Hiatus.

Sorry about my brief hiatus. Your emails sounded worried, but no, I didn’t get blown up in Yemen, nor were we in Pakistan at the Marriot this weekend. Anyone else a little worried about the continuing violence that now literally surrounds us? Not to mention I read that Ahmedenijad (sp?) said that no one best mess with their nuclear stuff or they’ll get in DEEP trouble. Now I’m not quoting, mind you, but it was something to that effect.

This past weekend Stu had his fight as you all know. He lost but he looked so much better this time around. Starting out he was on the attack and he looked so confident out there. He did great throughout the fight, but the other guy eventually got the edge. Here are some highlights from the fight:

Focused, warming up for his fight.

The coaches hanging out with some Emirati Generals.

Under 74 kilos fighters.

Sid and Marcelo having a good time.

Getting some last-minute tips from Marcelo before the fight.

On the attack.

We did our border run with much more ease than we anticipated. When we got back here from visiting the States we had 30-day visa stamps and were told by Stu’s job that from now on we’d only be able to get 30-day stamps. This sucks because while it’s only an hour and a half drive, going through both borders, filling out paperwork at each, and just driving makes it a whole-day affair. But, we went through the border at Hili, which we were told we wouldn’t be able to go through, so that was nice. There were ZERO people as it was a Friday (holy day) during Ramadan (holy month). It was also still early, so there really weren’t many people to deal with.

Now that I have filled out the forms several times I know them well so they are quick now. We went into Oman (where I swear I saw plenty of Osama-sized holes in the rocks… though they assure us there are no Al Qaida training camps there) did the run and came back unharmed.
Since it is Ramadan and we can’t eat during daylight, I packed us a lunch of wraps (holy yum!) and chips and pops and we ate on the road, saving time.

Then, to avoid eye scans again, and hoping for a 60-day stamp, which the guy at Hili told us they no longer had, we opted for the Al Birhami crossing where we went through without getting out of the car, without an eye scan, without opening the trunk, and with a 60-day stamp. Woot woot! So we will be going there again. Though I should probably delete that whole paragraph so I don’t give out our secret to others hoping for similar results.

Overall it was a painless border run and now we’re good for another 60 days. Hopefully in the meantime they don’t get new stamps!

My little driver!

Kaden was helping Mommy in the kitchen this weekend too… look at my little chef in the making!

Sydney's Chicken Chimichangas

Last night we had my adaptation of chicken chimichangas... here, for your culinary pleasure:

Sydney's Chicken Chimichangas:

1 -2 pounds of chicken breasts, cut into cubes
1/2 white onion, chopped
1 small can of chopped green chiles (or cut up the whole ones if that is what you have)
1/4 cup cooked white or brown rice
1/2 cup chredded fat free cheddar cheese, divided
salt and pepper to taste
1 package flour tortillas
oil for frying

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2) In a large bowl, combine onion, chiles, cooled rice, 1/4 cup of the cheese, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3) Season cubed chicken with salt and pepper and cook in small amount of olive oil until lightly browned, remove from heat and add to other ingredients in bowl. Stir well.
4) Place a heaping spoonful of the mixture into the center of each tortillas and fold corners in and roll into a pouch.
5) In a small frying pan, add about 1/4 inch of oil for frying, heat over medium heat. Test the oil with a tiny piece of a tortilla. When it lightly bubbles and floats to the top, the oil is hot enough.
6) One roll at a time, place the fold side down in the oil, turning once. Fry about 1 minute on each side or until golden brown. Remove to paper towels. Finish remaining rolls.
7) Place all fried chimichangas on a baking sheet and sprinkle with cheese. Put in oven 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serve with rice and vegetables.

Last night I ran out of tortillas and I made the last one with a Spinach tortilla. While it wasn't as pretty once it was browned in the oil, it was still yummy! So you can use whatever you have on hand! :)

Fight Night

Tonight begins Stu's no-gi Jiu-Jitsu fight and I am really looking forward to it. Unfortunately for me, it starts at 9:00 at night because of Ramadan, so I will likely have an angry baby on my hands. But either way it will be cool to see. I will be sure to bring the camera along. Having Rainy gone has made my weeks slightly longer and I can feel like I probably need to get out of the house soon.

We also have to make a visa run this weekend, which sucks. Typically visas are for 60 days but for whatever reason, the ones we got at the airport we only for 30 days, so we're already due. Ugh. They have made changes to the border recently (like controlling it) so apparently it is harder to get in and out, with longer lines and more strict requirements. I read in The National and on a couple of other blogs that they have had a much harder time getting through this time around. We're trying to get our paperwork together for our residence visas for Kaden and I (Stu already has his) but there is so much involved.

Last night we really wanted popcrn but didn't have any. Stu headed down to the Haji store and look what he brought home! It worked out fine, popping it on the stove (how domestic of me, huh?).



Anyway, it has been a pretty boring week but I will definite have pictures and more fun posts after this weekend, so stay tuned!

Here are my babies during story time last night... holding hands. Soooo sweet!

Sydney's Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe.

I just went back (per the advice of both Mary-Leah and Marcia) and started re-reading my blog from the beginning. Wow. What a cool thing to do. I knew when I started this blog that I would be glad I did, as I would have something to look back on for details of our experience. The mind tends to lose details the further we get from experiences. What a trip though. Our lives really have changes so much in just 6 short months. I read back through the trip here and the first few weeks of being here and I can literally feel my face flush and my body tense up remember the intense fear and anxiety I had when we were first here.

I can so quickly remember as I read about it, the way I felt over certain things, and the harder times I purposely left out of my blog, trying to keep a happy face about the very difficult culture shock I was facing. It's amazing. I've been sitting here for an hour reading and I've only gotten through April! Fun stuff. I should have done this a long time ago.

Anyway, I initially got back on this blog to post a recipe because I have had lots of email reqests for some of my favorite recipes from people and I keep forgetting to post some of them. So I will start with my favorite meal... my soon-to-be FAMOUS Sweet and Sour Chicken!

This is what I have decided are the instructions because I make it without measuring anything and there always seems to be "a little more" of one thing or another needed, but here we go. Give it a try!

Sydney's Sweet and Sour Chicken:

1 pound of chicken breasts, cut into cubes
1/4 cup flour, and a little salt and pepper
olive oil
1/2 cup sliced white or yellow onion
1/2 cup sliced green bell pepper
1/2 cup slices red bell pepper
(throw in yellow pepper if you like it as well... I usually use any combination of bell peppers that I have on-hand)
one medium carrot cut into small pieces (or grated... I tried this last time and it was really good too)
2 garlic cloves, minced (or chopped, whatever)
1 cup pineapple chunks (I use fresh since it's so easy to come by here, but canned are fine too)1/4 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon balsamic or red wine vinegar (I use balsamic because I love it so much)
1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger root (either fresh or powdered... I tried powdered last time and it was still just as good)
ketchup

1) put the cut up chicken into a large ziplock bag with the flour (can add some salt and pepper to taste, I'd say 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of each), shake it up well to coat.
2) In about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, saute the chicken until slightly brown (it will cook a little longer in the sauce so don't worry if it is still slightly pink inside.
3) remove the chicken and set it aside, rinse pan, add about one more tablespoon of olive oil and sauce the vegetables (onion, peppers, carrot, garlic)
4) add the rest of the ingredients and mix well, add the chicken back to the mixture and bring to a boil until chicken is cooked through and flavors have had a chance to blend well... about ten minutes.
5) I add about a teaspoon to a tablespoon of ketchup to give it that red color you typically see at Chinese restaurants. It is purely cosmetic, but you can also use it to balance the flavors if you are having a hard time making it taste right... be sure to test the flavor before you serve. Add a little more soy, brown sugar, or even ketchup to balance. Remember that brown sugar is your best friend here... it is perfect at making too much soy more mild tasting.

Serve over brown rice.

FABULOUS!

Reading Material.

Kaden is such a little devil! This is him this morning… the reason why Mommy never gets a chance to enjoy her tea and has to keep cleaning it up off the couch and floor:

After realizing he was "caught".

Climbing back up for another go at it.

Acting sweet and innocent and telling me a story to distact me from his real plan.

Also, I just wanted to mention what an utter loser I am. I get some magazines from my aunts and grandma on occasion and this past week Marcia sent me a bunch. I saw that there were some Smithsonian and some Oprah and whatnot, but I went to pick one up yesterday called “More”. I was half-way through reading it thinking how great this magazine was and wondering how I’d missed it thus far, when I realized the front of it says that it is a magazine for women over 40! Lol. Go figure that my 40-at-23 self would pick up 'menopausal magazine' and feel that it was made for me! Haha. So, needless to say, I found some great recipes and money-saving tips and the like throughout the magazine. It was great. A new favorite.

While on the subject of magazines, it is seriously SOOOO awesome that you guys send them! During Kaden's naps I get my fill of the latest gossip from People and fabulous recipes from Southern Lady. I LOVE it! Also kudos to Mary-Leah for the box of books. I never would have picked up any of them on my own. I just finished The Husband by Dean Koontz… I had stopped trying to read his books because he always felt so dark and depressing and way too “fantasy” for my literal mind. But this book was great. Finished it in two days and didn’t sleep much those nights just waiting to wake up and dive back into it again.

Just before that I read The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar. VERY good. When I first picked it up I felt so uncomfortable by the way the people treat each other, both with words and actions. It is a book based in India and it examines the differences between the very poor and the middle class of Bombay. Very interesting, very heart-wrenching. I felt that I might as well have been right there as detailed as it all was. If you’ve ever (or never, really) been curious about taking a look into Indian life, definitely pick up this book. It’s a quick read too, so even if you hate it, it will all be over soon. Heh. (But you won’t.)

Happy Sunday.

Kaden and I had a pretty typical day. Nothing really worth noting. BUT, if you have some time to kill at work or home, definitely hit up my new obsession Zuma! (MSN games) Best. Game. Ever.

Poor Stu is at practice right now which doesn't even start until 9:30 at night since it is Ramadan and the Muslims aren't eating until just before 7... makes sense that their bodies aren't really in prime fighting mode at 6:30... but it's awful for Stu who has to get up at 5:30 to go to work. So needless to say, he isn't getting much sleep. This weekend is his fight though, so after that he will get two weeks off from practice and will be able to rest more. Then Ramadan will get over so those of us Christian folk can eat food in public at normal hours, AND it will start to get cooler! What a great month October is going to be! Haha. Plus, my hubby is going to be celebrating his quarter-century birthday on the 5th! Big month, this October.

Sam brought us some really great watermelon this evening which was just wonderful of her. I am not sure if I blogged about my last watermelon experience or not. After getting a bunch of most-not-rotten ones, I opted for a pretty big whole melon and I sliced my knife into it and a thick, syrup ran out of it while a smell that could be described as nothing other than disgusting assaulted my nostrils. It was bad. And it turned me off of watermelon for a couple of weeks (to make sure it was in fact ALL rotten, I did the unadvised and tried some... Uhh, trust your nose on this one folks... if it smells rotten, DO NOT TASTE IT!)

Anywho, in other news, Rainy has made it home to Colorado for a visit with her family and Marcelo will soon be joining her for his first trip to the US. I am eager to see what he thinks of it (and how soon he will be joining Stu and I in good old North Idaho to open his Jui-Jitsu gym!)

Anyway, that's about it. Kaden got to spend some time on the webcam tonight with both Grandma and Grandpa Fox and Great Mimi, so that was good. We haven't had a lot of time to get on there recently... he did a little performing for the family with blowing kisses and clapping and saying "bye-bye" at the appropriate times. PLUS he got to sport his rockin' tye-dye outfit from Uncle Deven and Aunt Marcia. Very hip baby.

Weekend Fun.

This weekend ended up being pretty good. On Thursday we did our usual grocery shopping and got some food from the deli to take home so I didn’t have to make dinner. Friday I went to the Marina Mall and met some new people. Lindsay (see: Duck Abroad) found my blog a few months ago and we’ve been comment-and-email chatting since then. She invited me to meet up with some girls she was going to meet as a knitting group. It was really a great experience.

Charmaine, an Australian, seemed really nice. She appeared to be the one who spear-headed the whole meeting, which she cleverly named "Stitch-and-Bitch" (like, get together and knit while dishing about whatever). I can’t remember one of their names, but she is an American from Los Angeles that works for the American Embassy here. I also got to spend part of Ramadan with two fasting Muslim American women. Pretty cool, right? Seems like I am never short of that-will-probably-never-happen-again experiences. Lindsay is married to a Lebanese man and A'isha, who is originally from Florida, is married to a Pakistani man. She was wearing the full abaya and scarf. It was pretty interesting hearing some of the things they do and why they do them, but from an American perspective. I would love to sit down and ask questions if for no other reason than to have someone who comes from a lifestyle similar to mine explain to me why and how they would want to become Muslim.

I am not a knitter, but it was interesting to see some of the things they’d created. I think my favorite was actually this tiny scarf on a keychain that A'isha made. It was adorable.

We decided to go get dinner at Chili’s, which was fun. Kaden got to color with crayons (and taking a bite out of one while I wasn’t looking) and made a very pretty picture in orange and fluorescent purple. And I took the little electronic survey thing at the end of dinner and mentioned that my dinner wasn’t good. I had ordered chicken strips, which seem pretty universal, but they tasted closer to fish strips, which I like too, but not made out of chicken. The manager came rushing over because apparently they have a little beeper thingy attached to the survey and he immediately removed my order from our check! Huh, cool. So we had a heavily discounted dinner… with bottomless pops… nearly impossible to find here. Happy campers all around! Needless to say, we'll be going back there again.

Saturday Stu and I took Kaden to an ice rink! Yep. It was as close to being home as I’ve felt here. It was practically dead, even though there were private lessons going on. It was even foggy in there as they attempted to keep out the hundred degree weather. We met a Canadian guy from Calgary and his two children. He said they have been here for 9 (!!!) years. His son was born here and he said his birth certificate is in Arabic. Heh. He said he likes to go to the ice rink so he can feel, even if only briefly, like he is back home in Canada. Kaden decided he looked like Uncle Doug (which he did) and kept going over with his arms out for him to pick him up... That giant man just melted and kept picking him up and telling him he wanted another one "but Mommy has a say, and she said 'No'."

That will definitely be a place we’ll frequent again. Kaden thought we were hilarious on the skates. We parked him in his stroller at the door to the rink and he would grin from ear to ear as we went by. Then I got him out and let him slip-walk on the ice for a bit. We didn’t stay too terribly long but it was still nice to get a runny nose from actually being cold for once! Haha.

After killing time at home (Kaden and I took a nap) waiting for the sun to go away we ended up going to the mall for Baskin Robbins, which we still had to “take away” because it was before the evening prayer call. Who, in their right mind, fights traffic, parks in a garage, and walks all the way into the mall, only to buy ice cream and turn right around and head home??? Only one answer for this madness: TITME.

We ate leftovers and watched Deadliest Catch on AFN, then called it a weekend! :)

That’s about it from me… a big thank you for the outpouring of support on the last blog. I got roughly ten emails and nearly as many comments, all with good things to say. I appreciate the love from friends and family, as always.

This reminds me of Lindsay’s email to me in which she reminded me that Anonymous had probably been cut off by 800 taxis… just on their way home. It brought to my mind that on nearly every drive we take we risk an accident because of some careless driver. This is the car we drive… a Nissan Tiida. Don’t let the woman on the hood fool you into thinking the car is bigger than it is… she is creating an illusion as she only stands at 3 feet 4 inches herself.



Then, here is the typical Emirati vehicle… You can see our distress. (Ok not really, but it sure FEELS like it when an Escalade with rims that tower over the roof of your car, comes whizzing by at a cool 200 kph)