Mom’s Fruit Cake in Qatar
Life has gotten busy, and somehow November is here and I haven’t made my fruitcakes. I need to fix that! For those of you who think fruitcakes are a joke – my Mom’s fruitcake has a secret ingredient – chocolate. Even people who don’t like fruitcake love this fruitcake.
I am in Qatar – I have brandy. I have rum. No, I don’t drink hard liquor, but oh, they do make my fruitcakes tastier. Today, I will soak the raisins in brandy overnight, so they will be ready to go tomorrow!
I am reprinting this recipe for those of you who would like to give fruitcake a try.
Mom’s Fruit Cake
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. 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 make mine around Halloween, and serve the first one at Thanksgiving.
I never make these the same any two years in a row.
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!
Big Change; No Smoking
Sometimes change happens, and it happens so slowly or so subtly that you don’t really realize it has happened until something draws it to your attention.
Kuwait blogger Touche, one of my old virtual-blogging-buddies commented on a driving post, wondering about the baby steps it takes to change a mentality. The subject was driving, and I know he was right, I am writing “endlessly” about how annoyed I get by the lack of civility in driving here.
What I am not writing about, I noticed, is how annoying it is to be breathing other people’s smoke while I am eating.
Because it is not happening.
Who knew?
When we lived in Qatar before, people would sit right under the NO SMOKING signs and light up.
I saw things change in Kuwait. From the time we got there to the time we left, there were fewer and fewer times someone would light up in a restaurant.
Things CHANGED.
Expectations changed. I am guessing the smokers felt pressure, not just from the community, but also from family members. I don’t know if there are fewer smokers; I am inclined to think not, because I can see them smoking in their own cars. Hey – as long as I do not have to breathe their smoke, it’s fine with me, it’s their choice.
But the significant thing is – I didn’t believe it could ever change. And it did change, and it changed faster than I would have thought possible.
So I have hope for the driving issue. I think it starts with seat belts. I think if Mothers and wives start buckling up, and buckling up their children, that will be a first step. I think if there is an emphasis on driving manners, things could change. It’s a mind-shift before a behavior shift, an awareness of safety and an awareness of our interconnectedness. One thing I have seen in the Gulf is that parents raise their children to have good manners; manners are an important consideration also when considering a mate. If you take the driving problem as a manners problem, and emphasize the need for good manners on the road, maybe there is a possibility of change . . .
There is another area where I think change can happen – throwing things out the car window. If it becomes a commonly held value that throwing trash / cigarette butts / food wrappers out the window is bad behavior, I think it will stop. Maybe hand out car trash bags to raise awareness?
Have you seen the change in smoking? What I am noticing is that my dinners are no longer ruined by someone nearby lighting up. I don’t smell smoke in the malls. I don’t smell smoke in the airports. Pretty amazing, don’t you think?
Open Window
For the last few nights, AdventureMan and I have been sleeping without the air conditioner – it has cooled enough that we can do that.
This morning, for the first time, I have the window open in the upstairs lounge where I do my computer things first thing every morning.
When we lived in Kuwait, I missed the open windows. We lived on the tenth floor, and there were no screens. I couldn’t trust the Qatteri Cat not to jump out the window. He is smart in a lot of ways, but not so smart when it comes to windows and being ten stories up.
It is migration time, and our gardens are full of birds. I remember seeing flocks of parakeets, wild bright green parakeets one time, it totally thrilled my heart. Just being able to sit here with the windows open – it doesn’t take much to make me happy. 🙂
Parking Mayhem
This is a view trying to leave the Souq al Waqef around nine o’clock on a date-night Thursday evening. There are two exit booths. Maybe one of the cashiers needed to go drink tea and never came back; only one booth is open. Those who are too important (or think they are) to wait in line edge, edge, edge slowly in front of you. It took forever to get out.
You will note that there are two lines formed to exit – through one booth!
Some of these guys are so important that in trying to get into your line, they block traffic in the oncoming lanes, too, so then things really get gridlocked.
The good news is that parking is relatively inexpensive – less than a dollar for an hour, maybe up to a buck fifty, two bucks for four – five hours. The drawback is that the system really isn’t working smoothly yet.
Al Maharah, Souk al Waqif Hotel
I got it half right. I was good taking photos until our main courses arrived, but when we got to Al Maharah, there were only a few groups. I took all the photos before there were a lot of people there. But the truth is, when our main courses – the seafood skewers – arrived, they were so good, I forgot to photograph them.
The secret is out. The food is SO good!
It was one of those wonderful nights in Doha when it isn’t so hot anymore, there is a breeze blowing. No, not a cool breeze, a comfortable breeze, and all of a sudden, all you want is to be outside. We roamed the souqs, making a purchase here and there, until we got to the hotel. We had actually intended to eat somewhere else, but the food in the hotel just looked so good.
The service is friendly and attentive, without being intrusive. They get five stars right off the top for striking that balance.
The menu is in Arabic and English, and has beautiful photos to help you decide what to order. We were totally tempted by the soups, but knowing we will be back, we both ordered the salad bar and the Mixed Seafood Grill Skewers. Oh WOW.
The restaurant is beautiful and serene. Several tables were reserved, and pre-ordered arrangements of hors d’oeuvres were being set out in beautiful serving dishes. We were so tempted to snatch a bite on our way back from the salad bar – the arrangements were artistic and tempting.
The Seafood Bar:
Part of the Salad Bar:
Our salad plates – they had so many good things!
They also had piping hot fresh out of the oven bread, Yumm!
The only problem is that the restaurant is right by one of the souk exits, where you pay for parking. Because everyone is so important, and jockeys for non-existent places in the line which has formed, it can be a little exciting sitting next to the window, not knowing if the yahoo who is trying to edge his way into the line even has a driving license. There is a fabulous terrace on this hotel; I wish the restaurant were up on the terrace area!
After dinner, there is also a dessert bar, or you can order a la carte. We couldn’t eat another thing, but it sure is tempting:
Not only will we go back, we will take our friends, especially now when being outside is so divine! It was a lovely, elegant evening, the food is reasonably priced. We didn’t see any wine being served, so if that is important to you, you will probably be better off at one of the more western hotels. And – get there early if you don’t have reservations. By eight, every table was taken.
Doha or USA?
On the homeward drive, I saw this sight, and laughed. There is a clue as to where this is, but it sure looks a lot like a street in the USA:
The Carrefour Majlis
Hubby and I were at a mall which is one of the Qatar see-and-be-seen places tonight, not to see nor to be seen, but looking for a special end table. As it turns out, we can probably get it, but not until January. No problem.
AdventureMan wanted to pick up some teas for his office and I needed skim milk so we headed for the Carrefour before leaving.
“Oh! How totally cool!” I said to AdventureMan, “Look! They have provided a tent majlis for guys waiting for their wives to grocery shop!” (A majlis, sometimes called diwaniyya, is a place where people gather – usually men, but not always, sometimes women also gather in a majlis but usually separately from men)
“I think that is one of the Islamic Center places,” AdventureMan said.
On our way out of Carrefour with our purchases, the majlis was packed, and everyone was drinking Arabic coffee in graceful little cups, even one western couple. It is a lovely, hospitable oasis, full of soft surfaces in a hard surface mall.
Qatari Police Balloon?
I thought this was so cute when I passed it on B-ring today:
I don’t know what it’s all about, but I like it that he has on bright clothing and a reflector vest to help him be safe while he is directing traffic. 🙂
Doha: Keep Your Camera Handy
Today I had one of those experiences I have so often in Doha, a “no-one-would-believe-me” moment, but I have learned to keep my camera handy, and fortunately we were stopped in traffic so I could snap this one without endangering any lives, especially my own.
Traffic is steady, busy, but pretty mellow. Yeh, there are the normal “I’m-going-to-make-a-left-turn-from-the-right-lane” guys; I’ve lived here for so long it doesn’t even rate a roll of the eyes. It’s part of the Doha / Kuwait driving culture.
This, however, I only see in Qatar. Mr. I’m-So-Important-I-Can’t-Wait is this guy in the white Land Cruiser.
He is sitting half on top of the street median, trying to get back into traffic going in his direction. To get there, he drove down the wrong way down the street on the other side of the divider. At first, there was no traffic, but when traffic came, he got up on the divider so he was only HALF blocking traffic from the other direction, and he is bullying his way back into the line he was too important to wait in.
I carry my camera now, every day, in my purse, because I know if I just tell you about these things, you won’t believe them.
I have seen this also at major roundabouts. Some yahoo drives up the other side of the road to the roundabout to avoid waiting in the line. Up over the medians, facing oncoming traffic. I know, I know, what are they thinking?
In Kuwait, I was sickened by the number of young men killed on the roads every week, every month. If it were an epidemic killing young men, people would do something about it, but tell these guys to obey the law? Make them pay fines for reckless driving? Make them wear seat belts? Their behavior tells me that no one has ever held them accountable for their arrogant and dangerous driving habits.
While we are told that “no one is above the law” somehow the message hasn’t made it to these guys.
Truthful Visitor on Doha Press
Do you ever visit QatarLiving.com? It’s one of those places where you can end up passing a lot of time, and it is also a place where there is both a lot of information and a lot of misinformation. There are some very good posts, and then there are some poseurs.
A recent Forum discussed the statement by Qatar Attorney General Dr Ali bin Futais Al Marri that “no one is above the law.” As forums often do, the threads segued into a discussion of freedom of the press in Qatar.
I almost split my sides, I was laughing so hard. I asked Truthful Visitor if I could print his post on this blog, and he gave me permission. I hope you enjoy it as I did. 🙂
Don’t you folks know that all the newspapers in Qatar are screened by the Ministry of Interior every evening before publication for the following day? Anything that doesn’t fit the required image is cut out.
Hence you always get the presence of evil (there’s always an Asian gang being deported for doing something dreadful like burglary or selling liquor) page 1, bottom of the page, that covers the Evil In Our Midst; then the sycophantic article about HH who has just made some pithy pronouncement on The Necessity For Mutual Understanding And Education Across The World, page 2; some phony figures about how much more the Pearl property or other investments have increased pages 3 – 5; some baloney about how safe the country is for investment, page 6; then the gushing op-ed about how the best societies in the world are so great because they have been enforcing Islamic values, pages 6 – 8; Qatar Airways wins award for best in-flight hot towels, page 9, and a new order for 500 Airbus aircraft (thanks to the strategic profitability of the airline! ha!) . And not to forget, Gulf Escapes Economic Downturn for the fourth week in a row, page 10 ad infinitum.
The Filipina maids found dead and decayed in the desert? The photos of the police when they turn the water cannons on the labour camps outside the Industrial Area? Oh no. Those photos were seized under duress. These things are just not family -friendly, now are they?
If it doesn’t fit the great narrative of Qatar, it’s not really news!
Thank you, Truthful Visitor. (truthfulvisitor/-a-t-/me.com)
Recent Comments
ExpatAlien on What Country am I Living … intlxpatr on Yellowstone: Old Faithful to C… Michelle on Yellowstone: Old Faithful to C… Cathy on No Grown-Ups in Charge intlxpatr on Waiting for Snow Wikipedia Donate Button
Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
Here There and Everywhere 