Bendy straws and root beer floats

I was commissioned by Valerie to make some felt flowers for a wreath.  As payment I received a package filled with Pokie sticks (which the Art Society devoured at our last meeting) and spring colored napkins and bendy straws.  I was instructed to host a root beer float party.

So I did. (Like I'm going to go against the wishes of a benevolent patron.)

The kids at the institute thank you, Val.

Chapter 3 would be "Shimmy"

1.  First Dodger game of the season.  Woot!  It was good to be back.  And good to be out for under the miserable greedy thumb of Frank McCourt.  Welcome Magic Johnson, et al!  Plus, we won and there were fireworks and the predicted rain never came.  My face was exploding with happiness by the end of the night. And, as always, we got on the jumbo-tron.  My first book should be on the art of getting on the jumbo-tron.  Chapter 1:  Know your cameras.  Chapter 2:  Dance like a lunatic.

2.  At a meeting on Saturday night where several members of the world church leadership were present they opened things up for questions from the congregation.  In my head I was shouting, "NOOOOOOO!!!!!  PLEASE NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"  Because people ask the dumbest questions.  Oh, they're so dumb.  Oh, why??!  WHY!!!!???? And to prove that all of my fears were founded the very first question was, "Elder Snow, could you please tell me why we say, "I'm going to church" when the technical term for the building is the meetinghouse?"  Oh, for crying in the mud.

3. I watched my friend Teresa's baby twice this weekend and on both occasions I spend a large portion of my time there kissing on his face.  Because, ugh, those cheeks.

4.  I went to Cafe Rio for the second time in my life and I finally got why people go bananas for it.  The first time I was unimpressed.  But this time I wised up and got the pork salad and was convinced.  Plus, they have crushed ice AND cherry coke.  I don't actually like soda very much.  Coke in particular.  And don't get me started on diet coke.  Why don't you just dump a cup of sugar in a bottle of cough syrup?  But I have a soft spot in my heart for cherry coke.

5.  Remind me to never drink Cherry Coke again.  Because my body is not prepared for that kind of sugar and caffeine consumption.  So for about 5 hours after I had some my brain was all, "Buzz, buzzzz, buzz buzz buzz.  BUZZZZZZZ."

Granola Confession

You know I suffer from a yet to be classified by the AMA condition called weather paralysis that manifests itself in my inability to do anything but sit on my couch and watch Brit-flicks while eating cheese when it rains.  Well, it's been raining all morning and I am happy to report that I exercised for a full hour and showered and ate a real breakfast, not just a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles.  It wasn't until much later in the morning that I sat down with some brie and watched last night's episode of Downton Abbey (oh, that Thomas makes me so mad). 

One thing I don't mind doing when it rains is baking.  It just feels appropriate and it warms up my house without me having to turn on the heater (because I'm cheap and the heater makes my allergies cranky).  On the docket today is granola and bread.  I've been hiding the fact from you for months now but I make my own granola.  Because making your own granola just seems so, I don't know, granola-y.  And pretentious. Like, only people who use hemp toilet paper and brag about it make their own granola, right?  And yet, here I am, chopping up dried fruits and toasting the oats and measuring out flax seed (FLAX SEED!?!) What have I become?  Oh, right, I'm cheap.  I started making my own granola for the single reason that's it's cheaper than buying it.  The bulk granola over at Sprouts is so delicious, it's like crack, but it's also just as expensive.  So, yes, I'll admit it.  But that just means there's more room in my budget for cheese.

Nick Lachey is a Robot

1.) Last night I watched my friend Heather's kids and we spent the whole two hours drawing, coloring and painting.  A while ago I told them about my ridiculously large collection of art supplies and they were eager to see them so I brought them along and they were sufficiently impressed.  I'm not going to lie, it's a pretty rad collection.  There are hundreds of crayons (in standard, neon, metallic, glitter and glow in the dark), colored pencils, pastels, watercolors, markers, and glitter paint.  It was kind of an awesome night.  I love Heather's kids (K said, "I think we should start an art society," as seven year olds do.) and I love to color and now I'm trying to figure out how to get other kids to color with me because it was so much fun.

2.)  I've done it.  I've made amazing rolls.  Year after year I try to make rolls and they always turn out sort of mediocre.  But I was trying out a new recipe for Thanksgiving and I wanted to give them a test run so I made some this afternoon and THEY ARE INCREDIBLE.  I feel victorious. (Fluffy Dinner Rolls from America's Test Kitchen baking cookbook.  ATK has never failed me.  I'm also making their sausage cornbread stuffing that I made last year and have been dreaming about ever since.)

3.)  Is anyone watching the Sing Off?  And is anyone else annoyed that Afro Blues was sent home?  And does anyone else think that Nick Lachey may be a robot?  He does not vary from his host mode at all.  From the inflection in his voice to his shiny shirt/black slacks combo to the way he stands with his hip a little out to the way he drops his arm when he's done talking, everything is exactly the same week to week.  It's creepy.

I hope their turkey is dry too

Last night was rough.  I had to fight it out with Verizon for an hour and a half.

Me:  Do I need a new modem?
V: You may need a new modem.
Me:  So I need a new modem?
V: Maybe
Me: Can you just tell me?
V: I'm not saying you do, but you probably do.  Let me transfer you to someone who can sell you a new modem.
Me:  I hope the marshmallows on your candied yams burn on Thanksgiving.

All of this went on while I was having the Worst Cramps of my Life.  They were the full body kind that make you feel like someone took a meat tenderizer to your insides and then put on some brass knuckles and punched you a few times and then said mean things about your hair.  They were so painful that about an hour into the phone call I felt like I was about to black out, but then I willed myself to go on because so help me if all that back and forth was for not! It turns out that it was entirely for not as this morning Katie rearranged some of the wiring and ta-da we have internet again.

Which I am grateful for.  But I'm still hoping for disastrous yams.

Another thing I am grateful for...Los Angeles, and friends who want to have Adventures there.  Me, Katie, Heather and Andrea spent yesterday (before the Verizon/Cramp Summit of '011) cruising the city.  Andrea has lived here for several years but has never really seen anything so we took her all over the place.  Beverly Hills, the Farmers Market, the Biltmore, we rode Angels Flight (which is the cutest thing you can do in LA.  Best 25 cents you will ever spend.), and we capped it off with French dips at Philippe's.  I've lived here my whole life and you know how much I love it.  It's so much fun to show it off.  Maybe I should look into becoming a tour guide.  We saw a guy driving down Sunset in a van with no windows and the roof sawed off giving a tour to a family of red-heads.  I could totally do that.

And it has to be mentioned:  we started the morning off with breakfast at the Avocado House - Home of the Life Altering Cinnamon Swirl French Toast with Caramel Sauce.  I would not be surprised if that stuff could cure cancer.  At the very least it balanced out a night of cramps and a soul-crushing phone call with my internet provider.

Nacho Cheese

Camille photographed the wedding of our cousin Jessica to Alan on Saturday and I stood in as her assistant.  (My main duties were basically shading her lens and holding the bouquet and saying things like, "Ooh, that's a good shot," and "Nice."  My services are available to all photographers, but I don't come cheap.)  Those two love birds were professionals.  It's like they take wedding pictures every single day.  Or have read Modelland  cover to cover.  They were relaxed and funny and made the job super easy.  The whole day was actually quite lovely.  Partly because on the way home from the temple we had decided we needed Slurpees and thought we'd do a proper gas station lunch:

Slurpees, nachos and a candy bar.  The perfect meal, right?  While not technically a food (and I'm not ever sure it could even be considered a fake food), nacho cheese is my guilty pleasure.  It's creamy and cheesy and orange, three things I love!  And my Slurpee was the perfect mixture of Pina Colada, Cherry Orange, and Citrus Blast.  That is some fine dining, my friend.

What is your guilty pleasure food (real or fake)?

This and That and Tyra

1.  We don't watch a lot of Wheel of Fortune around here but when we do Katie kills it.  She's a Wheel savant.  It will be a 15 word phrase and she'll get it with two letters up there.  I usually don't even have it by the time the contestants have bought all the vowels and they keep spinning to get more money.  So I felt pretty good about myself tonight when I got one before she did.  Woot!  But what I really felt great about was recognizing one of contestants as a very bit character from Gilmore Girls who's maybe been in like 10 scenes total.  And there she was spinning for cash.  So I'm a Gilmore Girls savant.

2.  After dinner I said, "I could use some chocolate cake right now," and Katie said, "There's a recipe for individual microwave chocolate cake in the Food Network Magazine," (which, for the record, is a great magazine.  Trust your friend.  You'll want to make every recipe.)  I am very suspicious of things being cooked in a microwave.  Warmed up in a microwave, sure.  But baked?  I don't know.  (I wonder if the folks in Days of Yore felt this way about the gas range.)  But a girl has got to take a few risks if she wants cake.  And ta-da!  It worked.  Chocolate cake in under 10 minutes.  Revolutionary!  It's more souffle-ish, and it could definitely use some whipped cream or frosting or chocolate sauce, and the recipe makes more that I could eat (can you believe that?), but who am I to complain about such speedy results?

3.  I'm reading Tyra Banks' book Modelland and it is the Capital of Crazytown.  I'm marking my favorite passages and I think I need to host a dramatic reading.  Who's interested?

Chocolate Frosty is Redundant

Does it bother anyone else when you order a Frosty at Wendy's and the drive-thru gals asks, "A chocolate Frosty?"  As if a Frosty, by it's very definition, isn't chocolate.  I know that Wendy's is coming out with all of these other Frosty-like concoctions but a Frosty is first and foremost a CHOCOLATE frozen treat.  If it's not chocolate it's not a Frosty.  If I wanted something vanilla (I'm just being hypothetical here) I would have specified.

I never say anything because I remember how it was way back in the day when I worked the concession stand at a movie theater.  Normal, functioning, educated people turn into blithering chimps when they order food.  At least once a night someone would ask for a Coke, I'd hand it to them, they'd drink half of it and proclaim that they wanted a Dr. Pepper.  People would walk down the length of the counter looking in every single candy case, which were all stocked with the same things, and ask for Jordan Almonds, which we did not sell.  They would ask for fresh popcorn, meaning they wanted us to stand right next to the kettle, wait for it to pop out and catch it in the bag for them.  And then they'd eat half the bag and ask for it to be topped off.

I suppose I should be happy that the kid at the drive-thru is just trying to be thorough.  But it still feels like an affront to all that we hold dear in this country to consider a Frosty to be anything but chocolate.

Eating Labor Day Weekend

Fancy things I ate over Labor Day* weekend

Beignets at the Appels made by James.  Do not inhale when taking a bite.  Or laugh.  Or do laugh and revel in the powdered sugar cloud.  Thanks for letting me invite myself over!

Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza.  Have you done this?  Cook the pizza right on the grill?  It's faster than putting it in the oven and really, really yummy.

Strawberry Watermelon Parfait whipped up by Katie.  Basil lemon whipped cream is suddenly my new favorite flavor.

And, though not fancy, we did stop in at Cielito Lindo's for taquitos and horchata after our Dodger Stadium tour.  If you come out to visit and I give you the Grand Tour of Los Angeles, this will be one of our stops.  Because I love you that much.

*Admit it, if pressed, you would not be able to completely explain Labor Day.  You think that it may have something to do with unions and Jimmy Hoffa.

Old Friends New Friends

1.)  Old Friend

Little Rachel (I tower over her by two whole inches!), my old college roommate and one of my all-time most beloved friends was in town fighting the crowds at Disneyland all week with her family.  They took a break from the fun and met me at Downtown Disney for dinner.  (Motto:  we're not Disneyland but we're close and our food is just as expensive and mediocre.)

Fun Fact:  (And there is a connection here)  I rarely throw up.  RARELY.  Because I hate it.  So much.  In fact, I have only done it 3 times in the last 12 years.  The first time was hours after I returned from Rac's wedding.  The second was hours after enjoying a visit with Rac during a family reunion up in Utah.*  We risked getting together last year for lunch and that time is was poor Rac's turn.  We barely made it 30 minutes before she lost it all.  So I was a little hesitant to suggest dinner because we're clearly cursed.  Especially considering her long drive back today.  But we live on the edge.  We had a great time and picked up where we left off (minus the barfing), like we were back at Moon Apartments painting our toe nails and watching reruns of the Love Boat.  And I am happy to report that it has been 24 hours and we have checked in with each other and we're both healthy as two healthy things.  Hooray!  Thanks Rachel & Fam for hanging out with me!

2.)  New Friends

Katie and Camille have these friends, Hayley, Heidi and April:

Sisters!  Aren't they cute!  I had never met them but they read this blog which is how I got myself an invitation to breakfast this morning with them and my sisters at the Avocado House.  What?  You haven't been to the Avocado House yet?  Because why?  People of Chino and Surrounding Cities:  Go to the Avocado House, order the cinnamon swirl French toast with caramel sauce.  Yeah, you read that right.  Caramel sauce.  You'll want to hug people after your first bite.

Where was I?  Right, new friends.  So, it's always a little weird for me to meet people who read this blog.  Because I'm socially awkward and there's a good reason why I write what I have to say rather than actually say it out loud.  I can edit this.  But those girls are super fun and we bonded over our loud families and large heads and our love of breakfast food.  Thanks for being my new BFFs ladies!

*The third was in Tozeur, Tunisia, praying that I would not die alone on the floor of a bathroom in the middle of the Sahara Desert.  Oh that was hours and hours and hours and hours (so many hours) of fun.

The One Butt Kitchen

Katie and I call our kitchen a One Butt Kitchen because that's about all it has room for.  We cannot open the refrigerator and the dishwasher at the same time.  In fact, in order to open the dishwasher we have to move the trashcan.  It is wee.  But even though it is the clown car of kitchens it does have some magic.  Namely, two ovens.  Yep.  Two people can barely fit in there, but two ovens?  Bingo!

Both ovens came in handy on Saturday when we had to bake for both Easter and a dessert auction our ward was having that night to raise money for youth camps.  We were up to our eyeballs in baked goods.  Between the two of us we made a german chocolate cake, a strawberry cream cake, a chocolate peanut butter pie, a chocolate bundt cake (which was named Too Much Chocolate Cake - as if) and banana nut bread.

Katie's - natch.  They're the pretty ones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The banana bread wasn't for anything in particular - we just had rotting bananas and also, this is not our first dessert auction.  I have found that when we spend all day baking only to come home without anything I get a little punchy.  The banana bread was preemptive.

 

Later that night, to celebrate the success of the auction, we decorated eggs:

 

And then rolled around in all the money that was brought in. 

Not true - Katie just counted it.  And we marvelled once again at how generous and awesome our ward is.

Things in my food that aren't food

Foreign objects and creatures keep ending up on or near my food.

1.)  A couple of weeks ago one of the doctors from the Pod took us out to lunch to the Soup Plantation.  I already have a bit of an issue with buffet style restaurants.  But I like soup and a free meal, so what are you going to do?  Near the end of lunch a roach - A ROACH! - climbed up onto the table and started marching across.  Pandemonium ensued.  The doctor, without even putting his fork down reached over with his napkin and took care of it.  The manager came over (because one of my coworkers caused a pretty funny scene by literally climbing over the doctor to get away from it) and took the napkin and said, "I can assure you we do not have any bugs in this restaurant."  And then she opened the napkin, approximately 2 inches from my head, and flinched when she saw just how ludicrous that statement was.  Conclusion:  I can't even drive by that place without getting the heebs.

2.)  Tonight at my favorite Thai restaurant I found a piece of twisted metal wire in my green curry.  We waved down our waitress, (Her name is Moo.  Seriously.) and presented the wire to her and within minutes she came back with the owner who could not have been more apologetic and promptly comped the curry and brought us some free pad thai.  Conclusion:  I can't quit that green curry.  Or the tom kha gai.  And their pad thai is pretty great.  What's a piece of metal every now and then?

Put down that Twinkie!

Dear Friends,

Today at the Pod I saw the most vivid example of why we should all avoid diabetes:  a freshly amputated toe!  EGADS! 

Hoping you eat your veggies,
Rachel

You know you love it

Some of life's most pressing questions seem to arise at my family's Sunday dinners.  Tonight was no exception.  This one was heavily debated and we came to no real conclusion so I proposed I'd bring it to the masses.

What is your preferred order of Hershey Miniatures?

Mine goes as follows:

1.  Mr. Goodbar
2.  Special Dark
3.  Krackle
4.  Milk

I know, I know.  There is better chocolate than Hershey's.  But that is not the debate.  And you know you have a warm spot in your heart for it.  It's the chocolate of your youth.  And when presented with an assortment you instantly go for one particular variety.  I want to know what that is. 

If you're one of those people who doesn't like chocolate (freak) then you may put what your Starburst preference is (pink, orange, red, yellow).  And if you're one of those people who doesn't like candy (alien freak) then don't bother commenting because I couldn't handle not respecting you anymore.

Things that I am loving lately

1.  All the custom felt orders that I have in the queue.  All of them are gifts so I can't show you until after Christmas but we've got some fun and creative people out there and they've turned the World's Largest Felt Collection into a party.  Also, a sweat shop - because oy, the time I spend hunched over it.

2.  The movie Enchanted April.  I rewatched it tonight and wept all over the felt.  Some people have told me that it's dull.  But some people have told me they like vanilla ice cream.  Which is to say we cannot always trust some people's judgement.  I will recount that once I got a screeching phone call from Amanda that went something like this:  "I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU NEVER SAT ME DOWN AND MADE ME WATCH ENCHANTED APRIL BECAUSE IT'S WONDERFUL AND I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!"

3.  Shiny produce.  For the last 2 weeks, every time I've been in the produce section of the grocery store, I've been mesmerized by how shiny it all is.  The produce in Tunisia looks exactly as it does in its natural state - dirty.  This is a good sign and it almost always tasted amazing.  I know that shiny fruit equals pesticides and wax and mediocre flavor.  But gosh it's pretty.  I spent about 5 minutes yesterday just gazing at the celery because I couldn't get over how sparkly it was.  And don't even get me started on the apples.  It was like the Vegas strip - all aglow.

4.  Mint truffle Hershey kisses.  Knights of Columbus!  I've eaten my weight in them in just 3 days.

5.  The giant disco ball ornament on the top of my Christmas tree.

Thankful for Pie and Other Things

1.)  My flight from NY to LA was the longest flight in the history of all flights.  We could have flown to Mars and back with a side trip to the moon in the time it took us to get to LA.  And I was sitting next to Sprawly McSprawlster.  Mr. I Refuse to Be Contained In This Seat So Feel My Elbow Up In Your Ribcage for 87 Hours.  Mr. Also I'm Not Turning My Cell Phone Off So If We End Up In Zanzibar Just Suck It Up.  Mr. And Another Thing, I'm Going To Scroll Through Some Facebook Pictures of Skanky Girls I Know.  Boy, did I miss Maureen and Al.

2.)  Katie and Camille picked me up at the airport and had giant signs.  There are few things I love more than a public spectacle in my honor.  Sadly, I missed it all as I took a different route to the baggage claim.  But apparently they had people cheering for me for an hour and a half, including none other than Ben Savage from that classic 90's sitcom Boy Meets World.

3.)  As promised, we stopped at In-N-Out on the way home from the airport.  It was 12:15am on Thanksgiving.  I was thankful for my cheeseburger.

4.)  I did not sleep well when I got home, even after being awake for about 2 straight days.  But last night I slept for 11 hours - which is a record for me.  When I woke up I could have wept from the joy of it all.

5.)  After we finished Thanksgiving dinner we got a surprise at the door:  The Blessed Nephews and their Parents!!!!!!!!!

Are you kidding me?!  Could you just die over this cuteness?

6.)  Hey, remember how I was supposed to have a drawing?  Well, I didn't forget.  I just have to travel around the world and eat pie and sleep the sleep of the dead.  So I'm pleased to announce the winner is...BOB!  His favorite Thanksgiving food is deep fried turkey slathered in gravy and to that I say Amen, Brother!  Have you had deep fried turkey?  Knights of Columbus!  It's the food of kings.  Email me, Bob, with your address and what B-List celebrity you would like on a bookmark.

7.)  Ye Olde Etsy Shoppe is back in business so if you'd like a bookmark or something else that is felty and funny head on over.  I'll get it to you before Christmas.  Pinky Promise.

8.)  I'm sitting at my desk and looking out at the blue sky and the mountains I've looked at my entire life that are covered in snow and sunshine and I can't even express how much it thrills me to be back home.  This adventure has been phenomenal but gosh, I've missed this place.

Happy (Early) Thanksgiving

We celebrated the eid not by slaughtering a sheep (we could hear them bleating throughout the neighborhood yesterday morning...because they were probably having so much fun being beloved pets) but by having a proper American Thanksgiving (minus the turkey and football).  Since I won't be here for Thanksgiving (one week, folks) we decided to feast a little early.  We invited Kyle and Sun over and cooked all sorts of good food.  A few observations:

1.)  When I opened my window this morning it felt like Thanksgiving:  that is to say, 70 degress and sun, sun, sun. 

2.)  We had the best stuffing ever.  Ever!  America's Test Kitchen cornbread and sausage stuffing.  Knights of Columbus, was I ever thankful for it.

3.)  Bronwyn doesn't own a pie pan (We're not judging you, B.)  There are cake pans aplenty, but nothing to bake a pie in.  So I free-formed an apple pie and it turned out fantastic.  Even with the weird sugar they have here.  The granuals are so large that they don't completely desolve in baking. 

4.)  Kyle and Sun were introduced to the very Mormon tradition of Jello as part of the Thanksgiving feast.

5.)  Have you ever had a Thanksgiving feast that included fewer than 2 desserts?  Me neither.  And I think that's grand.  Yummy Pumpkin Stuff made an appearance.  You don't know YPS?  Sad.

Since I am so close to coming home to the World's Largest Felt Collection how about a give-away?  Leave a comment with your favorite Thanksgiving food and you'll be entered into a contest to win a bookmark with a character of your choice.  Either one that I've already done or one that you think will be funny.  Contest ends Sunday at noon (in Tunisia.  I'll let you do the math.)

Duty Free Heaven

Did I tell you that Bronwyn and I cook like...two people who cook a lot?  Because we do.  I have greatly missed the World's Largest Felt Collection and all my yarn and fabric and crayons and sparkly beads - basically anything I can get crafty with - so cooking has been a great creative outlet for me.  Bronwyn is a fantastic cook and we drool over cookbooks and her Bon Appetit magazines looking for great recipes to try out. 

Today we hosted a luncheon for some of the ladies here.  We cooked and cooked and cooked.  Oh, did we cook.  Most of yesterday and all of this morning.  Someone walked in said, "It smells like an American kitchen in here."  Which it totally did.  An American kitchen in the Fall.

Our menu:

Ricotta, Proscuitto and Roasted Tomato Tostini
Strawberry Lemon Ginger slushie punch
Pumpkin Soup (You guys, this soup makes me feel like I just won something.  It's that good.)
Butternut Squash Gnocchi
Parmesan Rolls
Lime Coconut Cookies

It is not always easy to find ingredients here.  Canned pumpkin, for instance, is a miracle.  Who cooks down pumpkins anymore?  Tunisians, that's who.  Or they must because it's certainly not canned.  And their pumpkins are slightly different from ours, in that they're green on the outside and have about a foot more meat on the inside, which ups the roasting time to 20 gajillion hours and then you're left with 20 pounds of roasted pureed pumpkin in your freezer.   

We got a lot of stuff from the commisary at the embassy but were still missing a few ingredients so Bronwyn got directions to a duty free shop out by the airport that was rumored to have hard to find American food.  So we headed out a few days ago.  Remember when you were a kid and you'd be thumbing through the Highlights magazine at the doctor's office and it would have those games in it where there would be a bunch of jumbled curvy lines and you had to follow the line to figure out which ends connected?  That's how the streets are here.  And only half of them have numbers on them.  So we had the address and the name of the place and we knew we were in the right neighborhood but we could not find it at all.  We just kept driving around and around.  So we asked a cop, who drew us a map while standing in the middle of the road and directing traffic.  And we still couldn't find it.  Then we asked a mechanic we found down some side street and he pointed us right back to where the cop sent us.  Which was this unsigned, gated, guarded building.  We drove up to the gate and the guard waved us in, like he was expecting us.  We figured out that he saw our diplomat plates because apparently only diplomats can come in.  So he opened the gate and pointed us towards the underground parking.  We headed down and then another guard lifted another gate, and then another.  It was like some kind of espionage film.  All we were looking for was molasses but you would think the building held the secrets to cold fusion with all the security they had going on there.  We half expected someone to slide a door open and ask for a password.  There were still no signs indicating where the shop was but we were directed to an elevator which took us up to the second floor and when the door opened it's like we'd walked into Duty Free Heaven.  There were counters for Dior and Prada and high end electronics.  And there were enough cigarettes and liquor to really make you believe you found your way to the Tunisian speak-easy. 

But no molasses. 

Canned Tuna

1.)  Suddenly it's fall in Tunisia.  It's been rainy and cold for a few days now so we've spent a lot of time at home so this afternoon I took Henry out for a drive.  We stopped off at Byrsa Hill where there were about 10 tour buses parked.  Henry loves buses, and tractors, and cars and trucks so I decided to ask (through elaborate pantomiming) one of the bus drivers if we could walk around inside.  The following is the imaginary conversation Henry and I had based on what I actually said and what he said through his very meaningful looks:

Me:  You want to go on the bus?
Henry:  Are you serious?
Me:  Come on, let's ask the driver if we can go on?
Henry:  If you're kidding we're through.
Me:  I'm not kidding.
Henry:  I mean it, woman.  You don't joke about these sorts of things.
Me (to the bus driver): Can we get on the bus?
Henry:  Let's do this thing!

He then proceded to run down the aisle and sit in one of the seats and die from sheer bliss.  For ten minutes all he could say was, "It's a bus!  It's a bus!  It's a bus!  Bus!  Bus!  Bus!  Bus!  Ooh, it's big!  It's a bus!"

2.)  You'll never guess what the most popular food is here.  Canned tuna.  I'm not even kidding.  You know how in normal grocery stores they have about 2 feet on a shelf dedicated to tuna?  Here they have an entire aisle.  Top to bottom running the entire length of one side - all canned tuna.  They put it on everything.  We went out for pizza last night and half the pizzas on the menu had tuna on them.  The dip they brought out with the bread was olive oil, harissa (a yummy local hot sauce) and tuna.  Crazy-ville.

3.)  The teenagers here love Lady Gaga.  Regularly I hear packs of them singing out, "Alejandro, Alejandro, Alejandro!"  Also, I was noticing how many teenagers there are here.  Hoardes of them!  And I thought, is there some kind of teenager boom going on?  How come there are so many?  And it struck me that maybe I'm seeing so many because they all walk home from school and hang out outside instead of being chauffered around by their parents or playing video games inside and I suddenly wanted to high five them all.

Rusty!

We traveled down to Hammamet today.  It's like the Las Vegas of Tunisia.  Maybe the Atlantic City, since it's on the beach.  It's where all the Tunisians go for vacation.  It has some casinos and a medina that is actually a mall made to look like an old medina.  It's pretty kitschy but it was lovely.  I just realized that the picture doesn't make it look lovely, what with all those sad gray clouds.  But those cleared up in a jiff and it was nothing but sunshine and gelato after that.

The other day I was drving around town and I saw a restaurant named Cool Buger and it made me instantly crave a really good cheeseburger.  You just can't find American food here.  I mean, you can,

(Yeah, that says Tex Mex)  but it's not going to be close.

We ordered cheeseburgers for lunch, mostly to see what they were like.  They are cheeseburger-ish in that they have meat and cheese on a bun but it's nothing like the real thing.  (Dear Whoever Picks Me Up from the Airport, Please know the location of the nearest In n Out for my welcome home feast.  Hugs, Rachel)

Also, that "Fast Food" on the napkin is a relative term.  It took about 30 minutes to get our food.  This is typical. 

I did have a very authentic Tunisia dish along with my cheeseburger

It's called brik and it's tuna and an egg wrapped in filo dough.  It was ... not bad.  I mean, I don't think I would go out of my way to eat it again but it wasn't awful.  Our waiter spoke some English but Bronwyn had to still figure out a way to explain to him that we wanted the egg fully cooked.  She said that sometimes it will be like it's fresh from the shell.  Ew.  When our waiter found out we were Americans he said that he really wants to go to California so I told him that's where I was from.  A few minutes later Hotel California was playing over the radio and he came out singing it.  Cute.

Speaking of cute

We saw a whole lot of this

But I kid.  Here's what's really cute.

Me and Sam

And here's Henry trying to figure out how to scale the wall to get to the ships

We took a horse and buggy ride down by the beach.  It was a very Seinfeldian moment for me.

"Rusty!"