For weeks, Gaza City has been a ghost town, as people shuttered businesses, locked their doors and took shelter. But the recent ceasefire has felt different to residents here — they believe this one will hold — and beginning Tuesday, intrepid owners tentatively reopened their cafes, markets began to bustle, and city dwellers emerged to do their shopping and return … Read More
Dining in Dnipropetrovsk: Reporter Restaurant
In the nearly unpronounceable town of Dnipropetrovsk sits Reporter, one of the best restaurants I’ve found in Ukraine — at the recommendation of a reporter, naturally. (Want to know where to eat in a weird place? Ask a journalist. Or just read this blog.) Reporter bills itself as an “unusual restaurant,” so-named because (and I must crib from its website … Read More
Quick Snack: Road Food, In Photos
Van picnics: because sometimes there’s no time to eat, no place to eat, and no appetite to speak of. Among the good finds in Ukraine: sweet, soft sugar cookies; coffee-flavored, candy coated peanuts; Ukrainian sausage and hot coffee, poured from our driver’s thermos. He also brought a bunch of parsley and raw garlic clove. Because why not.
Donetsk: What a Difference 2 Months Makes
It was only May when I was here last, and there was such a thriving restaurant scene — real life going on amid the scuffles — that to see Donetsk now is a bit of a shock. There are estimates that 80% of the population have fled this area, and indeed, many of my friends from my last visit have … Read More
Feasting in Iraqi Kurdistan
Being invited into someone’s home when you’re on the road is always the most memorable meal of the trip. In Iraqi Kurdistan, on the road from Erbil to Kirkuk, a local leader had us over for lunch – a multi-course feast prepared by his wife and daughters, and laid out on the floormat by his sons. Kurdish — and Iraqi … Read More