My Favorite Things. With guest host: Gnoam Chomsky

Welcome to a special edition of My Favorite Things! I am sorry to say my version does not include a free car, but it does include very cute pictures of a very cute gnome.

The gnome is Gnoam Chomsky and he is my best travel buddy.

He and I went for a photo tour of the city to show you all the wonders we've discovered in the faraway land they call Riga.

1. It's a city. It's a park. It's Riga.

I know I've mentioned this before and I'll mention it again. This city is all kinds of purty. Gone are the days of the concrete jungles where the only greenery is the graffiti (don't get me wrong, we still have graffiti, but it's more like outdoor art that just happens to have been painted with spraypaint). I'm not sure if I'm living in a city or a series of connecting parks that have buildings in between them. There are so many pretty trees that leave the land green and flowery in the springtime and the paths wyellow and red in the fall. And where there aren't trees, leaves, or flowers, the streets are clean thanks to the seemingly endless number of people sweeping them. Sometimes, it's nice to live in a place where appearances are important.

Oh, and apparently pretty places bring pretty weddings. I can't walk through the city on a Saturday without seeing at least 3 blushing brides (though they're mostly blushing because it's getting far too cold to take pictures outside. Anything for a pretty wedding album, I suppose). The only problem with so many weddings is that I'm seriously contemplating living out the movie Wedding Crashers and joining all of them. Free food and free dancing. What could possibly go wrong? 

Anyway, how many weddings can you spy with your little eye?

2. I'm living in a 90's flashback. Portlanders would be proud.

I think they're a little behind culturally, because, you know, they had a bit of cleaning up to do after the fall of the Soviet Union. What that leaves are so many bizarre things I have not seen or thought about in years but am happy to know still exist. Like these childhood favorites:

I can never really tell if I'm happy Furbies still exist, but I am certainly laughing about the many ways Latvians encourage me to show my love for those creepy fur balls with moving eyes:

They take creepy to a whole new level. Maybe the conspiracy theorists were right that furbies are actually soviet spies. That would explain why they're so popular in a place so close to Russia. Uh-oh.


3. I'm on the market. for food.

When I want to buy food, all I need to do is walk over to one of the markets for fresh fruits and vegetables.
Enough said.

4. It all gets mixed up in your stomach anyway. 

That seems to be their motto for food and restaurants. My belly is confused. 

First there are the snacks. I haven't quite figured out why most of them exist. And I REALLY haven't figured out why I like them.

Like these puppies. I tried them before I knew what they were. It's a mini dessert cookie that's crunchy and sweet and has the aftertaste of a spa. There's something oddly satisfying about them that kept me reaching for more.
Then I found out what they are: black bread + sugar + apples + nuts.
Black bread confuses me in general. Russians have 2 words for bread because apparently not all breads are alike: black bread (chliep) and white bread (boolkah). The first time I tried black bread I only tasted it because it was a sample, and I never say no to those. It was so dry I spit it out, chugged a bottle of water, and vowed never to return. And yet, it keeps coming back to me. First I got a loaf as a present, then I unwittingly ate these cookies. As it turns out, the flavor and texture of this dry, sharp stuff helps it soak up other foods beautifully. It's like Italian unsalted bread. Sounds strange but it just works.

Also, Latvians have found a crafty way to get their kids to eat their cottage cheese: they covered it in chocolate and called it dessert.
The first time someone told me to eat cottage cheese with chocolate I crinkled my nose and asked "why?" Then someone handed it to me and, since I've made it a personal mission to try anything cultural (that's vegetarian), I had to take a bite. Thank goodness what they called cottage cheese was a little different and a lot sweeter. It was creamy and sweet and almost like eating a chocolate ice cream bar. Very crafty, friends. You win again.

   

Oh, and I'm not sure how to explain these other than to say these are what marshmallows should be. They're kind of like a cross between a meringue and a marshmallow and they're wonderful.

You have to have a good kind of alcohol in a place that gets this cold and this dark and has a soviet past. And so, Grandpa, since I know you wanted to ask, "what do they drink in Latvia" here is my answer:

Balzams. I've only had the black currants version, but it was tasty. And apparently it's even better in the winter. They even use it for sore throats... They take alcoholism to a whole new level. And I might be robotripping for real soon.

Oh, and speaking of Balzams, there is a whole bar/chocolate shop dedicated to the classic drink. They made St. Peter's Basilica out of chocolate. They also had chess sets and so much more but I had to stop taking pictures so I can show my face in there again and taste it all. 

And now onto the weird things I haven't tried but couldn't resist showing off:

I've decided with this one that it says "not for kids" in English so that the Latvians won't notice and they'll sell more chocolate bars. Because every city needs it's entire population hyped up on caffeine. I did buy this one and I'll let you know how it goes.


And then there are the restaurants. Apparently every menu HAS to have pasta on it. Asian restaurants, Mexican ones. I guess there's something to be said for offering options and appealing to the masses? But I'm still not sure who thought of these fusions:

Interestingly, the sushi at the place pictured above is actually good. Even if it is an Asian/Italian fusion restaurant. As long as they don't put Italian in my Asian, I'll let it slide. Oh, and sushi is the cheap meal here because it's usually buy one get one free. Can't complain about that.

This is not a favorite thing this just had to be shown:

T.G.I Friday's was the only restaurant in the Russian airport and, along with McDonalds is the only American restaurant in Riga. At least the waitresses in this branch wear funny costumes. But the existence of this restaurant as a representative of American cuisine explains why Latvians think Americans are crazy.

5. There were a few other things I happened upon that don't fit into any category, other than that they're wonderful. So, enjoy:

This is from the Black Fridayesque sale. They hired free shuttles to make sure everyone could attend. And they apparently hired creepy ghosts to attack people and make sure everyone DID attend.

They have electronic cigarettes to make sure they can smoke inside and now they have these to make sure they can reek of the stuff all the time:

In how many languages can I say, "no thank you?"

And this is just great all around:

Thanks for joining me on my tour of the city while it is still warm enough to be outside.