The Food Here (We can survive)

Eating the food here is a god-send for my diet. First of all, the restaurants are very conservative with the portions, they don't heap it on. And you order ala-carte. If you want soup, you order it, same with salad. My favorite main courses are schashlik (skewered beef or chicken) and palmeni (soup with dumplings).

I don't like spending a lot of time in restaurants, so I go to the store or market and get cucumbers, tomatoes, sausage (huge variety here - I look for the lean ones), and bread. When I get back to my room I lay it out on my end table and a bottle of water and take small slices. Sometimes with a bit of cheese. I can eat for about 3 dollars a day.

Breakfasts are served at the hotel right now. It can vary from a slice of wheat bread, cold sausage or fish fillets, cereal (not the pre-sweetened kind) or occassionally I'll grab a couple of fried eggs (no bacon). I'm not much of a breakfast person, so that meal is very light.

For lunch its a bowl of soup, a small (no kidding here) tomato and cucumber salad, and a cup of juice. After the first week of tasting the Russian beers, its now juice and water for the most part.

I don't have a scale, but I can see my waist shrinking. I'm down to my last belt notch. Maybe I'll need a new belt in a few weeks. A small price to pay.I've been to our doctor here and checked on the blood pressure. Its right where it needs to be. I take the stairs to my 5th floor room and walk to the market instead of taking a cab, trying to work up the endurance a bit.