– Hello, Dmitri!
– Cheers!
– Welcome. We’ll talk more about conquering Lake Baikal, but let’s tell our viewers what we’re cooking today.
– Dear viewers, today we’re going to cook a Buryat dish – pozy, or as the Buryats call this food – buuzy. There are many analogies in different cuisines.
– And I, for some reason, thought it was manty.
– No, manty are from Kazakhstan. In Russia they have pelmeni, in Italy ravioli, khinkali in Georgia. Every cuisine in the world has them. In Buryatia they’re called pozy.
– But they’re all similar to each other, so we’ll try something…
– Cooked dough with meat inside.
– With stuffing, with meat stuffing.
– There are peculiarities.
– These will be big, giant, killer.
– Killer pelmeni.
– First recipe. We need 250 grams of flour.
– Let me tell you.
– Next.
– So, when I was in Buryatia, they showed me the recipe. True, here we have beef and pork, but their original recipe consists of horse and mutton. And they don’t mix it through a meat grinder, they chop everything with a knife. They put it like this, and they have two knives, and they make this chopped stuff. We have ground pork and ground beef. We have 250 grams of flour, 1 egg and 150 grams of water.
– There we go. And onions, of course.
– To the ground meat – yes, we add onions, garlic and salt and pepper. It’s very simple.
– Very simple. So we’ll start with the dough.
– Absolutely.
– Second recipe is vegetarian.
– Garlic. We’ll have to divide it somehow, half here, half there.
– Okay. Let’s do it like this. You start making dough for our homicidal murderers, and I’ll cook the vegetarian dish.
– All right.
– Let’s put our aprons on, shall we?
– Let’s get to work. That’s for you, that’s for me.
– That’s a buuzy. One piece, enough for one person. Andrei needs one and a half.
– I prepared the ground meat, coarsely chopped the onion. I was hoping for minced meat here, and the onions would look very strange with such meat. But it takes a lot to get the flavorful juices, because how do they differ?
– Okay, stop, we’ll find out after the ad break. Ad break, friends!
– Dmitri, so you add to the ground meat…
– I added garlic.
– Uh-huh.
– What makes pozy different from manty is that here you add coarsely chopped garlic to get a unique, inimitable flavor.
– So, you added like this: onion, garlic, salt, pepper.
– Nothing complicated.
– The original recipe requires meat minced with a knife.
– Horse mince, lamb mince and so on.
– Got it. The dough?
– Eggs, water, flour. Let it rest for a while.
– Let me help you.
– Yes, please.
– Dmitri, come on, tell us about your last experience in… What’s up?
– I wanted to hug you.
– Hug me. Ooo wiped his hands. Dmitri, tell us about it. Baikal – how did you conquer Baikal? Where did you get the idea? How did you…
– It came a year and a half ago, when I started running. I started researching running events. Once I found information that on Lake Baikal, for 10 years, a unique race was held.
– 10 years. Every year?
– This year was the 10th anniversary. It runs from one shore of Baikal to the other.
– It’s about 42 kilometers.
– 42 kilometers.
– Like from here to Calarasi.
– To Orhei.
– Or to Orhei. We have a video, my God.
– This is my active pre-race training and 3-4 months while I had suitable weather. I ran in Irkutsk. And I ran on the frozen Ghidighici, on the Valea Morilor lake. And then we went to Irkutsk. In Irkutsk I did some more running and ice training. And then I went to the other side of Baikal.
– How many people participated?
– 124 people.
– 124? My God! From all over the world?
– No, not really. From 9 or 10 countries or so. It was mostly Russians, but there were a lot of Japanese and…
– And you’re the only Moldovan?
– Yes, the only Moldovan who ran. And that’s how it started. You know, it’s interesting that it’s flat and you can see the other shore. You’d say it’s not far, but it takes 3.5-4 hours to get there. And Baikal is alive, you know.
– It’s like being on the moon here.
– Baikal is alive. It looks like a frozen lake, but it breathes. Here you run and there’s a crack, you turn around and see a huge crack next to you, or the ice cracks. Baikal breathes, you see how thick it is, it’s 1 meter thick. So I ran out of habit, I picked up the pace I was used to running, but at 20 km I realized I couldn’t do it anymore.
– You have to slow down.
– I have to slow down. My legs started to stiffen because the surface was very unusual and my spikes were slipping. The metal spikes on my sneakers weren’t enough. My feet kept slipping, even with metal.
– It felt like granite, not ice.
– Yeah, it’s like running on tiles. It froze, then fell off.
– This is the moment of triumph.
– Looks like we made it to the finish line by running. It was so bad, I finished 22nd.
– 22 out of 124? Oh, my God. So you beat 122 competitors?
– 100 or so.
– Wow.
– That’s a good result. I thought it would be worse, but I’m pleased.
– Kidding? You’re actually the best!
– The main thing is that Baikal has changed something in me and my attitude towards sport and running.
– What did it change?
– What exactly?
– The attitude towards sport in general?
– Yes, and towards nature, that you don’t have to conquer, but ask nature to give you opportunities and allow you to go through it. Because we are little insects, and when you realize that, your greatness will be exactly that, that you are small and insignificant. You have to accept that.
– But who won? The Russian?
– Yes, the Russian won, he broke not the world record, but the course record – 2:55:00. He finished in 2:57:00. Almost broke the course record. My coach ran marathons in 2:20:00.
– Wow.
– I mean, I’m thinking, Liviu, let’s go there and set a local, Moldovan record, take first place.
– Are you going to participate next year?
– Not here, I have other plans for next year.
– On Baikal?
– No, I don’t have time. There are so many interesting things in life. You can’t do the same thing twice.
– Daniela wanted to ask you something.
– How did this hairstyle come about?
– Very simple. No, this hairstyle came about when my son was born. When my son was born, I had long hair, like a ponytail, only it was long. I was very tired of that hair, and when my son was born, I invited all my friends to a party, we got drunk. I said, “Guys, here’s a pair of scissors, take a lock of hair, each of you, and cut it off me. I now have a son.” They each took a lock of hair and cut it. Igor Cobylanschi had a part in this too. When the last lock of hair was left behind, my companion was supposed to cut it off, but he said, “I won’t cut it off for your sake. You’ll thank me tomorrow.” I said, ” Come on, cut it, we’re doing everything we want today”. He said, “No, I’ll take the scissors and I won’t give them to anyone else”. And in the morning I woke up with a haircut, just a lock on my back. I ran to the hairdresser, let’s do something. From then on, I’ve been wearing this.
– Dmitri, ok. Baikal – mission accomplished, number 22. What’s the next target?
– Well, look, I’m also freediving in Egypt.
– What’s freediving?
– Freediving means diving without a diver, holding your breath. You take a deep breath and dive.
– How long do you hold your breath?
– Five and a half minutes.
– And how do you do it?
– With my mouth and lungs.
– What, five minutes underwater?
– That’s me surfing.
– How are you filming all this?
– I don’t want to advertise now. You said no advertising. I have a special extreme conditions camera attachable.
– You’ll sit in a rocking chair and watch the shots in your old age.
– I’m already in my old age, after 40 comes old age. The kids probably think Dad’s old.
– Where is this place?
– It’s Sri Lanka. I thought I’d try the board. But I don’t know how to use the board, so it was an experiment. And it turns out it’s not my style. It’s like skiing. On the mountain, on skis, it’s very similar to a board. I don’t like skiing, I don’t like the board. But I had to try it.
– Come on, tell me about your five minutes underwater. How is that possible? I thought it was two minutes max. Can you really swim underwater for five minutes?
– No.
– How much training did you do to do that?
– The difference is five minutes underwater in static. You lie on the water and with special techniques you calm your mind. You relax and you can stay underwater for five minutes. I can do 2.5 minutes in motion. And in static, 5.5.
– Do you need training for this?
– You definitely need training. You need aerobic training, some breath-hold running, some swimming to train. There are special dives.
– Dmitri, tell me about San Francisco and Alcatraz.
– Got it. Look, so in early summer, there’s a unique competition in the world. It’s a prison, you probably know about Alcatraz, the most famous prison in the world. It’s where Al Capone was incarcerated.
– Fortunately, I wasn’t there.
– It’s been closed for 40 years, there’s a museum there. And some guys decided to rent this fort once a year and have a triathlon competition. I mean, the prison was so famous that it was impossible to escape from it. Because even the escapees couldn’t swim across that cold bay. It’s 1.5 miles of freezing water. And a lot of people simply drowned there. So, what’s the competition? We’re landed on this island, the cannon goes off and all the athletes jump in.
– Escaping?
– Yes. You have time. And everybody gets in the water and swims to that bay. In a wetsuit, then 16 kilometers.
– 2.5 kilometers if you’re in a wetsuit, it’s not that hard.
– Is it true that there used to be sharks?
– Not in San Francisco, it’s cold.
– They say there were sharks.
– It’s in the movie, Andrei, in the movie.
– I don’t know anything about that. Maybe some kind of electronic, metal submarine.
– Or just a fin to scare the prisoners. After San Francisco?
– After that, it’s biking and running.
– Bike? Uhh.
– This is a triathlon.
– Anyway, you swam to the shore.
– Yes, I got on my bike, cycled and then ran.
– How long?
– It’s a short distance – 40km bike and 10km run.
– Is that a short distance?
– Yes. It will be harder in July.
– Dimitri, what’s your secret? How do you have so much stamina? Is it the food – manty?
– What food? I’m always hungry. You won’t believe it, I’m hungry all the time. I’m always hungry, eating sweets, eating pastries. I’m not allowed, but I eat, eat, eat. That’s why don’t get too excited about these things. I’ll give you one for the whole crew.
– Traian wanted to ask you, what’s your weird lifestyle?
– Weird?
– No, why? That’s very fair. Weird.
– Have you seen Forrest Gump?
– Yes, I have.
– Well, he doesn’t explain why he runs either. I don’t know, I just ran. I’m going through a period right now. Running, swimming.
– How old are you?
– 40.
– Long live.
– 40?
– Yes.
– If all 40-year-old men looked like you, we’d be a very beautiful nation.
– More positivity, more good things, think about people that everyone is good, everything is great, nothing bad is happening in your life.
– And you’re gonna look great.
– We have to cut the tomatoes.
– How big?
– The eggplants go in the oven.
– Beauty is a strong word. In Buryatia, we’re told that to get the pozy right, you have to do 33 bindings.
– And how many have you done?
– Here I have 17. I’m trying to do 33 now. It’s not as easy as it looks.
– Dmitri, have you been such a restless child since you were little? Always wanted to be on the move, I don’t know. Running around…
– Yes, I used to run to get away from my classmates who constantly beat me up, because I spent too much time at school studying and too little time socializing with boys or getting into fights.
– And in physical education, I guess, you were among the first, or not so much?
– No, I wasn’t good at PE at all, unfortunately.
– Is that what made you do it?
– You know, I had a problem with that when I was a kid, to be honest. I was weak, not very sociable and I had problems because of that. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the fact that at 37 I ended up doing sports. Or not.
– So at 37 you realized you wanted to conquer?
– Yeah, one day I realized that.
– What happened? You woke up in the morning.
– No, I came to work, it was a normal day. I started working and suddenly the Skype icon started flashing – you know, jumping like this. I open Skype and a link pops up, just from my friend Kostik. He says, “Look what I found. And there was a man’s story about how he became Ironman. I mean, how he was a typical office worker, and it took him 2-3 years to become Ironman. And that was it, I lost my mind. The next day I went to buy sneakers. And so it started.
– You know, maybe it’s not too late for me either?
– It’s not too late, maybe you’re not down and out yet.
– MaybeI’m already down and out?
– No-no-no.
– Dmitri, yet, you have to admit that in order to practice extreme sports in our country, you have to afford it financially. I mean, good sneakers, special clothes, I don’t know, all sorts of things, you know.
– I see what you’re getting at. I mean, you can run in $1,000 clothes or you can run in $100 clothes and run faster.
– But afford a trip to San Francisco, for example? Or a nice bike, or go to Sri Lanka and surf. Not everyone can afford that. Is that you again?
– It’s the Ironman finish when I arrived and almost fell. It was really hard – after cycling, also running 20 kilometers.
– Where’s that?
– 7 hours I was on the move. It was in Austria.
– Austria. You see, you have to go to Austria too.
– I’ve got twice the distance ahead of me.
– So the next Ironman is in Switzerland.
– Yes, in Zurich.
– How do you do that? You send in an application – I want to take part?
– Yes, they accept everyone without discrimination, you want to participate, if you don’t pass, it’s your problem.
– And you, when you usually participate, are there other representatives of our country? Or just you?
– No, I’m the only Moldovan participating in Ironman. I will be the first representative of the Moldovan species in these competitions.
– That’s right.
– You asked me about money. To participate in such competitions, several factors must coincide: money, health, desire and free time. If all these factors coincide, then you can afford to spend 2 hours of your time training.
– Oh, it’s not always the case that our desires coincide with our possibilities.
– That’s a stupid excuse.
– Yeah, you’re right, actually.
– If you really want something, you can do it.
– How does your wife react to your travels, your extreme business trips?
– Well, she tries to make a profit out of it, you know? A female profit.
– Do I get a month off from you or what?
– On the contrary. We’ll go together. Sri Lanka, Zurich, San Francisco, we go together.
– It’s good to have a husband who does extreme sports.
– Why not? Otherwise, we’d stay in Chisinau. But now she travels, sees the world, and participates with me.
– Dmitri, have you already written a will or not? Just in case.
– Yes, she asked me, she told me: “Go to the competitions, but while you’re not with me, write me a paper so I’ll have peace of mind. You have two kids.”
– You wrote your will?
– No, I’m still thinking about what to write.
– Imagine running along the Baikal and the ice cracks!
– Yes, that’s it. I tell her you’ll get it all, so why worry? She tells me she wants everything recorded.
– That’s right.
– I told her, fine. And I didn’t write anything down, of course. And she jokes every time: “Come on, write it down. Freediving is dangerous, you may never get out.
– After the show, she’s sure to say: if you want to go to Switzerland, write your will.
– Or take me with you.
– Have you taken out life insurance?
– For my wife?
– For yourself.
– No, I know my life will always be fine and I’ll die an old man in my bed. I’ll be fine. I might get traumatized, but I won’t die.
– So this is what a vacation looks like. Guys, what’s a vacation to you? If a vacation is lying on the couch or the beach, it’s not a vacation to me. It’s a dreadful, hard, very hard job doing nothing. It’s fun when there’s action. On my birthday I grab my friends and we go somewhere out of the country. Not just to sunbathe. We go rafting, we go to Mont Blanc, we go up to the top of the mountain.
– Dmitri, maybe you can’t get enough adrenaline? What do you think?
– I think I don’t like extreme sports.
– When you’re flying in a plane and you feel the plane go drrrr, do you like it?
– I’m totally calm, I don’t feel any way, no plus or minus. I just know that if something happens and we crash, then….
– I’m asking because I feel good being shaken up in a plane. Maybe I have a mental problem?
– What’s your profession? Where do you keep your work card?
– How do you earn living money, vacation money, ticket money, airfare? Okay, just don’t advertise it.
– Yeah, it’s complicated. Okay, then my business is the biggest billboard in the country. I won’t tell you which one. Plus we do cartoons, the one with the gypsy and the death.
– That’s it.
– That’s our business.
– I accidentally popped into the fridge, I hadn’t eaten in a while, and found bananas in there. Best carb food for an athlete. In every country in the world, there’s bananas all over the track. And Coke. The unhealthiest, but the best. Coke is like energy gasoline.
– I think our food came out more energetic, though.
– It’ll be done in 20 minutes.
– 20 minutes, that’s 20 minutes. Eggplant’s in the oven.
– I feel so uncomfortable live, I feel embarrassed
– Why embarrassed?
– Well, we’re live, and I’m eating.
– Well, there’s no disgrace in wanting to eat.
– Let’s switch places. There’s a lot of people around.
– Can I have a bite?
– You get a bite and I get a bite. Last one. A hug? And let’s be quiet.
– Have some bananas.
– The correct pozy are those that have juice inside. And how you should eat them. You take one with your hands, no fork, no spoon. You take a bite, drink the juice, then eat it.
– They’re hot.
– It’s okay, let’s see if it has juice. Let’s see, let’s see. Mmm, they’re hot.
– No, don’t worry, it’s okay.
– No, no, just your hands. I can give it to you. Ooh, a real girl from Buryatia. Look, there’s lipstick left, that’s nice
– These buuzy remind me of Yakut yurts.
