Thursday, February 26, 2015

Calling All Indian Drivers!

Have you driven into or out of Saada lately? Have you?

It's a friggin nightmare. Before I start on this rant, I have to teach you a word. That word is "muntifunti." A dear friend taught it to me as a substitute for a much ickier word, involving obscene, unbiblical acts with ones mother. I dasn't repeat THAT word, because I am always a lady.

So back to the roads on the college side of town. The "flyover" (overpass bridge-thing for you Americanos) is well under way. Not only is the actual up-in-the-sky part of the flyover in progress, the road into Saada from New Salalah is all torn up, AND so is As Salaam street by Browniz. Can you say munti funti?

It's madness. To relieve my own stress, I decided to mosey into work by way of Hafa. Big mistake, because about a thousand other people had the same brilliant idea. And most of them were from Kerala.

I know, my Kerala friends. I know what happened. Felicia understands. You saw the banana tree-lined road and the cars lined up as far as the eye could see and a form of madness took over didn't it? There is a reason India is statistically the most dangerous place to drive (or ride) in the world. Y'all can't queue! Driving through Haseelah is now a bumper-car fun ride with maddened Malayalis gripping the steering wheel in a crazed frenzy to be the absolute first at the stop sign, to the point  where you, dear friends, cram the road five cars across, all headed in the same direction. I mean no offense. There are issues with driving related to Omanis as well, and (reputedly) women. Hah! But if you live in Salalah, you know what I'm talking about. Learn to queue people. All of you who are out and about, no matter where you are from, are not going to get where you need to be any faster by plowing down the side of the road and prizing your vehicle into the head of the line. You might even arrive a tad later, once you scrape down the side of someone else's car.

I arrive at work now with hate in my heart. Road rage is illegal here, and it's a very good thing indeed, or you would see a ninja dressed American in a hot pink car making a few munti funti-ing gestures lemme tell ya. Man!


As for the cake, I was in the mood for a slice of winter nostalgia. A friend brought me two cans of pureed pumpkin from England a couple months ago, and I put one of them to good use. 


Her Cake. From Lick the Bowl Clean. 


  • 2 cups sugar (I used 3/4 cup white sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cups vegetable oil
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1-15 oz. can pumpkin puree
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C
Whip the sugar and eggs until frothy. Actually, this cake doesn't need a stand mixer at all. Beauty! Whip in the vegetable oil and vanilla. Stir in the pumpkin puree. Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and stir into the pumpkin mix. Pour into a well greased bundt pan and bake 45 minutes, rotating 180 degrees halfway through the baking.

The frosting was to be a delightful cream cheese mix. However, A CERTAIN PERSON saw the tub of cream cheese on the counter and assumed I just left it there. I found it placed back in the fridge and said a big internal munti funti. I whipped about a cup of confectioners sugar and a couple tablespoons of milk together and poured it over the cake. It worked. Not nearly as good as cream cheese frosting, but since everyone at work ate it for breakfast, a plainish cake was easy on the stomach. 

My cake. Those of you suffering in the cold back home really should make this.


Now for something completely different! I can't figure out how to get my marvy North African style cooking on Pinterest unless the pics are in this blog. I am trying very hard to learn this style of cooking, with limited success. This lamb dish was great. I started with a Moroccan style mixture of spices, but added some Tunisian style flavors as well. So it's a North African fusion dish. I find when I feel free to wing it, without worrying too much about how the perfect Tunisian housewife would make the dish, it tastes quite good. Maybe not like something his lordship would find in Tunis EXACTLY, but still dang good.


Felicia's North African Style Lamb Stew

1-1.5 kilo lamb shoulder (2-3 pounds for Americans)
1 t. ground caraway
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. ground ginger
1 t. ground tumeric
1 t. white pepper
2 T harissa
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup olive oil

Mix these spices with the olive oil and set aside.

Chop 1 onion roughly. Saute in your pressure cooker until a bit translucent. 

Peel and cube 3 potatoes and place in pressure cooker. Pour the olive oil mix over the potatoes and mix.

Add a small can of stewed tomotoes and two cups of beef broth or two cups of hot water and two cubes of beef bouillon. 

Sear your lamb shoulder in a frying pan on high. Squish it down into the vegetable mix. 

Bring the steam up so that it begins to whistle. Put the heat on medium at this point and leave it for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the steam release by itself. This take a little time, but that will meld the flavors. If it is an emergency (like it's burning) release the steam by pulling up the cap or running the top of the pot under cold water. NEVER open a hot pressure cooker right away. 


Before cooking. Note the level of liquid and adjust accordingly if need be.


The lamb was soft as butter, I don't like lamb but somehow this worked.


So drive safely people. I hope I didn't tick too many of you off. Most of you, no matter where you are from, nodded knowingly. Now stay out of Saada for awhile! I gotta get to work on time!

Love,

Felicia El Aid



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