Life in Urkadurkastan...

depressing food day....It started with Blackshears triple pizza n coke spectacular save from its tank top perch while avoiding a metal encased maniac on the road...from there it deteriorated into who is having what for dinner tonight and how many beers it takes to prepare...

I did not need to read that, I am at day 7 in the dry camp. It was mid afternoon and my mind drifted in an unalcholic induced manner to tonights dinner. Its Friday! I don't like Fridays cause of dinner at least not the last 18 months, since Simon left.

Simon was a cook. Its hard to be a chef when you are feeding 3000 per sitting. Simon is from Manchester and did a fairly good battered fish (I use the term fish with a good degree of license) Simon was the quentessential pom of the mad dog and Englishman variety...he would go running in his lunch break from the camp, up the hill down a track back to the camp. About 5 km...all at 16 000 feet where the atmospheric pressure is 9.3 lbs. Most of us struggle to walk and talk at the same time up here. Jogging...here have a Tuis

Back to the food, so Friday is fish Friday and in in the true spirit of cost saving, we now have a baked fish thing named salmonella ....sorry ..salmon...on Fridays, every Friday for the last 18 months. And meat loaf, chips (made with greenish potatoes.) brussel sprouts, gravey and a pasta and sauce dish I have never tried to identify and Borsch of course. All this at the baine maree in the western styled food side of the mess. At the Kyrgyz side of the mess there are all sorts of deep fried and boiled to death meat things dripping with fat. I can feel my cholestrol climb at the thought.
Mutton dumplings, great local delicacy just dont let them cool in your mouth...you will be scraping the congealed grease from the roof of your mouth with a spoon.

Then there is the shared salad bar with beetroot and corn salad, chunks of tomato salad, lettuce leaf salad, raw fish salad and my fav, Carrot and garlic surprise salad. (called that because I have had it every friday for the last 2 1/2 years and the garlic concentration still surprises me.)

What I would give for a good thai green chicken curry with lots of coconut creme....

Back to the tripple pizza save. (By the way, Saturday is pizza and steak night up here.) The posting carried on describing the NZ national Friday night culinary expectations...Roasts, spuds and gravey, some sea food dish (dririder 87) back to a discription of the 3 pizzas, then we get to a goat curry.... any curry...please.

There are several supermarkets in Bishkek some have a good range of imported foods...herschys caramel topping, ketchup, some yank brand of rolled oats. Sanfords and sealords mussels.(wasn't that a surprise) but after 6 months of exaustive searching, the coconut creme or milk, canned or dried still eludes us. Got all the spices, no drama there, shrimp paste, fish oil, fresh galangal all here. Coconut derivitives...Nuh.

After Kiwi grahams goat curry, we had ham and cheese rolls then along came ducatilover with the typical good taste of all ducati owners...he is having...JUST A NICE SIMPLE GREEN THAI CHICKEN CURRY....He was posting that while I was posting what I expected tonight. The bastard.

And to add insult, when I mentioned my coconut delima, he invited me over for a curry without checking my location. (or maybe he did and thought this is a safe bet)

yer a hard creul man ducati lover, got a mind to red rep you in revenge...

0800 838383....large supreme with anchovies and extra supreme on top please....my address for delivery is....