Safeway Savings!

30 eggs on sale for 2.50JD (they are the smaller containers, but that is the total price for 30). Regular price 3.50JD. Time for Hajji to make som ejjeh! If you miss it, eggs are still available downtown for 2.80JD for 30 (but you know these kind are baladi and for those with sensitivities, covered with you-know-what)

For those with Danish dairy sensitivities, Saudi butter is on sale for 2.50JD vs. 3.5 for Lurpak. I have a sensitivity toward whatever brand that corners the market and is outrageously priced. Success is the best revenge, they say; go, Saudi! 

In Case You Ever Lose Sleep Over…

…which kind of plastic container to buy: I offer a bit of informational Ambien :D.

After sixteen years, our bridal shower Tupperware is now long lost in various homes, offices and schools in Jordan. Although I rejoice that my favorite container is now available in Jordan, and I am regularly invited to Tupperware parties where that pressure to buy is uniquely inflicted Arab-style, I remain committed to my Scottish Presbyterian roots of thriftiness (ie: or eg: why buy overpriced plastic when we have left-over ice cream tubs?).

YET, every year I reach that point where none of the remaining lids fit the various shapes of container and I pitch my beloved stash of yogurt, ice-cream and labaneh containers. One of my frequent visitors, so disturbed by the sad state of my container shelf, bought me a set of French plastics container-ware. But, it seems, the French lack precision in mechanical design, and the lids are not airtight. The set of Chinese containers I bought from the kid who sells door-to-door were no better.

Fed-up, during one of his America Excursions I sent my husband to Walmart with the dimensions of a marvelous invention I had seen at a fellow ex-pats’ house: “Gladware”, a sort of cross between Tupperware and Laban strength plastic that was only $2.50 for six.

He brought it back, and another kind too, Rubber Maid brand “TakeAlongs”. I lost sleep wondering which was the superior buy, for one week. In the period of one week, two of the Glad brand broke. Two years later, we have one Glad container and all six TakeAlongs left.

So if you are every staring like deer-in-the-headlights into the container section at Wal*Mart, paralyzed by indecision when faced with more choices than you have seen in two years, choose TakeAlongs, not GladWare.

March Madness (unrelated to basketball, sorry) and Spring Fever have officially set in.

Christmas Bits and Bobs, Part I

Finally, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Except for no snow, of course. Tonight, I finally got the last of the decorations on the tree and the salon tidied up. NEVER, never has it been Dec. 21 and my home so NOT ready for Christmas. Never have I had not one gift wrapped at this late date. No Fruit-Nut Cake, no gingerbread, no plates of cookies ready to give to neighbors and co-workers, no plans for who to spend the Big Day with, no invites to our home given (well, to be honest that was set up a couple days ago, not today).

Losing Um Skeeter has really been hard. It brings me back to four years earlier when I lost my parents. Now I understand why my Jordanian friends do not put up decorations when there has been a close death. There is something about loss and mourning that takes up all your mental and heart energy. It has been such a blessing Skeeter came back just in time for the Eid, as the time off allows him the freedom to sit with a mug of coffee and contemplate life and death as he looks out onto the garden. He is getting used to talking about Mom in past tense, spending a lot of time journaling and writing his dad . Not many of you have lost parents yet, and it is so strange how positively orphaned one feels, even as an adult. Not to mention the reality that we are next.

But, for the kid’s sake, all the traditions are happening again. We had our first candlelight dinner last night with the Christmas dishes and a festive table runner. The kids actually got started on the present wrapping for me! Funny, how loss keeps you from majoring on the minors. Normally, I have a system for wrapping, and enjoy doing a gift-store quality job (why, you ask, when it all gets ripped off anyway? Rententive, I guess). But today, Little Project Boy brought me his first endeavor and it was just delightful. A delightful mess, but delightful. They are hired.

Listening to Christmas carols by the London Philharmonic Orchestra has been Spirit-led therapy. How can the soul not rise with the horns and strings? I had a very interesting sort-of answer to prayer yesterday, also.

I was playing around at Dan Fogelberg’s website, going through the lyrics of my old favorites and seeing what he had recorded after I traded him in for Michael Card (a Christian theologian balad writer much like DF). To my surprise, DF recorded a Christmas CD in 1999 I was unaware of. As I read the lyrics, I was astonished that all the songs were not just Christ-centered, but of the most sacred sung doctrine of my faith. Not one Jingle-Belly modern classic, all music that was meant to lead the soul to worship the Almighty God. Hardly music one would choose without believing it’s content.

I leave Dan Fogelbeg in God’s merciful and mysterious hands afresh, but with a joy-filled and thankful heart that I now will have a recording of his music with which to praise my Creator. An answer to a twenty-seven year old prayer. How gracious of God to reveal that He answered that prayer eight years ago; but I found out just when I needed a special touch from His hand

“Firas’” Pancakes and Howie’s Mistro/Latte

Akhiiiirrraaaaaaaaan, here is the fulfillment of Firas’ desire for a totally zacky pancake recipe. And, commenter Howie’s at-home recipe for as-good-as-Starbucks coffee; thanks Howie! Howie, NOW I have seen one of those whisks you mentioned, and I still don’t know where to buy it in Jordan - if anyone does, let me know!

Why did it take me so long? Because I had hoped to put this recipe in Family Flavours, but I discovered this week that my friend Angela Hadadeen beat me to the punch as ‘”child-friendly baking pro” for the magazine. Malesh, FF is in good hands with Angela. The delicious and delightfully decorated cookies from the Christmas issue were her creations (can you believe it? ME, known as Cookie Queen, missed that opportunity! Compared to Ang, I am just Lady in Waiting of Cookies, she wears the crown). We were neighbors during that delirious time of each having 3 children under 5; it is TOO funny that we have both emerged from that fog as free-lancers. You can enjoy Angela’s unique and hilarious bent on life in Living Well magazine, too. Yella. Pancake time.

Firas’ Fruity, Healthy Pancakes (based on the recipe “Apple Walnut Pancakes” from the More-With-Less Cookbook)

Combine in a bowl:

1C. whole wheat flour

1C. white flour

1t. salt (you know that means real ‘t’easpoon from a measuring spoon set, not a mala’a zghreer)

2t. baking powder (not bicarbonate)

1T. brown sugar (that means a real ‘T’ablespoon from a measuring spoon set, not a mala’a kbeer. If you don’t have brown sugar, add a bit of dibbs to white. If you don’t have dibbs, xhallas, white will do)

Combine in a separate bowl:

2C. yogurt

2 eggs, well beaten

2 T. oil_

Add liquids to dry ingredients and stir just til mixed. Add:

two baladi size bananas (best if they were put in the freezer in the peel when VERY overripe, then thawed and smashed. Be warned, when thawed and unpeeled, they look like slugs. The kounouz love that part)

1/2 C. grated apple (or any of your favorite hard fruit chopped fine: apricots, blueberries, peaches, plums, pears. A great way to use up fruit that is too old to eat raw, but still flavorful)

1/2 - 1C. chopped walnuts (the Kounouz don’t do nuts, I only put it in the batter for me and dear husband)

Batter will be thick, thin a bit with milk. Pour 1/3 C on lightly greased hot griddle/frying pan. When it bubbles in the middle and looks dry around the edges, flip. Peek after thirty seconds. Ready when golden-brownish. Keep warm and covered in the oven until ready to serve. Pour maple syrup, or spread with jam and add powdered sugar. (Ladies, if you want to boost the calcium and protein content, add 1/4 C powdered milk to batter)

HOWIE’S MISTRO/LATTE (from a comment on “S’More Brownies”, gotta read it to appreciate the lengths Howie went to so I could understand what a ‘Latte-Whip’ was)

Brew drip coffee…something good…not Yuban or such trash

When coffee is ready…take mug (glass much preferred)
Put a little Sugar in the Raw in the bottom…just a taste
And about an inch of milk (low fat, regular…you decide)
You can add more or less if you like
Get a LatteWhip (MagicReamer) Looks like a little drill with a round spring on the end.
Whip the milk…MAKE SURE the whip end is just slightly into the milk or it does not foam well and thicken
Do this about 60 seconds
Put in micro on high for 20-25 seconds…just as it starts to rise…stop
And the filtered coffee
Sprinkle sugar in the raw on top, or powdered chocolate or cinnamon or nothing

Makes great sipping right through or with the foam and can be done SUPER low-cal

Glass should be at room temp when you start and milk has to be cold or it does not work well.

Let me know how it goes…it has been a huge hit here and I kind “invented” these steps to get it just right.

Howie, thanks!!

Firas, if this proves difficult, I have a simpler recipe.