In the part of Pennsylvania where I grew up “roots” rhymes with “foot(s)” rather than “boots” or “moons”. That said, yesterday my cousins took me back to my, well, roots.
We went to Russia.
Ok, maybe it was only Brighton Beach, but it was the most Russian place I’ve experienced so far. On the street and in the shops you hear Russian (at least that’s what it sounded like to me).
As for the shops, well, here’s a sample bookstore shelf:
None of these cookbooks will be coming home with me. Ah well…
To make it all just a bit odder, the commercial street is under the elevated train tracks.
The street noise between trains is amazing due to the acoustics of having tracks overhead, and when a train rumbles and clashes through, oh my!
Lots of the shops were having sidewalk sales. Mmmm…
Inside all the shops it smelled wonderful. Bakeries, smoked meats and smoked fish, exotic yet comfortingly familiar. I loved it!
After poking about in the shops we went a few blocks over to the boardwalk. It was a gray misty day (very Russian!). We sat and watched the gulls wheeling over the beach.
Then we walked up the boardwalk to Coney Island, but that’s a story for another day…
Next time I promise recipes, or at least a recipe but I wanted to share this amazing day! Mmmmmmm, food and family!
and then make soup 
Every big city seems to have these “food ghetto” areas. They always fascinate me. London is broken up into so many of these ethnic food areas.
By: Food,Photography & France on October 8, 2013
at 6:42 am
Absolutely fascinating – makes for a wonderful sort of “vacation in a vacation”!
By: Rachel on October 8, 2013
at 3:27 pm