Food and food related things.

10 29 Hi Everyone;

Lisa texted me and asked about the food situation. First off it appears to me that the entire US Army runs on energy drinks and beef jerky. Those seem to be the most common snacks. Caffeine is especially appreciated if it is included in stuff like "Monster" brand drinks. There is a lot of bottled water here. It is available in almost every building and dining facility. I find myself drinking a half dozen bottles of water a day; sometimes mixed with one of the '0' calorie flavoring packages available at the dining hall or shipped in large quantities from concerned family and friends from the US. It is appreciated! If the temperature is just right and the bottled water has been in a refrigerator long enough you can grab a bottle of water and shake it and it becomes instant frozen slush...when I'm overheated it is heaven!

Our office is the recipient of both contractor supplied snacks and drinks (soda, power aid, energy drinks, chips, beef jerky, cookies, etc.) and stuff sent in care packages (seasonal candy...Halloween stuff right now, slim jims, homemade cookies) They both get laid out on open areas of desks for all to help themselves.

On FOB Pasab there are two dining facilities. The small one can seat about 150 people and the bigger one around 600. I go to the small one for breakfast and, depending upon who I'm with to the big or small one for lunch and dinner. There are 5 times the choices at the larger DFAC (Dining FACility), but it is crowded and hard to move around in.

Meals are all about choices...Breakfast...all kinds of breakfast meats...bacon, three kinds of sausages, ham (sort of), scrambled eggs, scrambled omelets, sunny side up eggs, breakfast burritos, biscuits and cream gravy, cold cereal packs, fresh fruit, canned fruit, coffee, and sandwich makings. There is also bagels, bread for toasting and English muffins...tons of little packages of stuff to put on everything… jams, honey, etc... There are also snacks to grab...packaged muffins, pop tarts, jerky, Clif bars, granola, sunflower seeds, etc.

Lunch is like a light dinner...one line at the small DFAC and two at the big one. Plus the big one has a full salad bar, grill line and a bunch of machines for making grilled sandwiches. The dinners are a bit more complicated, but essentially the same as the lunches.. As many as 10 entrees at the big DFAC (5, or so at the little one) 20 sides, multiple refrigerators filled with soda, fruit juices and water. Desserts too. The places are kept nicely by the civilian employees here...almost all of them are employed by Dynocorp...at least 20 different nationalities are represented by their staff. The cooked vegetables are way cooked...same with the meat. Most of the meat dishes are prepared stuff...pre-breaded and heated by the cooks, lots of chicken nuggets, meat kabobs, cheese sticks, etc. Sometimes the stuff is good...asparagus is typically fresh tasting...peas, corn, green beans are the #10 can variety...well cooked like the steak.

We are given a paper plate and grab a plastic package of utensils. Napkins are available at the tables (think folding tables and folding chairs) All dining facilities have a ton of condiments at either a main table (small facility) or at each table...ketchup, A-1, hot sauces, Heinz 57, soy sauce. You can get potatoes at every meal and rice at every lunch and dinner.

What do I eat? ...I have oatmeal with raisins and either honey or brown sugar, fresh fruit, coffee and maybe a bagel for breakfast. Sometimes a gravy & biscuit with home fries as a treat. A big salad, with a side salad (cole slaw or beet salad or something like that) with a meat and starch for lunch and almost the same for dinner. Ice cream is available at some lunches and all dinners. My favorite treat is a sorbet bar - either mango or raspberry that is available sometimes at lunchtime.

Imagine a combination of school lunch food, boy scout camp food and hospital food and you are close to what we have here.

I'll grab a bag of trail mix or a clif bar for snacking. I'm not hungry much and have probably lost 5+ pounds. The food all tastes the same and if I'm drinking a lot of water it seems to curb my appetite.

The food at the COP was A LOT more limited. One or two entrees and maybe one or two sides. Mostly prepackaged snacks. I believe that the SP (Strong Points) have mostly MRE's with an occasional shipped in meal. I haven't had any Afghan food yet...a couple of pomegranates that are delicious have been provided by our 'terp. I'm looking forward to a purchase trip at one of the local bazaars (market stalls). The bread (naan) is supposed to be great.

Have a great day! Enjoy your fresh, home grown vegetables and seasonal fruit! Love, -Jim-

10 30 Happy Sunday Morning;

We've had some interesting meetings here. Yesterday I met with the civilians in our office involved in designing and funding the Agriculture Center. There are a number of organizations involved and the usual amount of 'who does what and who is in charge of what' kind of territorial discussions. This is NOTHING compared to what happens when the Afghans get together. We had a meeting this morning at the Agriculture Center. There were about 22 people there, 10 of whom were not from Afghanistan. All of the translation broadcasters were out of charge within 10 minutes so there were a lot of pauses while translations were done both ways. There is one guy, who is the local agricultural leader, who would argue that he wants $50 if you just gave him $1000 in 100 dollar bills. All of the people seem to understand that we want the Ag Ctr to be self sufficient within a year or so and that there is a lot of money and work being done to have that happen in a very short amount of time. Even the minor agricultural leaders seemed to understand that...I think it is a cultural thing to argue at first and then give in as a gesture of good will, even if you liked an idea to begin with...kind of like haggling for a better price in the market bazaars they have here. It does slow down the process though. I have e-mailed people at Cornell University again asking for help with simple things like soil testing and asking if they would reconsider getting some people here. I also spoke with a rep from the University at Kabul, Afghanistan. They have the gear for a complete soils testing lab stored away since 2004, but nobody that can set it up and use it. They are working on it though right now.

I did get to have some naan (locally made flat bread) and a lunch that was truly local. My impression as I viewed it in its Styrofoam clamshell was that it was the equivalent of a Subway meal from the US. The meal included a large portion of rice seasoned slightly sweet, some plain cooked chick peas and a chunk of meat that I think was goat. The meat could have used more seasoning, but was good otherwise. The bread was great. Again, accompanied by super sweet chai tea...the tea is served in small clear glasses...maybe 3 ounces and the bottom 3/4" is filled with coarse sugar before the tea is poured into the cup. I still can only taste a slight tea flavor, but hot and sweet in the late morning is fine by me.

My scrounging rules have changed a bit here. Generally, I like to ask permission to move or take something. If I do not grab it, it is gone the next time …the burn pit is the dump here. Stuff is slightly sorted and then most of it is pushed into a football field sized pit about 50'. If I do not get it right away it is bulldozed into the pit and burned...even the meat stuff...the idea is to destroy it so it cannot be reused. We have complete access to the stuff there before it is destroyed. I did get the manager to put aside 2 + pallets of sand bags (unfilled) probably 10,000 bags for use at the Dasht Camps for flood mitigation. I now have to get permission to get the sand bags delivered ...some controversy here because the bags can also be used to disguise IED's.

I go next week to one of the entrance ways to one of the major canals to do a visual survey. Right now the canal water controls are simple to say the least. Some major controls are as simple as blocking the entrance of the canal with rocks and dirt and then digging it out when the water is needed. My idea of using the 't' wall material that is ubiquitous here might be gaining some merit. A civilian contractor is charging nearly half a million dollars for each canal entry he is installing...good work, but a bit extravagant compared to the traditional means of controlling the water.

More on this as time passes. Have a great day! Love, -Jim-