More Chilis!
We just got back from Fehaheel, where we ate at the new Chili’s at the Al Manshar Mall. It’s always a debate – brave the traffic on Gulf Road to the Towers or brave the traffic going south to Fehaheel. Tonight we thought we would take a chance, see if the new Chili’s had opened there. We can always hit Paul’s at Al Kout as a fallback.
It was open! It’s only been open for a week, and they haven’t made any big announcements while they break in the new serving crew. The food was reliably good – we had the bottomless chips and salsa, and my husband had the Bacon Cheeseburger while I had the Chicken Ceasar – good. Quick, well served, and good.
The manager tells us another group of the Chili’s restaurants – Johnny Carino’s, Chili’s and (something else) will also be going into the Kuwait Magic Mall in 2007. Takes a little of the pressure off the Towers Chili’s.
The Rotana Hotel hasn’t opened at the Al Manshar Mall, nor has the Villa Moda, but the parking is already dismal. And the traffic in Fehaheel is nearing the same aggressiveness and gridlock as in Salmiyya. You CAN park across the busy road at Al Kout Mall and brave the crossing to Al Manshar with no cross walks or lights to help you.
Virginia Hall: A Modest Heroine
The Good Shepherd, a new movie with Angelina Jolie, and Matt Damon, directed by Robert DeNiro (!), will open Friday, a story of the beginnings of the American intelligence services, the OSS and the CIA. I can hardly wait.
Earlier this week, there were some small news articles about Virginia Hall, who served her country risking her life time and time again, fighting the Nazis in the allied clandestine services, facing the possibility of torture and death if she were caught. Hall didn’t let anything hold her back. She believed that what she was doing was worth doing, and when WWII ended, she continued working quietly for the greater good. I would have loved to meet this woman. What a pistol!
Here is what Wikipedia has to say about her:
Virginia Hall MBE DSC (April 6, 1906 – July 14, 1982) was an American spy during World War II. She was also known by many aliases: “Marie Monin,” “Germaine,” “Diane,” and “Camille.”[1]
She was born in Baltimore, Maryland and attended the best schools and colleges, but wanted to finish her studies in Europe. With help from her parents, she traveled the Continent and studied in France, Germany, and Austria, finally landing an appointment as a Consular Service clerk at the American Embassy in Warsaw, Poland in 1931. Hall hoped to join the Foreign Service, but the loss of her lower leg was a terrible setback. Around 1932 she accidentally shot herself in the left leg when hunting in Turkey, it was later amputed from the knee down, which caused her a limp.[2]
The injury foreclosed whatever chance she might have had for a diplomatic career, and she resigned from the Department of State in 1939.
The coming of war that year found Hall in Paris. She joined the Ambulance Service before the fall of France and ended up in Vichy-controlled territory when the fighting stopped in the summer of 1940. Hall made her way to London and volunteered for Britain’s newly formed Special Operations Executive, which sent her back to Vichy in August 1941. She spent the next 15 months there, helping to coordinate the activities of the French Underground in Vichy and the occupied zone of France. When the Germans suddenly seized all of France in November 1942, Hall barely escaped to Spain.[3]
Journeying back to London (after working for SOE for a time in Madrid), in July 1943 she was quietly made a Member of the Order of the British Empire. The British had wanted to recognize her contribution with a higher honor but were afraid it might compromise her identity as she was then still active as an operative.
Virginia Hall joined the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Special Operations Branch in March 1944 and asked to return to occupied France. She hardly needed training in clandestine work behind enemy lines, and OSS promptly granted her request and landed her from a British MTB in Brittany (her artificial leg kept her from parachuting in).
Code named “Diane,” she eluded the Gestapo and contacted the French Resistance in central France. She mapped drop zones for supplies and commandos from England, found safe houses, and linked up with a Jedburgh team after the Allied Forces landed at Normandy. Hall helped train three battalions of Resistance forces to wage guerrilla warfare against the Germans and kept up a stream of valuable reporting until Allied troops overtook her small band in September.
For her efforts in France, General William Joseph Donovan in September 1945 personally awarded Virginia Hall a Distinguished Service Cross — the only one awarded to a civilian woman in World War II. (emphasis mine)
In 1950, she married OSS agent Paul Goillot. In 1951, she joined the Central Intelligence Agency working as an intelligence analyst on French parliamentary affairs. She retired in 1966 to a farm in Barnesville, Maryland.
Virginia Hall Goillot died at the Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville, MD in 1982.
Her story was told in “The Wolves at the Door : The True Story of America’s Greatest Female Spy” by Judith L. Pearson (2005) The Lyons Press, ISBN 1-59228-762-X
She was honoured in 2006 again, at the French and British embassies for her courageous work.[4]
Christmas Party Stars: Shrimp Mousse
Shrimp Mousse
A friend gave me this recipe when we lived in Jordan, and I have used it ever since. It is one of the all-stars! Looks and tastes so elegant, and makes up SO EASY. Everything you need is available here in Kuwait, and this is a great way to make use of Kuwaiti shrimp, only available this year until January.
You can also serve it in slices as a first course on a lettuce leaf with some parsley. Keep back several shrimp to cut in half and use as embellishment.
1 can tomato soup
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
2 envelopes Knox Gelatine
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup (or one can) small cleaned and cooked shrimp
1/4 cup cold water
Heat soup and add cream cheese, stir until it becomes all smooth and creamy. Remove from heat. Dissolve Knox Gelatine in 1/4 cup cold water, add to soup and cream cheese mix. Let cool and add mayonnaise, onion, celery and shrimp. Pour into 1 1/2 quart mold and chill in refrigerator until firm. (I use two smaller molds) Unmold and serve with crackers.
Christmas Party Stars: Herbed Cheese Ball
Herbed Cheese Ball
Herbed Cheese Ball tastes just like Boursin, but even better, because you make it yourself and it is FRESH. It tastes great, it is EASY, and it is also very fattening. You can make it ahead of time, and it will last quite a while – weeks – in the refrigerator. Boursin cheese was hot in the 70’s.
If you live in Kuwait, you can find everything you need between the Co-op and the Sultan Center.
8 ounces unsalted butter, room temp
16 ounces cream cheese, room temp
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon oregano
1/3 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dill weed
Mix together until all is well blended. Serve in ramekin or form into a ball, May be rolled in coarsly ground pepper as a variation. Serve with crackers.
Christmas Party Stars: Artichoke Cheese Dip
As with all the cookie and candy recipes, these ones are really really easy. This first one is very flexible, so flexible I don’t even use the recipe any more. You can use canned artichokes, marinated artichokes, frozen artichokes, cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, etc.
I’ll give you the basics. You make it a time or two, and then . . . play with it. Make it your own. Share the results with me! 🙂
At one party I gave, two men stood by this dip for an hour, and polished it off between them! Some people don’t like the heat of jalepenos, and if you think your guests like less heat, you don’t have to add them.
Artichoke Cheese Dip
After you have made this a couple times, you don’t even have to measure – you just sort of throw things in. A sure fire crowd pleaser.
1 14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2 Tablespoons chopped canned red pimentos
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack Cheese
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/8 teaspoon (just a pinch) cumin powder
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1-2 finely chopped jalepenos (optional, but these make it the BEST)
Combine all ingredients, turn into baking dish (I use a quiche dish) and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until bubbling hot. Serve with tortilla chips.
Qatteri Cat in the Dog House
Last night, Qatteri Cat had what we call the cat-crazies. I think he misses my husband, who chases him around, throws his ball, tosses him on his back and rubs his tummy. We hang out together, but I’m not so much FUN as Adventure Man.
So last night, just minutes after I had turned out my light, I heard a great !!!CRASH!!! I knew what it was, as I could hear crunchings, tinglings and things falling even as I “rushed to the scene” (and a tip of the hat to the Kuwait Times who use that phrase endlessly).
Here is what it looked like before:
It was late at night. I couldn’t deal with it. I found a large sheet and covered the mess and went back to bed. Qatteri Cat was too embarrassed, he hid until he thought I was asleep, and then came in – he was cold – to sleep snuggled up next to me.
This morning, I faced this:
The cross at the top of the tree is broken, but I think me and Mr. Elmer can fix it:
Of course, any of you who have cats and understand their little pea-sized brains, will know that this morning the Qatteri Cat is totally mystified as to how this carnage happened.
That’s him, skulking back behind the newly upraised tree, still a little embarrassed and hoping I don’t remember he did it.
Christmas Punch – Rum and Rumless
Brrrr. . . . .it is a COLD in Kuwait. The Qatteri Cat walks around begging me to sit at the computer so he can snuggle up next to me and snooze. I wore a real sweater today, it was that cold!
And – it is time for Christmas Punch. We all love this punch; it makes your house smell wonderful, it makes your throat feel good if you have a sore throat, and cranberry juice and pineapple juice – WOW – it’s even good for you.
This is the original recipe. Try it, but now when I make it I cut the sugar in half. Sometimes I don’t even add any sugar at all. And, this being Kuwait, no rum at all, but it still tastes wonderful, warm or cold. We store the leftover punch in the refrigerator in the cranberry jars, and just microwave it when we want a glass. It is SO good, and so EASY.
Christmas Rum Punch – and Rumless
2 32 oz. jars Cranberry Juice (Can be Cran-Rasberry, or Cran Grape, or what the Sultan Center has!)
1 32 oz. can Pineapple Juice (or 1 liter Pineapple Juice in the refrigerated section at the Sultan Center)
1 cup brown sugar
12 inches cinnamon stick
3 Tablespoons whole cloves
1 orange peel
Original recipe: In 30 cup coffeemaker, put cranberry and pineapple juice in bottom, and place coffee basket with brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves and orange peel in top. Perk juices through basket. When ready light comes on, add 1 quart Meyer’s Dark Rum. (Yeh, it’s a punch, you can use something else, but Meyer’s Dark Rum is SOOO good in this.)
In Kuwait – don’t add the rum!
Alternative when you don’t have a big coffee pot – Put juices into large kettle, add cinnamon sticks, cloves, orange peel, sugar and bring to simmer. When hot, use strainer to fish out cinnamon sticks, cloves and orange peel – Do this sooner, rather than later, or the juice will get too spicy.
Add 1 quart of rum – or not! The juice is good either way, good for you, and has a very Christmas-y smell.
Adventure Man and the Space Shuttle
The phone rang this morning at 4:30 a.m. That’s never a good thing.
My husband’s voice came over the line. “I’m here in Florida. I’ve been in a terrible accident. I’m OK, but I’m standing by the side of the road freezing my a$$ off waiting for the police to get here. And the woman who hit me is really really mad at me.”
It’s OK. I’m wide awake. The first “ting” of the phone sends a shot of adrenalin running through me that never fails to give me instant focus.
“You’re sure you’re OK?” I ask.
“Yeh, I just need to hear your voice. There are all these people waiting for the space shuttle to take off, and I knew they weren’t paying attention to their driving. There are people parked all along the sides of the road, people pulling in, people pulling out and looking for a better place to park . . . .”
“Oh. . .the space shuttle. I forgot about that.”
“Yeh, there’s a huge crowd here. There hasn’t been a night take-off for a long time. So I could see traffic slowing down in front of me, I slowed down, and this woman just plows into my rear end. You should see the rental car! What am I going to do? . . .oh, the police are coming. Will you look up our insurance policy and claims number and I’ll call you back.”
I get the information, put it by the phone and go back to sleep. It’s cold here, too, but I have a very warm cat snoozing away next to me, so I drift off again.
The phone rings again at 6 and I give him the information he needs. He is still a little shaken, but the police have been very good to him, and are going to give him a ride to a hotel where he can spend the night, contact the car rental people and calm down.
“The woman who hit me is really really angry,” he says in a hushed voice, because she is still near. “The police cited her for hitting me, and she says it’s my fault for slowing down!” We both get a good chuckle out of that – in the US, under pretty much any circumstance you can think of, the person who hits another car from behind is always, ALWAYS wrong. You’re supposed to be paying attention.
“Oh – and while the police were taking the information and clearing the accident (both cars had to be towed) the shuttle took off!”
“Have you ever seen that before?” I asked
“No! And I didn’t care to this time, either. But there it was, in the middle of all this accident chaos, and everything stopped. It was pretty spectacular.”
The police told him the nearest hotel was a roach-infested druggie hangout and took him down the highway, with his three pieces of luggage, to a nicer Holiday Inn. At the Holiday Inn, the desk clerk took pity on him and gave him a very nice room and an accident victim discount. The car rental people brought him a brand new great big car with leather seats in the middle of the night and apologized that this had happened to him in Florida. He is still a little shaken – the woman really hit him hard – but all in all, things went pretty well. He is on his way to his cousin’s house this morning, and a good, hopefully uneventful, visit.
And he got to watch the shuttle take-off. We once lived in Florida. People would travel from all over the world to come watch a shuttle take-off, and it was always iffy. Shuttle take-offs get postponed all the time, weather, mechanical malfunctions . . . sometimes the delay is short, sometimes a week or more.
So I just have to laugh at his luck. He doesn’t even care about the shuttle launch, all he wanted to do was to get to his cousin’s house, and the shuttle launches when he is in the perfect position to view it.
Photo courtesy of http://www.astronautscholarship.org
Christmas Cookie Making Photos
This weekend (Thursday and Friday are the week-end in Kuwait) was the big cookie making weekend – the upcoming two weeks are busy with occasions that require plates of cookies. (See cookie recipes in early December/late November).
In military campaigns, in event planning, after scoring a major business coup, there is an event called the “after action report.” Now matter how well you have done, it helps to sit down, right after the event, and brainstorm where you did well and where you could do better.
Here is where I did really well – the cookies taste great. Making the dough ahead of time and then cooking it up when I have time is a good game plan.
Areas where I need improvement. . .
Sugar Cookies
1) When using the food processor to make cookie dough, take off the blade protectors before beginning. Fortunately, I figured out what had happened while the pieces were relatively large, and easy to pick out of the cookie dough.
2) I didn’t realize in my January move that in the two boxes that went missing was my rolling pin. The good news is that a long, smooth sided plastic glass worked just fine. Better, in fact, than any rolling pin, wooden or plastic, I have ever used before.
I forgot what a big mess cookie-making makes . . .
This is what they look like after they have been glazed and green sugar crystals added.
They don’t have to be fancy – just relatively uniform – to make a pretty cookie plate.
Swedish Rosettes
3) Where did my big transformer go? The Fry Daddy I use to keep the oil at a steady temperature for the Swedish Rosettes needs 1200 watts, and the biggest transformer I have on hand is 1000 watts. Why on earth am I still using a 110v appliance after 8 years of living in 220v countries?
I ended up using the low-tech solution:
Although I have gas burners as well as electrical burners, I am terrified of the potential for fire using so much hot oil over the course of several hours. I don’t know why, I suppose it is not rational, but it just FEELS safer using the electric burner. It is hard to maintain an even 370 F, and quality control is problematic.
This is one of the first ones, when the oil isn’t quite hot enough. The flavor, however, is awesome! That’s the good thing about the rejects.
You can see the variation in color below. Save the darker ones for the last. You can still serve them with enough powdered sugar.
Ready to serve:
Russian Tea Cakes
These were a piece of cake. SOOOOOO easy. The ones on the right, are fresh out of the oven. The ones on the left have been rolled in powdered sugar, and are ready to eat. Yummmmm.
I buy my sparkling crystal sugars at Market Spice, in the Seattle Pike Place Market, but when I checked, they no longer sell online, and refer us instead to Amazon where they have a truly astonishing variety of sugar decorations available through the mail.
Evening out: Learning to be Flexible
A post from Little Diamond on having passport photos taken in Lebanon reminds me of how differently we live in our foreign adventures. She tells how patiently the photographer dealt with her, encouraging her to comb her hair, and finally, after showing the first photos, convinced her to clean up her act for a second, more glamorous, round.
I read a book Almost French by Sarah Turnbull, in which she describes her arrival in Paris, dressed in typical Outback Australian style, and her adventures learning that in Paris, you don’t even leave the apartment in sweatpants to run to the baker because “it might hurt his eyes.”
I remember returning home from life in Germany and thinking “the women here are so COMFORTABLE in their own skin. They wear jeans, even into their 80’s, they go hiking, they go without makeup, and they look happy!” and I wanted that for myself. In my neck of the woods, too much make-up is a big no-no. And too much is anything beyond mascara.
Identity photos in the USA are simply expected to be awful, so no one thinks too much about it, and we all just avoid showing our ID’s if we can help it (maybe that’s why we drive so lawfully, so that we don’t have to show our dismal drivers’ licenses?)
So when I had to have my first residence card done in Saudi Arabia, I didn’t go to a lot of effort. I cleaned up, combed my hair, put on my abaya and scarf around the neck, and went to the local photo guy and got the photo taken. It happened to fall on the day of a significant birthday, you know, one of those with a zero in it. Later that day, when we picked up the photos from the beaming photographer, I looked, and I mentally gasped. The photo looked fabulous.
What to do? I know the law says photos are to be unretouched, but this photo is clearly a little doctored. As any woman would, I decided to just go with the local customs. I even bought a few more enlarged versions to sent to my family. I still grin when I look at that photo. Yes, I even framed one for myself.
Here in Kuwait, I have had to had these photos taken several times, I don’t know why, for several different cards, and then the cards take time and someone loses the photos and I have to have them taken again. There is a very nice man, he takes them and I can get them almost instantly from him. I even got to pick out the one I wanted, and then, he started airbrushing.
“What are you doing??” I exclaimed, as he brushed broad strokes across my face.
“Oh Madam, I am just evening out your makeup a little bit,” he said, as freckles, crow’s feet, shadows, and any blemish totally disappeared. I wasn’t wearing any makeup, only mascara.
Hypocrite and vain as I am, I just rolled with it. It’s another culture, and I know, because I asked, that everyone gets the same treatment, the re-touch, so all the ID photos look pretty good. Mine would draw attention if it weren’t retouched, I tell myself.
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