>kebab кебаб and meatballs тефтели

I am surprised by the paucity of online Russian-English food glossary, in Cyrillic.

Since you enjoyed my foray into the menu of CHEBURECHNAYA (ЧЕБУРЕЧНАЯ), I will contribute just a few more items. The restaurant menu, by the way, comes with a handy calorie guide next to each dish, which I've added here as well, just for fun.

Meatballs Тефтели 452.5
Chicken breast Куриная грудка 232.5
(Lamb) Lulya kebab Люля кебаб 340.2
Lamb chops Баранина отбивная 399.7
Lamb testicles Бараньи яички 260
Veal feet soup Хаш 336.2
Veal heart Телячье сердце 263.7
Beef sweetbread Говяжья железа 245.2
Home-made sausage (not Колбаса) Домашняя сосиска 428.7
Lamb fat Бараний жир 664.5

Too many calories? Black tea (черный чай) and green tea (зеленый чай) are both listed as having 0 calories. Ура!

>(Tamil Nadu) idli vs. (Czech) knedlík

Last weekend, I was invited to Fremont, California, to a cozy home of relatively recent Indian immigrants. Realizing that it was one of those little apartments so immaculate you would be truly ashamed of not taking your shoes off, I fretted having chosen to wear ensemble high heels. If I knew I would be treading in bare feet, I'd have worn something else... (yes, it's silly, but just try being me. I know, you wouldn't want to.)

On their buffet table were too-pretty-to-eat little jewels of Indian snacks, samosas and chaats.

The hosts later brought out something somewhat unexpected at a Hindi-speaking home. Idlis. Oooh. I had forgotten about idlis.

My first experience of Indian food was Tamil, since Singaporean Indians are mostly from Tamil Nadu, South India. Ellapugazhum Iraivanukee (as the Oscar winner Allah Rakha Rahman exclaimed at the Awards), Tamil sambar/sambhar and rasam are delicious.

An idli or idly is a Tamil staple. At first glance, they resemble perfectly round sugar cookies. Then you realize these are not desserts. Soft spongy bland cakes made of lentil and rice flour, you place a couple of these in a bowl and add gravy and chutneys of your own choosing.

***
Jump to another continent, to another country I love, Czech Republic.

Tamil spongy bread's texture is strangely reminiscent of Czech dumplings. Not as pretty, perhaps, and bigger than idlis, I never got tired of dousing gravy on my doughy (potato) dumplings in Prague. Gloppy mess or not, knedlíki, too, were delicious.

***
There are other steamed cakes, of course. What are your favorites?

>sambal terasi with Rijsttafel

Too bad the Clinton visit to Asia is mostly seen through the lens of the traditional media, where the world revolves around (is boxed in by??) terribly important issues such as nuclear proliferation, climate change, trade agreements, fight against terrorism and world peace.

It's not a bad thing that I often see Indonesia through the sentimental lens of memory. I can trigger it somewhat instantly with Bengawan solo, for instance.

I spent most of my teenage years in Singapore and its surrounding countries. Indonesia was a short hop across the straits. When soulful chants wafted from mosques, it mattered very little to me what religion the sounds signified. I was moved by their lyrical charm, just as I was with Gregorian or Tibetan chants. (I'm thankful my parents have never been religious.)

***
And of course, who would forget the tantalizing aroma of spices accompanied by red-hot equatorial heat?

The most unforgettable pungency is that of terasi ("trassi"), dried shrimp paste, equivalent to Malaysian blacan/belacan. That and hot "cili" peppers.

If I want a shortcut to these flavors, bottled sambal terasi does the trick, I was later told in America. Just a tiny spoonful, it improves the flavor of any dish, a kind Chinese-Indonesian lady told me; yes, try it in Dutch Rijsttafel dishes.

Alas, I have never been able to reproduce the feel of a grand tropical Rijsttafel feast. Even at Indonesian restaurants here. Perhaps you can't simply bottle the essence of a place and time.

In any case, I can still say, aku cinta kamu, Indonesia.

>dollar store vegetables at ショップ99, ローソンストア100

Think convenience store meets dollar store meets corner grocery store.

Deep in the midst of Japan's recession, a new species of コンビニ (konbini)/コンビニ屋 (konbiniya) is fast emerging.

Watch these stores grow. Shop 99 (ショップ99) and Lawson Store 100 (ローソンストア100).

Truly a one-stop shopping just around the corner, no cars are needed, a bike suffices. More often, your own feet.

And cheap, cheap, cheap! It's as if the neighborhood 7-Eleven (セブン-イレブン), FamilyMart (ファミリーマート) or Circle K (サークルKサンクス) was only carrying dollar items and stocked chock-full with carrots, mushrooms, salad greens and cabbage each costing 99 yen (comparable to $1) plus tax.

ショップ99 and ローソンストア100 are doing just that. They are competing for the attention of the world-renowned frugal Japanese customers. Sounds like more regular convenience stores will be converting to the dollar, I mean 100円, store model.

***
I ain't tradin' turnips with nobody.
-- Lov Bensey, Tobacco Road

>chebureki чебуреки and samcy самсы

This kosher Uzbek restaurant in Rego Park doesn't really want you to know its name. Why else would they call it CHEBURECHNAYA (ЧЕБУРЕЧНАЯ)? "You speak our language, or else..."

This mouthful could be a test to see if we can handle their macabre menu. Yes, to see if we are indeed serious about veal feet soup ("hash", хаш) and lamb testicles (бараньи яички). Unfazed, we just might ponder lamb heart (баранье сердце) or veal heart (телячье сердце). Can we stomach fried beef brains (жаренные говяжьи мозги)? Wash all that down with some Tarhun (Тархун) flavored with woodruff? Or we might prefer a bit of Dushes (Дюшес)?

It's not as scary as it first seems, and it's good to find out that lagman ("ramen"/"拉麺", лагман) and morkovcha (морковка) are as reassuring as hot pea soup (гороховый суп) and borscht (борщ).

(Their menu doesn't seem to like the letter "u"; pumpkin is sometimes spelled "pampkin" and mushroom becomes "mashroom".)

Assorted dumplings, chebureki (чебуреки) and samcy (самсы) "dough products", are filled with meat, vegetables, potatoes or ... ribs.

Time to open a bottle or two of Zhigulevskoe (Жигулевское) beer or Borxhomi (Боржоми), and partake of trubochki (трубочки), kholodets (холодец), achikchuk (ачикчук) , matbuha (матбуха, or Hebrew מטבוחה), kartoshka (картошка a.k.a. potato), or of course, pelmeni (пельмени). Chak chak (чак чак) or lavz (лавз) for dessert.

This is serious stuff. No mere bacon sausage, if you know what I mean.