Food Glorious Food....

Each week here offers so much to share, it is sometimes difficult to pick the topic. Over the last two months (yes, it is hard to believe that I have been here this long!) I have been archiving pictures of interesting and/or special foods to share with you. Ramadan has finished and we have now completed the first of two Eid breaks. Although not really comparable, many would consider this holiday as their Christmas. Lots of time is spent with family, and after a month of fasting, the next week is full of eating and enjoying more time with family. I successfully mastered fasting for about 25 of the 30 Ramadan days (fasting sun up to sun down). It was a good experience and I am thankful for it. Since Ramadan is about fasting, and Eid is about eating and enjoying meals with family, I thought I would share some of my favorite or interesting food items. I think this entry might be more of a photo montage than journal entry.

One of the most important things about fasting, is how one breaks the fast. After fasting all day, folks wait for the call to prayer or check the official sunset time. Then, they eat a few dates. There are a variety of ways to prepare dates. First off, raw Dates from the Date Palm tree are one way to eat them. My colleague Mohammed brought pressed dates (that are super yummy and gooey sweet) from Saudi Arabia and shared packs of them with each of us before the holiday. My friend Denny brought me a special one, a date stuffed with an almond. Yum! I ate the dates (2-5 and somedays 10 a day!) When celebrating an Iftar, the feast following the fast, bowls are available on the table with dates. One for the dates, and one for the pits.



Dates, Before



Dates, After

 Buying groceries is a breeze. There is a Lulu Express (the smaller version of the Lulu Grocery chain). I can walk to the store which is about 10 minutes from my house. I take my back pack and fill it full of goodies. I try to strategically plan how many heavy and light items for each trip. It has been working beautifully and I have no complaints! The Lulu is very nice and offers lots of items. Here are a few pictures of the store.


Just in case you are picky about your bananas, you can get them from India or the Philippines



All of the juices...so many choices, so little time!

Juices are very popular here. Have you tried Guava juice?

I tried Bitter gourd this week....verdict: Bitter.

Floor cleaning machine at the grocery.

Fish section at the large grocery store.

Lamb is very popular here. I was surprised to find these little ones hanging in the grocery. You can get them with heads...

or without.

Diet Coke is available...

and so is Pepsi!

For several days during Ramadan, I walked to the Club House (about a 10 minute walk) for their Ramadan Iftar. Eight dollars purchased fantastic international buffet full of great food and speciality juices! One night I took a few of these pictures to share!

Yummy, Yummy Lamb. So soft and tender!

Roasted vegetable salad. I enjoyed it so much, I made it for myself this week!

 
Lemon mint is my new drink of choice. It is delightfully refreshing Lemonade with mint crushed inside it! I am a fan!

Iftars for the student events were also fantastic! Salads, Dips and Rolls on giant platters.

With so much attention to food, it is fun to see all of the different creations. Check out this picture of a dog made in the top of a cup of coffee...How do they do that?



My first lunch after Ramadan fasting was a seafood salad from Dean and Deluca. Prawns, Hammour, Squid, and others in a citrus glaze.

Desserts are lovely here. I don't know how to categorize them. Lots of pistachio nuts, rose water, nuts, and fruit. Everything seems to be over-the-top well executed.

Candy covered in dried roses.

The souq or local market is another place to get groceries. The souq has lots of things besides food, but I will leave that for another post. Many people purchase their spices and local speciality items here. It is a fantastic experience and I can't wait until the weather is less humid so I can enjoy evenings there.

Inside one of the souq shops. Spices, candy and most importantly air conditioning!

The Souq also has some familiar places to eat as well. Can you guess what this one is?



How about this one?

With all of these exciting food experiences, I haven't cooked much at home. In fact, I didn't really cook until my 27th day here. I haven't taken too many pictures of my creations, but i do have a few things that I have enjoyed here.

This has been my drink of choice - Cran, Orange, 7up. Refreshing!

This salad could be one of the best things I've made in a long time! Bean, Cucumber, Tomato with peppers, cashews and fish sauce dressing. FANTASTIC! Thank goodness for Masterchef, Australia's reality cooking show!

To start making some exciting food, I recently purchased my first real appliance. It is a blender, food processor. Clever design and helpful to do all the things I need it to do. So far it made split pea soup, chopped onions and almost made almond butter (good enough to make a gritty raw peanut dip!)

I have a feeling that this will be first of many blogs about food. I will continue taking pictures along the way to share them with you. In the meantime, happy eating! (I will do the same!)

Ten years later...

It’s hard to believe that ten years ago I woke up in Clemson, SC, walked across the hall in my robe on my way to the bathroom, to see the news…and then watch the second plane hit and both towers fall.

And ten years later, my life is very different. I work in the Middle East with colleagues from all over the world, including countries where the US is currently in war. I have a greater appreciation for loosing someone you love unexpectedly. And I watch Aljazeera television to get my daily news in English.

It is true that I am in a different country. A Muslim country. A country with different cultures and traditions. And – I am thankful for all of these experiences. Too often we live safe lives in fear of people who are different. We are fearful of what we might become. We are fearful of change.

My experience here is making me smarter and making me more aware. My perspectives are changing and I am finding myself in awe of the goodness and honor of the culture. Sure there are things that don’t fit perfectly for me, but the same is true in the US. In the land of the free, there are lots of things that people still can’t do, be or get. Every place has these.

A few years ago my ACPA colleague encouraged me to write a brochure about what colleges could do to globalize their campus. Sure, I though of programming efforts, large scale programs, etc., but it wasn’t until recently that I thought of a few easy steps to start the educational process. These are the things that are helping me become a better international citizen. More aware and more open. So I thought I would share a few challenges with you:

·         Check out the Doha –based Aljazeera tv website (something I never did until I got here) http://english.aljazeera.net/

·         Talk to your kids about the good people in the world (most of the world is good, remember?)

·         Find someone of a different religion and ask about their views (without trying to change their mind. Just ask and listen – there is much love in the world if we are really listening.

·         Google Muslim faith or take a minute to learn about the beauty in the traditions and cultures.

·         Start getting your news from another countries website… like the BBC for example… (save it in your favorites). Use these stations on university TV systems or public televisions in businesses or workplaces.

These are all small things we can do with little time and effort. I’ve been an educator for awhile now. I’ve been learning and teaching. It doesn’t take much effort to learn, just the motivation to do it. It doesn’t mean that our core beliefs will change, only that we can make more educated decisions. It's almost like seeing a picture out of focus, thinking it is one design, but on further investigation, the picture comes in focus and you realize the picture is more different than expected.

On a day like today, I resolve to honor those who died by sharing their spirit in love – love of all people. I don’t know the people that died 10 years ago or live with the daily pain of their absence, but I do know loss. I know the unexpected, gut-wrenching, pain that set up shop within me. But with that pain, I have resolved to share Steve’s spirit through the love of all people.

My dear friend Steve was beloved in the Beloit community. He was a pillar of the town and spent time building relationships, mediating conflicts, finding solutions for complex situations and sharing his genuine spirit. He did it all with immense grace. On a few occasions, Steve shared some of his insights with me. When speaking about some of his most troubling cases, he remarked, “I always treat the most troubling cases with honor and respect, as I will never know if I have god standing in front of me. After all, we never know when he will arrive” May we all share his loving spirit through the genuine love of others. After all, we never know…

Magical Suhour Dinners

Just last week I celebrated my birthday in Doha and now with the celebrations behind me, I can report about my various birthday adventures.  I continue to treat every day as a special treat filled with new adventures and people. I am having a fantastic time.

Since my birthday was so close to my arrival, I didn't know what to expect. I either thought I would happily work on my dissertation (as a super present to myself) or the right thing would come along and it would be perfect...and, I was right. I am delighted to report that my friend Cindy invited me to a late dinner (called a Suhour  during Ramadan) at the Ritz Carlton. Holy cow, did she just ask me to the Ritz? Several colleagues from various branch campuses were getting together for their annual beginning of the year outing. I was delighted to be included. Silly me I didn’t take a camera, but I found these pictures from another blog to show you more about the “tent.”

 During Ramadan hotels lavishly decorate their ballrooms in spectacular ways to replicate an old world tent. But as you can see these tents are anything but old world! Each hotel secures decorating sponsorships for the month-long event. Everything from new carpet overlays, to specialty linens draped from the ceilings in a “tent” fashion. Everything including the extra tall parsons chairs (complete with matching pillows), three linens per table and dangling fabric tents were adored with lines of HUGE beaded tassels that were at least 6 inches long. It was a spectacle - I am sure this was similar to having dinner at the Emmy Awards or a celebrity wedding. It was phenomenal.  One of my colleagues reminded me of his first outing in Doha. He said, "Surreal, isn't it?" Yes, yes. You could say that! Unbelievable.

 The ambiance was unbeatable and the food was very nice. Everything from salads to soups, shawarma, and various combinations of rice,lamb and vegtables. The dessert table offered individual little shot glasses filled with different gourmet treats. Martha could certainly add a few tricks to her bag from this buffet!

Chocolate pistachio straws placed in cream-filled pastries, mango moose with chocolate-covered extra-mini rice balls and my new favorite treat Omali, (a special bread pudding dish!)

Yummy, yummy omali (pronounced O-mali)

 I am so thankful for new friends and for a special night at the Ritz. As a dear friend reminded me, That is quite an adventure for a kid from Dupont, Indiana who grew up in the feed mill! Let me go on the record and say, I am very thankful.

Friday night continued in the same fashion, a special dinner for me and another colleague who shares the same birthday. A group of colleagues went to a delightful Italian dinner at The Pearl, a man-made island full of Rodeo Drive-esque shops (like a Bentley dealership) and very nice restaurants. It is also where a number of ex-pats live. The new harbor is filled with huge yachts and a beautiful outdoor walking area where underwater lights line the docks. It is beautiful.

Saturday night was an invitation to another Suhour, this time at the Intercontinental. Colleagues are really spoiling me with special invites and I am very appreciative of their generous friendship and transportation. At this outing the host presented each of us with a special fabric filled bag of treats to commemorate Garangaou, the middle of Ramadan. This new holiday is similar to Halloween, where children dress in traditional clothing and go to different houses asking for treats. This was started to help children mark the middle of the fasting season.

Monday marked my first day “on call” after a four year hiatus. Although I am on the third tier call level, by the time the calls get to me they are more interesting! I solved my first unique one this weekend at 2am. Oh, I had forgotten about late evening calls - this will take my body some getting used to!

Last night was another special occasion - another invitation to another souhour. This one had whirling dervishes! What are whirling dervishes? I am so glad that you asked! From what I understand, they are viewed as a mystical sect of Islam that prays to the music by turning around in circles, over and over and over again for a long period of time. Last night this male pair turned for at least 25 minutes. In a gesture of love they place their hand over their heart and turn to the left (the side of the heart) in unyielding devotion. They wear skirts (older men very long skirts with cording on the bottom) while the younger boy had a very colorful multi-skirt) It is impressive to watch! With all of these exciting things happening, I sprang for a new phone to catch all of these exciting adventures. Check out this video that I took.

 

Pretty cool, isn’t it? Can you imagine doing this for 30 minutes? Me neither. What a joy to watch! In addition to this video I took a few other pictures to share. As described above, these Ramadan dinners are lavish and beautiful - full of dramatic lighting, fabric and decoration. Last night, The Grand Hyatt showcased white leather couches and chairs around large coffee tables under purple lights. In essence, the ballroom was set up as a large living room where everyone had their own special spot. Here are a few other pictures of the event.

With all of these eating adventures, I am glad that I am fasting. I continue to fast during the day from sunrise to sunset. I am learning a lot through the process and continue to be amazed at the discipline it takes to fast, especially when you are in the oppressive heat. My intense headaches have subsided, but I believe only because I have been drinking a tremendous amount of water at night. This is my evening water intake for 2.5 days. Each bottle is 1.5 liters. I continue to refill them often. 

It’s a good thing that I’ve concentrated my fun to the weekends because this last week was filled with daily concentrated efforts on my dissertation. Some days are easier than others, but every day I put forth a good 4+ hour effort. Every few days I take my computer to dinner in the clubhouse and spend a few hours there trying to knock it out.

The enterance of the club house

Well now that I have blogged and rested for the weekend, I should get back to dissertation writing and citing! Since I didn't post my last blog on facebook, friends asked me to remind readers it is below. Until the next time…