Word: local
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...three turkeys arrived today, shrink-wrapped in red, white and blue plastic. Our Afghan staff handled the packages gingerly, unsure what to make of our enthusiasm for frozen food. When they buy turkey from the local market, it usually comes body-temperature, fresh from slaughter. Also in the goody-bag was a ham, contraband in this Muslim nation, but for me a Thanksgiving staple. It was crying out to be scored, studded with cloves, slathered with honey and mustard and slowly roasted. A friend with connections to the American military food supply business had been good to us this year...
...outdo ourselves with ever more ambitious offerings. Last year we produced a turducken - a southern classic consisting of a turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken stuffed with oysters. We couldn't find oysters so we substituted frozen shrimp miraculously procured from the local fishmonger. Two years ago we encased one of the turkeys in clay and roasted it over coals for several hours. The result was extraordinary - fall-off-the-bone tender, but with a crispy skin. This year, Turkey a la Istalif, so named after the pottery village where the clay comes from, will be making...
Over time, we have become inventive foragers. Local wild mushrooms are a good substitute for porcinis in our cornbread stuffing. Market pumpkins roasted, peeled and pureed taste better than anything out of a can, and when mixed with maple syrup make an excellent pie. The syrup, in single serve packs, can be found at the "Bush Bazaar," named for the former President, an open-air market on the edge of town that specializes in goods pilfered from trucks heading to the U.S. military bases. It's a good place to pick up military ration packs as well - the vegetarian menus...
...were the occasional kidnappings or rocket attacks, but never did we feel antipathy from our Afghan hosts. The new expatriates moving in, usually as part of big contracting firms, are increasingly being funneled into isolated compounds surrounded by razor wire and concrete blast walls. They shop at PXs, not local markets. They go out in armored convoys that cause traffic jams. And the only Afghans they meet are hand selected. Of course there are security reasons for doing this. The Taliban insurgency has grown stronger. But this new isolationism will only make things worse. With limited interaction between expatriates...
...Local residents in Quince Mil have their own theories about the name. Some say a group of explorers passing through lost 15,000 pesos where the town now stands. The place was called 15,000 because that's what the explorers would ask for every time they came back to search for the cash. The town's name has become a synonym for bad luck. But malevolence may be at the origin as well. Fernando Farro, a local farmer, says Quince Mil takes its name from the amount of money the Peruvian government gave Russian fortune-seekers at the turn...