The Russian word варенье is used to identify a type of thick, sweet, conserved fruit or berry syrup. It is not exactly a jam, but more like a preserve. Berries and fruits are boiled in water with a lot of sugar until everything becomes thick and heavy. In fact, the word comes from the Russian варить (to boil) and can be confused with варение (the process of boiling something).

You can assuredly say that варенье is a part of the Russian cuisine and culture just like pelmeni, borscht and vodka are. Russian summers are brief and winters can get a little long, so people put up perishable fruits and berries for the cold days by preserving them. It has always been the most common type of dessert on the table and one of the essential innards of every home’s kitchen cabinet, especially if there are children. Most mothers and grandmothers have their own recipes with special ingredients that usually make homemade варенье taste far superior to whatever might be found on the supermarket shelf.

Варенье made from cherries. Image from sarsmis.livejournal.com.

Here are some example sentences:

The Russians word for a teakettle is чайник; it comes from the word чай (tea). The teakettle is used to heat up water for the tea, while the заварной чайник (teapot) refers to the vessel in which the actual tea is served. Today, many households also have the электрический чайник (electric teakettle). Russians commonly say чайник when talking about either one of the three, but fortunately that rarely causes confusion.

image from goldmoscow.com

Here are a few example sentences:

The word чайник can also be used as an insult when directed at someone who the offender considers to be a bit irrational and obtuse:

The word тарелка is translated as plate. For the most part, it is a kitchen term, but can also be used to describe a UFO saucer (летающая тарелка), a satellite dish (спутниковая тарелка), or the percussion instrument cymbal.

Here are some sample sentences:

The translation of that last sentence sounds very odd to the American ear: after all, no one would ever serve you soup on a plate because a plate is mostly flat and the soup would run off! But in Russian тарелка includes dishes that are deep enough to be called bowls in American English. You'll still find “plate of soup” in older English translations of Russian literature, but if the target audience of your translation is American, then the better translation is “bowl.” Take a look:

Image taken from vkusnosti.com

Here's a short, connected dialog that shows you not only the word тарелка, but also has some good vocabulary you'll encounter generally while shoppping.

The generic Russian word for a piece of candy is конфета:

Bear in mind that in English the word candy is a mass noun, one which is mostly used in the singular to indicate indefinite quantities of candy. In that sense the Russians use конфеты in the plural. When discussing a single piece of candy, they use the singular:

The candy in Russia is simply wonderful. It's worth paying for a year of studying abroad just to go there and explore the enormous variety of tooth-rotting confections. And the names of some of the candies will bring a smile or smirk to the face of us Americans. Here are some of the ones that have brought a smile to my face:

One of my former students was recently in Russia and sent me the following blurb about the candy she had been buying in Russia:

В магазине «Сахарный Лев»:

• Конфеты «Парижель» — Made by the Ukrainian фабрика «АВК». Тhese are probably the best chocolates I've ever had. They're about 60% of the price of similar candies, which I'm thinking has something to do with the cost of labor in Ukraine. Весовые, 194,20 рублей/кг (280 grams, about 15 candies, for 54,38 rubles.)
• «Бабаевский» шоколад с кусочками вишни, 1 штука, 100г, 46,60 рублей

Here are some great descriptions for various Russian candies:

“Who said moo” candy

An English speaker might assume that лимонад means lemonade, but in Russian it means almost any non-alcoholic beverage, usually carbonated, and usually sweetened with fruit or berry syrup or sometimes with various herbs or artificial flavors. In other words, it means soft drink. That's right: in Russian both Пепси-Кола and Кока-Кола are лимонад.

In Russia there are many лимонады that we Westerners usually don't encounter in the US. For instance:

Probably the scariest one of them all is Тархун, pictured to the right, which is flavored with dragon's wort. Its green coloring makes it look like an industrial-sized bottle of Nyquil, and its flavor is somewhere between vile and repulsive.

Here are some sample sentences: