Mesaieed, Qatar
There so many great things about the guest quarters here, but
internet and cable are not two of them and to quote my step-daughter “that’s
crap”. I have gotten used to not
having email and internet on my phone and I am actually enjoying not being tied to my phone, however I loved my
cable fix as I am easing my way into international living. The first few days we were here I found 6
channels out of the 200+ that spoke English.
BBC was a nice news update option along with the AlJazerah news channel and but my favorite was the Kuwait 2 channel featuring
the HGTV show Property Brothers every day at 10:45 and then a couple cooking
shows. Three days into our stay the
cable goes down and is in need of repair
so no more cable for a week. In
the US we get frustrated with the cable
guy showing up between 12pm-5pm, but here they show up sometime between
Wednesday and Monday. It’s really a
small thing but getting to watch the news and get a little American TV was a
fun little diversion and I miss it! Wifi is sporadic and Greg and I have to take turns getting on the
internet in the only spot that has a decent signal- the corner of our
kitchenette. Every so often the streaming is strong enough to listen to
the radio on Margaritaville.com for some
nice background music . I think it’s
time to invest in more songs on our itunes account as we keep hearing the same
songs over and over and over and over.
The next excursion to Shoprite had me focused on all the
fresh fish. In talking to the workers behind the fish counter they tried to
explain the 2 dozen kinds of whole fresh
fish available to me. They suggest grilling for
almost all of them and I only have access to a couple small sauté pans and
an oven so that won't work. I
really want to get a 2 foot long needle fish, but they talk me out of it and I
end up with a jesh fish and a sardine to play with along with some fresh head
on shrimp . I buy a few more exotic
fruits and vegetables for that night but don’t have a clue what most of it is
and how it will taste.
That night I attempt to filet the jesh fish with a dull
paring knife and butcher it , so I give up on
gutting and cleaning he sardine.
I start tasting the items I brought home to decide what to do with
them. The amla berry was very tart and
I discover it is actually a goose berry. The gotokula leaf is a slightly bitter and bland version of cilantro and the drumstick reminds
me of a 2 foot long thin combination of
okra and celery. For dinner I ended up with pan seared jesh fish and shrimp with a spicy amla berry and mango
compote paired with stewed drumstick and baby eggplant and a gotokula leaf salad/ tabouleh with citrus and onion. It sounds much more exotic and tasty than it
turned out but it was fun and different.
You will note there are no pictures as the plating really wasn’t that
attractive at all..
No wine, beer or anything fun is an option here so our dinner drinks have been fresh juices mixed with soda water. At the club they offer a fresh lemonade blended with a little ice and mint, absolutely wonderful! Recently when we had breakfast in Dubai they made a fresh orange juice "icee" blended with basil that was out of this world. I suggest all of you get your blender out and try these (and I imagine a little rum or vodka would also be a nice addition!)
Cheers and Good Travel!
Will try the OJ with basil. Enjoying the blog!
ReplyDeleteLaurel
Thanks Laurel-- trust me the orange basil icee was awesome. We are staying at the hotel connected to that breakfast spot this Wednesday and I am planning on another one.
ReplyDelete