Here's to Russian Orthodox Christmas

Greetings from Russia where it's Christmas Eve as per the Russian Orthodox Calendar. There's a reason for that, of course, and this afternoon at the area supermarket, folks were rather intense, gathering last-minute groceries for the holiday. Care to join me for a quick look?

Entrance to local supermarket decorated in royal blue, the traditional Christmas color. Friends have been intrigued to learn about the western choice of red and green.

"Herring under a fur coat" is a popular holiday dish. It's a multi-layered, labor intensive salad folks make special for winter holidays. Or. . . you can buy a slab at the supermarket. Why such a name for a salad? I'm guessing that here in the land of exotic fur coats, this could be translated as "gussied up herring and veggie salad."

"Could chicken be substituted for the herring," I asked this lady in the food-to-go department. She nearly fainted at the very notion and insisted that anything other than herring would be unorthodox.

Here's how the pro's whip up this dish. Well, whether or not you go for herring in a fur coat for this holiday, wishing you a wonder Russian Orthodox Christmas!