food

went out again last night with jovana and olena. olena brought along some siberian friend of hers named yelena who was (like olena) from a town i had never even heard of, and i think i have pretty good sense of geography, so it must be small. we headed for a pub near where oli (as olena is called here in england) and i work. we talked in a strange slavoenglish that got more odd as the hours and wine passed. jovana got married three days ago, so that was the major news.
funny people i hang out with.

one of the topics of conversation was the odd food people eat in this country. (marmite! what need more be said?)so i decided to compile a list of food i wish i could have access to here all the time but dont. by this i dont mean any gourmet or complicated things, just food that is normal everyday food elsewhere, but not here.

1Grechka. i have only seen this in russia, where a big bag costs about 20 rubles (less than 50p). you can buy it at the russian immigrant shop here near hyde park, but the same bag costs close to 5 pounds, and that is just absurd.
2.my breakfast shakes, caracas. i never really figured out what was in these: obviously various tropical fruits, ice and maybe some kind of milk. they are both incredibly good and very filling. i used to have them every single morning....mmm/
3.all russian milk products: in particular tvorog, kefir, and smetana. why dont they export these things?
4 mrs cho's cooking, moscow and elsewhere. ok, i have not yet been to korean, so maybe there everyone cooks like this, but i kind of doubt it. her food is incredible, i could live the rest of my live on pipinpop.
5 al- diwan, paris. amazing. from hommous starters to dessert. great location as well.
6. burek od sira. as we were drinking and becoming desperate for some kind of fatty zakuski, jovana and i decided that what english pubs need to be selling is burek. it is fatty, tasty, and absorbs all alcohol like a sponge. i have several regular places to buy it, favourites being belgrade train station, the underground shopping mall near zagreb train station, and any place in bosnia.
7.baked potatoes on the street, istambul. it is filling, cheap, and has yet to poison me. (the same cannot be said for russian street food, for example)
8. salted corn in cups, mexico city. so cheap and simple, why dont other people think of this? it is like pop corn, but fresh....
9.breakfast in thailand. i prefer salty to sweet food. so i was exstatic when i discovered that in thailand, and it would seem in asia in general, the breakfast looks almost the same as dinner. i could have a huge stir fry in the morning and not feel like a freak, excellent!
10.greek frappés, athens. so simple and so logical. caffeine doses for summer.
11. roated chestnuts. they sell these in a lot of places, but they are not always good, as in london where they are grotesquely overpriced and not well toasted. great ones are in budapest and zagreb.
12. mini fank, budapest. small and fatty, and 40 forints.
13 empanadas, chile. anything can be stuffed into these things, even tofu. i dont know why they have not caught on elsewhere.
14 any meal in bulgaria. i love the food in this country. and the prices.