I'm talking meat again...

I do miss my bacon sarnies... crispy grilled smoked streaky bacon plonked on the buttered bread whilst still hot.... I can almost smell it!! I figure I can adapt to most things but the range and quality of meats available to you here are a sad disappointment, especially as you tend to have to pay quite a lot for them. I guess I have been spoiled by the shelves and shelves of each sort in my local Tesco or Asda.... that does not happen here. I go to the supermarket mostly on a Thursday evening when Chris gets home from work (remember I am not allowed to drive and we play the try and shop between calls to prayers game) and my heart drops when I get to the meat section. There will be half a dozen packs of fresh chicken breast, some whole chickens the size of a large grapefruit, a few pieces of beef, maybe a couple of packets of lamb, the cut of which mystifies me, as I have yet to see a lamb chop or rack and have no idea what they do with those cuts!! Yesterday I popped into the little mini mart in the compound and picked up a pack of frozen chicken breasts for our tea.

It says they have come all the way from Brazil and then I took another look....

hmmmmm, a case of too much info? I had images of a very cross Brazillian with a large sharp knife in a chicken coop doing his worst....

and this is what is next to me when I am preparing the food... who can resist that face???

We had a sand storm for a couple of day last week... they are not fun, hot and dry and the finest specs of sand whirling around and getting everywhere. This is Chris in his sandstorm headgear!! LOL - the smiley face is so no one will think he is a bank robber!!

Oh and the chicken breast weren't too bad.... you should give this a try...

• Get a medium sized ziplock bag.
• Pour in a good dollop of virgin olive oil
• add a good splash of soya sauce
• add about a tablespoon of honey
• grate some ginger and add it to the bag too.
• Squish a clove of garlic and add that.
• Pepper sprinkled on the top

Add your chicken breasts to the concoction and makes ure they are well covered with the gloopy stuff, zip bag shut and let chicken marinate for a an hour or so (longer if you want). Then remove the chicken from the bag and lightly cook in a large frying pan for about 5 minutes on each side.... serve with a side salad and fried rice. Its actually very yummy!

Al Khobar again!

So off we go to Al Khobar on Friday afternoon arriving at our designated place at about 4 o'clock when the shops all open. I had heard good things about Desert Designs and new that this was one shop I wanted to visit!!

Now, I am sure I have mentioned on previous occasions that driving here is 'interesting' - the Saudi's have no lane control, no speed control, in fact, on a whole... I think they give Saudi driving licences out for collecting 3 tops off your favourite cereal packet! So the hour and half to get to Khobar isn't too bad as it motorway-ish... but once you hit the city limits it is literally each man for himself (women are a lesser species and we aren't allowed to drive) and I swear Chris closes his eyes and puts his foot down in the hope that he will come out the other side. As an example of driving here.... on the traffic lights in Khobar they have countdown timers to tell people just how long they are expected to wait at the lights when red!! I kid you not... I know the rest of the driving world just sits at the red light and waits for it to change... but this does not work here... if it stays red 'too long' they figure its broken and just go for it!!! So the timers are to tell them that the light isn't 'stuck on red' and they only have to wait so many more seconds before it will politely change green for them.... then they are free to cut the other three lanes up, do U-turns, and basically break all the rules of the road till they get to the next traffic light!!

71 seconds to go....

57 seconds to go....

38 seconds to go.... rev engine, release hand brake and start creeping forward.... LOL

Desert Designs, a shop full of all the lovely Arabian furniture and knick knacks!! Yahooooo!
I cam home with 2 pretty little side tables with glass tops, a lovely curved chair/stool, a Persian runner...


Don't you love the stool? I found a tapestry cushion that fits into it perfectly and when I got to the check-out there was a cute camel (who has since been named Humphrey by Chris) added to pile...

My Persian runner... for my long hallway in the house in Scotland.

Valentines Day is coming...

If there is one thing you won't find in the shops out here it is a Valentine's card... they are deemed as the root of all evil, encouraging doubtful relationships between the sexes. What a bunch of party poopers! So I have been sat here this afternoon making some - nothing amazing, as you all know, I am not a card maker!! I'll give them to Chris to take into work and see if he can strong arm a few of the guys to part with a few Riyals for them.... depending on whether they want to come home from work and actually have dinner cooked for them on Saturday!!! LOL

Been Playing About...

I made these for my two neighbours, a pair each. They are on chipboard and have stands on the back so will display quite nicely.

LO I did for the UK Scrappers cyber crop weekend. Loved this class, had such fun with the frame.

Another LO from a class which I thoroughly enjoyed. The tag sits behind the mat of the photograph.

I love this photo of Gypsy's paw...

I am sooo gullible...

Is it just me that reads emails with ‘great tips’ and ‘amazing facts’ and believes them wholeheartedly or are there other gullible souls out there in blogland?

Treatment: To stop night time coughing in a child (or an adult, as we found out personally), put Vicks Vapor Rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime and then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about five minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. This works 100 percent of the time, and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly. It was a surprising finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, and in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly. My friend tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago, and it worked 100 percent! She said it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her. The coughing stopped in a few minutes, and believe me this was a deep (incredibly annoying!) every few seconds, uncontrollable cough and she slept cough-free for hours every night she used it.

I have received the email about Vicks VapoRub a few times from various friends in the past couple of months and being someone who spent the last 2 weeks racked with a nasty cough that keeps me up most nights, I thought I would give it a go. Of course, when you want a tub of Vicks VapoRub in the medicine cabinet... it is never there, so I had to go and buy one for the equivalent of just over £2 – which would be a bargain if it worked. Had my shower before bedtime and Chris obliging rubbed said VapoRub into the soles of my feet and duly put the socks on as the email behest me to do and then scooched down into the duvet waiting for this particular Vicks magic to unfold. Waited 10 minutes for the ‘warm enveloping blanket’ to wrap itself round my weary body and send me off into cough free slumber...

OK... reality check... let’s look at the facts, it’s about 22 degrees indoors, I have a bit of a fever, I am knackered, I am under a duvet and my feet are now hot... very hot and I am wearing socks in bed and I am still coughing! My feet turn into cool spot seeking missiles... I have them hanging out of the side of bed in hope of a cool breeze, and did I mention I am still coughing? After 45 minutes of roasted feet, I threw the socks out of the bed, I stood on the cold tiles to reduce the temp, I took another dose of cough mixture... and I was still coughing!

I never did get the comforting blanket enveloping me into a cough free sleep... now where’s that email about the amazing things you can do with Coke....

Disaster Recovery Album

I have been meaning to make one of these for my computer disks for quite a while. There is nothing worse than your PC crashing and then having to go and hunt down all the disks to reboot and re-install your stuff. Now I have them in one mini book and know where to find them all!