Pizza Pizza

Remember Little Caesars? That pizza place with the vertically challenged Roman guy with the big nose as its mascot? I haven't seen or eaten at one in the United States since I was a kid, and I vaguely remember hearing that the business went under years ago.

Well, Little Caesars is alive and well in The Kingdom, but I hadn't eaten at one since we arrived. I associated Little Caesars with undercooked dough, rubbery cheese and pepperonis that were more grease than meat. I had no desire to revisit those meals, so I abstained.

Until today.

Today was the last day of work for the teachers, and to celebrate a couple colleagues ordered Little Caesars for the English cluster.

"We have mexican, kebab, chili chicken and chicken fajita," said my co-worker who placed the order. I'm sorry, did she say "kebab!?" I thought to myself. I was a little freaked out by the mexican pizza because it looked like someone had draped vermicelli noodles all over the top before closing the box. I was a little freaked out.

BUT OH MY HEAVENS WAS IT SOME GOOD PIZZA!! I was doubtful at first, but h'oh boy am I soo glad my colleagues have opened up this world to me! The Mexican pizza was like a taco, in pizza form. Refried beans, a hint of pico de gallo, lettuce, taco beef and Mexican blend cheese. The kebab pizza had kebab meat, tomato chunks, and this purple looking spice thing that they put on salads (I have yet to learn the name of this stuff but it's yummier than the way I make it sound). The chili chicken and chicken fajita were just as great as they sound.

I immediately whipped out my camera and started taking shots of the few pieces that were left after everyone had gotten their fill. Unfortunately I don't have photographic evidence of the kebab pizza, but I did get a few awkward laughs from my colleagues who were befuddled by the white lady taking pictures of her food like a Japanese tourist.

Yep, I am that girl. I do it all for you, dear readers. Because THIS is what our blog is all about!

Vicariously yours,

Sheesh! What's the difference?!

Since arriving in Saudi, I've learned a lot about the cuisine of the Arabian peninsula. I feel the need to clarify the names of a few dishes because those of us in the West have kind of generalized terms, and if you ordered from a menu based on what we call it in the States, you'll get a surprise when your meal arrives.

First confusion: Kebabs are just food on a skewer. With summer now in full swing at home, people are probably using this term a lot with regards to backyard cookout menus. "Come over, we're grilling up some kebabs!" On an American grill, kebabs would probably look like this:

But that is not the case in the Middle East. It's true, kebabs are on a skewer. But instead of taking fresh vegetables and marinated chunks of meat and impaling them, Saudis process the meat, marinate it with spices of all kinds and form it into a meat log...THEN they skewer it up and grill it.

Real kebabs look like this:

Yeah. They kind of look like poop. But that does not make Saudi kebabs any less savory! I don't know what they put in the spice mix, but the kebabs here are soo delicious!

What grillmasters in the States call kebabs are actually called "shish tawook" in Saudi Arabia (alternate spellings include sheesh taouk, sheish tawuk, and shesh tahwuq. It's phonetic, so sound it out however you like). The shish tawook are skewered up and then marinated in a delightfully yummy sauce of yogurt and spices, which probably causes the calorie count to sky rocket but I don't care because I LOVE IT.

Second confusion: Gyros are shawarma. I guess this is really a matter of semantics. From what I understand, "gyro" is a Greek term, but the ingredients are similar. However, in order for a dish to be called "shawarma," the meat has to come from this:

The log-o-meat. This meat is carved from the rotating bulk of flesh and spices and then either served on a plate with rice and hummus (which is called a shawarma dish here), or turned in to a wrap (which is just called shawarma or shawarma sandwich). Shawarma does not come in a pita, like a gyro. But gyros have the same kind of meat.

I'm not trying to be a food snob, just trying to clarify for anybody who might travel to this region in the future or befriend an Arab that's fresh off the boat. This was one of those things that the Mister and I thought we knew before coming here. That was not the case, and I'm sharing that experience with you.

Vicariously yours,

The long trek to skinny-dom continues

I'm like a stinkin' Jenny Craig commercial. Since adolescence, my weight has yo-yo'd and I've gone through so many healthy phases, I'm sure my body just laughs when I declare that I've made a change in my lifestyle and I'm going to stay thin. For example, I dropped 20 pounds my freshman year of college (a nice anomaly in comparison to the usual reality), and by senior year I'd put the 20 back on and then some. Like every bride, I slimmed down for my wedding, and three years later I've put the inches back on and more.

Part of my motivation for starting this latest health kick is my location. At home, if a lady puts on a little weight, most people say nothing. They just sit in silent judgement as she helps herself to another round at the food table at the company Christmas party . There is always the uncouth co-worker who asks the newlywed if she's pregnant, but that often just causes your best friends to tell you what an idiot she is as they help you with your latest Ben and Jerry's therapy session.

But NOT in Saudi! H'oh boy! My co-workers are frank! Here's a for-instance: I was in the accounting office a few weeks ago, looking at the wall calendar and talking to the ladies about the holidays. The Mister and I will be arriving back just after Ramadan ends and I was lamenting the fact that I wouldn't get the chance to experience the yummy food at a real Saudi iftar.

"Well, that's probably a good thing. You don't need to go to an iftar, you're getting fat. I'm sorry to say it, but it's true," one of the accountants said as the other ladies in the office nodded in agreement.

Wow. She really put it out there. I've also had other Saudi co-workers mention that I'm getting a little hefty. This isn't news to me, I own a mirror, but the fact that so many people are pointing it out now definitely serves as motivation to get off the couch!!

I've decided to do the SELF Drop 10 challenge as my weight loss plan. It's really handy because they send you your workout and meal plans, and you don't have to be a member of a gym to get it done. I've only been on this ride for a week, but I've already lost a few pounds. The challenge isn't the getting up at 4:30 to work out before work--a personal decision, not a recommendation of the program. The challenge is the meals!

Because SELF is an American magazine, they've partnered with American food companies and have added things like Panera Bread and Dunkin' Donuts to their meal plans. There are also American-specific grocery brands, and those aren't easily found in the stores in Saudi Arabia. Add to that the fact that carbs are the Arabs' best friend and you can imagine my struggle to stay on the wagon. No problem. I'll just use a calorie calculator on the internet and tally up the calories myself...

Have you ever tried to look up the calorie count for an Indian dish you can't even spell!? It's really difficult, trust me.

I didn't think losing weight would ever be harder than it was in the States, but the obstacles have certainly found me! I'm getting to flex my culinary muscles and be creative with some of the SELF recipes, but I'm getting it done.

In the meantime, I'm just sticking with my workouts with my personal trainer (Kinect + Your Shape: Fitness Evolved), doing the SELF workouts, and trying to be a good girl.

MUCH easier said than done.

Vicariously yours,

Calories Shmalories. It doesn't matter in Saudi.

This country seems to be a land of contradictions. Women have to cover up to go in public, but television is rife with sexual messages. Education is "valued", but students don't come to school on the first day after a break because "nothing important happens." The country's government is spending money on "green construction," but the citizens litter and waste.

Another contradiction that's especially annoying to me at the moment is the fact that Saudis seem to be so concerned with weight, but there are no stinkin' nutrition labels ANYWHERE!

The Mister and I are trying to lose weight. After binging and bulging since our arrival in September, we've finally come to grips with the fact that we need to get serious about our health and drop a few pounds. That and the fact that we'll be spending a week this summer on the beach with the Mister's svelte brother and his supermodel-proportioned wife. If I said the intimidation factor wasn't playing a part in our desire to slim down, I'd be lying.

As I'm sure any wife can understand, I hate my husband's metabolism. All he has to do is sneeze with a little gusto and he drops 10 pounds. He's just been running and doing a little strength training since we returned from Berlin and he's already lost a few inches.

I, meanwhile, am going to be taking a whole-body approach and really monitor my caloric intake and try to vary my workouts so I can get the most benefit. As a woman in Saudi Arabia, I'm already discouraged.

Unless I'm buying items imported from the West, I cannot find nutritional information on any food items in the grocery store. I can't go for a run without wearing my abaya and hijab and let's be honest, that just ain't happening. Joining a gym is very expensive and very intimidating, from what I've heard (think high school locker room, but with overly oppressed women and NO men).

I'm so frustrated already, but I'm determined to at least get back to my pre-Saudi weight. Through cunning use of the Google and a little clever math, I've found some calorie calculators, and I'm ready to tackle this challenge.

Here's hoping!

Vicariously yours,

The Royal Saudi treatment.

Well, folks. It finally happened. We've been living here for 4 months, and I've finally had a real Saudi meal with a real Saudi in a real Saudi house. After school on Wednesday, another colleague and I had the immense pleasure of going to the home of our English cluster secretary and having lunch.

We arrived at her house in a suburb of Dammam, and we were immediately greeted with the smell of burned incense and yummy food. I later found out that we had entered through the formal entrance. The entrance that men use when her family is entertaining mixed company. Her mother had decorated the house and the parlor was so Saudi, and so wonderful!

I don't know if it's because timber is hard to come by or if it's just the cheaper building material, but houses in Saudi are made almost completely out of concrete. Even the crown molding is concrete, but in our secretary's house, the molding had been painted to look like wood, and it was totally believable! There were big lounging sofas and comfy chairs and the whole room just felt so warm and rich.

What I didn't realize was while we were enjoying Arabic coffee and dates, her mom was putting lunch on the table. A door was opened and a beautifully set table was in front of us! We had a Saudi dish that sounded like it as called "MacGrueber," but of course it wasn't. Now that I'm trying to remember the correct Arabic pronunciation of the word, all I can remember is "MacGrueber." Anyway, the word means "upside down" in Arabic because to make the dish, you layer rice, eggplant, potatoes, and chicken and when everything is ready, you turn the pot upside down and there you go!

Yes, all of this was made by her mother.

It was so great! We had a fantastic meal together learning about each other's cultures. Our secretary is such a dynamic woman and she was a fantastic host. We had a wonderful meal, got to meet some of her family, and she even packed a doggie bag for the Mister because he was jealous to be missing out on the authentic Saudi goodness!

A few things I learned about Saudi culture:

• While enjoying Arabic coffee with guests, the hostess is to fill the cups from right to left.
• If a guest finishes her coffee and wants more, she shakes the empty cup to indicate the hostess should refill. This is not considered to be rude, contrary to the custom in the US when a restaurant patron shakes the ice in his empty glass and mutters his frustration about the service under his breath.
• There is no welcome wagon in Saudi. If a new family moves in to a neighborhood, the neighbors do not introduce themselves with covered dishes and helpful hints on where to get your groceries. Instead, the patriarch of the family meets other heads-of-households at the nearby mosque and then invites families over for a meal at his house. When I asked what would happen if I just knocked on the door of our Saudi neighbors to introduce ourselves, our secretary told us that I would be suspected of being a thief or some sort of crazy woman.

Vicariously yours,

in which I eat lunch with an Egyptian, a Syrian, and a Tunisian

Okay, so I'm using the word "lunch" about as loosely as one can. As most schoolfolk around the world do, we eat basically whenever we can, which sometimes means 8ish or 9ish AM. At my current school, it's even more sporadic because we don't necessarily have the same lunch hour everyday. So there's not a table that I go to with the same teachers everyday. At first it was kind of annoying, but I've grown to really enjoy eating with whoever is around. It has led me to some pretty interesting conversations and gastronomical adventures.

Things I have learned/observed/discovered while eating lunch with my co-workers:

1.) Fool: While the images of fool I could find on Google made it appear far too much like cat food, it is one of the most delicious things I've had in the Middle East. It is, as one of my co-workers told me, kind of like hummus for breakfast. It's basically fava beans that has been mashed up, spiced up, heated up, and then doused in olive oil (as is everything here, and yes, I'll get to that) and served with bread for dipping. There are different styles, primarily Jordanian and Egyptian, but one thing is for sure: It. Is. Awesome. The only problem with fool is that you immediately want to take an hour long nap after you eat it. But I literally cannot help myself.

2.) Bread and cheese combinations: Oh man, do they love this one. Now, when I say bread and cheese, I mean any kind of bread, and any kind of cheese. I have seen everything from sliced white bread with american cheese (plain, ew) to hand-baked bread with a kind of delicious goat cheese melted in the middle. Most of the teachers that bring their lunch have some fruit (usually an apple) and two what I can only describe as hoagie rolls filled with either a crumbly cheese or the laughing cow stuff (or as it's called here and I think everywhere else, "la vache qui rit"). The two reasons that I have observed for this are: 1.) it's cheap and 2.) it's tasty. Khalass. (finished)

3.) I have never seen so many grown men drinking juice boxes. (I think that one is self-explanatory)

One can only assume it's their love of soccer that explains the juice boxes and orange slices.

4.) The absolute BEST olive oil in the WORLD comes from Jordan and Palestine: Just so you know. I was eating some hummus and pita from our "canteen" (catered cafeteria booth) and enjoying it with the normal oil that's on it when one of my Jordanian co-workers (who actually went to TSU...which is an odd coincidence) told me this fact. I told him that I had never had it. Suddenly, I grew a set of antlers...or I must have for the way that he looked at me. He then shot up to his little cubby and proceded to drown my hummus in his secret stash of Jordanian olive oil. All nationalist pride aside...the olive oil from Jordan is pretty much amazing. I even asked a colleague who was travelling to Jordan to bring me back some...it's real good.

5.) Arabs love to share food: My favorite thing to tease my colleagues about is the way they care so much about gaining weight. "You have to only eat vegetables..." "I used to run 12 kilometers a day..." "These pants used to fit..." Southern women got nothing on Arab men. The number one thing I heard when I got here was "You'll gain weight here...maybe...10 kilos..." The main culprit for them is kabse (a rice and grilled chicken dish that sounds deceptively healthy). However, I think it's because they offer whatever they have to anyone who is around. And they INSIST that you eat it. And EVERYONE does it. So you might have 3 half lunches...that's a lot of food! I was chatting with an Egyptian colleague when he bought some fool from the canteen and extra bread for us to share. Then a Syrian co-worker came up and started to dig in after it was offered to him. Then HE bought an order of fool and expected us to eat his as well. So by the time we were done, I had eaten about 1.5 containers of fool. I was in the food coma danger zone...at like 9:45 AM. I have been offered a half of a cucumber, cookies, tons (literally) of bread, all of the tea in China...it got to the point where I felt that I needed to avoid the teacher workroom so that I didn't become the world's fattest man. People never realize from the news or movies how giving and gracious Arabs are. It is one of the things that makes them the most hospitable people on the planet. The greatest thing about this though is that it's made me more generous with my stuff. Always a good thing to develop.

6.) An understanding of the Arab world that I could never get from a newspaper or book: I'm sure that this elicits a forehead smacking "duh!" from most of you, but I had no idea about some of the stuff going on in these countries. Like the unemployment riots in Tunisia that are going on now...I work with several Tunisians who explained why they live and work in KSA and it has a lot to do with the employment situation there. In Egypt, President Mubarak just got "re-elected"...again. It's a similar political situation in Tunisia. Seeing the pain in someone's eyes as they talk about how things are in their home countries makes what I read about in the news resonate with me. It's become something that I want to know about...I have news feeds on Google News for Jordan, KSA, Tunisia, and Egypt. But the most amazing thing is the way these guys are so resilient. A lot of them live here while their wives and kids are back in their home countries. They're all committed to working with these kids and making them great students while still having to juggle their long distance marriages and fatherhoods. Amazing.

And to think I got all this over fool and a juice box...

Vicariously yours,

Alton Brown would blush

If I'm honest with myself, I admit that I'm addicted to food. And like any good addict, I look for a someone or something to take the blame for my ballooning weight. Usually the blame is being declared between bites of ice cream or on my way to the Burger King.

Since moving to Saudi Arabia, I've grown an extra chin and tacked on a few more inches. The scapegoat for this phenomenon? My colleagues. I never have to worry about bringing food for lunch because the wonderful Indian and Pakistani ladies that I work with provide me with an exotic feast every day. My tolerance for spicy food rivals that of any native Indian, and I have developed and unhealthy appreciation for the chapati. All thanks to the exotic, savory, flavorful dishes they bring every day.

After eating and eating...and eating, a few months into the school year I decided that I should start contributing to the daily feast. I started by bringing the leftovers from a chicken stew that the Mister and I had one night. The tomato sauce was mixed with the rice and it had various spices and sauteed onions.

"...mmm. Amber. It's so....yummy," my polite coworkers cordially commented. I noticed that the container with the curry vegetables was practically licked clean as I was securing the lid on my still-almost-full plastic bin at the end of the day.

I tried again on New Year's Day. I brought in a Southern tradition: Hoppin John and collard greens! Granted, there is no pork in the Kingdom, so the greens were a little bland and the Hoppin John looked more like and Egyptian dish than a Southern delicacy, but my colleagues humored me and tried both dishes. I ended up eating the lion-share of the collards.

I didn't even introduce them to my Granny's chicken casserole. I just ate all those leftovers myself.

But I decided to keep trying. They've expanded my culinary horizons, I should try to expand theirs. So yesterday, I brought in Sunday night's leftovers.

I had recess duty, so I wasn't in the room when they served up our improvised lunch. After I returned to the English cluster, I was greeted with, "AMBER! This dish you have brought! It is so yummy yummy! How did you make it so flavorful? The texture is just perfect! I've never had anything like this! Thank you so much from bringing it in!"

They raved! They cleaned the dish, they asked for the recipe, they chattered away about it for at least two class periods.

As one of them was tying her hijab to leave at the end of the day she asked, "Amber, this dish you brought. What do you call it?"

"Broccoli casserole."

How funny that a simple, classic American dish was such a hit with my exotic counterparts!

Vicariously yours,

In here, it's always Friday....whatdoesthatevenmean!?

Despite what you might think, Saudi Arabia is full of American influences. I see more GM cars on the road here than I ever did at home--and I used to live just miles away from a Saturn plant! Turn on the TV and most of your choices are in English and are American. They have McDonald's, Burger King, Starbucks, and boy howdy do they love KFC!

So if the Mister and I get a hankerin' for some home goodness, we just go out to eat! We typically eat at American restaurants for two reasons: 1). We know we'll find something on the menu that we'll like, and 2). There's a very very good chance that the staff will speak close-to-fluent English. We're all for experimenting and trying new foods, but on date night, it's just easier to avoid the language barrier.

Last night we went to T.G.I.Fridays. From the exterior, it looks just like a Fridays at home...except that there's a Family Section door and a Single Section door....so it's kind of like two restaurants in one. Plus, if you look just past the building toward the public park that is on the waterfront, you'll see men sitting in plastic chairs and smoking the hookah, a couple on a little rug burning a campfire so they can share a pot of tea, and children running up and down the sea wall, inches from a fall into the Arabian Gulf.

It's just like a Fridays at home!

I got a little chuckle as we walked under the "In here, it's always Friday" sign that hangs over the Family Section door. In the Kingdom, Friday is like Sunday. It's the day of worship. The day you wake up from your afternoon nap and realize you have to go back to work tomorrow. Fridays are not fun and exciting here. The sign should read "In here, it's always Wednesday."

You walk through the door and it's just like a Fridays at home. There are tchotchkes on the wall:

The severs are dressed in stripes with flair and backwards hats. And the menu looks just the same:

Well, sorta. This is actually the placemat. Our server picked up on our Whiteness and gave us English only menus. Everything on the table was in English on one side, and Arabic on the other.

There are a few things that a TGIFridays in Saudi Arabia has that you won't find in America:

Mint lemonade (or, as the receipt said "Lemodade")!! Now, at home, this would be an overpriced drink consisting of nasty Minute Maid yellow stuff with a sprig or two of mint "muddled" at the bottom of the glass. But in Saudi Arabia it's an overpriced drink consisting of fresh, hand-made lemonade which is then put into a blender with a sprig or two of mint and then combined into a heavenly concoction that I love love love!!

They don't even mess with ice! Just the minty, citrusy goodness of the two ingredients having a party in my glass and then all the way into my belly!

Another menu item that I suspect is not available at home:

Ice cream fondue! I'm not sure if this dessert is up for purchase at home, but the fondue craze has just hit Saudi Arabia, and it seems like every restaurant is adding a fondue dish to its menu. Fridays is no exception. We didn't buy it--it's more than $10!!--but it certainly looks yummy!

Last night's date night was a success--the hubbins got a bacon burger (beef bacon), and I got the garlic chicken pasta...just like we would at home. Globalization: hate it or love it, it's alive and well in the Kingdom. We're grateful that Saudi offers us a little taste of home when we need a fix.

Vicariously yours,

We needed a little Christmas

You may think this update is late, but it's just been traveling on Saudi time. So in fact it's a little early.

Suckas.

This year, I was fully prepared for a Christmas filled with tears and homesickness, but for me that was not the case at all! (Moms, the Mister was longing for a tender Tennessee Christmas, so he missed ya'll enough for the both of us.)

I made an effort to incorporate some of our traditions from home so this holiday wouldn't feel so foreign, so--after a very late night run to the grocery store-- on Christmas Eve, I prepared the breakfast casserole. Technically, it was so late it was Christmas morning, but let's not split hairs.

No pork in the Kingdom = no pork sausage, so this is the lamb sausage I used for the breakfast casserole. I tried not to think of this image as I was eating the casserole on Christmas morning. It looked every bit like a skillet full of cat poop as this picture suggests.

I played the role of matriarch this year and got up before everyone else (all one of 'em) and put the breakfast in the oven. The breakfast casserole is a tradition my family started when we stopped going to my grandparents' house for Christmas morning. Other than the sausage, which was hard enough to locate, it's got some pretty easy-to-find ingredients. Eggs, bread, cheese and milk will pretty much be found in any grocery store anywhere in the world.

The hubbins had monkey bread every Christmas morning with his family, so I got to learn how to make monkey bread for the first time this year! In America, this wouldn't be such a difficult task...But we're not in America, now are we? I searched for the canned biscuits that are the actual bread of the monkey bread, but I couldn't find any. Thankfully, the Mister knows about the secret "American refrigerated stuff" aisle, and Christmas was saved! Other typically American items, not so easy to find.

Exhibit A:

This is not brown sugar. It's just sugar that is brown. Like the unrefined cane sugar. Shopping in the Kingdom is fun!

Exhibit B:

Couldn't find the cinnamon powder, so I had to make my own! This is remarkably easier than I ever thought it would be, but I certainly missed the convenience of just opening the cinnamon shaker. Especially while half awake in my pajamas on Christmas morning.

Exhibit C:

The monkey bread has to be cooked in a bundt pan or an angel food cake pan...both are foreign concepts here, apparently. So I had to get creative a make one of my own! We stuck a glass in the middle of our ikea saucepan and hoped for the best! (We wrapped it in aluminum foil in case the heat made it break. Can't have monkey bread with glass shrapnel, now can we?)

It all worked out in the end, and the hubs and I had a little familiarity on Christmas morning.

We invited the housemates over for Christmas breakfast and some games. We read the Christmas story, nommed on some faux sausage, and worked off the calories with a few rounds of Kinect.

It was a really great first Christmas abroad. We were surrounded by great people, and we got to Skype with our family several times. I look forward to making more Christmas traditions that are uniquely ours, as only living abroad can force you to do.

Vicariously yours,

P.S. We bought ourselves a little treat as a Christmas present:

Dr. Pepper is super expensive here, so we don't get to drink it very often!

I'm a little intimidated by the food here

If ever the Mister and I need a reminder that we are living in a foreign country, we just need to head to the grocery store. Granted, there are a lot of familiar objects like Ritz crackers and ramen noodles, but there are SO many new things, every time we go grocery shopping, it's like walking down the Silk Road with friggin' Marco Polo! There are spices I never knew existed, lots of new smells, and not a single Rice a Roni or Hamburger Helper in the whole joint!

We shop at a grocery store that caters more to the Indian/Bangladeshi/Filipino expats of Saudi Arabia rather than actual Saudis, so not everything we see is unique to Saudi Arabia. But boy is it still weird!

Case in point:

The purple mangosteen.

I spotted this freakish fruit in our first few trips to the grocery store, and I really wanted to buy it...but I was too intimidated. I didn't know if you peel it, boil it, juice it, or all three! I wasn't sure which parts were edible and/or tasty. So I just watched in envy as the Thai, Filipino and Indonesian grocery patrons snatched these bad boys up.

Then the newest addition to the English staff--who had lived in Indonesia for two years and enjoyed the mangosteen frequently--introduced me to the odd fruit.

As you can see, this fruit has very little in common with the mango. In fact, in all my extensive research (read: scanning the wikipedia article), I couldn't find any relationship between the mango and the mangosteen.

Anyway, you're probably wondering how you go about eating this bad boy. Lemme show you.

There's kind of a hard shell, which you punch through with your thumb.

Then you kinda dig down a little bit and pull the bright pink, juicy rind away from the fruit.

The white part is the edible part. It's in sections, like an albino mandarin orange encapsulated in a fleshy pink crust. It's really really juicy.

I kind of tastes like really highly concentrated mixed fruit Kool-Aid. It's very very sweet, so it's a good thing the edible part is so small.

So there you have it folks, a food item that I'd never experienced until coming to Saudi Arabia.

Vicariously yours,

For real this time

Oh my goodness, you never know just how dependent you are on the internet until you can't update your status or blog for an entire week! I've been thinking to witty blog topics and fun tweets all week long, but had no way to share them all with you!

We have SOOO many stories to tell! I don't even know where to start! I'll just go with what's fresh on my mind:

WE FINALLY GOT BLACKBERRIES!!!

The hubs and I just got back from a part of town that I have dubbed "gadget row" because of all the cell phone stores on both sides of the street. Seriously. You walk out of a cell phone shop, and next door is another cell phone shop. The street is dotted with the occasional broasted chicken establishment (broasted = fried), but literally everything else on the street is a cell phone store.

We never would have been able to get our phones for so cheap if we weren't with a new friend from work. He is Yemeni, and thus speaks Arabic, so we weren't taken to the cleaners. That has by far been the most frustrating part of living here so far: the language barrier. There have been so many instances when I knew we were getting over charged, but I didn't know how to haggle with the guy, so we had to pay the exorbitant price.

Anyway, we went into a few shops and bargained for a couple hours, and in the end we both walked away with shiny used BlackBerries. I have exactly two contacts in my phone: The Mister, and my own phone number. It's kind of a depressing reminder that we need to make friends.

After we got our phones, we went to the Golden Juice to get the world's best shawarma sandwiches and the best fresh juice I've ever put in my mouth. People, you have never tasted juice until you've had this stuff! I got the "France Juice." I'm not entirely sure which part of the concoction was French, but golly it was amazing! It was mango, orange, apple and pineapple juices--literally freshly squeezed on the spot. Oh. my. heavens. SO GOOD!

We'll be posting photos of our new digs soon, but only after we've settled in more. The walls are really bare and there is still furniture to be moved in. So after I apply my extensive interior design skillz (thank you, HGTV), I'll take all of you on a "tour."

Vicariously yours,