Ramadan, take two

This year we decided to stay in town during Ramadan despite my fear that I would rack up fines left and right. Ramadan began at the end of June (we're in the home stretch now!). Every year it moves up a week or two but it always lasts 30 days. I was quite nervous going into Ramadan this year. Dubai by no means is the strictest of the cities, but they definitely take the holy month seriously and expect everyone to do the same, whether you are fasting or not.

Dealing with Ramadan during one of the hottest months of the year is not ideal. All restaurants/cafes are closed until sunset. Very few places are open (Starbucks) but offer take away only. To consume food or beverage in public (which includes your vehicle) is against the law.  So going to the Mall to escape the heat, isn't much of an escape during Ramadan. Of course children are exempt from the "no eating in public" rule, but I've been hearing some troubling stories from moms being told to feed their children in the bathrooms, not in public. Gross.

I'm proud to say that we managed to stay under the radar for the past 3 weeks. Riya and I have been getting extremely bored at home, but we packed in play dates as much as possible with the few friends that are still here over the summer.

I kind of like the quiet that seeps through the city during Ramadan. Its pretty calm during the day and the roads are empty. I'm happy we got to venture out and experience Iftar (breaking fast) and Suhoor (pre-dawn meal). Ram and I stayed up way past our bedtime for this experience (2AM) but it was fun.  Also proof that we're not that old.

One of the most famous tents was booked for the entire month, they said we would have to come at 9pm to get on the waiting list but we wouldn't be seated before midnight. Um, no, thanks! So we went to another popular place for Suhoor at the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm.

Every year many of the hotels build elaborate air-conditioned tents to seat 800-1,000 people. The tents include a la carte menus, shisha, all the fresh juice and tea you want, and live entertainment.  All the tents have a minimum spend of $30-$40/pp but their prices are marked up so high, you easily go way over.

We started the evening at Asif & Dima's place for Iftar. Asif's mom was still in town, so she cooked us an elaborate feast. I'm sad I didn't take any pictures but it was so good. Then at about 9:00pm we headed off to the hotel for Suhoor. (Suhoor doesn't start till 9:30/10pm and lasts until 2am). Already stuffed, we struggled to order food off the menu but managed to meet our minimum by ordering lots and lots of juice and tea. (Alcohol is not served). We also learned a new card game that is commonly played during this time of year. Before we knew it it was time to go home!

Most delicious Morrocan tea I've had

Hard to tell but the entire trunk was made of dates

Next week is the last week of Ramadan and then we are off to the US of A!

Red Beans and Rice

When I got pregnant last year, several people told me to buy a slow cooker.

"It will make meal planning so easy!" 
"You can just set it and forget it!" 
"Its so convenient to have when you have a baby." 

Sold!

After all the hype, I was seriously disappointed when I used the slow cooker for the first time and the dinner was burned 4 hours later.  I'm talking fully scorched. Apparently, we bought a slow cooker that is anything but.

In the past year, I've only used it a handful of times. Every time I pull it out from the cupboard, I say to myself "this time will be different." If the recipe said 8 hours on low, I checked on it after 4 hours. 4 out of 5 times, I was too late.  So this "time saving" "genius of an invention" has been a huge disappointment.

I have a love-hate relationship with this machine

But, I'm not one to give up so easily. So, I decided to give it another chance this weekend. It was the 4th of July, and what better way to celebrate that make some red beans and rice?! The grocery store finally had the good sausage, so I smartened up and bought several packs. Of course they didn't have dry red beans, so we had to substitute with dry kidney beans, but I don't know the difference :)

All the recipes I perused through generally said to slow cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 6-8. So I decided to cook it on high for 4-5 hours given that it was already 3pm when I had this bright idea. Ram dutifully did all of the chopping, so that made my job even easier.

At the 4 hour mark, I was completely prepared to find burnt red kidney beans but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was still cooking! In fact, it took another hour before the kidney beans were completely soft.  And boy was it worth the wait :)

Soaking the kidney beans before cooking time

And voila! Add some Frank's Red Hot and you're good to go:

 



  

Shrimp and Grits

Only after we moved overseas did I realize I married a true southerner. Ram loves all things from the south- fried chicken, iced tea, crawfish, cajun food, and grits. While I keep jambalaya and gumbo in rotation, I have never attempted a dish with grits. So when I came across this recipe for shrimp and grits, I decided to give it a go.

The list of ingredients seemed easy enough. But then again, I live overseas, so alterations were bound to happen. They didn't have the good sausage available, so I had to nix it (I didn't think chicken would work).  And of course they didn't have polenta, so I was stuck with instant grits (lucky me). Ram was less than enthused when I picked it up off the shelf at the grocery store...

But I wasn't discouraged from making our non-diet friendly dinner! I've been really good with my diet and I'm 5 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight (and counting), so I silenced my inner skinny girl for the night and decided we were going to use the good stuff. You know, real butter and real cheese. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.

Beverage of choice :) 

Final product

This recipe is embarrassingly easy and took less than 20 minutes, including prep time. I'll definitely make it again!