Notes From Hairenik
December 29, 2009
Have a Happy, Healthy 2010
Another new year is upon us and another decade is behind us. Seems like I was writing a special New Year's message only a couple of months ago. The days and weeks are flying by, and I find it harder to keep up with passing time as I get older. When I was a teenager I wanted to get high school over with imminently. Now, I want to hold on to time to accomplish what time has not permitted me to realize throughout the year.

I want to wish everyone a very happy and healthy New Year. May you be bestowed with happiness and peace, and may you never stumble along your path to embrace excellence. To all Armenians nationwide, I hope that you find what you are looking for, whether it is justice that you seek to prevail in society or earning ample compensation to perpetually kindle the hearth.

As for me, I wish for my family to grow and that I make giant steps forward in fulfilling my personal goals. It's high time that I am able to get things done (like finishing my novel).

Let's all hope for the best in 2010.

Always,
Christian

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Posted by Christian Garbis at 10:26 AM.
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December 21, 2009
Life With Chi Chi


Our puppy Chihuahua named Chi Chi now just over two-and-a-half months old--I wrote about her on this Armenian blog a few weeks ago--has taken over our lives. Most of our free time is spent on placating the puppy's whims and demands for affection and a hand to chew on. She hasn't quite doubled in size but she is significantly larger than when she came home in mid-November.

For about two weeks she was sleeping between us under the covers or else in Anush's arms while she laid on her right side and thus away from me. After a week she started running under the sheets and nibbling on our toes. We put a stop to that at the beginning of the month by kicking her out of the bed, but her crying at bedside was nerve-racking, with her intensely persuasive calls for forgiveness. But it had to be ignored, no matter how tempted we were to pick her up and lull her to sleep. She had to understand that her place was not in our bed. The first two nights were pretty rough. I inserted ear plugs to muffle the cries meant to persuade us to have pity on her. They worked very well, while Anush was able to block out the noise somehow, refusing the plugs. Chi Chi soon realized, thankfully, that sleeping in her basket by the oil-filled portable radiator wasn't so bad after all. Now she cries sometime between 7-8 in the morning demanding that we get up, serve her breakfast and entertain her. She can't jump into bed just yet (although that is inevitable) so she licks and lightly paws our arms laying near the bed's edge in hopes that we will be obliged to pay her attention.




Chi Chi is a sweet dog, and you can't help but adore her and soon as you cradle her in your arms. Naturally she loves to be held but once you get into a comfortable position with her she begins to gnaw. Depending on how revved up she is the pain can be mild to intense. She's teething, and being a small puppy she's only doing what comes natural to her, so you can't hold her at fault. Her teeth are like dull pins but regardless, if she bites down too hard she can inflict some pain. In place of a baby pacifier I shove a cork from a wine bottle in her mouth to calm her down--I have them handy in every room now. I've also given her a walnut for her to chase--the bumps on the shell cause it to roll around unpredictably on hardwood and laminate floors, so she's quite entertained. She seems to have a fetish for the hem of a pant leg, attacking it with much fervor, especially when were walking between rooms.

Unfortunately, because she moves around so damn fast, it's hard to capture decent photos of her while she's in action. For some reason I haven't begun shooting video footage of her yet but I think I'll need to soon to remind us of how cute she was at this age in a year or two from now. With the way she is eating she's going to get considerably bigger. She is now off the chicken and rice soup and is eating normal dry puppy food to her heart's content.


Her mother was a full size Chihuahua, which is still smaller than a toy poodle, but like her and the other dogs the breeder had running around his home, Chi Chi is bound to start jumping up on the furniture in a few months time, perhaps even sooner. Chi Chi has a slight pot belly, and some Yorkshire Terrier breeder who happened to be in the Vernisage Saturday morning where Anush was walking around while carrying her made a comment that Chi Chi was fat (which may be the reason why she doesn't noticeably shiver as this breed tends to do whenever excited or feeling a chill). But since the guy knows nothing about raising Chihuahuas I brushed off his clueless comment when Anush told me afterward. He wants to sell his Yorkshire for $1200, while someone purportedly offered to pay Anush $800 for Chi Chi there. Had my wife agreed it would have been the only profitable transaction I had ever made. Too bad we're so in love with her.


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Posted by Christian Garbis at 1:26 AM.
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December 14, 2009
The Khash Party


On Sunday we hosted our first-ever Armenian khash party, something I never thought I would see myself doing. But in life, there's a first time for everything I've often been reminded. And it was a perfect topic to blog about.

My father-in-law did the hard work. He stayed up all night on Saturday boiling down the cow hoof bones that had been soaking for days. Apparently he once promised me that he would put the khash on for me and others who would appreciate such a marvelous feast. It's hard to find an Armenian male who doesn't. Anush has a cousin--an European Taekwondo champion actually--who is repulsed by the sight and smell of khash; he can't be in the immediate vicinity of where it is being slurped and savored. I can't say I blame him.






The older I get the more I realize how utterly disgusting khash really is. If it wasn't for the vodka--and it has to be very good--it would not be possible to sit down and eat the salted, fatty broth derived from slow-cooked cow hoofs dressed with crushed garlic. Khash is second in foods exotica only to perhaps deep-fried insects of various lengths and manifestations that are crunched on in parts of Asia. Lamb's testicles served broiled or al dente are also quite vile I should add, not that I have a notion of having appreciated such a culinary delight.





Khash is not simply a soggy, garlic-laden alcohol-infused nightmare, it is an event. It is debatable whether this locally treasured delicacy is something that can potentially be surmised as being a palatable entree internationally relished by gourmands. I was happy actually to hear in all honestly that my father-in-law wanted to make this happen at our place because despite the khashy mess, it's actually a lot of fun to eat and to be with people who love eating it. I would never have taken the initiative, I'll be honest. And nearly everyone who I wanted to be there showed up with wide grins, vodka in hand. The khash experience is always a uniquely remarkable one.

Chi Chi really overdid it this time, though.


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Posted by Christian Garbis at 1:01 AM.
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December 7, 2009
Craving Brownies in Yerevan

I admit that I am a typical American living in Armenia who longs for my mother's cooking, especially her chocolate chip cookies and brownies. Never mind that they were nearly always made from a boxed mix that you can find in any supermarket from Boston to Los Angeles. No one can make brownies like her.

That is, until Anush and I tried baking them from scratch at home.

There's only one place that offers brownies that I know of in all of Yerevan--a French bakery on a narrow street just off Sayat Nova, only an eight minute walk from our apartment. But just one brownie--about an inch square--costs 300 dram or about 80 cents. And there's something missing... it's not chocolaty enough, seems like they use too much flour. They make excellent baguettes and croissants, but the brownies are a rip off.

Considering that a 100 g box of cocoa power costs less than the price of one there and bag of flour sells for just over a dollar, I figured we could try it at home. I did a search for "brownie recipe" and we followed the directions posted on the first site that was listed in the results. We didn't believe how easy it is to make brownies. So far we've churned out six batches in the last week alone, and I don't think we've spent more than $10 total for the ingredients. Although we have one advantage in that we don't have to pay for sugar--her mother bought 50 kilos worth earlier in the year during the mass panic that ensued when the national currency devalued over night by 80 dram. They are always moist and delicious, but they can be too sweet, the trick is not to overdo it with the sugar.

Anush says the key is using a little less flour than the recipe calls for. At first we had trouble with the height of the brownies--they were more like cookies--because we realized that our pan is too large for the number that the recipe yields, so we fixed that problem by tripling the amount of ingredients.

So when we're not entertaining Chi Chi or our guests, we're baking brownies. I crack the walnuts and grease the pan with sunflower oil while she does the mixing part. We're doing this while drinking red wine, naturally. It's no fun without the wine. Next time when she's not looking maybe I'll add a few drops in the brownie mix to see how it will taste.

For those of you living in Yerevan who are drooling while reading this, we are taking orders, although we haven't decided on a price just yet.

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Posted by Christian Garbis at 4:58 PM.
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