Afghanistan--Green

Okay, I take it back.  I watched a bit more of the video and it would seem that there are at least some trees and at least one striking picnic spot.  It is also a relief to see that every male in the country is not a brainless tyrant.

Afghanistan--Brown

Here's one of those searing insights that will make everyone want to return to this blog over and over.  Afghanistan is BROWN.  Judging by a documentary I started watching (will post name when movie and I are both upstairs), Kabul is just plain brown.  The landscape, the houses--everything.  I'm thinking of when we lived in Tucson, Arizona and how starved I was for greenery then.  Compared with Kabul, Tucson is a positive oasis.  No wonder the mosaics are so colorful--I'll have to look this up.  Are mosaics everywhere in all the mosques or just the really famous ones?

Afghanistan--Naan

Oh yummy!!!!   In Afghanistan they eat a round flat bread called Naan (they eat in in India and lots of middle Eastern countries).  It can serve as the plate, and also as a knife and fork as the bread is used to soak up sauces or folded to take a piece of meat.  There are all kinds of recipes online.  I made the mistake of trying to make this version on a fast Sunday which was stupid because the whole house smelled fabulous all day.  On youtube there are videos that show you how the bread is made in a real Afghani oven.  Strange technique!  The oven is basically a hole in the wall with a fire going in it.  The baker pats the bread out to the right size then flings it onto one of the walls in the oven where it sticks. A few minutes later he reaches in with long metallic sticks (I would think tongs would be easier) and fishes it out.

I used a frying pan sprayed with PAM, adding my own twist of playing the board game LIFE with Catherine on the kitchen island while I was at it.  It turned out simply terrific.  Looked professional, reminding me of bread you sometimes get in better greek restaraunts.  Catherine, who's been to Turkey, said she thought it looked and tasted authentic.  This will not be a one-time receipe.  I can feel a family staple coming on.  The receipe came from allrecipes.com--click on this link Naan 

Next step is to find recipes for all those sauces.

Afghanistan

Hey!  Check out this month's "Reader's Digest" there are pictures of the country from photo journalists and the reasons why these journalists found the images compelling.