Marmota Marmota

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Photos from Georgia and Armenia, August 2015.

More here.

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snack diaries 063-066 (armenia)

Organ doner —  beef tjvjik (slices of liver, kidney, and brain sauteed with onions) at Tumanyan Shwarma.

Lahmacun —  the most perfect thin crust pizza only topped with minced veal instead of tomato sauce.

Bishi — mini disks of fried dough with a heavy dusting of powdered sugar.

Khorovats/iki bir —lamb kebab with big chunks of crispy tail fat. 

A discerning customer inspects the offerings at a roadside convenience shop near the Georgian border.

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snack diaries 062: kunefe

Not all kunefes are created equal. The ingredients are pretty straight forward -- wiry hay-like strands of dough called kadayif, a soft raw milk peynir (cheese), honey syrup, and pistachios or clotted cream (kaymak) if you’re feeling fancy. Prepared in a special metal plate, the kadayif encases the peynir, which begins to melt as the dish is cooked over the stove. Once the kadayif is browned, the syrup is poured over and a generous pinch of pistachios is added to the center. Each bite is a juxtaposition of flavors (sweet, salty) and textures (crispy, soft) with an underlying richness that makes this dish one delicious, unusual, and very heavy dream.

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Istanbul, April 2015

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snack diaries 061: lokma

Locals gladly spend their lunch breaks waiting in line to buy fresh lokma, the small rings of dough that are deep fried and then soaked in honey syrup. With the dough mixer, fryer, and honey bath all contained on one cart, this is an ingenious one-man doughnut factory.

Izmir, April 2015

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snack diaries 060: izmir cafeteria lunch

This corner cafeteria in Izmir’s Aslancak neighborhood is pure magic, and the women behind the operation carry out lunch service with the efficiency that you would expect from a military kitchen. While there the daily menu is posted on a sandwich board outside on the sidewalk, the best way to order is to survey the the counter and take a chance. With so many soups and salads to choose from, the challenge is narrowing the decision down to just one dish (or two). The kofte soup (vegetables and lamb meatballs) had a deep, lemon-flavored broth, and the cabbage dolmas, stewed tomato, and roasted pepper and eggplant in yogurt all came together to create one massive antipasti wow.

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snack diaries 059: adana kebap

The ultimate welcome meal to Turkey. Fresh off the mangal, the meat is smokey and juicy, served with enough veggies to add some necessary brightness that’s enough to make it feel like you had salad for dinner. 

Izmir, April 2015

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Izmir, April 2015

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Guangzhou by night, March 2015

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snack diaries 058: jianbing

Freshly made streetside on a cart attached to a bicycle. A mung-bean crepe with an egg cracked into it, then some spicy chili paste spread over the thing, filled with a big cracker and some crunchy iceberg lettuce.

Guangzhou, March 2015

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snack diaries 057: sichuan boiled fish

Because it’s never spicy enough.

The fresh bamboo salad is a nice antidote, as long as you don’t mind the kick from an extra helping of ground Sichuan peppercorns liberally applied atop the crunchy shoots.

Beijing, March 2015

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snack diaries 056: squirrel mandarin fish

It’s a squirrel... it’s a fish... it’s a squirrel-fried fish.

This dish is an old delicacy that dates back 1400 years and was a court favorite from the Suzhou region. The modern update at Da Dong in Beijing is as tasty as it is garish. The fish is cut with cross hatches so that when deep fried it transforms into an entirely different animal. The skin and meat turn into crispy nuggets that stay tender on the inside and the whole fish -- I mean squirrel -- is doused in sweet-and-sour sauce. The effect is powerful and with each bite I grow more convinced that there must be some kind of alchemy involved in this metamorphosis.

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snack diaries 055: black chicken soup

After an overnight flight from Moscow to Beijing, all I wanted was something simple and easy. By looks alone, this black chicken soup may not seem to fit the bill, but appearances can be deceiving. The broth is think and intensely flavorful and the goji berries brighten the bowl with their light sweetness. The black chicken itself was mostly skin and bones, with maybe two bites of dry meat, but it did help make this the most menacing chicken soup I’ve ever had.

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snack diaries 054: pizzoccheri alla valtellinese

Halfway down to Alagna on a low-visibility day, it only makes sense to take off your skis and seek comfort in one of the rifugios that dot the slope. For maximum enjoyment and nourishment, sit near the wood burning furnace and order pizzoccheri alla valtellinese. What you’ll get is rough ribbons of buckwheat pasta, tossed with boiled potatoes and a few string beans (just enough so that you can say you had vegetables for lunch) in a buttery cream sauce, with some black pepper and parmesan to round things out. This is ultimate mountain comfort food that will never let you down.

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snack diaries 054: samosa chaat

While uploading old photos I came across one of the East Village’s best cheap eats -- samosa chaat at Punjabi Grocery and Deli on First Street. Ask for a samosa with everything and you’ll get all that your bowl can hold: a cut-up potato-and-pea-stuffed samosa buried in spicy stewed chickpeas, fresh chopped onion, tamarind and cilantro chutneys, tangy yogurt, and some extra hot sauce for good measure. It’s heavy in every way.

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Old town market in Guangzhou, March 2015.

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In and around Beijing, March 2015.