Bon Appetit from Karaganda

We promised that we would write a little about the food we've been eating and what you can buy in the grocery store in Karaganda. We've been blessed with having a wonderful cook preparing food for lunch and dinner everyday for us in the apartment. We've had a few Kazakh dishes such as verenki which are similar to pierogis but a little smaller. They can also be stuffed with meat or potatoes or with other stuffing; lots of varieties available in the frozen section of the grocery store.

Another Kazakh dish is "Plov" which is a rice dish with meat, seasoned nicely and at times with added raisins and prunes. This goes nicely with a meat and carrot salad that we've eaten a few times including in the fast food section of TSUM, the large department store downtown.
The most common Kazakh dish that you will find everywhere are small stuffed meat pies, usually with some diced potato and onion added in. One of these pies is enough to fill you up for lunch.

Our cook makes very large portions so no doubt I will have gained quite a few pounds during our stay here. Lunch starts off with some homemade soup, usually made on chicken broth. Potatoes, carrots and dill are ingredients in all soups and in many other dishes as well since the variety of vegetables is limited here. I can't imagine what it's like in winter if it's this limited in the summer months!

Blinis are quite popular as well. They're thin crepes filled with cottage cheese, or meat, or jam (similar to blintzes). We are definitely requesting these again!

Being Polish, I've had the pleasure of having pickled herring a few times for lunch, there are many many varieties of these in the grocery store. I can't really say that John loves herring like I do; he will eat some but not 3 days in a row like myself.

A lot of main dishes are comprised of some kind of meat (chicken or beef) and either rice, pasta, or potatoes. All are flavoured nicely. We have not seen any lettuce at all, I don't think they grow it here. We will have salads made from cabbage, carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers. A known Kazakh appetizer is sliced tomato, topped up with a light version mayo with lots of garlic, and grated cheese.

Grocery stores are quite interesting to wander around in. There's a large section of dried fish and herring; we have not seen any fresh fish as we're surrounded by steppes. All kinds of sausages fill up a large deli section and there is a butcher that has an interesting selection of meats that we don't ask about.

We have not yet been brave enough to try the horse or camel milk that they sell in the dairy section but we cannot leave Kazakhstan without trying it...Maybe we will find some chocolate flavour camel milk to try ??

They do have chips with different flavours such as beef, crab, mushroom, to each his own...

Another aisle in the grocery store is dedicated to wine and liquor. Lots of different kinds of vodka, some local for around $5 and other well known brands for the same price as back home. There is not a great choice of good quality wine. It's either very cheap or very expensive.

Overall we're eating very well, and we're thankful that we don't have to shop and prepare our meals, and rather focus on our visits with Alexey.

Monika