Our bizarre trip to Jeddah

We just got back from a trip to Jeddah and I felt like we were in a weird episode of the Twilight Zone, going in constant circles.  We had to go to Jeddah to try to get our visas to go to China for Devin and Shane's wedding celebration in China in September.  There is a Chinese Consulate in Jeddah.  I could not get in touch with them by phone or email.  But Jeddah is closer to us than Riyadh, where the Chinese Embassy is located.  So, we decided we had better get on the stick and get this done.

We got up on Sunday at 3 am and the driver picked us up at 5 am.  It is a 3 hour drive.  We had printed out lots of maps to everywhere we wanted to go.  We tried to go straight to the address on the Chinese consulate website.  Our driver had a hard time finding it and stopped to speak to two cab drivers to find out where it was.  They had no idea of where the Chinese consulate was or where the street listed on the website was located.  And I guess they don't have a dispatch to ask.  He finally found a cabdriver that led us to it and it was a decrepit old gate and the building had been destroyed on the compound.  That was very disappointing. 

So, then  we tried to go to the address that the service manager at Arabian Homes Sierra Compound gave us.  After driving all around and up and down the street, consulting many cabdrivers, there was no such address.  We drove up and down that street and around it. Strike two!

 Finally, we decided to try the Economic and Business Development office for China, another address we also got from the Arabian Homes manager.  We were in the general area and now had consulted 4 cabdrivers.  They were all standing in the street discussing this and pointing in all different directions for 5 minutes.  It was like a circus.  Ken and I just looked at each other in amazement, thinking where would we go next.  Finally, one driver phoned someone and he directed us to it and then Ken spotted the Chinese flag! 

 It is now 11 am and I have had to go to the bathroom for the last two hours! I thought "OK,  there will be a bathroom at the consulate." . We go in and get a number, number 19 and they are on number 10.  Ken asks if there is a bathroom for women and he says No Bathrooms.  I wait another 15 minutes and they are only on 12.  I decide that I have to go to the bathroom or I am going to burst.  So, I go back outside and tell our driver (and his wife who came for the trip) that I have to find a bathroom-maybe a McDonald's.  We start looking-nothing.  It is not as easy as it is at home to find a lady's restroom here.  Then I remember that I saw a mall during our wanderings.  His wife and I go in and it is absolutely deserted because everything is closed during the day for Ramadan.  But she asks a guard and he tells us upstairs.   We find it finally!  That is the best feeling in the world when you get to go to the bathroom after waiting for so long!  According to Ken, relief from a full bladder is on Maslow's Hierarchy of human needs.  :)

 

Then we hustle back to the consulate and they have just taken Ken.  The guy seems to find reasons to reject it:  we don't have an iqama, Ken explains we have 5 year multiple entry visas.  He doesn't understand why Ken's was for 1800 days and mine was for 1700.  Ken explains that he came before me.  He says we don't have 3 months of bank statements and pushed the paperwork back to Ken.  Ken calmly pushes the paperwork back and says that we do, just look at the next pages.  He says are you sure that you are just coming for 10 days.  Ken takes out a wedding picture of Shane and Devin and explains about the wedding celebration.  He says OK, he is going to go in the back, but turns and says Are you sure you are just going to be here for 10 days?  Ken says yes.  So he says come back on Tuesday morning.  Now, we had to find Arabian Homes, where we are staying in Jeddah. We had printed out several maps of where the Chinese consulate was supposed to be, where Arabian homes was, etc.  But it turns out, that I am not sure that our driver can read maps.  We finally found it.  They didn't want to check us in until 2 pm.  It was around 12:30.  Thank goodness that Patrick had given Ken a contact name.  We went upstairs and he took care of us and got us checked in.  Then we went to eat at their restaurant, which was nice.  I had wanted to go shopping for my dress for the wedding, but because of Ramadan, the malls don't open until after 9:30 pm.  So we scheduled the driver to pick us up at 9:30 pm and just crashed. 

When he picks us up that night and we get to the main intersection, it is major gridlock ALL THE WAY to the Red Sea Mall, in every direction.  We get there around 10:45 pm.  I was so disappointed with the dresses.  They were all mostly for younger people.  I did not want spaghetti straps, or plunging or laced backs or floor length.  One interesting thing about the Red Sea Mall is that they have an amusement area of moving dinosaurs that the kids can ride.  By midnight, it became so crowded, I said, "Let's leave and try tomorrow at another mall.".  Well, we found our driver and began trying to find the way back to AH again.  The back windows were blacked out, so it was hard for us to help out and look at signs etc.  We finally found it around 1:30 am. 

We told the driver that we wanted to go to Paul's Bakery and Restaurant and Mall of Arabia the next night.  He asked for the addresses and we texted it to them.  Thinking OK he will google them or look on a map.  (We had our maps to help out.)  The next night when we are leaving the AH, he asks the guard, "Where is Paul's restaurant?".  I thought OH, NO, he doesn't know.  Not again! He looked at our maps and started going in the wrong direction.   Even with being by the blacked out windows, I knew it was the wrong direction.  Ken used his phone to try to keep him on track. (He was trying to minimize it because of the roaming charges.)   He started asking cab drivers again.  Finally, he paid one to show us where it was.  It was traffic ALL THE WAY again.  (Because of the fasting during Ramadan, many people sleep during the day during the fast, and stay up all night.  So all the stores change their opening hours around.  They are not open much during the day, but are open all night.)  We found it.  It was by the Benihana's, Fuddrucker's, Subway and French LeNotre restaurants.

Paul's was wonderful!  It is a French restaurant that my friend, Tran, recommended.  I got the olive bread, vichyssoise soup, mushroom tartine.  It was beginning to be a very lovely evening.  I decided to go to the bathroom and as I got to the women's bathroom door, I started to slip on something. I thought that someone must have spilled water or something.  I looked down and didn't see anything.  When I get in, I see that there is a trail of poop that starts before the door and goes all the way into a stall where kids are.  I have poop all over the bottom of my shoes and am now tracking it.  The stench is awful in there.  There is a very young nanny in there with the kids that seems overwhelmed.  She is just kind of huddled in a corner.  When she sees what has happened to me, she comes over with paper towels and then starts cleaning up the floor etc.  One of the kids is in the stall with an intestinal problem.  These kids that are in there are the ones that were screaming and running around the restaurant, jumping on the bench chairs.  The moms were oblivious.  When I cleaned up and came outside, there is still poop outside the door.  I was so disgusted!  Thank goodness, that when I started sliding going into the bathroom, that I kept my balance and did not fall and be totally covered in poop!

Then we still had to go to the mall.  I think that we got there around midnight and it was a madhouse.  The Mall of Arabia has an amusement park in it and a ton of stores.  I did find one that was a possibility.  It was the wrong color-blue.  Shane suggested a dark red, because that is traditional.  But I thought that I might just go with blue.  It was somewhat of an A line with a matching jacket.  But without being able to try it on (there are no women's dressing rooms for trying on clothes) and it would have been around $500 with the jacket,  I thought that I wouldn't be able to return it if it didn't fit because we were heading back to Yanbu the next day.  I decided that I will look in Yanbu.  Also, I might look online and order something for Caitlin to bring to me in China.  And I will bring a dress that I have here as a backup.  It was so aggravating!  The kids in the mall were totally out of control running around with baskets and screaming, etc.    Our driver again took a roundabout route home.  Ken told him that he passed up our exit and he had to come around .  Again, we got home around 2 am. 

We arranged with him to pick us up at 8:30am so that we would be at the consulate at 9am when the visa pick up window opened. I told Ken this time he had to just tell the driver which way to go, because the visa window closed at noon.  The consulate was only 5 minutes from AH!  First hiccup...  The driver overslept and didn't get there until 10 am.  I had wanted to hire a different driver for this and let our Yanbu driver sleep longer so he would be fresh for the ride home.  But that didn't happen.  Anyway, by 10:30 am, we had the visas in our hands.  What a stress relief!  We came back and checked out.  Of course, Ken had to watch the driver to make sure that he wasn't sleepy.  He had to pull over twice. 

 

We are now back home from our Twilight Zone adventure to Jeddah, but at least we got our visas!!  Luckily, we weren't the episode of the couple continually searching and searching and never finding what they are looking for.  :)

 

There are no pictures because I could not take pictures out of my blacked out windows.  :)

 

Making German chocolate cake and French bread!

We had another cooking session after Zumba this last Thursday.  Tammy showed Tran, Kamala, Helga, Prasuna, Shilna, Fa and me how to make German Chocolate cake from scratch and how to make French Bread.  Here is Fa observing Tammy mixing the cake ingredients.

Here are some of the class:  Fa, Helga, Kamala and Tran.

Tammy and Prasuna making the German chocolate icing.

Kamala filling the cupcake tins and Tammy showing the French bread dough:

More filling:

:

My take home cupcake:

Prasuna rolling out the dough for the French bread:

 

Of course, there has to be lunch!  Tammy made homemade rolls, tuna fish salad, homemade cookies, pita chips and cucumber dip.  Prasuna made a chickpea and bean salad.  I made a Tomato Caprese.  It was all delicious.

Group picture:

Finally, Tammy's famous recipe!

Perfectly Chocolate Cake

2 c. sugar

1 3/4 c. flour

3/4 c. cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 c. boiling water

2 eggs

1 c. milk

1/2 c. canola oil (or vegetable oil)

2 tsp. vanilla

Prepare pans by lightly greasing with shortening. Dust lightly with flour, tap out all excess flour. Trace around pan with pencil onto wax paper, making 1 wax paper circle for each pan. Put wax paper circle into pan. If using 9 x 13 pan, I don't use the wax paper, just grease and dust with flour.

Combine dry ingredients. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat 2 minutes on medium speed. Stir in boiling water, batter will be very thin. Pour into 2 prepared 9 or 10 inch round cake pans. Can also bake in 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cool 8 minutes, remove cakes from pans and cool completely on wire rack.

 

German Chocolate frosting:

1 1/2 cup white sugar, 12 oz. evaporated milk, 3/4 cup butter, 4 egg yolks, beat with fork, 2 2/3 cups flaked coconut (7 oz pkg), 1 1/2 cup chopped pecans, 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the Frosting: In a saucepan combine 1 1/2 cup sugar, evaporated milk, 3/4 cup butter, and 4egg yolks. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in coconut, pecans and vanilla. Cool completely , frosting will be thick and golden brown, about 45 minutes before cool enough to frost cake.  

Miswak

About a month ago, I noticed a man sitting cross-legged on the pavement outside of the grocery store with a small carpet with lots of sticks laid out upon it.  I was wondering why people would want to buy the sticks.  Because it is Ramadan, there are lots of articles about Ramadan and the various practices during Ramadan.  Using miswak (or siwak) is one of those practices.  The prophet recommended its use, extolling the use of miswak as a means of purifying the mouth.  It seems to be especially important during Ramadan.  It is basically the traditional alternative to the toothbrush.  According to an article in the Arab News, it "strengthens the gums and prevents tooth decay, creates a fragrance in the mouth and eliminates bad odors, improves the sense of taste, sharpens the memory, causes the teeth to glow, strengthens eyesight, assists in digestion and clears the voice".  Here is the picture from the news article:

 

I decided that I would like to try one.  The next time that we went to the grocery store and we were leaving, the man was there with his carpet and sticks of miswak.  Here is a picture of Ken buying two sticks from him:

 

So, the man picked out two sticks and cut them shorter and whittled them a bit.  They are supposed to be the length of the span between the tip of the thumb and the little finger. 

Here is what he gave us:

 

So, we tried it at home.  For supper, we had eaten a very garlicky spaghetti sauce on pasta.  And I think that it DID freshen my breath.  It was weird trying to brush my teeth with a stick. though.  Here is a picture of Ken and I trying it:

 

 

And after you chewed on it and brushed a little bit, the end DID become a brush!  Here is a picture:

So, if ever I lose my toothbrush, I have miswak, although it has not done anything for my memory or eyesight yet.  :)

Ciabatta Making Day!

Today, a group of my friends, who love to cook and eat, and me had a Ciabatta making day at my house.  There were three stages to it. 

Stage 1:  On Wed, the night before, I had to make the starter, basically mixing flour, water, yeast, sugar and salt and letting it rise overnight.  There were possibly 10 people coming to participate, so I tripled the recipe to make 12 loaves.  So, I added everything together in a big bowl, covered and set it aside in the kitchen.  A little later, Ken went into the kitchen and yelled out that he thought that the yeast was working, that I should come to see.  When I went into the kitchen, the bowl which had had a flat piece of aluminum foil covering the bowl and crimped to the bowl rim when I had left the kitchen, now looked like one of those old Jiffy Pop popcorn pans that poofed up (or a muffin).  Here is a picture of an old Jiffy pop pan blown up.  I would have gotten a picture of my starter "blowing up", but it was an emergency, with the dough spreading out over my countertop.  :)

The starter was running down the side and making a mess.  So, I divided it into two bowls and set it aside again.

Stage 2:  The next morning, at 9 am, everyone came over to do the next step.  Tran, who had made Ciabatta before and gave us the recipe, explained the process and added the next batch of flour and we set it aside to rise again for 2 hours.  Here are a couple of pictures:

 

Here are Helga and Kamala helping:

 

Stage 3:  The Ciabatta had to rise for 2 hours, so we went off to Zumba for an hour.  We had our new Zumba DVD's, which taught us the actual dance steps of Meringue, Salsa, Cumbia, Regaetton, Bellydance, etc.  It was a lot of fun!

 

Stage 4:  Have brunch!  We needed to fill another hour so why not eat?  I fixed: Garlic and Roasted Tomato Corn Muffins

Lemon Ziti

Baked chicken marinated in a yogurt and spice mixture with Tammy's apple and cranberry chutney served on the side

 

Prasuna made a fruit salad

Tran made mini banana nut muffins with a cream on top

Kamala made double chocolate muffins

Tammy made a coffee cake

 

Brunch was delicious!

 

Stage 5:  Time to dump the wet bread mix onto a well floured surface, divide it out and stretch it into portions.

 

 

Here it is in the oven:

 

Here it is finished:

And Tran showing the air tunnels:

 

Here are two pictures of the Ciabatta crew:

Nice ending:  Eating warm ciabatta with melting butter  :)

 

Date Harvesting

Apparently, this is date harvesting season.  There are many trees on the compound that are loaded with bunches of hanging dates.

  Near my friend, Karla's back patio, some workers came to harvest the dates.  Here are a few of the pictures that Karla took of the operation.

They are not ready for eating.  She was told that they still need to be hung up outside on the patio to dry for a couple of weeks.  Here are a couple of pictures that I took of dates drying on patios around the compound.

 

Karla gave out strands from her bunch.  This is mine drying on our patio:

Yesterday, Ken and I were walking around the compound at night and we saw a different kind of palm tree with a different kind of date.  These were yellow.  I looked it up.  They may be called Barhee dates.  There are several things that the red ones could be.  Anyway, here are pictures of the yellow dates:

So, I took a strand to match my red strand and now they are both drying on our patio.

One of the ladies on the compound who has been in Saudi Arabia for a number of years prepares a fish dish stuffed with a date paste.  I am going to try making that, but I will probably have to buy more dates.  :)

 

Old Yanbu

A few times since I have been here in Yanbu, while driving by the seaport, we have passed a very old looking, crumbling village across the street from the Red Sea.  I was told that it was old, historic Yanbu, where it is rumored that TE Lawrence once lived.  According to Wikipedia, he is famous for his role during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turkish rule.  His writings and his activities earned him fame as "Lawrence of Arabia", the title used in the 1962 film with Peter O'Toole.  My friend, Karla, asked me if I would like to go with her this morning to take pictures of the old village.  Of course, I jumped at the chance. We were hoping to see TE Lawrence's house, but the village is in a sad state of disrepair and of course there is no signage.  :)

I don't know how old this village is, but Yanbu dates back at least 2500 years.  It was a staging point for the spice and incense route from Yemen in the south to Egypt and the Mediterranean.  Currently, the government is trying to "improve" this area.  The ceilings have timber support, then layers of woven straw, then something else.  The windows and doors are very ornate.  The interior walls are often a bright aqua blue.  (I am sure that color is from more recent inhabitants.) 

There had to be people living there at least 100 years ago since it is known that TE Lawrence lived there around WWI. The stairways are narrow and for little feet.  Ken gently reminded me this morning when he was leaving for work to be careful at the ruins-look out for rusty nails, make sure I have a steady footing, etc-I am sure he had in his mind my running into a glass door last week.  :) 

Towards the end of our wanderings when we were closer to the construction work, a manager hurried over to us and told us that we could not go inside because it was not safe, but he directed his employee to show us around in an adjacent area where it is safer.  (They didn't know that we had been up and down numerous staircases and on top of various roofs.)  This man was SO nice.  He said that they were renovating that particular home/villa into a hotel.  It will be beautiful, with a view of the Red Sea.  It was so silly of me not to think to ask him where TE Lawrence lived.  Oh, well.

Here are some pictures of the interesting doors:

 

Here are some interesting windows:

 A couple of pictures from the rooftop with a view of the village:

These are pictures from one of the rooms that will be transformed into an hotel.

Here is a picture of the explorers, Karla and Bev:

 

And finally, the sweet construction manager that showed us around the last building:

It turned out to be a fun and interesting morning!!