Adventures in Russian Food #4

I noticed today that the foods I have planned to write about are mostly junk foods/pops purchased from any number of stores and not really representative of I've actually been eating since being here. So here goes:
-Breakfast: Usually a 100gr yogurt cup, kasha, a sandwich or two, and tea. Sometimes I get a syrok for breakfast, which is a fantastic start for the day. Occasionally the 'main' breakfast dish will change. Sometimes it's ramen, mashed potatoes, or oladi (pancakes).
-Lunch: Breakfast is huge, and I mean huge. I usually don't do lunch and if I do, it's yogurt from a produkty nearby or coffee.
-Dinner foods: 95% of the time, I have soup and salad for dinner with the ubiquitous buderbrod (open faced sandwich) and tea. Occasionally there are pelmeni, and occasionally I have potatoes with either chicken or sosiski (hotdogs, but not gross). Sometimes kasha as well. The salad is onion, garlic, tomato, and sometimes red peppers tossed with sunflower oil and salt. After you eat the veggies you tear up some bread to soak up the delicious sauce left at the bottom.

Rundown on what everything is:
~Kasha- it's porridge and can be made from any grain/cereal, but the end-all-be-all is buckwheat. I usually get oat kasha which isn't bad; just like oatmeal.
~Oladi (Оладьи)- Small pancakes which doesn't seem to be made with leavening. They aren't puffy, but they are soft and my host mom is REALLY good at making them. Smear with preserves and enjoy.
~Yogurt- Russians know dairy. Like everything I've had here is just about a billion times better than in the States (assuming you purchase the right kind of milk). WisconSIN doesn't know shit! Anyway, my favorite yogurt is a semi-drinkable variety with melon and mango.
~Schi- Cabbage soup with meat, veggies, and barley. There is another variety called Sour Schi, and it's made with sauerkraut. I like both.
~Rassol'nik- Also sometimes called Pickle Soup. Why? It's made with pickles and pickle juice. There's other stuff in it, but for me the taste of the pickle stuff is the primary flavor. Strangely enough, I like this soup a lot too.
~Pemeni- Meat dumplings. My host mom serves them in a broth and with sour cream. These are probably my favorite things to eat. There is always room for one more, they are just that delicious.
~Sosiska (Сосиска)- Essentially a hot dog, except maybe saltier and always boiled, never grilled. By the way, 'hot dogs' (хот-дог) are the gross things sold in street carts, according to my host mom, and taste nothing like sosiski.

Things I have not eaten that I wish to (and am somewhat disappointed I have not already)
~Okroshka with kvas
~Borsht
~Anything else with beets
~Kholodets (I have expressed interest in this to host mom so, fingers crossed!)
~Shuboy (herring in a fur coat)
~McDonalds
~Bear -There is a restaurant that serves it somewhere.
~Sushi

Stay Tuned for more Russian Soda!!