow-cooked pork, muenster cheese, and chipotle mayonnaise (no barbecue sauce on this piggy!) that brought a much appreciated heat that built up steadily with every bite. The lovely soup (also shown) is a roasted red pepper and tomato puree.

While the BRC has quite a few vegan offerings, this plate obviously isn't one of them!

I went with a friend, and our two pulled pork sandwiches, two cups of soup, and peach-raspberry iced teas amounted to under $20 ... not bad for made-from-scratch, porky goodness!