Food from afar
 

Greetings from sunny Dushanbe! I got to the hotel here at 6am, so didn't consider it worthwhile getting some sleep.
I forgot to photograph the splendid breakfast at this lovely guesthouse - maybe tomorrow?
But this afternoon I sloped off to a local supermarket to get some supper.
This is USD6 of supper - I largely picked things which I remember fondly from my days in Rostov on Don in the 1990s.
The box in the foreground contains what we in Blighty call Russian salad. The Russians and post-Soviet nations to which it spread call it Olivier ... because it was reputedly invented by the French chef of some Muscovite aristo. Chopped cooked veg and sausage in mayo.
The other box further back on the left contains kuraga - dried apricots, but what a taste, and of what size!
The bottle is half-a-litre of Borjomi - Georgian mineral water. To say that this was a "product" which was "marketed" throughout the Soviet Union would be misleading, but it was certainly sold everywhere in the old SU and they were rightly proud of it. The packaging has had a makeover, but the water itself, with a slight sparkle and a hint of salty mineralishness is just as good as I remembered.
The bread is a little chewy, it may be that this particular loaf is more for show than consumption. More pictures of it in the next post.

The swirly underside of the bread, and the topside studded with seeds, nut, berries ...

Kuraga (pronounced kuraGA)
About 3/4 inch high, dense and flavourful. Nothing like the flabby, limp, wrinkled things we get at home :p:

what is that orange thing? The Kuraga?

Yes :p:

Ok. So we've established the name. :p What the hell is that thing?

What is the point of me going into extensive (or even brief) detail in my posts if'n you don't REEEEEaaad it? Eh?

:blush:

What takes you so far from home?

Always working, our Limey.
Great pics, thanks.

You make that mineral water sound wonderful.
Off dowstairs to get some Tesco Value carbonated water from the fridge.

The breakfast table. I think this is heavily slanted towards a Tajik interpretation of a Continental breakfast. From the left, clockwise: two types of apples, I haven't tried one yet but I suspect the green ones are imported and the yellow ones are local; a plate of apfel strudel (yesterday this was replaced by local pastries, very nice); cherries and strawberries; pat of butter; assorted jams (all very runny), honey, nutella; a jug of UHT milk, a jar of cereal, a bottle of still and a bottle of fizzy water, another jar of cereal and a jug of orange juice all in a line; pots of yoghurt; sliced cheese.
Not in the photo, but on the table was dark brown bread, sliced, and flat round white bread (see my supper pic!). Also served, cooked to order by Very Smiley Woman, fried eggs sunny side up, or an omelette, and toasted imported dull bread, coffee or tea.

Now that's a great way to break your fast.

And here is USD 4.50 of supper. More Borjomi (you can buy it in Britain, but it's hellish expensive), some pistachio nuts, a very garlicky beetroot salad, bread. The bread was much cheaper than yesterday's (about half the price at a dollar thirty cents), but fresher and nicer with it. I still have some kuraga left over from yesterday, too.
I find it too hot here to want lunch; the management provide two 1.5 litre bottles of water which you can see in the background there and which I swill at leisure. Perhaps I'll lose a little weight ... that'd be good.

nom nom nom!!!

Today's issue of food from afar is brought to you courtesy of food from ajar ...
As well as the, by now, familiar Borjomi mineral water and round, flat bread, today we see red caviare in a jar (twist off top, no bottle opener required) sat atop the bread. The box rear left contains highest quality raisins (three times as expensive as 1st class raisins, I'll have you know), and the box in front ... well ...
I vaguely recognised one word on the box - Конопляная - and when I read on the end of the box that these seeds in no way contain any THC and so are not classified as a prohibited substances I knew that you Dwellars would insist that I just had to buy this. Hemp seed snacks (also contains walnuts, sunflower seeds, starch, salt, saffron), to go with beer! Didn't buy any beer (I'm quite enjoying not having booze for a while). The seedy snacks are a little dusty tasting, but OK.
This little lot set me back the princely sum of USD24. Most expensive item was the caviare at $13, then the raisins at $6.