feeling festive

So Wednesday I went to Ramstore to seek out condiments and garnishes for my buffalo wings. Ramstore is a huge Turkish endeavor that is all over the Former Soviet countries and Eastern Europe (I found out online that they opened one in Skopje in 2005 when I was googling Ramstore's products).

It's basically a small-ish mall with about three floors of shops, a massive "hypermarket" (one step up from supermarket), a food court, and an indoor ice skating rink. As swanky as it is, it charges you a refundable 50 tenge to use a shopping cart, something it took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to use. (Grrrr. Funny how it's the very minor things here that can make you crazy.)

The hypermarket was all set up for New Year's. Because Christmas here is celebrated January 7 (the Orthodox Christmas) and a gift-giving orgy isn't done, New Year's is more of the big holiday that everyone gets ready for. There were huge displays of Soviet Champagne, Frexinet (sp?) champagne, chocolates, and lots and lots of garlands and lights. For some reason, I didn't find it horribly commercial or offensive. Maybe that's because it was just that one store that was like that? Anyway, it definitely helped get me in the holiday/celebrating spirit. Today it's snowing like crazy and I just want to make peppermint patties (yannow, hot chocolate + peppermint schnapps) or hot shlivka and play in the snow.

My wings are ready to go. I cut them all last night, made the blue cheese dressing, made the hot sauce, and cut up the celery and carrots. Frank's is what I prefer, but all they had was Tobasco (way too hot!) and Louisiana hot sauce. They also had a Tobasco brand Worshteshire sauce, which I hadn't ever seen before. All that remains to be done today is the fry-fest. Cutting apart the wing tip from the wing from the little leg is a nightmare with dull knives. I don't miss much from America, but I definitely miss my Sabatier's when I am in the kitchen.

Next Thursday we're having another party, three of our staff members are leaving. They did it on Thursday because both the project direct and I fly to the US Friday morning. So I'm going to have to pack ahead of time. And will likely by flying on very little sleep and a little too much alcohol. :) But that will just mean that I will be comatose on the flights, which is good. Being comatose is the best way to fly...though flying hung over isn't much fun. :p That just means I'll have to go to the Duty Free in Heathrow and load up on the free samples of Pimm's Lemonade. A bit of the hair of the dog and I should be good to go for that second leg. ;>

There may be as many as 20 people at the joint birthday party tonight, so it's really going to be a lot of fun. I will take a buttload of photos and post them here over the weekend.

party planning

There are two birthdays coming up in the office this week, and we decided to have the birthday party at my flat. It is centrally located and has two big living rooms, so it's perfect for a shin-dig.

Everyone's bringing something, and I have decided that I am going to make buffalo wings. I thought and thought and thought, and decided that that would be the ultimate American party food.

So I am going to go to the Chicken House to buy some wings. (Yes, the store is called Chicken House, I'm not translating it for you.) I hear they have great chicken.

I haven't seen any blue cheese dressing here (only ranch and 1000 Island) so I'm going to have to make my own. Epicurious to the rescue! Mayo + yogurt + blue cheese = blue cheese dressing!

I will scout around for some Frank's hot sauce, but Texas Pete's might be my only choice. Not a bad second. Bet you didn't think you could find stuff like that here, but you can. The randomness of what you can find. Surprises abound, both in the "I can't believe no one has this!" category, as well as the "I can't believe someone has this!" category.

If I have time, I'll also make some pinjur. Gotta through in something Macedonian, yannow. :) Besides, if I'm making something as bad for you as wings, I need to balance it out with something healthier.