Tweet: When in Rome..

Or anywhere in Italy for that matter.. I've had at least 2 of the following 3 everyday and completed the trifecta the last two days in Rome
- Gelato
- Pizza
- Pasta

Tweet: BBQ Problem Solved

This May 2-4 the answer to "you want a veggie dog or burger?" now has a simple answer.

Tweet: Why, sir, it's Christmas Day

Sure hope the Crax factory workers were Muslim

BwM: Take Me Out!

It was a forgettable day of sunshine without joy as we just sweat doing menial tasks all day without any swimming option nearby. As the evening set in I watched the pair of bears eat what I tossed them but it was hardly a highlight. I did however have dinner to look forward to as we had decided at lunch to go to the only restaurant in town when we considered what we could make with the 3 yellow peppers and garlic available to us. We had phoned ahead and there was a surprise set menu - "normal" or vegetarian. Upon arrival we were given rakija, naturally. Next was nice toast and cheese but we were so polite in not being able to split 4 six ways that they took half of a piece away before we could protest. The bread was oily like a croissant and went well with the soup that was closely followed by salad. They hadn't yet offered drinks so we asked for both red and white wine but some were shocked when their first sip of white burned like the rakija it was. As we mowed down our family style main of risotto and cheese they replaced the mistaken clear beverage but not before we tucked a little in our assortment of glasses. The owner finally returned and greeted us with what else than a round of rakija - "gvili!" He joined us for awhile and even took our picture, first from the end of the table and then from the rafters of the outdoor barn we were eating in, seated leaned against hay on wool blankets. Totally stuffed they brought yet another litre of red and some fried dough smothered in jam as desert. With all the booze in front of us we had time to pass and did so by somehow picking on the only other native English speaker in the varied group for her British accent. ("Polah baa", "it's not faih") Eventually after all the other tables left we polished ours off, even most of the plain fried dough they'd brought as a bonus. Still chuckling we went inside to pay where the owner broke out another two shots of rakija plus a plate of delicious cheese despite my bursting belly. All told, with much on the house, we paid under $20 each and walked home entirely by moonlight to play cards ("pesinas") well into the morning.

Tweet: (BwM) Aw, nuts.Aw, shucks.

I'm embarrassed to admit that yesterday I cracked my first ever (as well as thirtieth) walnut by hand. #FirstTimeForEverything

Tweet: Grocery Gateway Goods

.. and BEER!

Tweet: Grocery Gateway Gross

all kinds of bacon..

Tweet: Grocery Gateway Globules

Welcome to the Fun Zoo. Croatia has your bases covered! Choco globules.. Goody!

Tweet: Tighten Your Belt

If these full day hikes are to continue I'm going to need to punch another hole in my belt cuz there's no way I can consume any more pastry or beer.

Oh, Travels..

Since deciding to sleep in this morning and skip the sure-thing bus I have:

- Choked down a Turkish coffee I couldn't refuse with a Macedonian woman. The taste was quashed by the sugar-covered pink jelly sweet, two granola bars offered and the handful of sucking candies dropped into my bag despite my protest
- Drank a nice tea with honey and lemon alone with her travel agent son in the next town who first mocked my plan and then ended up suggesting basically the exact same one
- Plan immediately fell apart when the bus had left an hour before the time posted
- Declined a lady of the night (at noon) offered by her girlfriend(/pimp?) communicated by a sideways nod at her and then rubbing both index fingers together horizontally
- Bought a pizza bun for my cab driver (actually two once I broke mine open to find unidentified meat). This must have prompted him to try and bribe the Albanian border guard with a hundo ($2.5 CAD) so he could drop me at the first town 3km in, instead of right at the border. Then he asked for nearly triple the original price but I dumped all the denar I had in his hand (10% tip), claiming I had no Euro and he smiled and didn't hold it against me
- Had a man buy me what I thought was a tea that turned out to be a sweet cider (made especially sweet by the whole sugar packed I'd already added) and then he rhymed off his English words; door, window, table, car, bus!
- A mini bus driver with no English shared his favourite hip hop with me, French, English and even Albanian. Then when he finally understood my end destination flagged down another mini bus (while on the road!) and transferred me without payment for I had no Lek yet
- Stopped at a random roadside police check but didn't have to exit the van
- Dumped at intersection, still no lek, excused from fare. Told by next driver there is no direct bus to my destination. As he puts my bag in his storage a bus clearly emblazoned with my destination pulls up. Me and the kid stuff my bag into its trunk and dive into the door of the moving vehicle as it pulls away. Euro exchanged for Lek, $3 CAD/35km
- Caffeine crash on final packed mini bus (my normal consumption is a cola once every couple months)
- Arrived!

Tweet: Restraint

This breakfast buffet has a platter of string cheese.. grade 6 Stefan's mind just melted!

Tweet: Herring or..

Vendor: I have Mountain Dew or Crab Juice.
Homer: Bleck, ugh disgusting. I'll take the crab juice.

Tweet: Traveller's Woes

Tell me why I don't like Mondays: can't judge resto in new city by amount of patrons cuz all are empty #ShotInTheDark

Tweet: A horse, of course

Triple flame extreme (beet?) purple horseradish chips. About as bad as they sound, didn't stop me from holding my breath and thinking S & V

Tweet:Ukrainian Appetite

The only meal I can order in Ukrainian #borscht #kapustaVareniky Also pictured, homemade hummus. #BabaStillBetter

A Foreign Vegetarian in the CCCP

Can any dietitians among you please review my food log?

Breakfast
2 sweet pastries, often fig or jam filled
0.5l strawberry-apple juice

Morning Snack
Orange
5 cookies

Lunch
0.5l water
1/2 loaf bread and Soft cheese akin to La Vache Qui Rire (occasional)
Or
3 sweet cheese filled crepes served with fresh cream

Afternoon Snack
0.5l water
Jumbo chocolate bar

Dinner
8 cabbage stuffed perogies
2 buns
1 large bowl borscht (beat soup)

Evening
1l beer (occasional)
Or
6 cookies
Or
1.5l beer (occasional)

Do you see any deficiencies? My worry is that I'm not getting enough carbohydrates..

Tweet: Ukrainian Borscht

Aren't food pics the bane of Twitter?

Working on my Night Markets

Such fantastic things to be found at the markets in Thailand. My favourite are the ones that ring sidewalks of a park, though markets seem to spring up in any back alley or parking lot that will have them. There's everything from toys (not many fun ones though), electronic gadgets, clothes (and more clothes), jewelry and other souvenirs - plus all kinds of other doodads.

It is the food at these night markets that I'd like to share with you now though.

Firstly there is the any-sort-of-meat-or-seafood on a stick. The thought of foods on a stick is for some reason appealing to me (shishkebabs, fudgesicles) but these small hunks of meat sitting under the sun (well under the flies that are under the sun) all day and then barbequed for a few seconds before being served just turns my already vegetarian stomach further.

Seafood reigns supreme in this land and you can get all sorts of it cooked in any way you can think of (okay not really.. it's either bbqed or fried). Again I'm not interested but at the same time I AM intrigued and it seems that Larissa and I wander through the food section at each market just to make faces at the nasty-looking creatures that people are voluntarily ingesting.

Last night I had some luck in finding things that appeal to me (and aren't made of animals.. though dead meat doesn't appeal to me anyway). My food-fetish for things on a stick was answered with a little wooden rod full of small, multicoloured squishy balls of sticky, sweet jelly. Yum!

Not having spoiled my appetite with the candy we passed by the pad thai stands (all pad thai-ed out!) and saw a lady frying up small multicoloured patties which she assured us were vegetables (well at least kept repeating 'vegetable' over again). Grabbing a mixed pack I tried the green leafy one (spinach? seaweed most likely) then the corn one (not bad) and then the white one which turned out to be the best (though neither of us could ascertain what vegetable it was despite its decidedly vegetable texture).

Larissa slurped a fresh watermelon smoothie - so good and abundantly available for about 50 cents Canadian - and I spotted a crepe place. With memories of my banana pancake in Bangkok I was informed I could make 3 topping choices and peered into the canisters of multicoloured globs or spreads. I settled on red gelatinous balls like the ones on my stick of earlier, sprinkles and caramel sauce. She told me the caramel sauce was in fact chili sauce so I swapped it for chocolate. The crepe was thin and crunchy, folded over into a pizza slice shape with the toppings in the center and was tasty (but didn't match the banana chocolate sandwich from Khao San).

With my hunger nearly satisfied (okay we went out for a full dinner after too) we returned to the AC room we'd splured on (a whole $20/night) and watched Wall-E (in English.. though I think "Wally" and "Eva", the extent of the dialog, would translate).

Volunteering with the elephants in Chiang Mai for a week starts on the 23rd! Can't wait.