Book Log 2014 #2: On the Noodle Road by Jen Lin-Liu

The author, a journalist and cooking school owner, noted in her travels the development of noodles as a primary part of both Chinese and Italian cuisine and wondered, as many have before, if they were developed in one location and then spread to the other. In this case, she decided to travel (to the greatest extent possible) the Silk Road, to see what evidence could be found in history, folklore and current cooking to support a theory of how noodles came to be.

If you're looking for a definitive answer, (spoiler alert) you're not going to get one here, and to be fair you're unlikely to get one anywhere. The occasional 4000 year old noodles notwithstanding, there's just not enough information out there to come up with a unified noodle theory.

The author begins to realize this pretty early on, as the noodles of Beijing give way to square noodles (sort of like single-thickness ravioli without the filling) and then, for much of Central Asia, a rice pilaf-like dish called plov that is more or less inescapable. But she soldiers on, and turns the trip into as much of an examination of the role of women and marriage as seen through food as anything else. This includes practical considerations (how to dress when traveling through a variety of Islamic countries) and broader concerns (how will being married to a fellow journalist and potential diplomat change her life).

There's a certain similarity to Paul Theroux's travel works here, with a shift from writing to cooking. The author does trade her services in the kitchen for lessons, and like Theroux often gets a more personal look at the people and cultures he encounters. The writing isn't at the same level, but the general idea - the full educational experience of travel - is familiar.

It's not perfect, but it's certainly worth a read.

As you may have heard, the Winter Olympics have returned, this time at the Russian resort city of Sochi, where a mere $51 billion dollars have been spent (or siphoned off or otherwise thrown down a hole somewhere) to bring us, to date at least, journalists mocking the shoddy nature of the accommodations and dog murder. Things will likely even themselves out as the actual competition starts, but it got me to thinking what the potential is for similarly humorous Winter Olympic shenanigans in the future?

Turns out they're not great. The 2018 Games will be held in a handful of towns in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and, agitation from the north notwithstanding, will likely be free of nonsense. So what about 2022? There are five potential hosts, with varying potentials for public failure, which I will rank here in increasing order of potential chaos.

5. Oslo, Norway. An absolutely solid choice that would provide zero opportunity for amusing failure. They'd be on the other end of this list if we were looking at the likelihood of actually winning the Games, though probably not at the top as bribery opportunities will be limited at best.

4. Beijing, China. Proved in 2008 that they can put on an event of this size, and would be able to do so again here, but without Sochi-level fun as corruption on that scale in China often ends with the grifter taking a state-sanctioned bullet to the head. We'd just have to wait a couple years after the games to go back for a second dose of ruin porn.

3. Krakow, Poland.  I suppose there's some potential for shenanigans, but any comparison to Russians would likely be met poorly, so I'm assuming work would be mostly on the level. 

2. Lviv, Ukraine. Probably not fair to lump the current unrest in Ukraine with double toilet bathrooms and hotels without lobbies, but should the country continue to more closely align itself with Russia maybe we'll get something similar out of their Olympic preparation. Not sure there are enough oligarchs to rack up as much waste and skimming as Sochi, but maybe Russia will lend them some.

1. Almaty, Kazakhstan. Former Soviet republic, only one president since independence, awash in petrotenge and looking to build its international profile. I'm surprised the IOC just hasn't awarded them the Games by fiat. I expect the bribes are already flowing to get the votes they need in 2015. On the down side, Kazakhstan has or will host some Olympic-style events, so may already have enough infrastructure in place to not have the sort of problems that were reported in Sochi. 

So while there's some potential for things to go sideways in 2022, the best option is actually in another sport: Russia hosts soccer's World Cup in 2018. Start rounding up the dogs now.