Food!

I'm sure you want to know what I've been eating here in Osh. It's not that exciting- yet. A typical breakfast looks like this, with oatmeal, coffee, and bread. 

The coffee is Nescafé, and it is pre-mixed with "sugar and cream."  It takes me time to get used to it. The oatmeal has yellow bits in it that I can't figure out. I suspect it may be corn, or perhaps another grain. The oatmeal is very good, hot and very creamy. The bread is served without butter or jam. It is also a little dry, but it is freshly made this week or last. I ordered jam one time, and received a small bowl of cherry preserves, mostly syrup, but the cherries were plump and juicy.

For lunch one day I had minced meat on a kebab, served with raw onions that had been briefly soaked in vinegar, and fresh bread. The minced meat has peppers mixed in, and I taste some cumin as well. They are barbecued over a charcoal fire outside, then brought in to where I was sitting. 25 som for the kebab, 5 som for the tea, 20 som for the bread. A little less than a dollar. 

Last night at Biy Ordo, I tried to order the chicken with pasta. No chicken, but they have a new pizza machine and were making pizza for dinner. Would I like a pizza?  Sure says I, how long until the pizza is ready?  Maybe one hour, says they. Okay. 

So I go to my room with the lovely air conditioner, of which I have grown quite fond, and read for 45 minutes. I head back down to the room in which meals are served, and sit down with my Kindle. UFC fights are on the flat screen TV in English with a Russian voice-over. I don't mind because my pizza, which I can smell in the kitchen, will be ready in a few minutes. 

But wait!  What I realize I am smelling is the sauce cooking, with lots of oregano. An hour later, I finally smell the crust burning, and I know they are going to take it out of the oven, and maybe even soon. 

Not too bad. And it tasted well enough. It was much better than a pizza I had in Italy that they took out of a freezer and microwaved. The crust and the sauce on this were really good, I only wished they had used more peppers. 

I'm still looking for a green vegetable. I'm only going to eat it if it has been cooked. I learned my lesson years ago in Russia that salads can get you in deep trouble, gastricly speaking. I did find some bananas and oranges here though, and I snack on them. I washed some cherries that I picked from the tree at MuzToo, and they were wonderful. They look like our Bing cherries, but have a deeper flavor. 

And wafer cookies. I found some of those yesterday. They go great with coffee, like the Starbucks instant that I brought. When those packets are gone, I have some Nescafé dark instant, and some Earl Grey tea. 

But tonight I'm going to go to a restaurant I spied that has pictures of roasted chicken all over the outside. Yes, I'm feeling like chicken tonight. Of course, I felt that way last night, too, and was thwarted. "It's the journey, Dan, it's the journey."