Yesterday, we spent the evening with Amal. She invited us over to her new place, where we had a great time, chatting and laughing about life in Doha in particular, and the Arab World in general. Her new apartment is very nice and cozy. She definitely worked hard on it. I so loved the couches!
In separate developments:
- Jeff finally got his Qatari residency, yippee!!! This means he doesn’t need to leave the country every month to renew his visa. Now he is a proud resident of Qatar 😉
- I made cucumber and yogurt salad few days ago. And let me tell you, it was very good. Yeah, Im getting arrogant!
- My Spanish/English friend Pilar called me the other day from London. We chatted for more than half an hour and it was great. I really miss her and miss the wonderful times we spent together wandering the streets of London.
- I’m reading a great book nowadays. It’s called I, the Divine. It is a very entertaining story about the eventful life of a woman who is an American-Lebanese Druze. The author’s writing style is unique: very creative, witty and amusing.
- It is very hot and humid here in Qatar. The mere idea of leaving the luxury of our 24/7 air-conditioned apartment is very disturbing. It’s in the 40’s (40 °C equals 104 Farhenheit for those stateside) with 40% humidity. We are thinking car rental now that Jeff can finally get a Qatari driver’s license.
All this news is so good to hear: a cooking triumph, good times, Son One an accepted resident of Qatar! We are so pleased with all that good news.
You guys sound like you’re doing so well!
Wow! Aunt Karen, you are the first person to ever ask me for a recipe 😉 Ok, here you go:
Peel the cucumbers, slice them and cut the slices into quarters. Cut the ends of the bulb part of the scallions, peel off the very outer layers and slice the scallions, using both the green part and the remaining bulb part, about 1/4 inch thick.
Mix the remaining ingredients together in a bowl, adding just 1 cup of yogurt at first so you can adjust the consistency. Add more if you want. Add the cucumbers and scallions and mix, covering everything with the dressing. Chill for at least 1 hour before you serve.
It’s a great dish to serve alongside hot stuff–spicy barbecue or Indian dishes.
The salad sounds wonderful. Would you pass along the recipe?
Aunt K
For those of you following along at home, 104 °F with 40% humidity feels like 121 °F — this is commonly called the heat index. And remember, we said in the 40’s — it gets over 40 °C, into the mid 40’s and the humidity got near 50% a few weeks after we got back. If you do the math on that you are talking temps that feel near 150 °F or 65.5 °C.
It ain’t no joke when they say it’s not the heat it’s the humidity. But what do you do when you’ve got both?!?!?!