Thursday, October 02, 2003
Food in Kaz
Sorry about not posting yesterday....we ran out of internet minutes and needed to find out where to purchase more. We've got it up and running again, so here you go! ......
This journal would not be complete without a posting on the food in Kazakhstan.
Our travel partners, the Kembles, and ourselves have been overall pretty delighted by the food situation here.
As long as you know what to stay away from - like the water and any produce that cannot be thoroughly washed, peeled, or cooked....Most everything we have tried has been not only delicious and nutritious, but VERY inexpensive. VERY. Like just a few dollars per person in a good restaurant for more than enough food.
Good restaurants in Astana were all around us. Here in Almaty, we haven't exactly found them yet. We know they are out there, but everytime we ask a native where we should go to eat they direct us to the "American food" restaurants --- and we don't want that! When we tell them "no, we want to eat Russian food" they look at us confused.
Still looking for good borsch in Almaty...and running out of time!
This is where we (Jon and Suzy, Sarah and Geoff) had our first meal in Kaz, on our first day in Kaz.
Excellent food. And very special memories.
This restaurant is in Almaty........we just don't know where!
A look at a menu.
We wish we could have snapshots of all the menus....
Many had over 200 items on the menu!
Most of the English menus had translations that were...well, quite enjoyable.
"Chicken chest and butte"
"Desirable mutton cooked in many pots"
"Soup for Western Beauties"
....these are only a few of the "interesting" items we found on the menus...there was Oh, so much more.
And, no, we have not tried any of the "national dishes" listed on this menu....except the national bread and my, was that good!....kinda like doughnut holes,but not sweet. yum!
Also, menus had categories such as "Farinaceous Foods" (where's a good dictionary when you need it?)
...."Aerated Drinks" (yes, that would be pop)
.......and then the category "Cigarettes"...yes, you can order cigarettes and cigars, and the lighter, in a restaurant.
.........and the different brands of water you could order.
Had to show you some of the food we had in one of our favorite restaurants in Astana.
This place had three different kinds of borsch !!!
The stuff in the crock is called "Mother-in-Law Meatballs"
This is some mighty tasty pizza. And about $2.
The coke is served with lemon.
And the tea, or "chai" is almost always Lipton Yellow Label.........VERY GOOD.
The bread in Kaz is delicious, baked fresh daily, and cheaper than you'll even believe.
The prices here are in tenge. 150 tenge equals 1 dollar US.
So, 30 tenge for a loaf of bread......that would be....well, you do the math.......
Not all the food in the markets is fresh, as you can see from the fish display.
yum?
Here is a look at a meat market.
The meat maids of the meat market. (They look a bit French in their uniforms, don't ya think?)
A fruit stand at the Green Bazaar in Almaty. This is just one of the MANY fresh produce stands in Kaz.
The produce is not only incredibly inexpensive, but much more flavorful than what we have in the USA.
This lady got such a kick out of Tommy and Nadia admiring her radishes and green onions......
.....that she artistically carved them each a radish and insisted on not letting us pay her for them!
Here they are....Tommy, Nadia, and Anna thoroughly enjoying their nice, big, fat, juicy radishes! Yum!
We bought the children their first cotton candy's in the park today. They were pretty happy with them...for awhile...then they gladly offered the rest to the mamas (who glady accepted).
Not quite as tasty as radishes, I guess.
Last night we were in a fancy Georgian restaurant when Suzy noticed an older couple at the next table admiring Tommy and making eyes at him. Soon the head waiter came and delivered a plate of chocolate to Tommy...compliments of the next table. I guess it pays to be cute. :)
Talking about chocolate...one night we were at a very fancy restaurant in Astana and decide to try the dessert. On the menu under the "Confectionaries" heading had many wonderful sounding things, although no description of the dessert. Just "Lemon", "Chocolate", "Sweet Mercy", "Strawberry"....... We imagined the pastries such an elegant restaurant would serve. We finally decided on two ice creams and the "Chocolate" and "Sweet Mercy". Surprised were we to have two chocolate bars served to us on plates! (yes, as in chocolate candy bars!). The "Sweet Mercy" was about the size of your finger. Hmmm....we were glad we didn't decide on the "Lemon" Confectionary.
Talking about desserts...we haven't found many worthwhile in Kaz. The problem appears to be that they don't use sugar or butter in their baked goods. The frosting on the cake we tried one night was very similiar in taste and appearance to Silly Putty. While the people of kaz DEFINITELY know how to cook, they may need some western influence when it comes to desserts.
No wonder most Kaz women look like Barbie dolls.
"Magnum Ego"....the real man's ice cream bar.
Just like Seattle has an espresso stand on every corner.... the metropolis' of Kaz have ice cream bar stands every half of a block. No joke, they are everywhere. Haven't found an ice cream bar to my liking yet, but then maybe I just need to break down and buy an "Ego" bar.
Here we are with Geoff and Sarah Kemble, our wonderful travel partners.
What a great three weeks we have had with them.....eating together, shopping for souveniers and everything else imaginable, sight-seeing, eating some more, sharing the visits with our children, sharing taxi rides, and sharing in the whole joy of adoption experience. Sometimes it is hard to believe that Geoff and Sarah and their beautiful girls Anna and Nadia are not coming home with us also.
This journal would not be complete without a posting on the food in Kazakhstan.
Our travel partners, the Kembles, and ourselves have been overall pretty delighted by the food situation here.
As long as you know what to stay away from - like the water and any produce that cannot be thoroughly washed, peeled, or cooked....Most everything we have tried has been not only delicious and nutritious, but VERY inexpensive. VERY. Like just a few dollars per person in a good restaurant for more than enough food.
Good restaurants in Astana were all around us. Here in Almaty, we haven't exactly found them yet. We know they are out there, but everytime we ask a native where we should go to eat they direct us to the "American food" restaurants --- and we don't want that! When we tell them "no, we want to eat Russian food" they look at us confused.
Still looking for good borsch in Almaty...and running out of time!
This is where we (Jon and Suzy, Sarah and Geoff) had our first meal in Kaz, on our first day in Kaz.
Excellent food. And very special memories.
This restaurant is in Almaty........we just don't know where!
A look at a menu.
We wish we could have snapshots of all the menus....
Many had over 200 items on the menu!
Most of the English menus had translations that were...well, quite enjoyable.
"Chicken chest and butte"
"Desirable mutton cooked in many pots"
"Soup for Western Beauties"
....these are only a few of the "interesting" items we found on the menus...there was Oh, so much more.
And, no, we have not tried any of the "national dishes" listed on this menu....except the national bread and my, was that good!....kinda like doughnut holes,but not sweet. yum!
Also, menus had categories such as "Farinaceous Foods" (where's a good dictionary when you need it?)
...."Aerated Drinks" (yes, that would be pop)
.......and then the category "Cigarettes"...yes, you can order cigarettes and cigars, and the lighter, in a restaurant.
.........and the different brands of water you could order.
Had to show you some of the food we had in one of our favorite restaurants in Astana.
This place had three different kinds of borsch !!!
The stuff in the crock is called "Mother-in-Law Meatballs"
This is some mighty tasty pizza. And about $2.
The coke is served with lemon.
And the tea, or "chai" is almost always Lipton Yellow Label.........VERY GOOD.
The bread in Kaz is delicious, baked fresh daily, and cheaper than you'll even believe.
The prices here are in tenge. 150 tenge equals 1 dollar US.
So, 30 tenge for a loaf of bread......that would be....well, you do the math.......
Not all the food in the markets is fresh, as you can see from the fish display.
yum?
Here is a look at a meat market.
The meat maids of the meat market. (They look a bit French in their uniforms, don't ya think?)
A fruit stand at the Green Bazaar in Almaty. This is just one of the MANY fresh produce stands in Kaz.
The produce is not only incredibly inexpensive, but much more flavorful than what we have in the USA.
This lady got such a kick out of Tommy and Nadia admiring her radishes and green onions......
.....that she artistically carved them each a radish and insisted on not letting us pay her for them!
Here they are....Tommy, Nadia, and Anna thoroughly enjoying their nice, big, fat, juicy radishes! Yum!
We bought the children their first cotton candy's in the park today. They were pretty happy with them...for awhile...then they gladly offered the rest to the mamas (who glady accepted).
Not quite as tasty as radishes, I guess.
Last night we were in a fancy Georgian restaurant when Suzy noticed an older couple at the next table admiring Tommy and making eyes at him. Soon the head waiter came and delivered a plate of chocolate to Tommy...compliments of the next table. I guess it pays to be cute. :)
Talking about chocolate...one night we were at a very fancy restaurant in Astana and decide to try the dessert. On the menu under the "Confectionaries" heading had many wonderful sounding things, although no description of the dessert. Just "Lemon", "Chocolate", "Sweet Mercy", "Strawberry"....... We imagined the pastries such an elegant restaurant would serve. We finally decided on two ice creams and the "Chocolate" and "Sweet Mercy". Surprised were we to have two chocolate bars served to us on plates! (yes, as in chocolate candy bars!). The "Sweet Mercy" was about the size of your finger. Hmmm....we were glad we didn't decide on the "Lemon" Confectionary.
Talking about desserts...we haven't found many worthwhile in Kaz. The problem appears to be that they don't use sugar or butter in their baked goods. The frosting on the cake we tried one night was very similiar in taste and appearance to Silly Putty. While the people of kaz DEFINITELY know how to cook, they may need some western influence when it comes to desserts.
No wonder most Kaz women look like Barbie dolls.
"Magnum Ego"....the real man's ice cream bar.
Just like Seattle has an espresso stand on every corner.... the metropolis' of Kaz have ice cream bar stands every half of a block. No joke, they are everywhere. Haven't found an ice cream bar to my liking yet, but then maybe I just need to break down and buy an "Ego" bar.
Here we are with Geoff and Sarah Kemble, our wonderful travel partners.
What a great three weeks we have had with them.....eating together, shopping for souveniers and everything else imaginable, sight-seeing, eating some more, sharing the visits with our children, sharing taxi rides, and sharing in the whole joy of adoption experience. Sometimes it is hard to believe that Geoff and Sarah and their beautiful girls Anna and Nadia are not coming home with us also.
