На здоровье! Na zdorovie! Cheers!

I haven't yet mentioned my visit to Moscow in December 2012. My colleague and I were there during the biggest protest march since the fall of communism in Russia. Security in the thousands monitoring even greater thousands wearing white ribbons on their lapels as they marched through Moscow protesting against Putin.

I have been working on Russian projects for a little over two years now and thoroughly love the people. They are intelligent, cultured, driven, and passionate. They are immensly proud - and rightly so - about their great city and country. Coming from a country that has also been troubled over recent decades I feel I can relate to the desire to prove to the world that we are from great countries, with wonderful traditions, fascinating histories, and beautiful landscapes.

Of course when you are in Moscow, being so well looked after, you are exposed to the joys and tradtions of drinking vodka. And with vodka, closely follows caviar - the wonderful pop of oily salmon roe and the release of its velvety juices and saltiness, followed by another toast to someone or something and enjoying the ice cold cleansing vodka. In this case it was the deiciously smooth and silky Beluga Vodka. No more Smirnoff for me! In London, Russian Standard is a good option to keep in your freezer.

Since my visit I have been making my version of a Russian influenced sharing platter. It is truly out of this world and has been greedily devoured as a summer Christmas starter, a beach-side sundowner platter, and a starter before a winter lamb stew with the candles flickering and a crackling fire - keeping us protected against the -6 degree winter freeze. It goes something like this:

Starter with Russian Salmon caviar

Caviar platter

Finely dice 3 or 4 cooked beetroots (out of a bottle is also fine) and a good handful of chives. Arrange lengthways in strips along a dinner size plate, but one with a dip like a shallow soup or casserole plate, the beetroot, a carton of plain cream cheese, the chives and a jar of black and/or red caviar (Ikea sell a seaweed version, and Waitrose sell a herring roe - all are fine - of course if you can get your hands on the Russian salmon roe caviar or the ultimate Beluga caviar, then you're in business!). For additional textures and colours you can also finely dice two hard-boiled eggs. Serve with a french loaf and/or blinis and unsalted butter. With that, serve with a shot of ice-cold vodka or Champagne. На здоровье!

Caviar platter