Inside, Outside, Upside, Downside, Happy All The Time......

There is a signature Palestinian Dish and it is called Maklubeh. It means "upside down" and you'll see why at the end of the pictures.  This tastes great and I hope to perfect this in the future since we like it. Really, Palestinian food is so good!  There aren't many dishes that are totally gross except those that include tongue, liver, heart, brain or any of those sorts....otherwise, most things are pretty tasty and I'm sure that you would agree!

First, you soak the rice. You always soak the rice.  This soaked for probably 2 hours or so.

 

Peel a ton of garlic.....2 heads actually. This isn't 2 heads. I was working slowly.  Peel enough that you stink for the next couple days!  Maklubeh isn't anything unless there is a lot of garlic. Thinking about it, you actually don't taste it that much, though.

 

Then you do the really healthy thing....and FRY up your cauliflower!

And some potatoes.  Trey loves the potatoes in it.  Some people do eggplant

too or all sorts of things.

Be sure you clean your chicken well.  Our friends like the

thigh and leg.  We removed all of the skin (give that to your goats outback) and

throw the cleaned chicken into

a pot with some oil and lots of spices.  Tumeric, allspice, nutmeg

salt and some other secret ones...not really,

I just can't remember them!  Fry it up til it looks good....

not sure how to tell you what "looks good" is.

Then you add water--half of the water necessary for cooking the rice.

A lot of people here do 1 cup of rice to 1.5 cups of water.
She adds the other half later.  Let it cook around in there for a while with the chicken

Then you start layering.  A little potato, some cauliflower, then rice

then potato, cauliflower and some rice...do you have that or

do you want me to go through the order again?!

After everything is in the pot, you add more water.

They have this special way of knowing if the water is the right amount.

After everything is in and you put all the water in the pot, then they stick

a big wooden spoon in the pot. If it falls over, it means there is too much

water! Wish I had known this trick when I made this for Trey's family

this summer.  It's too little if you can see the rice.

Then you gotta work up your muscles and get ready

to do some flipage work.....

Hence the name Maklubeh! You flip it upside down on

a big tray.

And there you have some good food!

How do you say....

We get the question about where we are from a lot here.  When Trey says "Massachusetts" it becomes a problem as that can be a pretty hard word to say.  Our friend Afaf and her kids have had over 2 years to practice and we took a video at dinner one night.  They do pretty well.....

Nothing, nothing, nothing....

So I've been wanting to post a blog this week, but I didn't have anything to say and still really don't.  But I'm going to post anyway.

My Fantasy Football skills are much worse than my event planning skills.  My team stinks this year.   I have a couple theories about why maybe....just maybe. 

•  Usually Trey and I play in another league and there is one guy that I always want to beat.  He's just one of those people that trash talk a ton and you just want to hate him.  Maybe it gave me great motivation. I don't know.   Really, I love Jesus, but this guy....I'll tell ya!
  
• Last year on our illegal cable box we got NFL football....for some reason they decided to take away that channel this year....they keep saying it will come back.  I think after we move it will come back.  These things always happen here and I never believe them!
  
• Maybe Trey and I were better as a team.....this isn't true for everything in our life, but maybe for FF.  Really, wives and husbands shouldn't work together....and I don't mean yard work, I mean a job that gives you money. We can talk about that later. 
  
• Maybe I just picked a sucky team...yup, this is probably the most true statement!  We did a different draft than we're used to....we had money this year...I was so worried I'd use up my $200 and not have any money for my end players....I realized that at the end everyone goes for like $1 or $2....maybe next year.  I am playing next year, Jon! I might stink just as badly.....
  
• The guys in our FF league are like pros. Some of them do research and have notebooks of information for their draft.  Yeah, maybe I'll start working on that for next year. 
• Some of you could care less about this.
• The fun part is that I really enjoy reading the message board. It makes me laugh so much.  I never comment but appreciate the sense of humor amongst our friends. 

Today is a perfect fall day. I'm making banana blueberry bread and enjoyed some time with friends this morning.  I know our end time is going to go fast so we need to make time to see people.  Trey is off doing what he loves most....visiting the Bedouin out in a village outside of Bethlehem.  I got really sick the last time I visited them for like 2 weeks after so I'm done with that for a while. 



Did you see this story about a Brazilian man who showed up at his own funeral. Wouldn't that make you pee your pants if you were there?!  Really, what in the world would you do!

We started cleaning out our closets this week and getting ready to move a little.  Man, you can accumulate a lot of crap in 2.5 years!  Thank goodness we have family coming for Thanksgiving and Christmas so that we can send stuff home with them.

Lately, I've been enjoying the podcast "Stuff You Should Know".  Ever listen to that?  They have some fun topics and you can learn some useful and useless information.   I enjoy listening to the podcasts from NPR..especially Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Any other good podcasts you can suggest?

Later we'll have some pumpkin pie.....

I love to bake and I enjoy bringing it over to our friends homes here for them to taste it.  I want them to taste all those goodies that we had back at home.  They don't typically love sweets a ton but they enjoy the pumpkin pie and pumpkin muffins.  And they really like Rice Krispie Treats!  Last week our friend asked me to make her a pumpkin pie, so I did.

I buy pumpkin still in the squash form, peel it and put it into boiling water until it's soft. Then I drain the water and throw it in the blender until it's nice and smooth.

Anyway, I found a good recipe from Paula Deen that I like. I don't really like pumpkin pie that has a TON of spice to it. I don't mind some cinnamon or a little nutmeg but I ain't usin' any of that jar o' pumpkin pie spice. Nope. Not doin' it.  My grandmother always made pumpkin custard. Maybe that's a Pennsylvania Dutch thing.  Or maybe my Nana was just more Martha Stewartish than she even knew. 

Anyway, this tastes pretty similar but Paula Deen adds some cream cheese. If you like cream cheese, give this a try.

Now I have to admit...pre-baking a crust is never as easy as they say! I don't care what you tell me, I've been baking forever and I have a hard time with this. It always gets limpy and falls over and shrinks up and all sorts of other things. I even put the aluminum foil inside it with beans. Nah, that doesn't work.  Maybe I need to get me some of those good baking beads.  How does it always work so perfectly for the food network?

Ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups canned pumpkin, mashed
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, optional
• 1 piece pre-made pie dough
• Whipped cream, for topping

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place 1 piece of pre-made pie dough down into a (9-inch) pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Put the pie shell back into the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, if using, and beat until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream.

So I disappeared for a week or so.  Back now and things are good but busy.  A little update on our life and what we have been doing:

1) We only have 2 months left here and that time is going quickly.  We have so much we want to still do but not enough time.  We have a tour group for our work coming on November 15th.  On the end of their trip, Trey's parents arrive.  Immediately following their trip, we have a celebration for MCC's 60th Anniversary. Then we have a couple different groups of individuals coming through (who are Mennonite or related to Mennonites) who want to meet MCC Partners, etc.  In December, we'll give ourselves a week to meet with the current organizations we work with to say good-bye to them before Christmas.  Then Trey's sister and husband arrive for Christmas. They leave on January 3 and we fly out on January 5!   Time flies when it's full.

2) We went to a training with one of our partners last week. I haven't been in a while so it was fun for me. They were teaching women how to make "pickled items" so that they can sell them in the market, etc and for their own personal use at home.  Olives, pickles, cauliflower, stuffed eggplants, etc.

 

3) We took some kids here who are like family to us, to the beach this past weekend. It was great fun!  They have never seen the ocean and they were amazed.  (This all goes along with the fact that their parents can't leave the West Bank unless they get special permission. Typically Israel won't grant permission so that you can go to the beach! Usually for medical appointments or for work purposes, etc.  Since the kids are under 16, they don't need permission so we took them while they could still go!) We went swimming and the waves were really strong!  They loved Tel Aviv and even more they loved seeing the train that goes from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  The tracks are along the main highway and thought it was so neat.  Also, we took a quick drive into the airport area for them because they were also amazed by the planes.  It was really fun and I forget how common those things are for us.  It was funny to me because as we were driving along the highway, Iman said to me "How come there aren't people walking along the highway. Does everyone in Israel own a car."  Lots of people in Bethlehem don't own cars and walk everywhere.  They walk on all the roads. For us it seems like common sense to think that a person wouldn't walk on the highway (unless their car broke down or something) but for her she just thought it was strange that EVERYONE was in a car and nobody was walking.  I made sure she knew that not everybody in Israel owns a car but many do.


 4) Our friend Afaf's daughter turned 19 last week.  Aya is so sweet and is in university studying accounting.  She will be getting married in March.  Too bad we'll miss her wedding!

5) We enjoyed a nice b-b-q with some friends.  I like the way they spice the chicken and hamburger meat here. They make the hamburger meat into these little patties and it tastes soooo good with fresh pita and hummus.  They make all kinds of great salads, too. 

6) I hate how bloggers update does the pictures now. Like paragraph #2 above I wanted one picture to the left top in the paragraph and one towards the right bottom. Nope, it wouldn't let me.  It kept making me put them both at the top so then there were a few words smooshed in between and it looked dumb.  Sometimes it looks funny how it gets published anyway but that's another thing. 

So whatcha, whatcha, whatcha want.......

So I have some good suggestions from friends for our new blog name for when we're in the Emirates.   Let me know what you think. 

Me and T in the UAE
Out of the Frying Pan - Into the Fire
Home Sweat Home
Sun and Sand: A Life Unplanned
My Sandbox Runneth Over
Amazing Gulf
The Caravan Couple
United Hulsey Emirates

I really like Me and T in the UAE and Sun and Sand: A Life Unplanned.

What do you vote for?

Say my name, Say my name....

So now that we're moving to the UAE, I think my blog name needs to change.  Oh little town of Bethlehem worked for a little while, but a) it won't work soon since we won't live in Bethlehem and b) I'm bored and done with that name. 

I probably need to ditch some of my content from the past, too.  You know, Israel isn't best friends with some of the other countries in the Middle East and I'm not interested in causing any trouble for our resident visa process in the UAE.  You can get into the UAE with an Israeli stamp in your passport as we figured out in September so that's nice, but I think we'll get news passports anyway. There are too many fun places to travel that don't want to see an Israeli stamp in our passport so we'll make it clean! 

So what do you suggest?  Help me come up with another name.  Sandboxes, deserts, working at a hospital....