All hail the pomegranate

It's officially Autumn, and in some ways, the hardest time for me to be away from home. I am a Fall girl, I love it all, the sweaters, the cider, the leaves, the school supplies. Now that Ramona is here, I am trying incorporate Egyptian "Fall" things, as well as decorate and discuss what Fall means at home, too. This time of year, we are blessed with the pomegranate.



By the way, I can never spell that properly. It always ends up looking like pommegranite?, pomegranete? Anyway, thanks to spell check, I don't have to embarrass myself. The "poms" here are wonderful, giant and pink and juicy. A fairly decent substitute for apples, I think. We like to just eat the seeds, but I made a couscous salad with them that I thought I'd pass along.



PomPistach Couscous

2 Cups couscous
1 cup pomegranate seeds
1 cup shelled pistachios
1 cup crumbled goat cheese
drizzle olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare couscous according to box. Allow to cool slightly. Toss together with other ingredients. We enjoyed it just as it is, but it would also be lovely on a bed of lettuce.

Happy Autumn!!

If you come to visit...

You will likely be sleeping on these!

They are Guest Room Pillows from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. At first I was scared, but they turned out to be easy.


Surely they are worth a plane ticket to Cairo, no?

What I've been making...

So I'll keep the words to a minimum and focus on some pictures for a change...

Ramona's birthday quilt (finished a month and a half early!) I'm calling it "Girl in Africa" for the animal theme fabric and well,
because she is a girl in Africa!



Spelt pizza


Throw pillows for the deck to go with our lovely new plants!!

I'm so excited about the Indian Jasmine!



I've also been testing recipes for Ramona's party, trying to spread the sugary treats across several weeks. So far, I've attempted Fleur de Sel Caramels, they were really good, but not firm enough. And I also made Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese frosting just for fun. And then, of course scones and chai for any friends or visitors.

And lastly, here's an "update" of sorts. Remember these pants?? Well, here they are being worn by the little legs they were made for! She's finally big enough to wear them, although, if I make them again, I'm going to leave much more room for the cloth diaper butt...

jet lag and jet fuel

One of the major downsides to living abroad is the inevitable jet lag you have at least once a year when you go home. For those of you who are not world travelers (I myself was not one until I embarked on this crazy adventure!) it goes like this; traveling west, you just go to bed early and wake up early. Traveling east, you can try to go to bed at a normal/late-ish time, but you wake up at like 2 or 3 or 4am (notice the time on this post) and then you want to sleep and nap all day. Super. Now, that is all well and NOT good. But when you have an infant who is also jet lagged, it's pretty much the worst. I wouldn't be surprised if wars, divorces, and famines happened because of this very thing. So Ramona has been taking normal naps, going to bed at her normal time (maybe a little early) and then waking up ready to play at like 1am. I have been so tired and grouchy this week! I wish I had some advice, but I'm still working it out in my head. Time zone math, and all other math, is not my strong suit. It's like "if a train is traveling at 60 miles an hour..." kind of stuff and I can't do it. However, I will say, that it seems like keeping her up as late as possible is the way to go. And not letting her sleep too late during her afternoon nap, but that's kind of a no brainer. Tonight was pretty good, she went down around 8:30 and slept til midnight, was awake for maybe a half hour (big improvement over 2 or 3 hours) and then went back down. She's fussed a few times since then, but it seems that she's doing better. So how am I getting through the days on not enough sleep? Well. Let me tell you about a tragedy first. Right before we left, I broke the french press. My only link to good coffee, shattered on the kitchen floor. I brought back some yummy pumpkin spice and snickerdoodle, but alas, unless I want to eat it out of the bag (and I've thought about it) I have to wait until I have the energy to go shopping for a new one. So, I've been drinking this amazing tea instead. I love tea, but normally it doesn't give me the jolt I need. It's more of a relaxing, end of the night kind of thing for me. But Chai usually works. So, I've tried lots of different things, brewing it in the milk, brewing it water and adding milk, but it never has that, please forgive me, Starbucks kind of taste. It's never thick enough or something. I had read about this "chai concentrate" on a few different blogs last spring and I thought it sounded interesting, but I didn't have access to some of the spices so I bookmarked it for another time. Well, before I left the U.S. I wisely looked up some recipes I had been wanting to try and gathered the ingredients I needed. So the stuff works like this, you make a batch of the concentrate, throw it in the fridge, and then it's good for 6 months. And it's enough for 28 cups! I had bought some cinnamon tea at One Good Woman and it seemed like the perfect match. Oh yes. It was. This is what has been getting me through the week people.

Chai Concentrate

Makes about 1 1/2 cups (enough for 28 cups of chai)

Ingredients

• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Empty condensed milk into a jar or plastic container with tight-fitting lid. Stir in the sugar*, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Store in refrigerator.

To use: Brew a cup of strong black tea, then add two heaping teaspoons of concentrate or more to taste. Stir well until concentrate has fully melted.

To give: Pour into small jars with lids and tie with an attractive bow, or wrap the jar first. Attach a tag with instructions to keep the mix refrigerated and how to use it.

To keep: Store in refrigerator for up to 6 months.

*I thought it was pretty sweet and I think I'll leave out the sugar next time...

Round 3

I can't believe we're beginning our 3rd year in Cairo! The summer was fantastic of course, expensive, but fantastic. Ramona charmed her way from Harrisburg to Philly to Seattle to West Virginia. We had a bad health scare with her, and she was actually hospitalized, but she's ok now and hopefully that's the last time we ever have to deal with anything like that. The flight back the other day was pretty rough. The bigger she gets, the harder it is to hold her. She doesn't fit across our laps anymore and so we have to have her straddle us and lay against our chests when she's sleeping. And then when she's awake, she's a squirmy worm and it's also pretty difficult. I can't imagine what it'll be like in December when she can walk! Also, I have an undying respect for all my friends here who have more than one (sometimes more than 2!) children and do that trip. It's not easy, but it's worth it to see how happy she makes her grandparents...

So what do we have on tap for the fall?? Well, Ira is on a "pre-tenure leave" this semester, which means he'll be working on his next book and won't be teaching classes. We have high hopes that this will mean more family time, since he'll be writing all day and then be home with us in the evenings without having to do grading/class prep, etc. I will be teaching yoga 3 nights a week to start, depending on how things go, I may add more. My yoga teacher, Bobbi, is coming again in October to teach a workshop and we plan on going to Dahab for a few days while she's here. We also have a big FIRST birthday coming up! Baby Ramona will be Toddler Ramona in a couple months. VERY hard to believe. I wish there was some non-cliche way of saying "I can't believe how big she's getting/how time flies/it seems like yesterday that she was born" but there really isn't. Other than that, I'll just be cooking, baking, sewing, and crafting with all the fun books and supplies I brought back with me. Can't wait to see what the next few months have in store, I'm sure there will be new friends, adventures, and Egypt-ness as always. Stay tuned...

Limbo

These few days, the days before leaving for the summer, can be the hardest for me here in Egypt. My mind is already in Pennsylvania and there is still so much to do here. Normally, Ira is done going to campus by now, but because he was Chair of the department this year, he is still tying up loose ends, and has to attend both the undergraduate and graduate graduations this week as well. This leaves me with a lot of Ramona time. Which I adore! However, it means that all the packing, gift/souvenir buying, preparing food/baby stuff/entertainment for a day's worth of travel, last minute get togethers, and prepping the flat for our 2 month absence are going to have to wait until the day before and the day we leave. Sigh. So I'm all geared up for these things, but I don't have the time or the chance to do them with a baby, 100 degree weather, and a broken (!) stroller. So I am trying to stay in the moment with my little girl and enjoy our last few days of "just the two of us" before the grandparents take over. Although, this mama will welcome the break!

Maadi Moments

Maadi, for those who don't know, is name the name of our neighborhood in Cairo. I often tell people it's like living in Brooklyn; tree lined, pretty, and there are a lot of strollers. Here are some photos from our weekend wanderings...

The Indian Jasmine trees on our street (my favorite in all of Egypt, I believe)

I love morning walks where you can still see the moon. It's there, very tiny in the middle.

I captured these on my way to grab coffee and meet Amanda and Gordana for a little "yard sailing"and breakfast at Cuba Cabana.

Ramona and Veli playing at a yoga garden party...

Poolside...

I think some of the kids call this a "fairy tree"

I love this villa

Where did you wander this weekend?