An Interesting Breakfast!!!

This past Saturday, August 1st 2009, Barry and I headed out early in the morning to take care of some banking business. Afterwards we stopped at a restaurant we had found recently in the neighborhood called Bite Rite. It's very health conscience, with calories, carbs and fat grams listed below every item. All the breads are whole grain and they even have sugar-free deserts. We have been there twice for dinner and saw some interesting things under the breakfast menu so we thought we would give it a try.

Barry ordered the whole wheat french toast with orange sauce and I got some kind of Indian pancake made of brown rice flour with a tomato chutney. And then we each ordered a scrambled egg. I ordered coffee, without milk, which was quite a challenge. You wouldn't think it would be so hard to explain a dairy allergy in a health food restaurant! Barry ordered orange juice and a "glass" of milk.

The french toast and the pancake thingy were both good, not enough sauce on either, but I understand why everything is portion controlled. My coffee and Barry's juice arrives and so far everything is cool. Then we each get a little plate of something white and fluffy, we are informed they are the scrambled eggs, they use only the whites. We are both thinking great and then we taste them. It was almost like grits were mixed in, they had a faint egg taste but a definite texture that didn't belong. As we are trying to figure out what it is the waiter arrives with Barry's milk, steaming hot in a coffee cup! He left and it was all we good to do not to laugh out loud! After all, he didn't specify cold! We asked about the eggs, only whites and skim milk we were assured. I guess they forgot about my dairy allergy! Yes, I was miserable later.

We decided two things as we drove away. One; it's a good place for dinner not breakfast, and two; it was probably powdered egg whites thus the texture!

Hopefully a Perfect Fit!

This past Friday afternoon, July 31st 2009 I finally dragged Barry to the men's tailor

a friend recommended. I had been once with a favorite shirt of his and some fabric to

have another one made "same-same". It came out okay but the issues with it were

mostly all to do with the fabric we had selected.

I had been wanting to take him there to be fit for a suit for there are no stores here we can go in and purchase one for him in is size. As Barry says, I live in the land of Lilliputians where all the clothes are made for them! He picked out a lovely light weight dark grey wool and Barry him started conversing. He was right at ease by seeing the finished suits in the shop awaiting final fittings. The tailor asked Barry all the right questions and the only time they struggled in their communications was when Barry asked the pants to have a cuff. The tailor said, "You want turn up? Inside or outside?" After we worked through that we left with the promise of a final fitting in "after four days". So this Friday after church and lunch we will stop back in and hopefully have a perfect fit!

Language on the Mind!

I am still was working with "my little angel'. He has recently turned six and continues to make remarkable progress. He is reading, writing well, and really communicating! We have gone from one word answers or nothing at all to I can't get him to be quiet! Along with all the chatter is quite the sense of humor, also.

This past Monday, August 3rd 2009, we were playing chutes and ladders and he was talking really funny. His eight year old sister was playing with us and she kept making comments about the way he was talking. Finally she said, "Why do you have an accent?"

He answered, "I'm speaking French today!"

Today (on Wednesday), we were working on handwriting and as he was writing I was finishing up a note to his father. It was in cursive and Hussein noticed his name. He asked me why I wrote his name like that and told me it was wrong. I explained it was written in cursive and his reply was; "Miss Pattie, please write my name in English!"

Sadiyat Island Display

Next to the "island" part of Abu Dhabi, which the main city part of the Emirate is, are three islands that are under development. Sadiyat, Al Reem, and Yas Islands. Each island will have malls, hotels, commercial, and residential properties, etc. Yas Island is the "fun" island, it will be the home of Ferrari World opening in 2010. The world's largest indoor amusement park, housing over 20 rides including the worlds fastest roller coaster. Eventually there will be a water park and a Warner's Bros. Park, but those are on hold for now. Al Reem Island is where Barry works on Sorbonne University, it will mostly be the above mentioned.

The third island, Sadiyat, is the one that is getting much attention. It will be the cultural island, with a focus on museums, parks, and pavilions. Here's a peak below of what it will look like.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi, scheduled for 2014 right now. The ceiling is a pattern of holes that will look different through out the day and the months as the sun and earth moves. It will light up at night and be a future landmark for Abu Dhabi.

The Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Center. There is also a Sheikh Zayed Natonal Museum planned, I have no picture of it.

The Maritime Museum.

The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, I believe slated for 2013.

At the tip of the island, the other big future landmark.

Now look back at the first picture, top left. You can see how all the museums will be clustered near one another, in walking distance. It will be interesting to see if it all happens as planned. This entire display is on exhibit at the Emirates Palace Hotel.

What's Your Bread and Butter Pickle?

For the 4th of July I made real southern potato salad. Just potatoes, onions, mayo, and

bread & butter pickles. I will confess I love hard boiled eggs in my potato salad, many recipes include them, but the yolks of the eggs here are very orange and it would not have been very appealing to the eye. It's the pickles though that make the salad so yummy. I prefer to pour the pickle juice into the mayo and whisk it before adding to the potatoes, which need to still be a touch warm to get the right "mushiness" to make in my opinion perfect potato salad.

Unfortunately bread and butter pickles are not readily available at the stores here. In fact, our first few months here I searched high and low in all of Abu Dhabi and they are simply not an available option! Dill pickles and sweet gherkins, yes. All sorts of Indian and Middle Eastern pickles, just no bread & butter pickles! So when I was home in January I bought a jar, wrapped it in bubble wrap, placed it inside a Ziploc, and tucked away in a safe place in the center of my suitcase. I figured when I arrived home I would either have a jar of pickles or a suitcase full of clothes that smelled like them! Luckily, it was the former. The pickles then went into the cupboard awaiting the perfect occasion that was special enough to warrant breaking the seal of my one and only jar of bread & butter pickles.

As I was preparing the salad and opened the jar nibbling on a few and then later sampling the salad to check on if the salt and pepper levels were correct I was flooded with a happy feeling. Isn't that what "comfort" food is. Those special recipes only a Grandma makes for you as a child, and then later in life as you make them you think of that Grandma. The foods that you only have on a certain holiday or if the weather is just the right temperature. A specific food that reminds you of a loved one or of a special event. Certain foods are interconnected with memories, be they good or bad. I still can't eat strawberry yogurt to this day because of morning sickness with my son! Bread and Butter pickles take me all the way back to my childhood when my dad had a large garden and my mom would can her own pickles.

Each of us have our special list of "comfort" foods, those special items that are tangled

with our own personal memory. Living as an expat just makes some of those comfort foods that much more special since many times the ingredients are very hard to come by.

Independence Day!!

Early in the day on July 4th 2007 Barry and I got on a plane in Charlotte, NC. After two lay overs and twenty two hours later we arrived in Abu Dhabi on July 5th to begin our adventure together. Barry had been here for a few months working and I had made a short visit while he was still in an hotel in May, but this was our official start as a couple in our new apartment. Basically we missed the 4th of July as we flew to the other side of the globe.

So this July 4th was not only our first here, but marked the last day of our first year here in Abu Dhabi. We celebrated it with friends who were still in the country since so many, especially the spouses leave for the summer. We had an "indoor" cook-out, since it was at least 120 degrees outside! Burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, deviled eggs, and a few other goodies. And for desert cupcakes!

We co-hosted the party with friends because our place is so small. I had so much fun for a few hours in her kitchen as we finished all the final touches! We had planned to ice the cupcakes red, white, and blue and then line them up like a flag. At the last moment, as we were deciding to put the flag on a cardboard "platter" covered in foil, I thought why not cut it like the U.S. With thanks to her hubby I got the size of Alaska correct!

The Future Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi

On a Wednesday in late June a friend and I, along with two of her children, went to see the Louvre Exhibit here in Abu Dhabi. The Louvre Abu Dhabi is to be built on Sadiyat Island and open in 2013. This exhibit is the founding pieces that will establish the museum. They are on display at the Emirates Palace for twelve weeks and then go into storage, not to be seen again until the museum opens.

It was a fascinating tour with a excellent french guide who spoke about each piece it's place in art and why it was chosen for the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The 29 pieces spanned from 520 BC to the Twentieth Century, reaching across many cultures and religions.

It was definitely something I will remember for quite sometime,

one of the "your grandmother got to...." stories!