Bake for 30 mins on maximum heat

How to cook a family till golden brown. I've just returned from a short family holiday in the South France. I was nice but HOT. Now since we returned back to Moscow, which is not one of most favorite places in the world as you may know, its really hot here. Although the holiday was great is was hot and I was looking forward to a cooler environment back at our temporary home in Moscow. Its been plus 32 for several weeks here. Our small flat has no air-conditioning and faces the afternoon sun. Consequently, it heats up to the temperature of an oven, fans and blinds make no difference.

We meet the landlord on Monday to pay her the rent in hard cash (they like cash here) and hope she will see reason and install air-con. Dealing with Russian landlords here is not easy and many are greedy and uncooperative. We can guarantee her at least 3 years rent that will run into the price of a decent sports car by the time we leave, we pay on time and are quite and clean. We will plead with her or threaten to leave depending on her reaction.

I think my advice is  if you are thinking of moving to work and live in Moscow, at a minimum get your employer to pay your rent and get a flat with air conditioning. Although our single salary is good, the rent eats up a lot of it and we cook in the summer and froze last winter. I was once told that Russia is like a smelly sweaty armpit in the summer and like a freezer in the winter. This may now be very true. Finding a flat without help is not fun and many flats are sub standard and come at a high price. If she does not play ball, we will have to hunt again for a flat.

The mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov had the sky bombed with chemicals this summer to prevent rain for their National Day celebrations in Red Square. He threatened to do the same in the winter to prevent snow as he said it costs too much to clean the streets of snow although its mostly done by lowly paid men from the far reaches of the former USSR that flock to Moscow for work. His wife is very rich (as is he) from various suspect property deals, maybe she or he (or a relative if theirs) owns a factory that produces air-conditioning units? Bomb the skies, stop any rain and clouds and watch the cash roll in. This is not as paranoid or crazy as it sounds, since this is Russia, where anything is possible for a price, some would sell their own grandmother for cash.

We asked about the price air-conditioning units today at a big electronic shop in Moscow, waiting times for air-con installation takes weeks (or so the girl in the shop told us today) and you pay for it, prices range from 29,000 rubles for a basic machine plus 7,000 rubles for installation. In Russia, installation and servicing are not in the dictionary of sales and customer care.