The Great Grape Hunt!

Well, amazing how quick a week goes by yeah?

I'm actually just using this as a "save" since it's after 4 a.m., and I'll post tomorrow, just didn't want to ignore my Monday posting all together!

See you tomorrow!

:::

Okay, here we are.  Still technically Tuesday for me since I haven't gone to bed yet!

It was raining today, alhamdulillah!  :D

It's been overcast for the better part of a week, but mostly only threatening rain without dropping much.

We had a tiny bit a couple of mornings ago and then again we had some this morning, but a bunch.  And then again late this afternoon we had a good amount, and this evening as well.

We could use it for sure, though it makes traffic even more of a nightmare and because there is no decent drainage here, it causes flooding with very little rain.

Still, I am happy for it.

But, as much as I hate to say it, I am ready for the sun again!  I miss the rain, but one hundred percent do not miss gray skies.  I really love Egypt for all the sun here.

:::

Every time we go to a grocery store, even if it's our regular store we go to all the time, I always search for grape jam or jelly.

When I first moved here we were able to find some grape jam, but that was about 2 years ago now, and we have not found any since then.

I would actually prefer jelly as I don't like mushy fruit bits in my food, but at this point I'd even be okay with jelly.

But, none to be found that we can see.  Every other kind of jelly you can think of, and even some imported specialty stuff, but no grape.

And odd that they mostly sell jam here as opposed to jelly, while in the States I know there is a wide variety of jelly.  I'm not sure which sells better there, but obviously people here either don't care for jelly or it's just not made.

Anyways, I don't really care for any other kind of fruit spread at this point, though perhaps that will change in time.  It's been a long while since I've had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

:::

I think I've been doing okay with my project 365, though I did miss one day.  It's sometimes hard to think of something to take a picture of since I'm generally in the house most of the time.

And, because I sometimes don't think about taking a photo til late at night or early morning, there are many things that just aren't as easy to get a picture of.  Daylight and time definitely help.

But I'm having fun.  And I'm still interested.  Both good things.

I have a feeling that a lot of my picture will involve food.  I really love how simple arrangements of food (or non-arrangements) can be so visually rewarding.

I do have some pictures that did not make it to the 365 page, because I can only post one a day, and have to take new ones every day, so hopefully there will be more images posted here.  I know the long wordy posts without pictures can get a bit dull.

Today's extra, actually there were a few extra but this was the only one I had ready, is the veggies before I peeled and chopped them for a bean soup!

I'm sure I had more to talk about but I'm blanking, so that's it for now!
Thanks for stopping by.

Oh, wait, now I remember. 

Suggestions for getting perfume smell out of clothes?  I've tried washing them quite a few times in the wash, with and without detergent, and also tried soaking them in a vinegar/water solution, neither of which seem to be doing anything.

Maybe I didn't use enough vinegar?  Or maybe apple cider vinegar would work better?
Keep in mind I don't have access to special detergents that are sold in the States.

I'm really at a loss and really want to wear these clothes (they were a gift and came to me smelling like the perfume department of Macy's) but can't handle the smell.

Help?

Another project?

Well, I found a website that I was kind of excited about.  It talks about taking a photo a day for a whole year.

http://content.photojojo.com/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/

Wow!  I love taking photos.  I love projects.  I love detailing things.

But.... we all know I'm a little on the lazy side right?  So will this work?

Well, we're going to find out.

I decided that instead of posting the photos to this main page, I'll make a side page either uploading the pictures there (like I did for my vacation photos) or I'll make a side page that talks about the project and links to my flickr account if I decide to upload them there.

Of course, today is the 7th so I've missed a few days, but there's no reason I can't go 7 days into next year right?  The 365 days doesn't *have* to start on January 1st.  It's just nice when things work that way.  From the start.

So, I'll be taking pictures and when I have this figured out, as to where I'll upload them, I'll link to the page where I talk about it further.

*Edited on the 8th to add that I have made the page, Project 365, listed on the top right under the heading "Pages".  Check it out!

:::

This being Friday and all, I'll probably save this post for Monday (*edited, nope, it's only Saturday but I decided not to wait!), but I wanted to kind of get this down while it was fresh.  There have been too many things that I didn't write about right away that I then never wrote about because I lost the details and the freshness of it.  I really hate when that happens because I get so excited about things sometimes and hate the feeling of losing that.

Anyways.... today, well, I really *did* have some adventure.  :D

The first part was going to a hospital to visit a sick relative.

I have never been to a hospital here in Egypt but I have heard bad things about them.

The hospital we went to was not top of the line but not bottom of the barrel either.  Supposedly somewhere in-between.

The first thing of note, is that they charge an admission fee to visit people in the hospital!!!
Wow, I thought that was not only ridiculous but outrageous!!  It's only 5 pounds a day, but I still think it's crazy.  I was told the fee was to keep out the riff raff but I'm not sure if that's the only reason or not.  I can understand the hospital not wanting homeless people trying to sleep inside but still...

Then before the shock of the admission fee had worn off, I got the shock of... wow, this hospital is.... dirty.

Not filthy trash all over the floor dirty but... kind of grimy, old and dingy dirty.  The floors are marble but worn and once you leave the main hall, well... it goes downhill from there.

The walls in the rooms look like they've never been cleaned and the paint is who knows how many years old, so there are spots and stains.

The furniture is also old and dinged and dented and worn.

There was a worn metal hanger where a t.v. should be, but apparently you have to pay to get them to put the t.v. in.

Hubby and I took a walk down the main hall, looking out through all the windows to areas outside the hospital and I saw so much garbage and crud and just WOW!  This is supposed to be a hospital.  Where people come to get better.  And it's just so dirty!

As to the actual care, well, that's another matter.

It seems the nurses only check on patients at shift change.  There is no regular care.  Unless you complain to the management and fill out forms.  I guess the nurses don't like to work?  But they must be doing something??  It certainly isn't cleaning.  lol

All in all, this was kind of a scary experience, if only for the fact that I really really REALLY hope to God that I never need to stay in a hospital in Egypt.

And you better hope you never need to either.  At least not this one.

I've taken a bunch of pictures, though why I would want to remember these things I don't know...

First up is a view from the main hallway.  I'm not sure what floor we were on but I think it was the third or fourth.  To the right there is a hotel with a roundy building on top that might be a restaurant or something.  And looking out across you can see the Nile, though you might have to click on the picture to get a bigger view to see it well.

Next is another shot of outside.  You can see more of the Nile in this picture.  Also, if you look across, kind of in the middle, there is an orange colored building.  I think this is a courthouse of some kind?  Hubby told me and I promptly forgot.  All the building you can see around the photo belong to and are part of the hospital.  There were quite a few buildings.

Here is another shot of outside.  This one is showing the Galleria shopping area right across the way from the hospital.  I'm not sure if this is connected with a hotel?  Maybe the backside of it.  All the grunge you see is, of course, part of the hospital.

And another outside shot.  I only got one of the inside. 
This is a nice garbage pile somewhere on the grounds. 

And here we have one of my favorite shots.  They have used a door to cover a giant hole in the ground.  I'm sure the intention was good but....
You really need to view the picture larger to get a good look at it (just click on the photo).

Here is a general shot outside, showing some lovely loose roofing tiles and some scaffolding off to the left side.

And here are some nice piles of old pipe?  They add just the right touch, don't you think?

Last photo of the hospital and it's looking down the main hallway, which was actually really really quite long.  Floor looking a bit dingy and ceiling looking even dingier. 

I did take quite a few more photos but I decided to limit them to just those above.

:::

The other part of the excitement today happened after we left the hospital.

We walked across the Nile, and were going to walk up the road that runs along it.  But at the end of the bridge and kind of before you get to the street, there is an embassy for a country that much of the Middle East (if not all of) has no love for.  I hate to censor myself by not mentioning the country but I don't particularly want to draw any attention to myself either. 

In any case, the building next to the building that houses the embassy was really fantastic looking and I wanted to get some pictures.  I'm sure hubby said it was fine, but there were also some police trucks next to where we were so hubby made us walk down a little bit so it didn't seem like I was going to take pictures of the police (which I think is illegal here?).

So, there I am, taking pictures, and you know I can't take just one, I need a couple angles and what if one comes out blurry so I'm a few shots in when someone from the building starts yelling at us.

Oh crap.  lol

So, hubby said something like "okay okay", and we were obviously quite done taking photos of that building.

Which I will now show you below.  I love the white with all the blue windows.  Very nice.

And after that I just had to take some pictures of a building just a little further down.  lol
I think it was an embassy but not exactly sure and not wanting to list country name, again.  But a very interesting building.  I got a shot of the whole thing but I'm just showing some detail, which is the part I really liked anyways.  The building was quite tall though.

I really don't understand what the issue is here with taking pictures and why they are so paranoid about it??  Maybe I'm missing something but I really don't think my pictures are of any national concern.  :p

So... that was our exciting day!

We were going to go to the zoo, but there were supposed to be police all over the place because of the incident that just happened in Alexandria, and today being Christmas for the orthodox Christians here.

In fact we did see more police about but less people.  Maybe everyone was afraid to come out today.

So, zoo another day.

Falafel donuts

Happy new year to my family and friends.  May this year bring you many blessings.

During the last year, I kept a separate blog for things that I did around the house, to keep track of things and see how often I did certain things.

You can "tag" each post with a label(s) and then the tags are kept in a list and you can go back later and see that each tag has a count for how many times you posted it.

I didn't start on January first, it was actually February 14th, but since I'll be starting fresh this year with the first, here's what the list looked like for the past ten and a half months.

# apple bars (5)
# apple bread (3)
# apple fritters (1)
# apple pie (1)
# banana bread (2)
# basbousa (1)
# biscuits (15)
# bread (35)
# brownies (5)
# cake (1)
# cheesecake bars (1)
# chocolate cookies (1)
# cinnamon rolls (2)
# clean (18)
# cookies (5)
# creamy lemon crumb squares (1)
# dishes (135)
# floors (22)
# fried apples (1)
# gas tank (3)
# honey-florentines (1)
# kiss cookies (1)
# laundry (167)
# lemon squares (5)
# mop (16)
# muffins (3)
# oatmeal coconut bars (1)
# oatmeal cookies (1)
# oatmeal raisin bars (1)
# pancakes (18)
# pizza (1)
# poundcake-bites (1)
# rain (2)
# scones (5)
# shortbread (1)
# shortcake (1)
# sick (8)
# sweep (21)

Most of those items are basically either baking related or cleaning related.

The sweep/mop/floors can be combined though I didn't do them all at the same time.

I didn't list every time or every day I was sick so I'm not sure what that figure tells me and I'll probably leave it off for the most part this year.

Laundry took the top spot with 167 times and dishes took second with 135.  Booooring!  lol

Where it lists just "bread", those are the times I made quick bread but didn't put what kind.  Most of that is probably lemon bread or cinnamon sugar bread, both of which were staples for a while.

And it appears that I really like to eat pancakes for breakfast!  They are quick and easy to make and I definitely prefer making something at home than buying from a store.

Nothing too exciting about the list.  I'll be interested to see how and if it changes in the coming year insha'Allah.  :)

*just to note, I did list more things on my daily blog than what I have tagged here, but some of the items weren't interesting or I was inconsistent on listing them, and some were more personal in nature.

:::

I used to love eating falafel before I moved to Egypt.  Although I've read that it was probably invented here, the kind that I'm used to eating is made from different ingredients than what is standard here in Egypt.  I believe the kind I'm used to is made more in Lebanon and around that area.

So, here in Egypt they generally use fava beans for making falafel.  I really don't like it so well.  It's not bad, it just doesn't taste like falafel to me since the kind I'm used to eating is made with garbanzo beans.

Hubby and I were talking about it recently and so he decided to try to find some places that made it the way I like it.  His mom recommended a place close to where she lives so he brought some home recently.  I was expecting the normal shape, kind of a large sized ball, and instead what I got was this:

Falafel donuts.  :D

Well, they did taste more like what I was used to, as they were made with garbanzo beans, but they didn't have a lot of taste other than that, except that there was something spicy in them.  I couldn't see what it was from looking inside.  And after even just two of those things I had some awful heartburn.  I guess deep frying isn't so good for acid reflux.  lol

But, they were cute and we are still going to check out some other places to see if I can find some I like better.

Promises, promises

Well, it was my aim to post at least once a week, on Mondays, so here we are.  :D

It's been an "interesting" few days around here.  At least for me.  And by interesting I really mean kind of cruddy.  lol

Something I ate late on the 25th left me with world war 3 going on in my stomach.  I thought I would be fine the next morning but not so.

I wasn't eating or drinking anything as my stomach really couldn't handle it.  Not a great idea but I was listening to my stomach.

I was also freezing all day and decided to take a shower.  Tried and tried but couldn't get warm, and ended up passing out in the shower.  I could tell before hand it was coming on so I kneeled down and thankfully wasn't injured, but this was not the highlight of my day. 

Passed out once more before I made it out of the bathroom, after which I went to lie in bed under the covers.

Hubby brought home some 7-up for me, which I mixed with water and that seemed to stay down okay.  And had some fresh chicken broth later in the night that seemed okay as well.

But... you know that saying, when it rains it pours.... lol

It seems that the shower and being cold had managed to make me slightly ill as well, and last night I had achy bones and a fever.

Doing better today.  Managed to make pancakes without passing out though I did have to bring a stool into the kitchen to sit on.  lol

Hopefully, tomorrow will bring better things.  I'm pretty tired of being sick!

:::

I figured out that yellow split peas and green split peas are basically interchangeable.  I'm not sure why I never figured this out before, but why have two different kinds of peas if they are pretty much the same?  And what's the deal with the things that look like split peas but they're kind of orange/red?  Are they split peas or something else?

Anyways, I've not found any green split peas here in Egypt and I really miss the split pea soup I used to make.  After some research I see that you can make split pea with fresh peas but it won't have the same taste as with the split.

But, I will now keep an eye out for yellow split peas and see what I can see!

:::

Still no rain but hubby heard there was a possible storm predicted for later in the week.  Boy that would be nice.  I don't miss the gray skies of winter where I used to live but I do miss the rain. 

I think, perhaps if we lived someplace where I could see the Nile from our apartment, maybe I wouldn't feel it so sharply, but as it is it's just dry dry dry.  I miss the water.

Optimally, I'd really love to live by the ocean somewhere.  Or at least have a vacation home by the ocean.  Not a crowded LA type of area.  Someplace a little more quiet. 

I remember my first trip here, back in 2007, after we had gotten married, hubby and I were staying at a furnished apartment for a bit and there was a very large and long thunderstorm.  Totally awesome.  It lasted for a couple of days.  Thunder, lightning and rain.  I think it was actually a little unusual in its length.  Something like that would be nice now.

:::

Missed being with family over the holiday.  Miss seeing Christmas lights and decorations everywhere.  Missed the feeling of excitement and energy everyone seems to get.

Although as a Muslim I don't celebrate Christmas anymore, it's hard to let go of something you've done every year of your life.

Honestly, Christmas was never a religious celebration for me.  It was more of a secular thing I guess you could say.  And I think it's that way for a lot of people. 

It wasn't so bad when I was living in the States, after becoming Muslim, because even though I wasn't celebrating myself, I could still see the lights and all that stuff.  But here in Egypt, not so much.

There are ex pats here who celebrate but you don't see hardly anything by way of decoration.

And most of the Christians who live here are orthodox (no idea what the difference is) and celebrate Christmas on January 7th.

Anyways, missing family.  Still feeling homesick.  Thinking about where I really want to live in the future.  Not sure if I'll be happy here in 10 years?  Who knows.  Things change.  People change.  Circumstances change.

But I'd be intrigued by perhaps Italy.  Or France....

Agua por favor

Water was turned off this morning as they were going to be trying to fix the pipes in the building.  Again.

Of course this means I can't do much in the house.  No dishes, no cleaning, no laundry, no getting lunch ready. 

Perfect excuse to be lazy, which is what I would have done anyways.  lol

Thankfully water is back on now and laundry is going and lunch/dinner will be going soon.

:::

We still have not had any rain yet this season.  I'm beginning to wonder if we'll get any at all before the year is out.  Since I've only lived here about 2 years I don't really have a long history of weather to remember to see how abnormal this is.  I know that this isn't exactly the rainiest place on earth, but it seems odd to not have had any yet.  Even hubby remarked that it was dry.

Alexandria got beat by some horrible storms a short while back, even getting a light dusting of snow, but all we got was a sand storm for 2 days.  Which deposited PLENTY of sand on our floors and pretty much everything else with a horizontal surface.

I saw some video of the flooding in Alex, it looked pretty extensive in some areas.  Hopefully they will be able to recover from that fairly easily.  I am hoping we can go visit there soon but maybe best to wait for another couple of months first.

:::

We finally got our winter blanket cleaned and have it in use on the bed.  Alhamdulillah!
Although our weather is not as cold as many places, when it's in the 50's or 60's outside and you don't have a heater to use, it stays pretty darn chilly.  My hands, nose and feet are in a semi-permanent state of frostbite until the weather decides to warm up again.  lol

We do have the a/c slash heater in the bedroom, and we did use the heater for a couple of days when it started getting cold, but the filters need to be washed and they're a bit of a pain to get to so we've had the heater off since then and I just need to keep reminding someone, since they are taller and can reach better, that they need to be cleaned.

And we finally got the hot water going in the kitchen again, which has been great for not freezing to death while doing dishes.  It makes such a huge difference.  Very happy about that.

:::

I eat pancakes maybe once or twice a week for breakfast.  I don't put any butter or oil in them, only some butter in the pan so they don't stick, so they aren't too bad on the unhealthy side, and I do get some dairy from the milk in them.

In any case, I made some the other day and decided that I would make them rather miniature sized, or smaller than normal anyways, just for something different.  I really like eating smaller sized foods for some reason.  I just adore chip crumbs.  lol

After I had finished making all of the pancakes, I decided to take some pictures, and I was mostly taking them with the macro thingy on the camera to get close shots, but hubby came into the kitchen and saw I was taking pictures and decided I needed to have a syrup bottle in the shot.  And then he further decided that we should stick some green apples in the shot.  I'm not quite sure what the thinking was here.  Artistic license I suppose. 

So, here is the picture, as arranged by hubby.  :D

:::


I think this has been the longest break I've taken from writing since I moved here and started posting regularly.  Just needing a break and not much going on I suppose.

I decided that maybe if I picked one day a week to post, maybe that would be easier to do than reminding myself that I need to post and never getting around to it.  Like a schedule eh?  I haven't decided what day yet, but I'm leaning towards Mondays.  Keep your fingers crossed.  :D

:::

I have heard rumors that there is a sewing machine in my immediate future.  While this is exciting, I heard this a couple of weeks ago and should have technically had it already, so I know not to hold my breath until it happens.

Insha'Allah we will be getting it sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Although I looked around online for models I was interested in, I'm not sure of the availability here, so we'll have to actually go check to see what we can find.  Right now it's between Singer and Brother.  I wish I could have brought my Husqvarna machine with me when I moved here but wishing isn't helping much now.  lol

:::

It seems that a Kuwait trip will be happening sometime in the near future and though I thought we might have been able to include me in this trip (I even offered to delay the buying of a sewing machine to be able to go) it isn't going to happen on this trip.

I have been assured that hubby will look around and find a decent place for us to stay at so that in the future I will be able to go with him.

I wouldn't say I exactly threatened him about leaving me here while he goes, but he understood that I was not in any way happy about it.

As much as I love and care for his family, being deposited to live at their house while hubby is off in Kuwait for 3 weeks is not okay with me.  However, it's also not okay for me to stay in the apartment for 3 weeks on my own.

It's impractical for a bunch of reasons, most of which I think can be solved but perhaps not all.  Which is why he is going to look for places for us to stay while he is there this trip.

I really really REALLY hope I will have the sewing machine by the time he goes, so that at least I can fiddle faddle around on the machine every so often.  Maybe I'll even finish the couple of quilts I brought with me when I moved here.  :D