What we are missing

Okay, is this some cruel twist of fate? Here it is April 25th and there's new snow on the ground. Makes me pine for the warm, sunny days of Uralsk and Almaty. Surprisingly, what Bob and I do miss is the Kazakh food. The apples are sweeter. The eggs are fresher. The cucumbers and carrots are tastier. (Even the fish sticks are better.) And the best part? I lost 10 pounds while over there.

Here's what the veggies looked like, sunning themselves on our apartment's window sill--not pretty, but after a lot of elbow grease it's all quite delicious. Our diet was pretty simple: potatoes, carrots, onions and sausage one night; spaghetti, meatballs and canned corn (the sweetest corn that ever came out of a can) the next night. And to mix it up, we'd throw in fish sticks, monties (a Kazakh dumpling) and cucumbers. Most food is fresh, so the taste is rather subtle but it sure puts the processed food here to shame.


When it comes to purchasing food, you have your choice of the open market (as seen above) or the more traditional grocery store. The open market is a cross between a farmer's market and a flea market. There are no middle men, so all the food on display was literally pulled from the ground that morning. (Along with the dirt. Don't worry they don't charge extra for that.) The open market has everything under the sun for sale. Clothes, toys, plumbing and painting supplies--you name it.






The butchering process at the open market seemed a bit scary to say the least. Here's a shot Bob managed to capture just before a Kazakh official spotted him. Needless to say, I didn't eat any meat while in Kaz unless it was pre-cooked. Much too afraid to chance things.

Now the grocery stores are another story. There isn't much stock to speak of. Sure they have two aisles filled with hard liquor. Plus there's an ample supply of chocolates and fine bakery goods. But forget about everything else.


As you can see, the "produce" section isn't much. You're lucky if you can find a banana most days. But for weight loss, I highly recommend the Kazakh diet (eat your heart out Valerie Bertinelli). We're trying to stick with it. Tonight on the menu, it's potatoes, carrots and fish sticks.

Makes my mouth water.