Sushka is not a booblik

Wikipedia says that "Booblik is a traditional Eastern European bread roll.

It is very similar to a bagel, but somewhat bigger and has a wider hole. Bubliks often also have a much denser and 'chewier' texture than bagels. The bublik is acknowledged to be the progenitor of the bagel."

Also it says that sushka is the sister of the booblik. Which I doubt very much.

Take a look at sushka yourself:



It's small, crunchy and light in weight. You can eat it and crackle to the point where your coworkers hate the sound.

Or, you can brew hot sweet tea and throw it to the cup as my granny did. Sushka turns big and soft, so easy to eat when you so not have your teeth anymore (speaking of grannies).

Marmalade (kind of)

There is similar word in Russian: мармелад (pronounced "mormeeladt"). It can mean anything made of fruit juice and some preservatives but there is one special kind of fruit jelly I used to love in my USSR childhood.

It's not jam or fruit spread. It's sticky so it's covered in sugar crumbs. It usually has of 4 or 6 colors/flavors. Mint, melon, grape and something else. It's really chewy inside if it's fresh, and in USSR it was usually not so fresh so the crust felt like stone sometimes.



Have you tasted it?

Birch sap

I've taken this picture in simple Russian supermarket:



This transparent water-like juice in a small bottle is birch sap.

Wikipedia says birch sap is traditional beverage in Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, France, Scotland and elsewhere in Northern Europe as well as parts of Northern China.

I don't know about that. I've never heard of it anywhere except Russia and ex-USSR.

It all happens in april and may: people hurt trees to get juice.
They say birch sap is rich in vitamins and that tree will be ok if people take only 3 to 5 L a day.

But I've always felt two things thinking of it:
1) how the tree is hurt
2) how unpleasant the sap is

Really, it's more like sweetened water.