BESHBARMAK

I gather via BBC i player that it is still warm in the UK.  Luckily it is still warm here so yesterday evening I sat in the sun trying to read the Russian on my timetable in order to find out my schedule. I had just worked out that I had misunderstood my name and had got everything wrong when I was called over to the restaurant to eat.  To my surprise it was full of  mostly senior men and women surrounding a table laden with small apples, salad and sweets things.   Sadly people do not really wear traditional clothes, but their colourful scarves, gave it a quaint feel.  I munched on some of the lovely little puffs of sort of sweeten pastry and salad trying to fathom whether this was a snack or dinner and being told that is was something to do with the ancestors did not clarify matters, nor did the whole table decamping to the next table (except for me) make it any clearer.  A huge pot of something liquid that I assumed was tea, was brought in and it seemed that I was starting my meal just as they were finishing theirs. But no hunks of meat appeared instead, in fact I cold make out sheep's skulls which are supposed to be very popular here.  So when I was offered something, I just asked for something small.  The meat was delicious, so too the noddles that accompanied it. but I felt rather too tired to finish it all.     It turned out that the gathering was in honour of Raja who is I think the mother of the owner who is about to go off to New York. She and her whole family are lovely.  Very well educated and creatively entrepreneurial  Her 22 year old great grandson (I think) helps run the place, speaks perfect English so was able to explain what was going on and that the dish is the famous local delicacy beshbarmak. The meal was topped off with local vodka, so who was I to refuse a glass which I happily downed. But I refused further offers as I had to prepare my lessons, and I wrongly assumed a long night of drinking was ahead.  Instead before I could finish my own meal, most of the guests had offered their prayers and left with bags of the sweet puffy things.