About
Hello! My name is Olga Galanter, I was a system engineer in Moscow, Russia but now I’m a housewife and mom, living in Garden State, USA with my husband, my son and two cats. I love to cook. I love to eat. And I love to take pictures.
I began to learn to cook in Soviet times, my grandmas cooked great Russian and Ukrainian dishes (my hometown is on the border with Ukraine) such as borscht, kholodets, vareniki, okhroshka, pirozhki and blini. My grandpa was a great explorer and loved to cook stews and soups with his own recipes. My mom is a great baker and now she loves to try my cooking ideas. I was just meant to love to cook, and I did.
The recipes shown here use mostly local, possibly seasonal ingredients and a few things from the can (beans or tomatoes). I love to discover new ingredients and new combinations. We just does not eat olives and seafood (except fish) so, there are no recipes with this ingredients. And we don’t drink alcohol (yeah, no vodka, sorry), but sometimes I’d use something special to add better taste to the dishes. Some recipes has no gluten. And there is some (exUSSR) Russian recipes from my memories.
Oh, and starting January, 2012 I began posting more low-calorie recipes. Counting calories helped me to lose 60 pounds already (December 2012) and the process continues.
My native language is Russian, I’m not very good in English and my recipes stories shorter than I’d like, but I’m working on it. Please, be patient.
All the pictures are taken by me. I’m try my best and want to be better.
What else..? I love holidays!
Even if your English isn’t the best (I actually think it’s very good), my favorite part is the picture you include with each recipe. All the recipes I’ve seen are simple and from scratch, exactly the kind of food I enjoy making!
I love your site, keep it up!
You are very kind. Thanks!
Awesome , thank you so much for these recipes
Thanks!
Just had “Green Shchi” in Saint Petersburg and have been searching high and low for the recipe! Thank you so much for posting!!! We recently moved to Moscow and I think your blog will be a great resource to experiment from using the local ingredients (while I can get them at the market!). Please keep up the site and thank you!
Hello,
Love your recipes. My family immigrated from Russia when I was a young teen. I still love the flavors and tastes of Russian food. I have enjoyed reading your blog immensely. I like the simplicity of the recipes and enjoy reading your posts. I think your english is quite good and the blog posts are very readable. Keep it up.
Thank you!
Hey Olga! I love your site… I’m Russian/Ukranian and a nutritionist, so I was very excited to see interesting variations of my family recipes (and your low-calorie recipes, too). If you ever need any nutrition info, let me know.
Thank you, Nina! Good advice never hurt.
Hi Olga, beautiful pictures. I am working on a museum exhibition on the history of puffing cereals, and I would love to use your photos of the caramel puffed rice/wheat squares up on the website (credited, of course). Please let me know if you would allow for that.
Thanks,
hannah
Hi! Yes, you can use it. And thanks.