Bread In Russia

I'm back! That's what I want to say after gone missing for like 3 years. Yes, I'm saying that because I didn't write anything in this blog or even did a life update. But, quick update: I graduated last year from university and now I am back in Indonesia looking for a job. Is it difficult? Yes, it is. Well, we can talk about that later may be some other day. But, I want to reminisce for a moment when I was in Russia. It was in 2018.....

It was autumn, it was 10 degrees Celsius. For me it was really cold. I just arrived in Samara. A new city with different people, culture, and FOOD. I was surprised a little bit that we didn't have much rice here. Not as much as in Indonesia. I couldn't eat because I didn't have the appetite. Why? Because of the food. In Indonesia I eat everything with rice. I mean, you guys must be thinking that this is crazy. I eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So, in Russia, people eat with bread. I just don't understand somehow how can they survive with bread? I eat bread and 10 minutes later I'm still hungry.

So, one day, I decided to try something new for the first time. Sometimes, it is difficult to keep eating rice like usual so may be I was thinking that I should try to train myself eating bread. Apart from being cheap, it also saves me more time and it is more simple. So, here I went to the supermarket called "Auchan". Auchan is the most popular supermarket (Hmm... may be, I'm not sure. There are also Lenta and Perekrestok, but Auchan is the cheapest one and it is big). I went there and try to buy a big bread like I showed in the picture earlier. I thought that this bread is so cheap but I forget how much it was and it looked delicious. So, I would like to try to eat this with chicken at home. I bought a big one. The bread was new, so it was ok.

I went back home. I stir-fried the chicken that I had with garlic, black pepper, spring onion, salt, and coriander. Hmm.. delicious. It reminded me of home. Then, I tried to eat it with the bread I just bought. But guess what? The bread hardened because it was cold. The weather was cold. It was 8 or 10 degrees by that time. So, I couldn't eat that and I didn't really like it. My teeth hurt when I tried to eat the bread. Even I can use that bread to hit something. And it turns out that that kind of bread is supposed to eat with soup. Because the hot soup matches the texture of the bread and can soften the bread. And, If I just want to eat normally without soup I should buy this kind of bread:

Because that bread is softer. But still, I can't keep on this lifestyle. I go back eating rice and even though cooking rice takes more time and costing me money, but I'm so happy eating it and I don't feel hungry faster. But once, I tried to eat bread with chicken soup here, it was delicious but still I don't feel full. I think eating with bread is just a snack. I eat everything with rice. My foreign friends were confused with me. They were actually surprised when I told them that I eat rice three times in a day. Because for them, you only eat rice for lunch or maximum only once in a day. They told me that it is too much. But, who can relate???

There's a saying in Indonesia: It's not eating if you don't eat rice.

Well, at least now I have a funny story to tell at parties about the time I bravely ventured into the world of Russian bread and live to tell the tale!