Food for Thought...

Last night as I read the post by @Naomi_Hattaway (http://naomihattaway.com/2013/03/things-shared-round-the-world/), I fell asleep with thoughts of food and friends around the world.

So when I woke up at 3:52 this morning, as often happens, my mind was already connecting the dots. I went to my cookbook shelf and pulled out copies of my cookbooks cum memorybooks/souvenirs from my time in Azerbaijan and decided to take some photos to share.

Naomi had written: "We were coming together once a month to teach each other recipes that we had brought with us from our previous locations, whether expat assignments or from our childhood kitchens.  During the process of dissecting those recipes, we were in turn creating another layer, a deeper foundation to build on as we all continued on in our journey. "

I doubt that #Judy Rickatson ever imagined when she guided this  cookbook project, "Recipes for Friendship"  for the International Women's Club of Baku, that a decade later back 'home' ( a term I use loosely these days) in Alexandria, Virginia, a transplanted Texan would be using her recipe for Brisbane Stew. Let's see, Canada, England, Baku, Brisbane, Houston, Alexandria... yep, that pretty much circles the globe in friendship. What's more, it's a gift that keeps on giving, as I left another copy in my flat for the next family of expats coming in.

 As I flipped the pages of this little memory book, I remember Donna Hill (another Canadian, wife of Doug Hill, Amoco/BP) telling her story about having to take defensive driving- being a kind Canadian, she was reluctant to ram the offender's car.  "Couldn't I just maneuver around him?" Not gonna happen... let's have another go. Finally on the third try, as Donna relayed this story, the instructor stepped on her foot on  the accelerator and forced the car into a collision path that she had to use all her skill to minimize and speed away from. She passed and, I imagine, to this day is a very safe driving, avoiding many collisions as she goes.

 I saw recipes from Sheila Churchman... and remembered the Churchman family from the Wharf restaurant- arguably the central ex-pat hangout in the early years, now sadly gone before their time. Actually the tragedy was that most of her family perished together just before Christmas in 2007.  Dave and Sheila had lived in Saudi, Kuwait, Baku and other "high risk" places, and yet it was a gas leak in Colfax, LA that triggered the explosion that caused the deaths of Dave, Sheila, Dave's mother "Miss Mary", and later their son Don.

I remember sitting at the Wharf one Sunday afternoon, having a bowl of Sheila's vegetable soup. People always went to the Wharf more to meet friends than for the food, but the vegetable soup was always good... except this day.  I asked Sheila if they had changed her recipe and she said they hadn't.  But upon tasting it she realized something was horribly wrong.  Upon investigating, she found the chef they had fired recently had changed the recipe before he departed- from 1 Tbsp vinegar to 1 CUP of vinegar!  That would do it!

 (Anyone who remembers Sheila knows this page, illustrations, captions and all, is perfect for remembering Sheila! And we do, fondly.)

Others who contributed to this little gem of a memory book are scattered around the world now- I see on Facebook that the talented artist who handled the many illustrations, Yelena-Alona Dontsova-Ref is now married and living in Tel Aviv. Many more of these ladies have gone on to other expat assignments, while some have retired and gone to England, Canada, and the USA.

Being there so long, and not being with an international support system, I spent a lot of my time in local restaurants or in the homes of my students and staff.  As I was leaving for a holiday in Germany during my first year there, one of my students gave me an Azeri cookery book.  These photos below are particular favorites.  

First the ever present Shashlik- simple (if you have a mangal) and hard not to find something to like- grilled tomatoes (my fav), potatoes, onions, beef (of some kind) or chicken. Sprinkle a little sumac on and you're ready to eat. Second, the Azerbaijan/Soviet era "champagne".  During my entire decade there, every single bottle was labeled 1984- not just some, but all of them. It got to be a game after a while- I went to enough local dinners in homes and that was always the drink of choice for the host to offer, and always 1984... all can I can say is, it must have been a heck of a year!    

Food for thought and many happy thoughts about food and friends.

 Bon Apetit!  Nush Olsan!  Afiet Olsan! Priatnova Apetit!  Happy memories!

White Snow...  and the 7 Memories

Ever have one of those weeks where everything runs in circles?  Where you set out to do one thing and have that deja vu feeling about something else?

This photo is from exactly 10 years ago this week. 

I happened across it while looking for a picture of something "white" for a contribution to the fun #worldcolors project being put together by #Naomi Hattaway (http://box53b.naomihattaway.com/wp/2013/01/white-worldcolors/ ) and  #Anne Lowrey from Part Time Traveler. 

It's a beautiful snowfall on the Fountain Square in Baku. Can you guess what the building in the center is? Believe it or not, this is the first McDonald's in Azerbaijan.  I remember looking out over the Square from my office, thinking how much had changed since I arrived.

I spent nearly 10 years in Baku.  I write now to capture things I remember, memories that bubble up now and then, mostly to have a way of telling the stories to my daughter who was at home in high school in Houston when I left, but had already entered a Ph.D program by the time I got back... Wow, so much time had passed for her, and yet for me, in ancient Baku, often it felt like time stood still. Until I saw this.

Circle around to the reason I was looking for a white photo in the first place... 

Quite by accident I came a cross a blog post written by someone I knew in Baku. This was the deja vu moment, like I was back there again.  #Judy Rickatson writes in her #ExpatriateLife blog http://expatriatelife.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/theres-a-special-place-in-hell-for-expats/  about first arriving in Baku, and what this new world looked like to her then.

What caught my eye was a line: "Many afternoons were spent staring out of my apartment window, happy my husband had a good job, happy my son was settling in school, happy to be having the adventure of a lifetime, but desperately lonely."  The reason it caught my eye was that it was the same thought I was having as I stood there looking out at McDonald's in the snow, feeling as if it were a million miles away. My daughter was away in college, I was now divorced, and halfway across the world from anyone I thought might care.

And yet, I read this week that there was Judy, and who knows how many others, not many blocks away, staring out the window, having the same feelings of loneliness. As if the white snow had put a blanket around us, isolating us.

So the lesson I take away from all of this, is to reach out when I can.  I had thought company spouses were well connected, and I didn't think I had anything to give, being over there by myself. But I see now, how many of us need, and in so many ways.  Most of us get through it and come out better for it on the other side, but how much richer and more joyous would our lives be if we remembered that whatever emotions we are feeling today, there is someone feeling that same emotion. Maybe next door or down the street, or an email away.

Now when I look at that fresh white snow, I remember that no one knows what's underneath. I have to remember to go join others and play. I have to send some emails, to say I'm thinking of some friends today.