My First Favorite: 5 Star Pho
This is usually my very first stop when I get to Seattle. I CRAVE the 5 Star Pho salad rolls. They know me; they know I often stop on the way to my parent’s house to pick up an order, they have seen me fuzzy and smelly from my long travels. I bring my sisters and they put up with our laughter and chatter, I take my Mom here for noodle soup and green tea.
The owner and his wife always make us so welcome. It is a simple place, but they do steady business in the neighborhood – and it is also a favorite stop for the local cops.
Like Kuwait, increasing food costs have forced prices up everywhere:
When my aunt died, I got her little cat that always sat up above her kitchen sink in Santa Barbara. I was told that a cat with right paw raised welcomes guests, and a cat with left paw raised welcomes prosperity. I was told that these are Chinese cats, but my Chinese friends think they are Japanese. I don’t know where they originated, but you often see them in Chinese restaurants, too.
And finally – what I have been craving, what I have been waiting for! The 5 Star Pho Shrimp Salad Rolls (yes, there is one missing):
Not Your Kuwait Driver’s License
Earlier this year, I wrote about getting my Kuwait Driver’s License never thinking I would be going through the process again this year here in Seattle. I know it sounds crazy, but it just didn’t occur to me that the license might expire. It isn’t a good thing to find out when you are about to pick up a rental car and your license is declined because it expired.
So I needed to go get a new license first thing this morning. I know how crowded the driver’s license place is early in the morning, so I didn’t go first thing. When I got there, there were about 15 people in front of me.
They have this system. You go in and they have a big list of services and fees posted. Then you go to a machine and press a button for the service you need, and you get a number. I waited five minutes.
The woman asked how she could help and I told her I needed to renew my expired driver’s license. She asked why it had expired and I told her I live in Kuwait, and she said “oh! other country” and put in that code. She asked about you, she asked how I liked living in Kuwait, she was worried about my safety – I get that a lot. I tell them about Kuwait, about how nice it is, how I have lots of good friends, and that it is a nice place to live. I tell them I feel safe (I don’t tell them about the driving!) and that if anything were to happen, I believe I have friends who would protect me. I could see a lot of this was news to her, and she was happy to hear it.
She asked me if I was restricted in my dress, and I laughed and said “well, I dress modestly, so it isn’t really a problem.” She stopped and thought a little and said “I dress modestly, too.”
All of that conversation, plus my paying for a new license and taking an eye test, took five minutes. I had to take five steps over to where my photo was taken, and 30 seconds later my temporary license, photo and all, was in my hands. My permanent license will be sent to me within a week.
How sweet is that?
It was SO orderly. No one pushing in front of anyone, waving papers, insisting on going first. Everyone takes a number, everyone gets the same courteous service and it is FAST. I was in and out in less than fifteen minutes, and that includes the waiting time and the conversation. I love systems and processes!
From the Animal Friends League Newsletter
These people do such amazing work with limited resources and limitless hearts. If you can help them out in any way, please give them a call.
ANIMAL FRIENDS LEAGUE OF KUWAIT
SHELTER NEWSLETTER
5 May, 2008
+965-700-1622 (Tel) info@animalfriendskuwait.org +965-244-3859(Fax)
http://www.animalfriendskuwait.org
SHELTER UPDATE
Well it is that time of year. People are leaving for
the summer and animals are getting dumped left,
right and center. Our intake is very high right now
with 15 dogs and 17 cats in just over the last two
days. With the holidays under way, it also means
our adoptions have come to a grinding halt. We will
be holding a few adoption fairs over the next
couple months in town to make it a little easier for
people to access us and our animals.
The good news is, things are still under control.
Although we are bursting at the seams, with the
hard work of our precious kennel staff and the
help of our volunteers and the coordination of our
shelter manager, Stephanie Wriede, every animal
continues to get the highest quality care both
physically and mentally.
If you have time over the summer and want to
volunteer, please contact us as we do lose a lot of
our volunteers over the summer.
GOLF COURSE DOG PARK
We were recently contacted by a gentleman that is
managing the construction of a golf course on the way to
Wafra. The desert camp-grounds dismantled and many
people left their dogs behind.
Now a large number of dogs have moved onto the golf course seeking out the
cool grass and refreshing lakes. We visited the site and
counted over thirty dogs in broad daylight. The Harris
says it rises to well over fifty at night and of course
there are puppies galore! Although the manager loves
dogs, the invasion has caused a lot of problems with the
construction and they need to be moved out. Due to the
fact that there is no animal control in Kuwait, we have
to take on yet another massive project that is well
above and beyond our means.
We have started the work and moved the first five dogs on Friday. We will continue
to move the dogs in small groups until we gain control of
the situation. If you would be willing to help us with this
effort please let us know as it is a big one!
Copy Shop
“I’m at the copy shop!” I shouted into the phone over the commotion in the background.
“Who are you with?” AdventureMan shouted back.
“No one! I am by myself!” I holler.
“By yourself? Why?” he asks.
“Why?” he responds, “why are you in the copy shop by yourself?”
“There are a lot of other people here, I meant I am not here with anyone. That’s what all the noise is about. They have a number machine, so I figured out how to get a number, but only me and one other buy took a number, everyone else just comes in and gets waited on, no taking numbers!”
Not only that, but in spite of the fact that there are already people waiting, some people, always men, will walk in and say in a loud voice “Excuse me! Excuse me!” or snap their fingers (I am not joking!) or say “I am ready now!” and expect to be taken right away, and I can see why, they are almost always taken right away. I guess they intimidate the guys behind the counter or something.
I held my number up to catch the eye of one of the copy-shop guys and immediately more noises happen, the numbers that incidate who is being waited on change and my number is up.
“Gotta go!” I say and take care of getting come copies made.
The next morning as we are dressing and catching up on what’s happening in one another’s lives, he says to me “I still don’t understand why you would sit and drink coffee all by yourself.”
I look at him in utter astonishment. From time to time, I do sit by myself in a coffee shop while I am waiting for a friend, or if my internet isn’t working, and I never think twice about it. But I hadn’t been anywhere near a coffee shop recently. What is he talking about?
“You remember yesterday, when I called you,” he continues. And I start laughing.
“Copy shop! Copy shop! Not coffee shop!”
And then we are both laughing.
Saudi Women Only Hotel
From today’s BBC News:
Saudis open hotel for women only
The Middle East’s first women-only hotel has opened in Saudi Arabia.
It will cater primarily to businesswomen, who work completely covered from head to toe in public and have to observe strict segregation.
The hotel, in Riyadh, has 25 rooms and boasts fine dining and conference facilities, as well as a range of health and beauty treatments.
Its executive director said the response to the idea of a hotel just for women had been overwhelming.
The Luthan Hotel & Spa is owned by a group of 20 Saudi princesses and businesswomen.
It hopes to attract expatriates from the nearby diplomatic quarter as well as local women.
It is the first spa hotel in the kingdom available to women all the time – pools in other hotels are only open to women on certain fixed days or hours.
You can read more about the hotel HERE
Meat and Fish at the Sultan Center
It doesn’t take long before you live in a country long enough that you don’t see with the same eyes as when you came. Last week, as I was shopping, I was looking for something to fix for dinner. Normally, I just see something and grab and go, but my attention was caught by how expensive everything was, and then again, by the fact that American ground beef was twice as expensive as New Zealand ground beef, and both were really really expensive – it’s ground beef!
I’ve been careful about meat ever since I read Deadly Feasts about ten years ago. The book is a medical mystery, it traces the identification of Mad Cow Disease, and how vulnerable we all are. The human variant takes ten years to develop – all because tainted meat enters our food supply, because meat producers are too greedy to pass up a cow who is stumbling and falling down.
Even those who keep it out of the human food chain often process fallen cows for animal food.
And none of that has anything to do, really, with this post. The point is, for once, instead of rushing by, I was paying attention. When you pay attention, you start to see things (again) (or for the first time.) Here, you see things routinely that you don’t see in the United States:
Lamb’s brains:
Lamb’s heart:
Sheep’s feet:
Fresh Quail:
Kuwaiti Shoom:
Saudi Shrimp (these look big, but Kuwaiti shrimp, in season, are even bigger, and the sweetest shrimp you have ever tasted):
Iranian Squid:
Nuabi (a fish caught locally)
I love Kuwaiti seafood, and this is the one I love the best of all, Kuwaiti Zubaidi:
For those of you in the US, you can multiply the prices by four for an approximate idea of how much the food costs in dollars. The dollar is slipping here, as everywhere else, prices are going up, and we are taking the double whammy.
The seafood is out of this world. Even though expensive, local caught seafood is about what we would pay for seafood in the US. Vegetables IN SEASON can be reasonable. When I want iceburg lettuce, I pay about $3/ head. I have wonderful friends who are sharing their bumper crops of vegetables this year, and oh! they are SO good, so tasty! One of my friends has tried some heirloom tomatoes, and they are doing well!
More Mubarakiya Sights
It seems to be heating up quickly. The months when perusing the souks in daylight hours are coming to an end. We are trying to make the most of it while we can. A few more quick snaps from the Mubarakiyya Market on a quiet Friday:
Vegetable market public art I hadn’t spotted before:
Traditional clothing-seller:
Bath supplies:
Foodstuffs:
Those of you who live here walk right by these stalls all the time, and never notice that they are disappearing. I have been perusing old books about Kuwait, even some not so old, and Kuwait is changing so rapidly that even books only 10 years old or so have become outdated by the rapid passage of time.
For those of you not in Kuwait, there are malls. There are SO many modern malls. As in other countries, some are more upscale than others, but they are malls. In most, you are not supposed to take photos. In most, you will see the same stores you will see in any other country. Mubarakiyya is special because it is still an active market in the old style.
Something Stupid
I had a birthday a while back, and decided that I was no longer going to mourn my Cuisinart, stuck in storage lo, these last ten years while my husband and I vagabond around the earth. I had bought a cheap food processor in Germany, and left it behind (whew! bought it when the dollar was $1.20 to the Euro, those were the days!) and then I bought a cheap food processor in Doha and brought it with me, but it doesn’t grate Parmesan, and . . . well, it isn’t a Cuisinart, and I really loved working with my Cuisinart. Isn’t it wonderful when they invent a piece of machinery that truly decreases labor, and is a pleasure to use?
I just bought a little one, knowing I will get rid of it when I leave. It is 110 volts, so I could even take it back with me if I wanted. The very first thing I grated was Parmesan cheese, and it was good. And then I grated cheddar, and it was good. And then I chopped onions and parsley, and it was very very good. I used it three times.
Yesterday, I went to grind some sausages and it only worked for one second, then quit. I checked all the plugs, checked the fuse box, checked everything I could. I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working.
Then I figured it out. I had fried my beautiful new Cuisinart. Can you figure out what I did?
I will show you a close-up of the transformer, maybe that will help:
Yes, I plugged my sweet little 110 brand new Cuisinart into the 220/240 output plug instead of the 110 output plug.
Do you think it can be fixed? Is there somewhere in Kuwait I can take it and get it re-wired? (Sigh.)
Al Mohaleb Restaurant
My friend called me, all excited.
“Kareem took me to the most wonderful restaurant for my birthday last night!” she exclaimed, and I could just hear the delight in her voice. “We just know you and AdventureMan will just love it! It’s Kuwaiti! They only serve fish and related things like appetizers and rice, but the fish is out of this world, and the atmosphere is lovely; gracious and refined. When can the four of us go together?”
We quickly compared calendars and came up with the soonest compatible date. I rarely hear my friend wax enthusiastic about a Kuwaiti restaurant.
The night arrived, and as we picked up our friends, we sat in the garden, which for some unknown reason is flourishing this year in spite of the drought. At her house, you can see stars in the sky, the air is perfumed with growing things, and the night is so sweet, with just a light breeze, that we are almost reluctant to go.
Who would know where this restaurant is? There is no sign at The Palms Hotel, next door to the SAS Radisson, that this restaurant exists. I remember when they had a “Wasabi” sign up for nearly a year, and no Wasabi ever showed up there – but this restaurant exists, and there is no signage. I am a little concerned because the front parking lot is packed, with people waiting to find a spot, but Kareem tells us to drive to the end of the dirt parking lot. There, at the very end of the Palms hotel, next to their highly publicized new Tajine restaurant, is Al Mohaleb, overlooking the sand and sea.
This is what you see at the entrance, the huge Dallah (coffee pot) and in the background, the sign for Al Muhaleb, which, AdventureMan tells me, is the biggest dhow, the one used for trading in days of old, across the seas. Suddenly the light goes on, and I remember my friend taking me to a mall of the same name, and . . . the Mall is shaped like a great, huge ship!
As you enter, there is a diwaniyya-like area for meeting up or waiting for a table, and then you go up three steps to the restaurant:
It’s already a little magical. The restaurant is decorated with old fishing equipment, nicely displayed, nicely framed old photos and memorabilia. It has a beam and woven palm leaf ceiling (I am a sucker for those) and a spacious dining room, with an outer area for smokers and shisha. The waiter brings tiny cups, and pours the coffee with cardomon for us, and welcomes us. Another waiter brings Kuwaiti nibbles, simply cut lettuce and vegetables, Kuwaiti pickles and a green mabooch, which I happily recognize because you, my readers, have told me.
This is not fast food, and it is a good thing, because when you are with good friends, there is always so much to talk about. We don’t just catch up, we have to discuss all the politics, the US election, the Kuwait demonstrations, recent editorials, my friend’s garden, my current projects, our children . . . the evenings are always too short. No matter how much we chat, there is always so much more to discuss.
The kitchen at Al Muhaleb is glassed in. We spot our fish coming out of the oven, and oh, it looks magnificent. As good as it looks, it tastes even better:
I didn’t even look at the menu, I just ordered what my friends recommended, but they also said you can’t order anything wrong there, it is all good. I had the zubaidi cooked flat; it is served with rice and a green marag (sauce) that was delicious. Because it was so delicious, we all ate too much, and sat looking at all the food we couldn’t finish in dismay. Next time we go, I think we will share one fish to every two people – I hate wasting such exquisitely prepared food.
Kareem has told us many times about the words of Mohammed that a good Moslem should only eat to the point of “enough,” not to the point of “full” but I think we all violated it that evening. We meant to stop, we really did, but it was so delicious we kept nibbling.
Thank God, this is not a fast food restaurant. There is a man playing Al oud live in the background, as we continue to chat, but with less animation as our bellies groan . . .
We are finished eating, truly finished, but then they bring a plate of beautiful fresh fruit, every piece perfect, and we continue our evening together, refreshed by the fruit, drinking hot tea, relaxing – there is no pressure to leave, they are not hurrying us out of the restaurant.
I’ve been looking for a Kuwaiti restaurant, and I just love it that when they found it, our friends shared their find with me. It’s a great place to take visitors who come to Kuwait. It is expensive – so AdventureMan tells me (I didn’t look at the menu, remember?) and so worth it. The menu is mostly limited to fresh fish and fresh salad/appetizers – hummous, mutable, etc. and everything is prepared with thoughtful care.
If there are any drawbacks, it is that with all the hard surfaces, once the restaurant fills up and the music starts, it is harder to make conversation. Also, the smokers get the best part of the restaurant, out near the beach. Having said that, when it is dark, it hardly matters and you can see the city lights of Kuwait from any part of the restaurant. Service is excellent and the food is memorable for its excellence.
Photography Contest
I received this in the e-mail this morning – I wonder if there is any requirement to BE Muslim? I like the idea of the contest and thought I would pass it along to you, which is (I am guessing) the reason someone sent it to me:
Audio Visual & Cinematic Department of Culture in the East Azerbaijan provience in cooperation with the E-A Society for Artistic Photography is going to plan the “First International Artistic Photography Contest on Islamic Unity”.The organizers belive that there are many symbolic – abstractor real subjects around the world of Islam & Muslems that can be artisticly photographed – exhibited and saved to show the next generatins as well as gathering all muslems in one community.
The Contest will be held with the regulations as below:
1. All photographers form all over the world can participate.
2. Both B&W and Colour photos are accepted (up to 10 photos)
3. A copy of photos(1000 pixel) must be sent for judging and the accepted works will be asked to be sent or printed
in large size in full resolution after the first selections by the jury. (negatives and slide films can be scanned or printed in small size 13*18 cm to send)
4. Selected photos will not be returned. and will be exhibited in galleries. and will not be returned.
5. All selected photos will be published in a book and will be sent to the winners and those whose works are selected.
6. There will be 10 prize winners who wil be invited to attend the exhibition and the Winners Award Ceremony.
7. All rights of accepted photos belong to the photographers and organizers will only use photos to publish a catalogue and hold exhibitions.
8. All other unpredicted terms will be decided by the organizer.
9. Workshops will be held by the organizers during the contest.
10. Attach your name, address and the title of the work on the rear of each work.
Prizes:
Winners will receive An honorary diploma and prizes in cash as below:
1 st Prize (1000 euros in cash(
2 nd Prize (800 euros in cash)
3 rd Prize (500 euros in cash(
And From 4th to 10th selected by the jury (300 euros for each(
Closing date for arrivals of entries: 3/April/2008
Judging and announcement to the winners / selected works: 4/ May/2008
Exhibition: winners award ceremony 23/May/2008
All entries must be sent to:
info@akseensejam.ir
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