Immersion Excursion, Blini

Observations: To learn how to make blini I went to Donnie and Bella’s house. We had a wonderful Russian woman come over named Luda. She spoke no English and she showed us how to make blini. First she had us get out all of the ingredients. Then she began to mix the ingredients together. See the recipe bellow. She made sure that she showed us the way to stir the ingredients and the order was important. She measured the ingredients out for us but she just does it by taste. When she finished mixing she heated her special flat blini pan. She oiled it and made one small blini. Then she tasted it. She decided to add a few more ingredients and she added the soda mixture. Then she began to make all the blini. She poured the batter onto the hot greased pan and waited for the entire blini to bubble. Then she flipped it. It was done when it was a light brown on both sides.
Impressions: Luda was extremely friendly and helpful. I asked her many questions about blini. She told us that Russians normally eat blini in the morning or in the evening. They eat it as often as they want to. You can make sweet blini and put sweet things inside of it. Or you can take out the sugar and put in meet and various other combinations for a dinner type meal. She said she did not learn how to make blini until she was married. Then her mother taught her. Russian blini compares to crepes or very thin pancakes in America. We do not typically eat pancakes with anything not sweet though.
Questions: Luda was very good at answering my questions.
Language Notes: Luda was the first Russian I have spent time with who speaks no English. It was fun to communicate with her in only Russian and using gestures. We were able to get along fairly well.
Recipe: блины
1 egg 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 liter spoiled milk ¾ tsp. vanilla
1/4- ½ cup of sugar 5-8 T. oil
1 T. salt vinegar, oil, sour cream
About 4 cups of flour (to desired texture)

In a large bowl, mix together the egg, milk, sugar, and salt. Add the flour until it’s the desired texture (stir only in one direction). Add the cinnamon, vanilla, and oil and stir. Add 50-100 ml boiling water and stir. Heat the pan on the stove on high heat. Put oil in a little bowl and lightly grease the pan, then add a small amount of batter. When the first pancake is done, taste it to see if any ingredients need to be added. Then, put about 1 T baking soda in a big spoon and add a few drops of vinegar to make a paste. Whisk the paste into the batter and stir well. If desired, add 2 T sour cream and stir. (Keep heating the pan all this time) At this point, you can also add a little more oil, if needed. Once the batter is ready, fry the pancakes by putting about a ladleful of batter into the pan, then turn pan so the batter thinly covers the whole surface. When the whole pancake is bubbly, turn it and fry the other side. Put oil on the pan between each pancake.
Serve блины with jam, sour cream, honey, or curds. Or, leave out the sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla and add more salt and serve it with meat, onion, mushrooms, or potatoes. Put the filling in the center of the блины and roll it up. Блины can be frozen by rolling each one up and freezing them all in a Ziplock.