uzbek and cheese

4th may '07

i went over to dora's (from uzbekistan) place so we could cook dinner together. she taught me how to make her uzbek national dish. it's made of rice (risotto-like) with carrots, onion, tiny green beans (smaller than peas), potatoes, tomatoes, and this wonderful spice which makes the dish taste a little like an indian curry. it took more than 2 hours to make, but it was so worth the wait. the best thing i had tasted in a few months. up until this point we had been eating a hell of a lot of greasy, MSG-ridden chinese dishes, so this hearty, comfort food was a godsend. i'm getting hungry just reminiscing about it.

dora also told me about islam in uzbekistan and china. really fascinating. she told me how she visited a mosque on the other side of the river. she showed me these souveniers from the mosque which were really beautiful. and she gave me an islamic bracelet with an arabic inscription reading "God". so sweet of her.

the next day we were given five blocks of butter and five slabs of cheese. oh my dear god. all my christmases had come at once. cheese and butter is like gold to me here. it's not available in songyuan, only in our province's capital city, changchun. so until today we had to ration it. but now, i could enjoy it freely. we started having cheese everyday. cheese on crackers. cheese and vegemite (andy's mum had sent some over, and i got addicted to it all over again). fried cheese sandwiches (we have no toaster, griller, oven or sandwich maker). microwaved melted cheese on fried bread. actually, i think in the next few weeks i ate more cheese than i ever have in such a short period of time. and no complaints from me (except maybe from my waistline).