Sweet Salalah...Cakes, Dieting, and Other Musings from the Middle East: Goat Guts in the Desert Anyone?

I discovered today that one of my colleagues also keeps a daily blog. He too checks his numbers and worries if he doesn't keep posting, he will lose readers. I am the same. I honestly didn't know what to write about today. Oh, I have my observations, but some of them are absolutely unprintable. A friend did ask me to start bridging the gap between life here and life "there." Take MacDonalds for instance. We got a MacDonalds here about a year and a half ago, I think. It was the first thing to open at the Salalah Gardens Mall. Of course. Now there is a food court with Hardees, KFC, Subway, as well as local style fast food restaurants with Lebanese and Indian food. Omani food can't be translated into a fast food joint. Rice and meat sum it up I think. I've honestly never been invited to eat dinner in a traditional Omani home, so I'm not sure. My students love a very fatty mix of rice and meat (beef, goat, or camel) and not a whole lotta vegetables.

My first week here in Salalah, I had to go pick up some money at Western Union. The public relations officer for my company (and my landlord) picked me up and took me into town. After I got a few dollars, sent by my brother to tide me over until payday, he asked if I was hungry. Sure. He decided to give whitey (moi) an authentic experience. We went to the bbq pits at Ittin. If you live here, you know the ones. There are skinned goats aplenty hanging from hooks around the pit, often awash with flies. In the center of each purveyor's pit is a big pile of glowing hot coals. The Bengali worker threw some goat stomach, actually intestines, onto the coals to crisp them up. My landlord said I should try camel meat. Hoookay! We got a cup of fatty cubed meat to go with our entrails, some Lebanese flatbread, and a couple of 7Ups, and sat in the dirt by the side of the road eating. The camel meat was not a fav. I did ok with the crispy entrails, trying to wash it all down my gullet with soda. I guess that is pretty authentic eh?

On the way home, he actually scolded me for sitting and eating dinner with him. "Do you always just go have dinner with someone you don't know?" I said no. I stated the obvious. I said, "You work for my company. You're my landlord. So I know you. You can't be dangerous." He warned me with dark looks not to trust anyone else like that in Salalah. Ever. You know what? He was right. Don't sit in the dark desert eating camel meat and swilling 7Up with a stranger. Got it! I never have again. Whoooweeeee.

Now we have fast food and a mall. The bbq pits at Ittina are still thriving. Nobody is going to give up "goat stomach" for Big Macs soon. Not entirely.

Opening week. The roped off ladies line I cherished is no more. I do not call this progress. I love ladies only lines. There is a ladies only sign to the side, but without the velvet rope, those cootie people (men) just step in our line! Bring back the velvet rope I say!

Today's cake has nothing to do with fast food. I woke up early, like an organized person, and cooked the layers. Off to work, then home to make the frosting and off to yoga. It was a full day, but I felt I had everything under control. What I don't have under control is the expense of making a cake every day. I am actually getting nervous. A block of butter every day? Chocolate? Several eggs along with milk? I have a recipe, not for cake, but an empty checking account. What to do.

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

For many of my readers, the American style of measurement is odd. If you follow the above link, the original site will give you the option of metric measurements. Metric is something I have a hard time with!

INGREDIENTS:

2 cup(s) all-purpose flour

1 cup(s) cocoa

2 cup(s) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon(s) baking soda

1 teaspoon(s) baking powder

1 teaspoon(s) salt

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon(s) pure vanilla extract

1 cup(s) sour cream (I substituted full fat plain yogurt

1/2 cup(s) canola oil

1 teaspoon(s) white vinegar

1 cup(s) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup(s) raspberry jam, strained and seeds discarded

1 1/2 cup(s) confectioners' sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch-round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Combine flour, cocoa, granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Add eggs, vanilla, sour cream, oil, vinegar (for leavening and a more tender cake), and 1 cup

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake until a wooden skewer, inserted into cake center, comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 20 minutes; release from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Beat butter and jam together using an electric mixer set on medium speed until fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and beat until smooth. Spread filling between 2 cake layers and frost with

Superquick Chocolate Buttercream

1 cup(s) butter

6 ounce(s) bittersweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled

2 cup(s) marshmallow cream

3/4 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract

Using a mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and chocolate together until fluffy. Reduce speed to medium and beat in marshmallow cream. Add vanilla extract and sugar, increase speed to medium-high, and beat, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally, until smooth and fluffy. Chill 20 minutes before using.