Stroller Brigade
People laugh – or worse, look like I am crazy – when I tell them living in Kuwait is not unlike living in Alaska in terms of climate. When the climate gets extreme – too cold has the same impact as too hot – people stay at home more, going from their heated/chilled homes to their heated/chilled cars to the heated/chilled stores and malls or theatres. When the milder weather comes, everyone spends every minute they can outside.
In Kuwait, there are groups that head for the malls early in the morning for some serious walking when it is too hot to walk outside.
In Seattle, I ran into another group of serious walkers, but here, they are avoiding the rain and cold. When you see the stroller brigade – and there were between fifteen and twenty women with their babies – you had better get out of the way! These are some serious strollers!
Lack of Resistance
I can feel it starting. I walk into the Mall and my senses go into overload. The colors, the lights, the decorations, the window displays – I am starting to pant with eagerness.
I’m not even a mall shopper! I am just killing time waiting for the Apple shop to open . . . but oh! Look! The Macy’s Christmas shop is open. And oh my! They are having a two hour sale, 40% off!
I have no resistance. I am like a moth to the flame.
I had to take this one for Purg:
I can’t stop taking photos! I’m in sensory overload!
Thankgiving Invitation
Adventure Man and I will be attending different Thanksgiving Events this year, the first time ever. Here is the invitation to the event he will attend:
Thanksgiving!
•HEAR YE! HEAR YE!
•A THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION IS AT HAND
•A TIME TO GET TOGETHER TO GIVE THANKSGIVING, TO VISIT, TO CELEBRATE AND OF COURSE, TO EAT
•COME ONE AND ALL, COME EARLY TO THE THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION (usually the gathering starts around 9:00am)
•EVERYONE IS WELCOME AND BRING ANYONE YOU CAN GET TO COME ALONG
•COME EARLY, STAY LATE
•WE’LL HAVE THANKSGIVING LUNCH BETWEEN
1:00-1:30 PM
•THERE WILL BE ENOUGH FOOD PREPARED EARLY, IN CASE THE CHILDREN NEED TO EAT
•HOWEVER, THERE WILL BE PLENTY TO SNACK ON BEFORE THE MEALTIME
•KIDS BRING YOUR BATS, SOFTBALLS, KICKBALLS, FOOTBALLS, ROLLER SKATES, BIKES, SCOOTERS, ROPES OR WHATEVER
•Stay and Enjoy the leftovers for supper!!
WHEN: THANKSGIVING DAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2007
(Oh what fun!)
Mom’s Fruit Cake Updated
The basics are below, and the basics make the fruit cake. This year, once again, I am alcohol-less in Kuwait, as alcohol is illegal here, but during Ramadan I stocked up on some other local specialities – the glaceed cherries in red and green, the golden currants from Iran, the tiny red berries from Iran, delicious dried peaches, chunks of dried papaya, dried apricots, and the juiciest prunes I have ever tasted. Thanks to a care package, I will also be using fresh, delicious Texas pecans! Wooo Hooooo!
Every year is different, depending on where I am!
Here is the original blog entry, which to date has been one of the all-time statistical wonders. Thanks, Mom!
Wooo Hooooooo! The fruitcakes are in the oven, and already the house smells wonderful. I’ve been making these cakes since I got married. I don’t think I have missed a year, but I may have. I grew up smelling these delicious cakes every winter. I don’t think my Mom makes them every year any more. I wish I were close enough to pop one into her refrigerator for their holidays.
Mom’s Fruit Cake
Even people who think they HATE fruit cake like this fruit cake. It has a secret ingredient – chocolate!
This is the original recipe. I remember cutting the dates and prunes with scissors when I was little; now you can buy dates and prunes without pits and chop them in the food processor – a piece of cake!
1 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup lard or butter
1 T. cinnamon
1 t. cloves
3 Tablespoons chocolate powder
1/4 cup jelly
1 cup seeded raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup candied citron
1/2 cup cut prunes
1/2 cup cut dates
Put all in a pan on stove and bring to a boil. Boil for three minutes. Let cool. Add:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Flavor with lemon
Bake at 350° in loaf pans for one hour. Makes 2 normal bread loaf sized cakes.
My variations: I put in about three times the fruit, the difference primarily in the candied citron – I prefer using whole candied cherries, because they are so pretty when the loafs are cut. This recipe doubles, or quadruples with no problems.
Pans: Mom used to line all the pans with brown paper and grease the paper. That’s a lot of trouble.
I grease the pans, then dust with more of the chocolate powder. Use a good quality chocolate, not cocoa.
When the cakes come out of the oven, let them cool for ten minutes, loosen them with a knife, then they will shake out easily. Let continue to cool until they are totally cool, then wrap in plastic wrap, with several layers, then foil, then seal in a sealable plastic bag. Let them age a couple months in a corner of your refrigerator.
I never make these the same any two years in a row. This is the first year, ever, that I won’t be using any brandy – alcohol in Kuwait being against the law. Yeh, I have some friends who laugh and say “you can get it anywhere!” but we made a decision to obey the law. Only rarely do I regret it . . . sigh . . .fruitcakes really need brandy.
Update: If you are in a country where brandy is available, and if you want to use brandy, here is how to use it in this recipe. You know how raisins get all dried out and taste yucky in fruitcakes? The night before you intend to make the fruitcakes, take all the raisins you intend to use (depending on how many fruitcakes you intend to make) and put them in a glass container. Pour brandy over them, to cover. Microwave just to the boiling point. Let stand in the microwave overnight.
The next day, you can drain that brandy and use it in a stew or something, and in the meanwhile, you now have plump, juicy raisins to use in your fruitcake, and just a hint of brandy flavor. Yummmm!
Mom’s Cranberry Salad
Mom’s Cranberry Salad
I printed this last year, and it is so good and so simple I am sharing it with you again. It’s probably my favorite Thanksgiving food.
1 1/2 C cranberries (They have these at Sultan Center; wash, pick over and cook until soft)
1 1/2 C water
add 1 Cup sugar and boil one minute
add 1 small pkg lemon jello (I use raspberry or cherry or strawberry because I like red)
When all is dissolved, add:
juice of one No. 1 can of crushed pineapple (Mom’s recipe says a #1 can – use one of the small cans.)
When cool, add:
diced pineapple from can
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Stir, put into mold or bowl and refrigerate until firm.
One small buffet mold. How easy is that? 🙂
(This recipe is from the 1950’s. I double everything, Pour into mold for the holidays, or into a crystal bowl from which it can be served without having to unmold.
Here in Kuwait, I can’t find crushed pineapple, so I buy the chunk pineapple and cut them to be smaller sized. You can’t do it in the food processor because it gets too mushy.
The cranberry salad is in the center of the photo:
Wind Up Lights for African Homes
My husband gave me a wind-up flashlight (British English = torch) and I love it. In movies like The Blair Witch Project or crime movies, the flickering and dying of a flashlight always foretells something really really bad is about to hapen. I love it that I have a flashlight I can keep winding up.
In our national legends, we have Abraham Lincoln doing his schoolwork on the back of a shovel, next to a flickering fire. That must have taken real dedication. Imagine what your own life would be like if we had no light after sundown. . .
From BBC News AFRICA:
The technology behind the wind-up radio could soon be helping to light up some of the poorest homes in Africa.
The Freeplay Foundation is developing prototypes of a charging station for house lights it hopes will improve the quality of life for many Africans.
The Foundation said the lights would replace the expensive, polluting and unhealthy alternatives many Africans currently use to light their homes.
Field testing of the prototypes will start in Kenya in the next few months.
Light and life
Kristine Pearson, director of the Freeplay Foundation, said few Africans in the continents most vulnerable areas had access to electricity to light homes.
“Their life stops or is very narrowed when the sun goes down,” she said. “Two extra hours of light would make a big difference to their life.”
You can read the rest of this article about developing this technology for Africa HERE
Operation Hope Options
What I love about Operation Hope, in addition to the good works they are doing in the Kuwait Community, dreaming big and making it happen – is that they offer a variety of ways for the public to support them.
If you can give hands-on help, they welcome you.
If you cannot – they welcome your donations!
Here is there most recent newsletter – please, if you can help this worthwhile effort, in whichever way you are most comfortable, please, help. You could have a lot of fun helping pack the winter clothes, or delivering the bags. Or you could have a lot of fun throwing some of your money at the problem.
OPERATION HOPE – KUWAIT
A Mission of Mercy
October 28, 2007
Greetings OH Family!
Exciting news ~ 1,200 winter bags were packed Friday afternoon. Thanks to numerous volunteers the colossal task of setting up, packing, and cleaning up was very quickly accomplished (with the bulk of our winter apparel packed in about an hour’s time!). Moms, dads, children of all ages, business exec’s, and even someone’s grandmother helped to make the miracle happen! My daughter says the pile of bags resembles Mount Everest. . . I think I agree with her!
Another 1,200 coats, thermal underclothing, hats, socks and gloves will need to be packed this Friday, November 2nd at 3:30 PM. This packing date will be a very special one because it is the OH – KUWAIT Student Day. All students (pre-k to university) are encouraged to participate. Kindly RSVP your confirmation to Ms. Kathleen on ophopevolunteer@yahoo.com at your earliest convenience. We’ll require a set-up team to help at 1:30 PM as well. The set-up group should be strong and team-oriented.
The cement foundation for our new headquarters was laid yesterday, and the tent ought to be erected by the weekend ~ God willing. Thanks again to Mr. Nasir for his generous donation!
Thanks also to Debbie B. for donating some of her handicrafts for OH to sell at the bazaars this fall/winter. We appreciate your support!
Deliveries to the poor will begin on Wednesday, October 31st. We’ll need six drivers with SUV’s to arrive at my home at 12:45 PM to load & deliver 324 winter bags in Jabriya. (Mubarak Hospital janitors/porters)
Our second group of volunteer drivers should arrive to my home at 5:45 PM on Wed., October 31st to load & deliver 250 winter bags in Khaldiya. We’ll need 4 SUV drivers at that time. (Kuwait University janitors/porters)
Our third group of volunteer drivers should arrive to my home at 9 PM on Wed. October 31st to load and deliver 128 winter bags in Jabriya. We’ll need 2 SUV drivers at that time. (Mubarak Hospital janitors/porters)
Our fourth delivery will take place at 5 AM on Thursday, November 1st. OH Administrator, Jaye Lynn; Student Ambassador, Emily; and I will make that delivery of 73 bags to Mubarak Hospital janitors & porters.
Kindly RSVP your committment to Ms. Kathleen on the address mentioned earlier for the day & time you can help us deliver. We’ll also need one or two OH photographers are on hand at each delivery, please.
Donations have been steadily coming in ~ glory to God! We still need an additional KD 250 to pay for the next 1,200 hats, socks and gloves that students will be packing this Friday. Your support is most appreciated.
Currently the outstanding balance for the 5,000 coats that were shipped in is KD 17,475.000. Please prayerfully consider hosting a fundraising event, or making a donation that we may continue to pay off these coats. For those who have hosted a fundraiser or given a donation I thank you so very much! The number does seem rather large BUT God’s provision is larger! Each update to follow this one will feature the total outstanding balance at the start so that you may be blessed to watch the sum fall!
Proceeds from Kuwait’s largest charity bazaar (December 8th @ the Crowne Plaza Hotel – Farwaniya) will be donated to OH – KUWAIT!! Please support this exciting one-day event by volunteering (and attending). We estimate we’ll need 40 – 50 volunteers. If you are interested in helping please contact Ms. Kathleen as soon as possible. This may be an ideal opportunity for Boy/Girl Scouts and National Honor Society members to fulfill their obligations to community service hours. Also, if you wish to participate as a vendor, please contact Bazaar Coordinator Karla K. at 626-6223.
Brothers and sisters there are so many opportunities to help ~ so many means in which to make a profound difference in someone’s life. Let us not allow a busy schedule or even a social stigma dictate to whom and how much compassion we extend. Jesus didn’t just help people. He inspired others to do so and encouraged helping behaviors. My prayer for each of us is that the Lord would prompt us to lend a helping hand to the needy and deepen our compassion amidst suffering.
God bless,
Sheryll Mairza
OPERATION HOPE – KUWAIT
Boston Pumpkin Carving Contest
Unbelievable. Thousands – thousands of pumpkins.
All Hallow’s Eve
In Kuwait, as in the USA and many other countries, there are mixed feelings about Hallowe’en. As a kid, we all dress up and go from house to house saying “Trick or Treat” and people give us candy. There isn’t anything scary – or spiritual – about it. It’s just a goofy day, not even a day off from school.
When we lived in Germany, All Saints Day (November 1st) gave a whole new, more spiritual meaning to the holiday, which has overlayed an ancient pagan New Year celebration. On All Hallow’s Eve, entire families go to the cemetaries carrying red-glass enclosed candles. The candles are placed on the graves of those who have died and are still remembered. German graveyards are beautiful, with lovely monuments, and flowers on the graves in summer, pine boughs in winter.
BBC religions gives us the modern meaning of Halloween:
With their pumpkin-lanterns and witch costumes there’s many a child who’ll have great fun this evening celebrating Hallowe’en. It was derived originally from an ancient Pagan festival, it has become part of our culture and generally it’s an innocent excuse for people to have a good time.
Literally, of course, it is the eve of All Hallows – a preparation for the observance tomorrow of the Feast of All Hallows or All Saints. That feast gives the assurance that there is a state of being that stretches beyond our life here on this earth – an affirmation of the essential spiritual nature of human life. People are made for more than can be experienced over our lifetime spent in this world.
The Apostle Paul underscores that when he writes to the Ephesians, that the highest role reserved for human beings is, as he puts it, “to rule with Christ in the heavenly world. And God has done this to demonstrate for all time the extraordinary greatness of his grace in the love he showed us in Christ Jesus”.
So this Christian season brings us a comforting reminder that there is a destiny designed for us humans that assures us of a continuing existence, and it’s a promise endorsed by Jesus when he spoke of the many mansions that he has prepared for us. [Hallowe’en assures] us that God’s love stretches far beyond death.
Rev George Loane, former Methodist superintendent on Prayer for the Day, 31 October 2006
More information on Halloween from Answers.com:
Jack-o’-lantern. Originally a turnip, this carved vegetable with a candle inside was used by a poor Irish soul named Jack to light his way as he wandered for eternity, denied entrance to both Heaven and Hell — Heaven because of his habitual stinginess and Hell because he had, while still alive, forced the devil into a pact that would spare Jack from ever going to Hell. Boy, did he live (or rather die) to regret it! The Irish brought this custom to the US in the 1840s but found it more convenient to use pumpkins than their traditional turnip, rutabaga or gourd.
Bobbing for apples. Bobbing for apples on Halloween (the time of the apple harvest) may have been inspired by the Celtic fables about heroes who journeyed across water seeking the magical apple tree on the mythical isle of Avalon. There is a more accepted theory: that the Celts (taking a leaf from the Romans who worshipped Pomona, the goddess of fruit and abundance) played a parlor game on Samhain in which unmarried people would try to bite into an apple in water or on a string; the first to succeed was thought to be the first to marry.
Trick or treating. This resembles the All Soul’s Day practice called “going a-souling” in which poor people would beg door-to-door. In exchange for a gift of soulcakes, the soulers would promise to say a prayer for the dead. It’s possible, though, that the practice developed independently in the US in the 20th century, especially the part where children threaten a trick if they don’t get a treat. (This may have been around the time manufacturers came up with fun-sized candy bars.)
Costumes. The Celts wore disguises, usually made of animal skins, during their Samhain celebrations, possibly to conceal themselves from the spirits who were afoot at the time. So those Catwoman and Spider-man outfits may be most true to the ancient roots of the practice.
Ghost stories. The Celts believed that during Samhain, the boundaries between this world and the otherworld became blurred and the spirits of those who had departed walked the earth. Those beliefs survive to this day in the form of ghost stories and divinations: asking for helpful hints or guides to the future from those who have second sight.
Tareq Rajab Museum of Islamic Calligraphy
One of the most beautiful buildings in Kuwait is the new – open only since March – Museum of Islamic Calligraphy in Kuwait. I am in total awe of this family, who have an eye for the history and culture of this area, collect it lovingly, and then display it – free of cost – to all who wish to visit.
The TR Museum of Islamic Calligraphy is on the same street as the Dar al Cid, where many art exhibits are held, also under the auspices of the Tareq Rajab family. It is around the corner from the Tareq Rejab Museum.
It is open every day:
Mornings 9 am – 12 noon
Afternoon 4 pm – 7 pm
Friday 9am – 12 noon
We visited recently. The museum is beautiful, and well organized. We wished only that more of the exhibits had explanations; sometimes we would be looking at something very beautiful, but we didn’t know the significance of what we were seeing.
The calligraphy is manifest in hangings, ancient Qurans, quiltings, posters and carved wood. Each item is a work of art. We were fascinated by some of the Chinese calligraphy, and by the video they run showing how calligraphic quills are made, how the paper is prepared, even how the calligrapher prepares for work.
This is the entry to the Museum of Islamic Calligraphy:
Some examples of the beautiful works on display:
If you are looking for books about Kuwait, and/or Islamic Arts, the Tareq Rajab Museum has a well stocked little shop with books, cards, postcards, etc. for reasonable prices.
We take all our houseguests to these museums, and every time we go, we are moved by the generous hearts that create these museums and then offer them to the public – free of charge. They give so much to their community. It’s like a little piece of heaven. Visit soon!
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