Georgian Cuisine All-Star Team

March 26, 2014 by Meghan Johnson

I’ve been planning to do a post on Georgian food for a long time.  It’s a big selling point for the country.  Russia is full of Georgian restaurants, and they’re popping up in the States.  Cheesy, doughy, meaty, satisfying.  Usually served in reasonable portions, but unending courses.  It’s colorful and seasonal, with an emphasis on fresh produce in the summer and pickled everything in the winter. I can’t possibly cover all aspects of Georgian cuisine here, so I’ll give you my […]

Categories: Eurasia, Europe, Food, Georgia, Tbilisi

Abkhazian Khachapuri, and baking away my feelings.

March 23, 2014 by Meghan Johnson

Word on the street is that my recent blog post about why I moved home was offensive to a lot of people in my previous home, which surprises and saddens me because I didn’t say anything incriminating about Georgia.  Anyone who has followed my blog for the past year knows that I have said a lot more positive things about Georgia than negative.  So, I’m feeling a little stressed and sad these days… again.  What better way is there to […]

Categories: 2014, Food, Georgia, Travel • Tags: Baking, Georgia, Khachapuri

The Grayest City

March 21, 2014 by Meghan Johnson

Looking back at the photos I shared of Georgia, I realize they are mostly shots of mountains and statues and cows and waterfalls.  But that certainly wasn’t my day-to-day experience.  I want to share some photos that are more representative of daily life in Tbilisi, which is where I spent 95% of my time.  The majority of that time was spent outside of the beautiful Old City, in residential neighborhoods. I lived in a neighborhood called Saburtalo, above a shopping center. […]

Categories: 2013, Eurasia, Europe, Georgia, Tbilisi, Travel

Home

March 15, 2014 by Meghan Johnson

I’m home in New Jersey, folks.  I left Georgia last week.  I haven’t write anything for ages because every time I sat down and typed something out, it looked like it was dribbled by a six-year-old. I started writing this post many times, in many different ways, and disliked them all.  Or, they just puttered out mid-paragraph and refused to grow any more.  So this time, I decided just to throw the facts down without any primping. The simplest way […]

Categories: 2014, Eurasia, Feminism, Georgia, Tbilisi, Touchy Feelies, Travel

Harvest in Satemo

December 2, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

All photos taken by Lasha Merabishvili. In late September, I joined a friend and his family for a weekend in their village outside of Gori.  We took a marshrutka (a small bus or large van, usually bright yellow, which is the most common form of public transportation in Georgia) from Tbilisi to Gori, and then something that looked like a Soviet-era school bus from Gori to Satemo.  I’d estimate the top speed of this second bus to have been about […]

Categories: Eurasia, Georgia, History, The Great Outdoors, Travel • Tags: Eurasia, Georgia, Photography, Travel, Wine, winemaking

Autumn in a Flash

November 4, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

These days, it takes being stuck in bed with a fever to get me to sit still and write something that isn’t for work.  The positive side of getting sick in different countries is that it reveals local beliefs about remedies and convalescence (usually some combination of tea, lemon, and honey), and some castigation for whatever I did to cause the illness in the first place (in Russia, it was running outdoors).  Here in Georgia, the advice has been to […]

Categories: 2013, Eurasia, Friendship, Georgia, Tbilisi • Tags: autumn, Eurasia, fall, Friendship, Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, Tbilisi

Carpet shopping

August 20, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

Some things I saw on a casual Saturday in Tbilisi, accompanying two Swedish visitors as they shopped for Georgian carpets in the Old City.

Categories: 2013, Eurasia, Europe, Friendship, Georgia, Graffiti, Tbilisi, Travel • Tags: Eurasia, Georgia, Photography, Tbilisi, Travel

My Georgian 4th of July

July 6, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

Happy 4th of July to all of my American friends and family! Sadly, I never realized how special this day was to me until I spent my first Independence Day outside of the States.  It’s a day I associate with hotdogs, volleyball, Sandlot, sparklers, fireflies, laughter, swimming, beeritas, red, white, blue, and family.  I missed out on the majority of those delights, but Georgia served as a pretty good substitute. My first pleasant surprise was being greeted at the office […]

Categories: 2013, Eurasia, Europe, Georgia, Playtime, Tbilisi, Travel • Tags: 4th of July, Festive, Georgia, Holiday, Independence, Tbilisi

Shashlik for four, please

June 29, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

All photos by Amy Yu Mao The last leg of the journey with Amy took us south and west.  We set out early on a Friday morning with Khvicha and his young assistant (whose name I do not know, because he was introduced to us as the “master of shashlik”), who was recruited to help with preparation of the meal that awaited us. We made two logistical stops along the way.  The first was in Khashuri, where Khvicha and his […]

Categories: 2013, Driving, Eurasia, Europe, Food, Friendship, Georgia, History, Playtime, The Great Outdoors, Travel • Tags: Driving, Georgia, History, Photography, Roadtrip, Travel