A Bachelor Painting Food

Some people have asked me to describe the food here. This is a difficult proposition for a bachelor. You know how you describe new and exotic foods in terms of food you know ("it tastes like chicken")? Well, I'm having trouble describing Afghan food in terms of tuna and mayonnaise. Actually, I do know loaves of bread and I know 4X4's so I can describe "nan". Nan is a loaf of wheat bread run over by a 4X4. Seriously! Picture a loaf of bread run over by a knobbied tire. It's flat, it bulges out on the ends where the tire didn't quite cover the whole loaf, it has distinctive tread marks, and you can even see some of the black pavement ground into the bottom. That's nan. It's quite good. Just brush off the black charcoal on the bottom and away you go.

Mantoo is the favorite food of Afghan single women...some of you will get that on the way home. My married women friends here say that mantoo is a type of dumpling. I'm taking that on faith since I can't remember what a dumpling is, but maybe some of you can. The electricity goes out almost every day and sometimes right during meal preparation so I have learned the "bachelor's mixer" trick for when you have no power for mixing your food. Scoop one mouthful of tuna from the can, place it in your mouth, then put one heaping tablespoon of mayo into your mouth and shake your head vigorously. You now have a nice tuna salad and you can swallow as needed. It works quite well with a variety of foods. Try it some day when the electricity goes out.