My life as an Expat: September 2013

Monday, September 30, 2013

Cooking 201

So I know my last blog was a short time ago (a week? ha!) and it's kinda odd to self advance myself so quickly and I REALLY promise I am not going to obsessively talk about recipes or my cooking labors, BUT just HAD to share last weekends cooking extravaganza. Because I covered for someone the week before, my schedule worked out to have a 3-day weekend! Ahhh..... sooooooooooooooooooooooooo nice. So as I had plenty of time on my hands, I decided to go a little more elaborate (for me) with my new found interest in cooking.

My weekly menu was going to be....

-Roasted red pepper zucchini soup

-BEAN burgers!!!

Okay, I know it doesn't seem or sound that exciting, but what made these things a bit different was that it was all vegan, dairy, and gluten free! AND, there definitely was an EASY way to do it and a hard way, and I actually went with the hard way! For example, for the red peppers, yes, I could have easily gone with jarred roasted red peppers and fine, I'll admit I did look for it at the store and just couldn't find it, BUT went to the efforts of roasting the red peppers, doing the whole skin burning thing, then steaming thing, to then peel off the covering. The smell was delish! Hmm... now that i'm writing this, it really doesn't sound that exciting or an effort, but it was! This is all new to me, NOT taking the easy way out with cooking and just cooking it self.

As for the BEAN burgers, why was I obsessed with this? Well, I'm ALL about protein. Loooove meat because I feel full from the protein (if I ever eat salads, I'm hungry again like 10 minutes later) and sorry, can't live without it. I had a few weeks of only chicken, which I loved, but they say chicken has a lot of hormones. Fine. So then I tried beef, but beef is red meat and also fatty and not the best for you. Blah blah blah, can we ever win?? People kept on talking about beans, but I am just NOT into salad's, chili soups are not that fun for me, and what to do? Then one fine day I thought, why not bean burgers? I ended up finding what seemed like a fairly straight-forward, no fancy ingredient "Mediterranean Bean Burger" recipe that was from a vegan woman. It was all raw ingredients, which oddly I like, AND it used an equipment piece that I already had, a food processor! Although I had to google what "pulsing" meant (quick spurts of processing or blending), lo and behold there was this even a "P" switch on my food processor (which actually, at the time I just wanted a blender, and I have NO idea how it switched in my head to get a combo unit, but hey, one of the best purchases I've bought! And I NEVER noticed that "P" thing before), and did the whole pulsing thing. When it was all into it's patty form, yes, I could have put it on the pan, but after all this work to make it so healthy, went with the whole oven thing. Which was great!

The other thing that I self-advanced, he he, myself to "201" is that this WHOLE time (okay, like a month) that I've been cooking, I've followed each and every recipe to the T. If they say "simmer for 10 minutes" I set my timer for 10 minutes exactly. I don't know enough to play around or get creative, and just don't feel comfortable doing that... especially since things take me FOREEEVVVEEERRR and if I wasted all this time for nothing by ruining something, I would just die! Sooo.. I know it's not as exciting as it sounds, but to 'spice' up the bean burgers, I added more fresh cut up red peppers then advised (gasp!) and also onions to the mix! Put it above and below the burger and also baked extra to add some flavor to it, and really, are cooked onions not the BEST THING EVER?!!??!

Soooooooooooooo.... all this turned out splendid and I am happily enjoying my week's home cooked meal! I might be 'stuck' in this 201 for awhile, but more fun with recipes and cooking ahead!!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Cooking 101

Well folks, it's come that time. 30 something years (hehe) of my life later, I decide to take an interest in cooking. This may seem similar to a blog I wrote a little over a year ago about my discovery of steaming. That changed my eating life and a year or so later, it came a time for change. As steaming isn't that difficult, really, buy fresh chicken (yes, as odd as it sounds, I steam chicken) and fish along with some veggies (carrots, broccoli, zuccini), slice it up, and then just place it on the steamer. Wah-la, how easy can it get? Hence, my obsession with it. HOWEVER, no joke, more than a year later of ONLY doing steaming, literally just alternating steamed chicken and fish and some veggies, when I came back from my recent trip, I literally wanted to vomit at the thought of steaming. Can I say burned out? Once I realized that eating should be enjoyable, it came time for a change.

From last year when I was telling everyone who would listen about my steaming, one word kept on coming up over and over again. I ignored it and said, "wait wait wait, one thing at at time." But then once this magic word was mentioned when I was going through my steaming revolt, my ears perked up and I actually listened and thought, "hey, this doesn't sound too bad... maybe I'll give it a try." What's this magic word? ROASTING!!!!!

Besides the usual surprise of me not ever cooking until I came to Dubai, then that I steam chicken, that I only ate steamed food for a year, this one was the kicker - I've never EVER used an oven. BUT, to give myself a teeny weeny bit of credit, I've never seen my mom use an oven either (confirmed with her later) and when I think about my childhood, I won't deny the oven was used, but very rarely - usually for the typical Serbian dish of gibanitza (yummmy). So as obsessions go, one free weekend I decided to give it a go. Actually, the prep wasn't too different from steaming, BUT you can be more fun with roasting... with the chicken you can put onions on it, lemon, seasoning, sooo many different things!

I had a kind of sitcom type moment with the oven itself. When I turned it on, all I heard was a fan, and just left it at that. Then 15 min later I check, and the oven is dead cold. What? I play around with it and still nothing. I had a brief moment of panic because I had everything for my 1st roast ready to go, so I decided to call the maintenance to have it checked. Yes, I really did! The oven didn't looked even used at all, and I didn't want to risk any explosions or anything. A few minutes later the trusted maintenance guy comes around and trying not to look too stupid, I just say it's not working (not saying I don't know how to use it!). Thank gawd that it took him several attempts (phew, at least it wasn't just one!) to turn it on... ah ha! A upper and lower little fire was lit. At that point I didn't even know if it was electric or gas (gas), he he. So after it was up and running, I felt I still have some prep to do so I turned it off and he merrily left, as this was a very easy work call.

When I'm nearing to be done, I remember to pre-heat the oven (Seeeeeeee?) and.... nothing. What? I try and try and nothing. It was just working like 10 minutes ago! I then get my little lighter and try, and nothing. So I then call a friend and we are talking through it as I'm fumbling around. Then she stops mid-sentence and says, "where are you?" I say "I'm trying to light the oven" and then she asks if it's gas or electric and how I was lighting it. "My head's in the oven, I'm trying to light the little flame here." And then she starts shouting (rightly!), "get your head out of the oven! You could accidentally turn on something and it can explode in your face!" I didn't even realize how stupid I was by literally having my head in the oven trying to light the stupid oven! OMG (yes, I am blond!). I of course then felt then lightheaded and slightly dizzy after this and slightly panicked, but I'm still alive and well and somehow I got the oven turned on, without gassing myself. Phew!

Then with the trusted help over skype of my friend (all the way from NYC), I successfully completed my 1st ever roast, and it was delicious!!!

Can I just say how roasted onions are the Best.Thing.Ever?1??!? Soooo good!!!!

Sooo.... I'm not a profesh, so I always forget to take pictures of what I've made, but since that time I've done a couple of different variations of the roasted chicken, roasted beef last weekend, and made some soups also! Broccoli soup and carrot soup. Majority has turned out A-okay and yummy! I now like to eat food again and don't have an aversion to it. Yay! I'm in this phase roasting phase now, but I know I will get back to steaming after a little detox of it and will do a combo thing.

Of course, with cooking, there is always potential for disasters, and I've made some common mistakes (besides not knowing how to turn on the oven, ha!).

-Forgetting to put on the timer and burning things . Oopsy!

-Forgetting to lower the temp after it is pre-heated to a normal temp and again, burning things. Oopsy!

-Forgetting to add some olive oil or even seasoning to the veggies or chicken to keep it moist. Oopsy!

Sooo.... nothing like some trial and error and experimenting! Now I'm somewhat motivated on the experimenting side of things and am going to try bean burgers this weekend (gasp!) and another soup (I love ze soups! It's something I grew up with and I REALLY enjoy).

I have to admit I'm quite proud of myself with this! Whenever I leave Dubai and someone asks what I've taken away from the experience, a big one will be learning how to cook! My interest is now here and my fear is (kinda) gone. I do have to admit I am excessively using google to find out what some ingredients are and what some cooking terminology means (pulsing? Eh?).... but these things take time and practice.

Bon Appetit!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Zanzibar!! (From 5985m Above to) 30 m Below!!

So I copied the Title from this email I sent out about my trip, but it is pretty amazing how again, in one little trip in 1 country, I went 5985m above sea level to 30m below (scuba diving)! My 3rd leg of my Tanzania journey, after Kili and safari's, was Zanzibar!!! Zanzibar is absolutely AMAZING!! I really really loved it! It was ruled by the Oman for many years, and thus has a very prominent Middle Eastern feel and Arabic style, AND is about 95% Muslim. Having said that, it is an interesting mix of Middle Eastern muslims, African muslims, and Indian muslims. So you can imagine how yummy the food is with all these mixes!

I had a bit of a whirlwind trip, but right when I got there, I explored Stone Town, which was really lovely. It is fairly historic (a World Heritage Sight), and with the history of slave trade and commercial trade it, the make-up of the city is cosmopolitan, but with the narrow, twisting streets, almost reminds me of Europe, but then has that Arabian laid back feel with people sitting around chit-chatting, but then it has some hustle and bustle that reminds me of India. Really interesting and I soaked it in as much as I good (as well as the fresh crisp sea air). Below are some pictures of life around Stone Town!

After that brief visit around Stone town, I briskly set off for Matemwe Beach Village, a sea town on the northeast side of the island (about an hour away). There I was met by the calming beach and village life. What I most liked about Zanzibar was how peaceful it is. Most beach places have high rise commercial hotels and just have a superficial feel about it. However, in Zanzibar it is fairly undeveloped and the hotels are mostly quaint really cute lodges, with looooooong white stretch of sand and beautiful crystal clear waters at it's doorstep. I especially loved the local beach life - fishing, picking up seaweed. So simple and so calming and relaxing :-)

View from outside my room :-)

Rainbow!! Always magical!

Picking up the seaweed for export for products such as skin creams, etc.

I found Nemo!! The scuba diving was amazing, really like the movie (my fave), Finding Nemo. Excellent visibility and in tact coral and lovely fish. Most exciting was we 1st saw dolphins on the boat, and then when we were under water, we heard the sound of them... which I've never heard while diving. And then... wah la! This whole group came and just swam right by us! Soooo amazing!!!! (wish I had an underwater camera!)

After a few days scuba diving and lounging around (finally, some relaxation!), I headed to the famous Spice Plantations. Needless to say, I wish I knew more about food and cooking because even the guide was amazed at my lack of knowledge for smells and plants. Oops! So I learned a few things and it was really great seeing where these store bought goods come from!

Heheh, this reminded me of Sri Lanka. You ask about coconut, and then next think you know, someone is climbing a tree, grabs one, skins it, and then you have fresh organic coconut and juice, nothing like it!

Here is the 'dala dala,' aka, the local transport!

The below is a bit out of order (gasp!), but the 1st few days when I came to Zanzibar, I spent in Dar Es Saleem. To be honest, I was a bit lazy because I knew the adventures that were ahead of me (aka, climbing Kili), buuut fortunately, a daughter of an acquaintance (okay, my hair dresser!) is from Tanzania. I contacted her to just get some info about Tanzania, not realizing the Tanzanian hospitality, and the next thing you know, Tia is not only picking up from the airport, but taking me to her home for an Iftar dinner, THEN inviting me to her uncle's Iftar the following evening THEN taking me around town! Sooooooooooooooooo super nice and she is brilliant fun person and I really enjoyed spending time with her. Thanks Tia!!!

Umm... food is important in many cultures, but this feast was too much for little 'ol me and like 3 other people! Banana is a huge staple food here and many of the dishes had banana and plantain flavors.

3+ years ago, I met Paschal (a nephrologist) in India - we were both at CMC, Vellore in India doing respective working and volunteering. He has a crazy interesting life story and I connected to him right away, especially that we share the same birthday (he's just 5 years older!). We had made plans to climb Kili together, but work and life got in his way, so I sadly went without him, but hopefully he will get to go! His family was SUPER cute, OMG, adorable kids, and there came yet another feast!!!

Welp, 3 weeks, 3 different activities, and 3 blogs!!! Phew!!!! Now I need a 3 month break, ha ha! I'm actually, da da dum, going to stay put for a bit! I spent a lot of $$ on travel this year (and also my vacation days!) and now I want to stay put and possibly explore the area around here some more!!

Soo.... stay tuned!

Safari time!!

Tanzania is one of those places where you can do very active things like climb Mt. Kili, but it can also be extremely INactive... which is where safari's come in. Purposely planned for that, but I didn't realize how lazy it would be, after my journey to and from Kili, the next leg was to explore the famous national parks of Tanzania. As my previous blog was rather lengthy and wordy, below is a brief synopsis of my itinerary, which pretty much consisted of game drives and eating.... and eating... and eating :-) Then there are a slew of pictures (again, this is the hard part of choosing "the best" pictures in times like this, really, which lion is more picture worthy? One had his head tilted towards you, the other one was closer, the other one had a unique mane..., etc etc. You get the picture!). So I tried my best!!!

Arusha National Park (stayed at the same hotel I did for before and after the climb, Planet Lodge)

Tarangire National Park (stayed at Sopa Lodge)

Lake Manyara National Park (stayed at Serena Lodge)

Serengeti National Park (stayed at Sopa Lodge)

Ngorongoro National Park (stayed at Sopa Lodge).

Pictures are self-explanatory... may add a tid bit here and there!