Mark's Afghanistan Adventure: food for thought

I thought that I would talk about food today. I have promoted the British chow hall in past blog entries, but I have new distressing news. They turned over the chow hall to KBR which is a contractor through Russia. Now we have a lot of foreign nationals (Indian and many different Asian countries) who are trying to mimic the British cooking techniques. There has been a slight noticeable difference thus far. The main problem currently is proper communication. In other words, there is a lot of finger gesturing at food to try and relay what entrée you would like. Time will tell.

One of my favorite lunch dishes has been the ‘dream’ sandwich which is ham and tasty cheese which is dipped in egg and then fried. I have had it with jam on top ala Monte Cristo and have also lathered it in ketchup and Tobasco when I am feeling a little adventurous.

One of my favorite food activities is to look at the shelves at the Danish and English PXs. I have attached some pictures of interesting foods or interesting names.

It is starting to get cold here and very windy. I know that it is cold because when I pee in the urinal of the port-a-potty there is steam coming off of it. Unfortunately, the cold is not suppressing the stench in there. The wind is kicking up a lot of dust which is affecting visibility at times as well. I am often wearing my sunglasses in these conditions whether it is sunny or not to avoid the crust that develops in your eyes.

I did want to say something about current news. You probably have gathered that I am more a conservative thinker. I am also, as you know a physician. This may skew my opinions on health care a bit. I do believe that health care in this country can be modified for the better. However, I do not like how it is being addressed by this Congress and administration. When you are talking about a big issue like one’s health and an industry that is about one sixth of the GNP, you should not try to bulrush an outrageously large bill through on a Saturday night vote. You should also not be able to pass this type of legislation with a simple majority vote. I think that big change like this should require a super majority vote or a vote to the people (since Congress rarely represent the people these days). I hate the fact that there was limited time for Representatives to look at this bill, I think it is bull**** that the public had even less time to look at this behemoth document and I hate that the vote was almost purely partisan. I can only hope that it collapses in the Senate so we can really have a long healthy debate about what would properly help Americans and also be fiscally responsible. Lastly, I want a health bill that has health as the main topic and not have other agendas as its main driving force as I think is currently happening.

Thanks for tolerating my ranting.