Twinkies in Riyadh - not recommended

So many of you know that I have an awful binge love/hate relationship with snacks. I often become fond of a snack that I will eat until I hate. This often happens within the course of a few hours, where I love love LOVE these cheetos until I hate hate LOATHE those horrid orange cholesterol sticks. I recently came across a big box of Twinkies at the grocery store for 5 riyals (less than $2 canadian) and being the bargain hunter that I am by nature, I could not resist the calling of a good deal. Boy I could not WAIT to dig into those Twinkies. Except when I finally opened one and had a taste, it was so anticlimactic I wanted to cry. The pastry bits are not as light and spongy as the real deal, and the cream is not evenly distributed in the centre of the Twinkie - it resides in pockets in different parts of the Twinkie. It's like I ate the Frankenstein of Twinkies, stitched together with cheap spare parts....what a nightmare...

I heard this thing about camels and children....

Apparently, they're like oil and water, and one way to get a camel to go really nuts and run like it's on fire is by strapping a kid onto a camel. The kid and the camel are both as freaked out as they could possibly be. The screaming gets louder and so the camel runs faster. Is it all weirdly comical and bizarrely tragic at the same time? yes yes yes! Read this - it's real - http://www.uaeprison.com/camelkids.htm

what is an abaya?

I used to get this question a lot from my friends, so I thought I would post a couple of pictures of my new abayas that I bought from the Kingdom coffee morning. It's worn over your clothes and typically made of crepe. It covers your body from the neck down and while it's not a legal requirement to wear them, you would be the only woman not doing so in the entire city, so social pressures and the prospect of being harassed by muttawa and saudi men is enough to motivate expats to respect their cultural traditions. Non-muslim expats do not wear headscarves except during Ramadan, out of respect for their holy month. Most Saudi women wear the trio of abaya, headscarf, and niqab (face veil).

Oh by the way I got my friend to model my abayas for me because she doesn't mind the attention.



The abayas with hoods are typically only worn by western women, so that they can cover their heads with the hood instead of carrying around an extra scarf if they get stopped by muttawa



*edit - for more info on where to buy one, click here*

VIP Barber shop

I know my last post was long and boring - this will be short. I've been aching to get a picture of this up for you guys because I laugh every time I see it. Sorry I couldn't get a better one but if you click on it, the pic should enlarge to full size. The rightmost store says "UFUK Barber Shop" and I would loooove to know how you would pronounce that.



My other favourite location name is Yamama. Yamama is a famous district that contains a university, a compound, buildings etc. Yamama university is currently being accredited. I can't keep a straight face any time people mention it because they inevitably say things like "I've heard good things about Yamama" or "Yamama's not that great" or "I'd love to get a look at Yamama and try things out, has anyone been in there??" There, see - you're smiling now too, aren't you?

The Kingdom Coffee Morning

Expat wives living on compounds for the most part fall into two categories - the kind that work, and the kind that don't work. The kind that don't work often fall into their social groups and lifestyle structures based on whether they have young children or grown children. And if you are an expat wife that has no children, is not over 40, and you are not working, lemme tell you boy oh boy the thing to do is to kidnap a couple of babies so you join that baby club. No, I joke. One thing I like though, are the days where people from different groups all show up to the same thing. "Coffee Mornings" are great for that.

"Coffee Mornings" are bazaars that are set up at various compounds where a variety of vendors show up to sell their wares, there's coffee and snacks to buy, and basically women are picked up from their respective compounds for a morning out. There's usually a few each month to go to, but the best one to go to by far is the Kingdom Coffee Morning housed at the Kingdom Compound not to be confused with the Kingdom Mall. Yes, confusion is a specialty here, and happened this morning at our compound when two separate buses left - one for the Mall and one for the Coffee Morning and I watched a commotion develop when 3 French ladies in the seats next to me realized they were on the wrong bus. Sacre bleu! Anyways, the reason this coffee morning is so popular is because everyone shows up to it:



I admit I was on a mission today to buy my husband some German bread from German bakers. When you think German you might think Oktoberfest and sausages, but let me enlighten you if you didn't already know - they are *craaaazy* about their bread. It is seriously a source of national pride for them, so don't ever tell a german that you don't like Rye. Trust me on that one. Because you'll find out very quickly how many different types of rye there are and the different ways to eat them and you could find yourself being driven across town to a German bakery to pick up a ten-pound loaf of bread. By the way, if you are living in Riyadh and looking for this German bakery, let me tell you that you'll never find it because they don't have a store - they just show up to coffee mornings and deliver direct to your house or compound through an order sheet.



They also sell really nice abayas at this coffee morning, which was the other thing that I wanted to get. Mission accomplished (twice)! Always bargain, especially if you buy more than one. The key is to get in right after you've watched him give another woman a deal and just stare him down until he melts.

These are some of the knick knacks they sell along with a lot of jewellery, housewares, and fabrics:



As for the compound itself, it's quite nice, but not the mecca that my husband made it sound like. You know, it's got those fake rocks by the pool and some parrots in a big bird cage, but aside from that, I'm not sure what the big deal is. Arizona is the compound to be at if you ask me, because they have a horse, a golf course and goats. Yeah, GOATS! Booyah!

High Tea at The Globe

I thought I would write a little bit about the Globe, a restaurant that all the westerners seem to frequent. This posh place is situated at the top of the Faisaliah tower, which is part office complex, part hotel, part high-end mall, part-restaurant, part spaceship, etc. The restaurant is literally situated in the globe of the tower and boasts spectacular views out these stunning windows that seem endless when you're up there.



We were there for High Tea, where they set out a beautiful looking buffet of appetizers and finger foods, and of course desserts, including a chocolate fountain. It starts in the late afternoon and runs till after sunset, so you can enjoy watching the city turn on its lights while the sun goes down. It's so pretty that you really forget where you are.



Here's a picture of our table just after the sun had set:



And another one on our way out of the spread. There's a lady in this picture who probably would not have liked being photographed by a sneaky expat let alone posted on the internet. Shhh! we won't tell her that I did that!



Ok well since I posted that one I might as well post this one as well. I just wanted to show you a pic of a Saudi couple out for dinner. Most restaurants provide enclosed spaces for couples and families so that women can uncover their faces to eat. Beside them you can see a family whose little boy touched every marshmallow in the dish on the dessert table. I didn't eat any marshmallows that day.



And here's a picture from the dinner my husband took me to the Globe for another occasion. The lobster bisque I ordered was so heavenly that I had to post it.



The Globe is ridiculously expensive for meals, but I suppose you're paying for the experience as much as the food itself. In fact the experience is so fantastical that they have a button in the elevator that says "The Experience" on it. Below is a picture of the mall at prayer time. You can see that all the stores are locked up while people mill around waiting for it to re-open. I'm in the picture too - I'm the one in the black ;)

It's Halal (....in Bahrain)

This past weekend my husband and I took a road trip with some friends to Bahrain. Many things that are haraam here in Riyadh are permitted (halal) in Bahrain, such as alcohol, pork products, and holding hands. We stayed only one night, but even so it was nice to unwind for a couple of days without an abaya on. Now that I'm back in Riyadh, it all seems like a blissful dream.

Here is a pic I took at a gas station on our way to Bahrain. Be careful not to smoke around this *inflammable* truck because it *might not* blow up




Here I am conquering an ultra high tower on the Ritz property in Bahrain. It was great to be by water again.



We visited the Gulf Hotel in the evening, where we had dinner. It was swank:



This is my sashimi appetizer at the Fusion restaurant - and I know you are feeling a little jealous right now, looking at this picture. Even I'm jealous of the me that was eating this 2 days ago. ARGh! We all hate her!



Later on we went to an English pub called Sherlock Holmes to hang out and listen to this asian rock band that sang everything. They sang rock classics like "My Heart Will Go On" and "Naughty Girl" by Beyonce. The female members of the band wore black bikini tops and leg warmers with silver leggings and animal print cloth around their waists.

I also tried the grits at Ric's Kountry Kitchen, an American restaurant, and it basically tasted like porridge and I'm sure you're supposed to eat it with something, like you would with rice. But I didn't know any better so I ordered it on its own =)



This is some of the scenery that we saw on our way out of Bahrain:



Here are some camels by the side of the road:



Ahh...what a nice trip. I wish we were back there!