I picked the flooring up a while ago at the rebuilding center. It’s being installed diagonally for strength, and also because there are metal beams which would interfere with the nails were it to be laid parallel to the front window. However, the floor does flex quite a bit, and I anticipate a lot of squeaking. But it’s not like I’m going to be trying to read a book in peace and quite in the space.
‘…a view of the men eating dinner on whatever was around to make do as a table at a combat outpost near FOB Shank. The air was crisp, the light was magical, and the mountains were in sharp relief. Outside the wire, in that breathtaking landscape of peaceful looking villages there are Taliban rockets, mortars, improvised explosive devices, tank mines and ambushes threatening these soldiers enjoying their evening meal.’
‘That evening I was lucky to be invited to a cookout in back of the operations hut. Frank Marcantonio, a civilian employee, was grilling Italian sausage he had just gotten in the mail from Italy. He made the pizza dough himself which he handed out in chunks to whoever was near to stretch out into pizza pies, and put on their choice of topping from the selection on the table. First the dough was half baked, then the sausage, sauce, etc. was spread out it, and the whole thing was grilled some more, with the grill closed up. Everyone came up with their own shape – like spiders making their webs, no two the same.’
‘Lunch, a classic grilled ham and cheese sandwich with American cheese and a slice of good (i.e. un-rubbery) ham. Jello is something else I don’t see much of at home, but here it was welcome on my plate. I’ll mention the spring roll only to say it was one of the few things here I found inedible. The noodle salad was fresh. The chips not quite up to Lay’s level, but very trendy with the noticeably reduced salt.’ Also, some non-alcoholic Beck’s beer.
‘My first lunch after I arrived at FOB Shank. I ate it outside, under a cammo net. The ham steak was quite good. The salad with red beets was fresh. The canned or frozen corn was what you would expect, not bad, but it didn’t have that snap of fresh sweet corn.’
I met Elle and Lindsey downtown for lunch at Violetta, a food cart at SW Taylor and 8th, in director park. This is a new park, and it’s stunning. It’s one large seating area for Violetta, which will soon be opening a little restaurant in the park. The food is American comfort food, very similar to McDonalds (or perhaps I should say Burgerville), but it’s local and delicious. Elle got a lentil burger, Lindsey got squash and coconut soup, and we all split freshly fried beignets with chocolate sauce for dessert.
Joel is opening a coffee shop! It’s in the old half and half location, at W Burnside and 10th. As you can see, he’s in the demolition phase. I was offered a snack of some pasta when I stopped in, but I had just eaten.
In the bathroom are many little cartoons of various figures peeing and pooping. I love this one. Unfortunately I’m sure it’s destined to be repainted.
My father is in Afghanistan at the moment with the US military taking photos. He went to a village meeting yesterday. ‘The ANA [Afghan National Army] cooked lunch for the end of the meeting. I’ll send you a photo, but it was fried chicken, rice, spinach, a few not great French fries, candied shredded carrots with raisins, a lamb meatball in a sweet onion sauce, and a diet Pepsi. Oh, and a salad without dressing, with slivers of very hot peppers, which the Afghans put in every salad.’ The Afghan part of the meal sounds good, but perhaps the ANA is cooking the American food from some USDA recipes?
