Make a Lavash Pizza!

I love to eat well and anyone who knows me can attest to that, so is it any wonder that this blog entry is devoted to a new interpretation of the pizza?

Jason writes:

Garlic, olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke crowns, olives, and some basil, with a bit of mozzarella and parmesan...

That does look good. Round it off with a bottle of Tan and you're in business!

Picture and text from Jason Truesdell's food site.

Video: Number Twerve

I love the ending!

Selling Newspapers to Survive

This is the very sad story of a man and family who live in poverty.

Every day Karen’s three children look at their father’s pale face to guess whether he has been able to sell newspapers to get money. In case he hasn’t been lucky enough they will have to go to bed hungry.

“I work in a news-stall near a cinema. But as nowadays people don’t seem to be fond of reading I have to wander in the streets and visit buildings asking the residents to buy at least weekly newspapers and crosswords”, tells Karen Serobyan.

After the proclamation of the independence, the Serobyans sold the furniture, and now they have only a table with four chairs. “I don’t care about it; one day my son will grow up and buy everything for us. The furniture could hardly warm us but the sum we got from its sale fed us for some time”, says Karen.

“We couldn’t afford fuel this winter. Neither did we have gas. On the other hand, the electricity charge is too high. The temperature was below zero inside the flat in winter. We have put a fire-wood in one of the rooms where the temperature hardly reaches 10. We burn clothes, wood picked, bags and shoes”.

As you read in your warm home and read this entry, try to think about those who are less fortunate. Armenia's independence has surely created mountains of wealth, but it has also wiped out a certain class of workers who are unable to compete in the modern society.

I find myself thinking how we can help them and the many others in Yerevan and the villages. How? Do we just send them aid? Aid runs out and then there is the need for some more, whether food, clothes, or fuel. Obviously that would help out many people, but what we need is for some entrepreneur to establish a means of utilizing these people's skills and put them back into the labor market. That way, they could afford their own food, their own clothes, and their own fuel, and their kids wouldn't have to go to bed hungry every night.

Source: A1+

Imported Food into Armenia to be Labeled by Law

It's about time, really.

Foodstuffs imported into Armenia should be subjected to obligatory marking in Armenia, head of the Standardization and Compliance of the Trade and Economic Development Ministry Robert Dayan announced at a news conference on December 21.

He said subject to mandatory Armenian language marking are chicken meat, eggs, meat products, sausages, meat cans, dairy products, confectionaries, teas and coffees, chocolates, vegetables, jams and others. He said foodstuff with no Armenian language marking will not be allowed into the country.

The official noted that many foodstuffs imported from Turkey do not meet Armenian standards and, taking into consideration that the question cannot be settled because of absence of diplomatic relations with the country, Turkish foodstuffs imports were banned. All imported goods should be certified, but Turkish foodstuffs are not. “Turkish food sold in Armenian markets are smuggled,” Robert Dayan said.

One source did not mention the complete banning of Turkish food, so take that with a grain of Armenian salt. Even if food is labeled and such a label is not embraced by the market, it takes about three seconds to come up with the solution of importing the food with labels and later removing them for resale. Thus, square one.

Sources: ArmenPress and Regnum.