Turkmenistan tidbits

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Greetings from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan!
   The city was destroyed by a 9.0 earthquake in 1948.  Almost everything here has been built in the past five years with money from gas reserves.
   There were internet cafes sprouting up all over, but the President decided to take most all of them out--except this small one.
   The President is a wise man and his judgment is beyond question.  Praise god.
   Tomorrow, I leave for Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

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TURKMENISTAN WORDS

   Most of the menus offer no surprises.  American stuff (our cocktails, hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza), Russian/Turkish stuff like kebabs and shashlik, and that's about it.  No regional cookbook was found anywhere.
   There are plenty of terms for dress, but there's really not a good book for this, either.

   TO BUILD A CARPET IS TO DIG A WELL WITH A NEEDLE.  Popular proverb on how hard it is to complete the fabulous Turkmenistan carpets.
   YENGEN BURGER.  Available at Florda restaurant.  I have no idea what it is.
   AUSTRALIAN SALAD.  I was told to avoid the salads, but this is with sausage, cheese, and pickles.
   MARZBAN.  "...Governed by 'marzaban' or 'guard of the frontier,' a military governor appointed to frontier cities."  ANCIENT MERV (1996), pg. 24.
   KESHKS.  "_Keshks_ are fort-like structures with corrugated walls."  ANCIENT MERV, pg. 6, col. 2.
   MANGLAYLUK.  One of the terms of female dress that I saw in the national museum, but couldn't find in an English book.

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VILLAGE VOICE'S CHEAP EATS

   From the VILLAGE VOICE, 1 May 2001, cover story.  Several Uzbekistan restaurants in Queens are listed.

Pg. 41, col. 1:
..vasteddi, a tiny sandwich of cheese and spleen on a fresh-baked roll.  (Sicilian--ed.)

Pg. 42, col. 2:
..dosai, utthapam, vadai, and iddly... (South India--ed.)
..mellow chicken makhani (a/k/a "butter chicken")... (Punjabi--ed.)

Pg. 42, col. 3:
..festival (pronounced "fes-tee-val"), a sweet fry bread.  (Jamaican--ed.)
..salcocho, a savory beef soup rife with plaintain, potato and carrot.  (Dominican--ed.)
..salpicon, a cold salad of ground meat, radishes, and tomatoes zapped with mint and lime juice.  (Guatemalan--ed.)

Pg. 43, col. 1:
..Uzbeki casseroles like plov and damlama.  Tashkent salad, a haystack of shredded radish and julienne lamb in a light mayo dressing, sounds gross but tastes great.
..fruity owocowa to the heavy and ponderous flaczki... (Polish--ed.)

Pg. 43, col. 2:
..soup called sauto that floats noodles, rice _and_ matchsticks of fried potato... (Indonesian--ed.)
..gallina guisado... (Cuban--ed.)
..dilby (grilled lamb chops).  (Guinean--ed.)

Pg. 44, col. 2:
..springier injera... (Ethiopian--ed.)

Pg. 44, col. 3:
..merguez sandwich... (Egyptian--ed.) (OED?)
..hiyashi chuka...gyoza and katsudon... (Japanese--ed.)
..peanut sauce (called llapingachos)... Ecuadoran--ed.)

Pg. 45, col. 1:
..potato fufu and crushed-rice omotouo...egushie... (Ghanaian--ed.)

..Also don't miss the cheese-stuffed bread called khachapouri.  (Soviet Georgian--ed.)