It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets Xashed!

When it comes to cuisine, I think I’m pretty adventurous. I’ll definitely try anything once and I’ll like most of those things. In this case, I’ve tried it twice, and I still don’t like it. Wait, I take that back. I despise it. I loathe it. I curse the morning I tried it. And now I’m becoming ill just thinking about it. I’m talking about Xash!

I won’t start with any “for those of you who don’t know…” lines. If you’ve not been to this area of the world, you definitely don’t know about it. It’s not some international cuisine that has made its way across cultures, varying just slightly from place to place. It’s too gross for that, too revolting. No one would ever want to bring it back to their home country. Some of my closest friends like Matt and Trey truly love it. I like them a little bit less as people because of that!

Okay, enough build up. Xash is a soup made up entirely of hooves, head, and stomach; sheep or cow is available. That’s really it, I don’t have any further explanation. Take two parts hooves, one part head, and all the chopped up pieces of stomach you want. Boil it for about a day, add a lot of oil, and it’s ready to be served! Put it in a bowl, the thick bone of the hoof as the center piece, add fresh garlic and vinegar and then go to town!

If any of you are truly interested in trying this, don’t bother writing me ever again; I’ve lost all respect for you!

Because it is the hoof, the whole concoction is very gelatinous. As you eat away at the cartilage and fat and whatever else is on the foot of a cow or sheep, a film forms in your mouth and on your lips that does not go away!

The ONLY thing good about this meal, which is consumed with friends in the winter between the hours of 6-7am (only), is that it is always served with vodka.

So, at midnight on Saturday when Matt asked me to go with the boys to “enjoy” a xash breakfast the next morning, minor inebriation and the promise of camaraderie convinced me. Matt will likely never receive another invitation to come to Balaken ever again!

Here's a little more information about xash: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khash_(dish)

On a brighter note, some of my plans for Balaken are finally starting to come to fruition. Stephanie and I arrived about 10 minutes early for club on Monday afternoon. To our surprise, most of the students had already arrived and were quietly playing games and completing puzzles that we had donated to the children’s library over the past year. It was so inspiring to see the kids all playing without supervision, without us there to facilitate. Hopefully, this continues and the library actually becomes a place for students to go and spend time reading and playing games!

Matt and Dustin walking to the restaurant early in the morning.

Tastes even worse than it looks!