fooooood!

So I realized, I'm writing these boring blog posts about what I'm DOING, but I'm not painting much of a picture of what its like here per-se. And it seems like food is one way to do that.
Its interesting. We're on the border of three of the great empires of the last couple of centuries, namely Iran (Persians), Turkey (Ottomans) and Russia (Tsarist Russians). SO, having been conquered a couple of times and occupied by all of these heavies, there is an interesting mixture of these cuisines.

My favorite place so far is the Lebanese restaurant we found downtown. The proprietor speaks good English and doesn't seem to hate Americans enough to let it show or not want our money, so I've been a few times at this point. The hummus is amazing, which is a treat because in the stores, much to my dismay, you can only find syrian hummus-in-a-can, which isn't the worst thing in the world if you add garlic and lemon and pepper, but its really not that impressive, either. So you gotta go to the Lebanese place for hummus. L gets a thin steak, smothered in cheese-sauce each time she goes, which she says is good. I've been trying the different kinds of middle eastern barbecue. Last time we went, me and a buddy split two plates. The first one that came out was lamb cooked in a yogurt kind of sauce, with dried pita chips in it. The second dish was meat (lamb?) cooked in a sour cherry sauce. Apparently, this is quite the delicacy, as these cherries are only found in Syria and Lebanon and he has to import them. For dessert, he brought out a candy dish full of colored, candied popcorn and a glass of special Lebanese brandy called Arak, which is similar to Ruka in Turkey and Ouzo in Greece. Most countries in that part of the Mediterranean have some kind of anise-flavored liquor. Anyways, it comes clear and very strong. You mix it 50/50 with ice water and some oil in the liquor comes out of solution (as I understand it), making the drink turn a milky white. Its quite strong and not on to top of my list, but I drink it out of respect and for digestion. The meal is always finished with a tiny cupful of Lebanese coffee, which he said, is brewed with a mixture of Arabic spices that are not known to us uninitiated yanks. Its really, really strong, black and tastes almost like a syrup with the spices augmenting the flavor of the coffee. Anyone who knows me is aware of my taste for caffeine and this stuff is dope.

What else? The national fast-food of Armenia is khorovats, which is basically like shwarma or gyros in Greece, except they use this flatbread thats somewhere in-between indian nan and a tortilla.
Supermarkets have huge tanks of live crayfish and trout, caught in lake Sevan a few house away. Bland-tasting canned goods. Freezers of Russian dumplings, chicken patties, hot dogs, sausage. Its a very meat-crazy country. I've had to be creative to feel like I'm getting enough veggies. Tofu is unknown. What I've been doing this past week is dicing up a much of onion, cucumber, pepper and tomato and tossing that with olive oil and vinegar. Pinch of pepper. Its simple and these are some of the only fresh vegetables that were readily available in most markets.
I found broccoli a few weeks ago and freaked out. Steamed the whole thing and gorged. It was awesome. I doubt that when I was 12, my mother ever would have guessed I would enjoy vegetables like this. My other go-to is Armenian V8. Basically, its just spicy tomato juice but it seems to replenish the molecules of vitamins and minerals.
Each week I'm seeing more and more in the markets as stuff starts growing again. It is by default a locally-grown economy here, as they just don't have access to diverse exports and people can't afford what is brought in from afar.
One thing you see are these green ropes. Took me a while to figure it out, but Armenians grow spinach in the fall and when they harvest it, they braid it into these ropes and then tie them together into a kind of spinach pretzel. They are all dried out, so you throw it in a pot with some garlic and butter and you've got wintertime spinach! I bought a bunch a week ago but I haven't gotten around to experimenting, yet.
Bread is the main staple here, although you see lots of rice, potato, beets and bughur/ buckwheat. But the bread. Bakeries in each neighborhood. You can get a fresh loaf of bread for about $0.50. I've been getting one a week. Have a slice in the morning with the vegetable spread. With no preservatives, it goes stale after about 4 days, so I make french toast on the weekends.