Hi all,

We are now finished with Dushanbe and finished with our trip to central Asia. I thought I would end the trip with some food that we enjoyed in Dushanbe. In thinking back about this trip, sometimes I think we mostly ate and drank our way around central Asia. The food was very good. The food quantities were off the charts, just way too much food. The drinks were all good and we tried to moderate but we probably had too much to drink as well. When in central Asia….

We had lunch on our own on our last full day in Dushanbe. A few of us opted to eat at a Turkish restaurant which was nearby where we were touring at the time. The first two photos are from that lunch. The fish in the first photo was an order by a fellow traveler. She said that the fish was very good but it was the presentation that caught my eye. She also gave me a bite and indeed, it was quite good.

My lunch order was in the second photo. The good think about eating meals on our own was that we could just order something that was about right on the quantity of food. In this case, it was perfect. It was a gyro and fries. The gyro had meats and vegetables and sauces and was perfect for my lunch.

The last three photos are from our big trip ending dinner at the Bukhara Restaurant. A Caesar salad is on the left in the third photo and as was fairly normal, we had our choice of breads to try.

A hot eggplant dish with peppers and cheese in a baked shell is in the fourth photo, along with another salad. Multiple salads was the norm on this trip.

Our main dish was lamb kabobs with rice and onions which is in the last photo. You might also notice that I’m having a beer, a glass of wine, and a vodka shooter. I will explain. For most of this trip, the temperature was in the 90’s and the majority of the time it was in the high 90’s. That explains the tall cold one (beer) to two…. I generally do enjoy a glass of wine with dinner and in this case, they had a nice light wine for us. As for the vodka, that’s tradition. You see, central Asians hold tight to their traditions, like being nomads and riding horses. But most of the central Asians alive today grew up as Russians, that is a republic of the USSR. As Russians, they picked up traditions like spending time in big parks, appreciating monuments and statues, and drinking vodka. I fully support their traditions and in fact, I believe that I was wearing my tie-dyed shirt for dinner.