The things we eat

So many people have asked me what types of food we're eating here in Azerbaijan. With Thanksgiving just happening, I have gotten it even more. For starters, yes! we had Thanksgiving dinner atnmy house, with my cluster and my family. We made an Azerbaijani turkey, which my host family bought for us(so expensive here). We cooked ourselves, but she plucked it for us. Sme of the other clusters actually killed their own turkey, so at least it was done for us too. Not sure I could have slit the turkey's throat.

Other food...here is the breakdown.
Azeri food is not bad, with of course a few exceptions. They cook with a TON of oil. They serve incredible bread (çorek) at every meal as a cultural thing. It is sacred and must not touch the ground or go in the regular trash. It is so delicious, but of course is making us all fat lol. Çay ( like herbal tea) is served about 15 times a day, no joke and cold drinks cannot be drank at meals as Azerbaijani's believe you will have digestion problems. Candy and sweets are also everywhere.
A few traditional Azerbaijani dishes are:
Plov - a rice dish
Shorba- soup, all kinds especially cabbage
Dolma- meat and rice stuffed cabbage leaves, grape leaves, or eggplant
Kabob- lamb skewers, but with a ton of animal fat
Lavash - like a wrap filled with meat, vegetables and yogurt
Diner- same as lavash but with bread
Tushir - pickled vegetable (I especially like the cabbage)

Foods I avoid...
Xas- soup made with the (whole) head and front legs of a sheep. They are boiled in a pot. Brains are eaten separately
Xengel- flat pasta like pieces with cheesy (see own category) and onion sauce
Fish- served whole and eaten whole
Ciz Biz- fried animal (?) liver, lungs, intestine,he tart and kidney

Cheese....as many of you know, is my favourite food. Not here....it's gross. They have 2 kinds 1. Stinky, super-salty, sheepy cheese and 2. Stinkier, saltier, sheepier cheese. Disgusting.

For those of you reading this and thinking About my first post which entailed my stomach issues....I filter my water, but now in think it has just sort of toughened up.

More soon. Miss and love everyone. Ps. All the food is making the girls fat and the boys are desperately loosing weight due to lack of protein. So not air!