Leading the Russian cultural calendar this month: something for the kids. It's "The Stone Flower", a puppet show that is being described as "an original Russian tale". It certainly sounds that way. The story line involves a young prince who must fend off danger and a scheming uncle to find a stone flower if he is to become the tsar. The show is at Children's Fairyland in Oakland, Calif. at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on November 3 and 4.

On the other side of the country, a cabaret performance that deconstructs the Kurt Weill/Ira... more

When I first visited Russia more than 20 years ago, I don’t think I could have spent $1,000 there if I had stayed a month. Now, you can blow that in a day. Or maybe in an hour.

Want proof? Check out the October issue of Departures magazine. It is devoted entirely to Russia.

For $1,000 in the new Russia you could have lunch with six friends at the Central House of Writers (which was an orphanage early in the 20th century, according to Departures), or dine with six friends at Moscow's Café Pushkin (both... more

Maybe it's because Halloween is coming and everybody in my neighborhood has fake tombstones on the lawn. Or maybe, again because it's almost Halloween, I've been thinking of going to Brooklyn for the annual Green-Wood tour. Whatever the reason, I've been thinking cemeteries, and so has the Moscow News.

The English language news weekly has a feature this week on Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery, and how to tour it. Before you say, ewwwww, visiting dead people, stop and think: A cemetery is probably... more

Maybe it's because I've watched the "Wizard of Oz" too many times, but I can't write the word "tigers" without also whispering under my breath "lions and bears, oh my". As luck would have it, this is B week in my little guy's class and they will be having a day about bears. And no nation is more closely identified with bears than the country of his birth, Russia.

A Russian circus wouldn't be a Russian circus without a bear act. You'll find bears on some of the regional emblems around the country, and... more

I got a lovely surprise in the mail over the weekend. No, not the six new cookbooks I've ordered (the "Jessica's Biscuit" catalog was too compelling). It was my first copy of Russian Life, a bi-monthly gem of a magazine about all things Russian.

Maybe you know all about Russian Life; after all it's only been around for 50 years. But maybe you remember what it used to be--a bit too much one-sided cheering--and hadn’t thought to pick up a copy lately. If that's your only memory, or if you've never seen the magazine, you... more

I'm going to take things a bit out of chronological order this month because October 18 is a special date in Russian-U.S. history. As my Alaska readers know, Oct. 18, 1867 was the transfer of Russia's claim to Alaska to the United States. And if you are in Alaska, or going to Alaska this month, you should know that there is a full schedule of events in Sitka, where the transfer took place, for Alaska Day. They begin on Thursday, October 11 and run through the 18th, and include dancing, bike and kayak racing and an Alaska Day ball.

My... more

Happy belated birthday, Grigori Alexandrovich.

No, I'm not referring to one of my kids. I just realized that I missed celebrating earlier this week the birthday of a famous Russian that I had put on my calendar: Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin.

If that name's not ringing any bells, think of the last name with the word "village" after it. A "Potemkin village" is an idiom that you hear all the time, but what do you know about how it got started?

Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin, or more formally, Prince Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin-Tavricheski, was born... more

The Russian food preference genes have kicked in again.

No, not more potatoes, cucumbers and beets. This time, it's a real budget-buster: smoked fish.

I happened to be in my friendly neighborhood Whole Foods store with my little guy the other day, and over by the fish counter they were having a tasting of smoked fish. There was a big platter of salmon and whitefish from Ducktrap River Fish Farm, just about at my younger son's eye level.

The... more

In Hollywood's hands, orphans are usually cute and cuddly, filled with boundless energy and determination, ready to break into song at a moment's notice. Even the orphan movies I don’t like have a happy ending.

It doesn't sound as if "12", a Russian movie that opened last week in Moscow, is that kind of movie. The central character is a boy from Chechnya, the region in southwest Russia that has been fighting to secede from Russia. He is an orphan, his parents having been killed in the fighting. And... more

She was born Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst in 1729. She died Yekaterina II Velikaya in 1796. And in between, she left a great impression on the world as empress of Russia.

Catherine the Great, as she has come to be known to the world's English speakers, has been the subject of many books--nearly 5,000, according to Amazon.com. And now she has a role in a newly published history book, Jay Winik's "The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World, 1788-1800."

Catherine didn't, at her birth, seem destined for greatness. Her father... more