Category: Food

Global Flavors Tour: Dining Around the World from A to Z | March 09 2026, 00:27

I’ve come up with an interesting project for 2026. Every time we go out to eat, we’ll choose a restaurant from some exotic country, preparing a bit to understand what you’re ordering. I live near Washington, DC, and here there are restaurants from almost all world cuisines (you can’t try Belarusian draniki and drochena, though). Let’s start with the letter A!

Afghan cuisine. Visited Mazako Afghan Eatery.

We had the Kabul pilaf (Qabuli Palau). The rice here is long-grain, very crumbly and sweetened with caramelized carrots and raisins. With sumac. Delicious! For $14. We took mantu. Relatives of our dumplings, but with an Afghan twist. The main difference is the sauces. They are topped with thick yogurt (chaka) with garlic and dried mint, as well as a meat sauce made from yellow peas. Very tasty chicken kebab (Chicken Kebob). Afghans are masters of marinade. They marinate the chicken in yogurt with lemon and saffron, making it very tender. We took Doogh – a refreshing drink based on yogurt, water, salt, and, theoretically, a large amount of dried mint (though we didn’t find the mint, it might just be hiding) and finely chopped cucumbers. It seems too salty at first, but it’s still okay.

Total pilaf+chicken kebab+doogh+mantu plus 20% tip = $54. And it’s very delicious (and filling).

Actually, yesterday we also visited some fancy Thai restaurant in our town, but it didn’t quite hit the spot, so let’s pretend it didn’t exist.

#ethnicdiningdcmetro

Exploring the Delights of Origin Thai Spa: More Than Just Massage | January 08 2026, 23:48

We bought all this at our Thai massage salon Origin Thai Spa today for $20 — slices of matum tea, Bael Fruit Tea. To the left of it — pandan tea. Also, before buying we tried some hand-made cakes (delicious!).

The salon is staffed by Thai women, all of them elderly, many speak English poorly, but they all know their massage craft very well. We are regular customers there with a membership, and I highly recommend the salon to locals. Thai massage is not for everyone, though, because when done correctly, it is quite painful during the process (but beneficial, and feels like it recharges all your internal batteries).

Hidden Costs in Restaurant Menus: The Reality of Operational Charges | November 23 2025, 23:33

The restaurant is very tasty, but I increasingly notice that establishments include a certain percentage on top of the menu prices in the bill. In this menu, the cost of a dish is listed as $30 per plate, plus a note like this. In this case, it’s a 4% operational charge. Then there are taxes on top of that, plus another 20% for tips. As a result, $30 from the menu turns into at least $40.

Tasting the Unexpected: Maple Bacon Onion Jam | August 18 2025, 00:52

Bought a tasty treat for tea today. Can you imagine onion-maple-bacon jam? Neither can I yet. But it exists and is waiting for me to get hungry. My jar is without onion, but the bacon and maple are there.

On the other hand, Americans might not understand aspic, they consider it to be a meat jelly made from cow’s feet, and at the mention of jelly, they think of dessert, and cow’s feet are totally out of the picture there

Exploring Muscadines: A Native Grape with a Rich History | August 12 2025, 20:40

At our supermarket, they sell muscadines – a type of grape that is twice the size of regular ones. The green variety of muscadines is called scuppernong. They have thick skin and seeds a few millimeters in size. Muscadines are a native grape variety, known since the 16th century. Typically, muscadines and scuppernongs are used for making wine, but they are also sold fresh.

I hadn’t seen them before, and probably neither have you.