My New Favorite Lunch

Does anyone else have a hard time coming up with ideas of what to eat for lunch?  I am always on the lookout for new ideas, so if you have one please share!  The last couple months my new favorite lunch has been hummus, Arabic bread, cucumbers and tomatoes.  Or some days carrots and/or bell pepper slices.  I love that don't have to make 2 different lunches (and I'm not eating ramen noodles or mac 'n cheese) because Emily loves it too!  In fact she has become quite the hummus eater--she even refers to her meals as breakfast, hummus and dinner.  :-)

You can see my recipe HERE.  Each week I make a double batch (2 cans of chickpeas) and Emily and I enjoy it until it's gone (usually 4 or 5 days).  I've been trying some different toppings on the hummus, and in this picture you can see sumac.  I wasn't familiar with this spice until recently, but it's cheap over here (a 200 gram bag was 4 SAR--which is about a $1).  Sumac has a mild citrus flavor and over here is a common addition to hummus, salads and meat.

Ben sent me this picture of his lunch one day.  They have a cafeteria at work where he gets a buffet lunch with fresh, healthy food options for 10 SAR--or less than $3.  (Yes, I'm totally jealous.)  The salad you see in this picture is a popular one called fattoush (notice it also has sumac).

Cucumbers are very cheap and can be bought individually or in bags or boxes--kind of like you can buy apples or clementines in the States.  Emily makes sure that we save 2 cucumbers everyday. . . so that she can relax after lunch and before her nap.  This has become an almost-daily ritual.  :-)

Grocery Shopping--Boxes, Cans and Drinks

Ok, I think it is about time I finish up my little series on grocery shopping.  Here are Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed them.

On my first trip to the grocery store after moving here, I was SO very grateful to find out that all the labels are in English (and Arabic too of course).  My only other experience living in a foreign country was Finland, where labels and signs at the grocery store generally did not include English.  It is SO much easier to shop when you can read the signs and labels!!  It is also nice that there is a large expat population in our area, so the stores tend to cater to that quite a bit I think since you can find lots of imported goods.  It's always nice to find things that make you feel like you have a little bit of 'home'.

Products that are imported usually just have a sticker that translates the necessary info into Arabic.  Other labels are like the Campbell's cans that include both languages interspersed.  Or you have the cans that have one side in English, one side in Arabic.

All of the cans and boxes have 2 dates, one for the production date, and one for the expiration date.  As I am using things, it is interesting to check out the dates.  Of course since the dates are 'backwards' to what I'm used to, it some times takes me a second to process.  (For example, it may say E: 03-12-2015--meaning it expires December 3rd 2015, not March 12th 2015.)  In general I have been surprised to see how quickly things go from production to being on the shelf in a store.

Something else I've found interesting is that milk seems to be the same price, no matter where you go--and it hasn't changed or gone on sale since we've been here.  It is always 7 SAR (little less than $2) for 2 liters or 10 SAR for 3 liters.  Even the little grocery store inside our compound has the same price for milk as the larger grocery stores.  The milk is fresh (no preservatives) and we think it tastes just a little different than milk in the States--although in a good way.

Random info:  eggs don't come in dozens, they come in 6, 15 or 30.  And each egg is stamped with its production date and expiry date (3 months after the production date).

We have really enjoyed the selection of fruit juices and flavored milks over here.  I didn't buy a lot of juice in the States (even for the kids) but now we generally have some sort of juice in our fridge.  My personal favorite is to mix some of the strawberry juice (almost closer to pureed strawberries than actual 'juice') with the mint lemon juice.  Yum!

My kids love cereal, and we buy a lot of it.  The non-imported cereals taste a little different (even if they are the same brand/type/name/packaging as what you would find in the US).  They seem to have a coating (of sugar?) on the outside of the cereal pieces but at the same time are a little less sweet tasting, crunchier and more cardboard like.  To be honest it is a little weird.  I've stopped buying most non-imported cereals since my kids won't eat them.  Since we stick to mostly imported cereals (the ones with the stickers!), it is always anybody's guess what we will find since it is very random.  Two cereals that do always seem to be available are the muilti-grain Cheerios and Frosted Flakes (called Frosties over here).  Even though those ones are not imported cereals, they (fortunately) taste like what you would expect.

I always think it is interesting to look at things that are packaged 'locally' (somewhere in the Middle East, but generally not Saudi) and see how the culture influences the packaging.  For example, you'll notice the mother has her hair covered, and the boy on the milk box is wearing more 'traditional' clothing.

Anyway, that's probably way more that you ever wanted to know about grocery shopping in Jubail.  :-)  If you do have questions though, leave me a comment or send me an email and I'll be happy to respond.

Grocery Shopping--Produce

Note:  If you missed Part 1 of the grocery shopping post, you can see it HERE.

The layout of the grocery store here is similar to what you often see in the States, so you naturally go through the produce section first.  The first time I went to the grocery store over here I started looking at the fruit and veggies and seeing prices like 6.95, 12.95, 17.95 and even more.  Yikes!  Although 1 USD converts to roughly 4 SAR, so you can divide the prices by 4.  But even then the produce seemed expensive.  That is until I remembered that they use kilos, not pounds.  :-)  In general, the produce over here is good quality and cheap--especially considering we are in the middle of winter right now.  I am excited to see what summer will bring.

Apples, bananas, cucumbers, garlic, and fresh herbs are some of the items that are particularly cheap.  'Practically free' as Ben puts it.  Last time I went to the store a large bundle of fresh herbs was about 6 cents, bananas were 30 cents per pound, and apples were 75 cents per pound.  Oranges and cucumbers were about 50 cents per pound.  Some of the more expensive items are celery (about $4 per bunch of celery), onions, avocados (about $ 2.50 each), strawberries, grapes, and blueberries.  

One thing I find interesting is that the price signs for the produce generally include which country it comes from (usually places around the Middle East or Africa, although I've seen a few things from Mexico).  And sometimes there will be the same food available from multiple countries--for example there always seems to be several types of mango available, each from a different country.

The most unusual thing about the grocery store here is that you need to get your produce weighed and stickered at the weigh station.  You bag your own produce, take it to the station, and place it on the counter where someone will weigh it and put the appropriate sticker on the bag.  And these guys are amazingly fast at punching in the different codes!  And remember those mangos from different countries?  No problem for these guys.  I've checked up on them multiple times. . . not out of a sense of trying to catch them in a mistake, but rather out of fascination for how accurate they are. . . . and I have never seen them make a mistake and put the wrong kind of label on.

Oh, and if you forget to label your food--or didn't know to do it--the guys at the register are really nice about it and the bagger will run your produce over to the weigh station for you and then bring it back labeled.  Ask me how I know. . . . :-)

Over here they don't have a lot of sales; each week there may be just a handful of items on sale.  One week there was a sale on garlic (I don't remember the price) but I do remember that there was a sign saying that there was a 2 kilo limit (or about 4 1/2 lbs).  That's a lot of garlic!  Interestingly, that is the only time I have ever seen a sign limiting how much product you can purchase.

Hummus Recipe

I had been in Saudi for almost a month before I realized that I hadn't ever noticed hummus being sold at the store.  Which I thought was a little odd . . . I mean hummus is a major Middle East thing, right?

We enjoy eating hummus from time to time, and in the States I just always purchased it.  But in honor of living in the Middle East I figured it's probably about time for me to learn to make my own.  I wish I had a fun story about how I got the recipe from a local (perhaps that will happen later), but instead I merely jumped on the internet to look for a good hummus recipe**.

I quickly found that most hummus recipes are very similar with small variations here and there.  I overcame my fear of using a food processor and made different batches of hummus over the course of a few weeks to try some of the variations and come up with my own version of hummus.  

Hummus

3 Tbsp.      lemon juice
1/4 cup      tahini*
2                minced garlic cloves
2 Tbsp.      olive oil
3/4 tsp.       salt
1/2 tsp.       ground cumin
1 Tbsp.       honey**
1 can          chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
2-3 Tbsp.   water

Combine the lemon juice and tahini (see below) in a food processor and process for about 60 seconds.  Scrape the bottom and sides and process again for about 30 seconds.

By 'whipping' the tahini and lemon juice (see below) before adding the other ingredients you'll get a smoother hummus.  This is a tip I picked up in a recipe somewhere, although unfortunately I didn't keep track of where.

Add the garlic, olive oil, salt, cumin and honey.  Process for 60 seconds, scrape the bottom and sides and then process again for about 30 seconds.

Add the chickpeas and process for 60 seconds.  Scrape the bottom and sides and then process another 1 to 2 minutes or until it starts looking smooth.  While the processor is going, slowly add the water until the hummus reaches your desired consistency.  Enjoy with pita bread, pita chips, chopped vegetables, or on a sandwich.  This hummus holds well for about a week in the fridge, and in my opinion tastes best on days 2 and 3 after the flavors have time to sit together a bit.

This is a basic recipe that can be altered to fit your preferences.  Try adding more or less garlic, lemon juice or cumin to suit your tastes.  Omit the honey if you like a 'bolder' hummus taste.  Or add roasted vegetables (such as zucchini, garlic, eggplant or bell peppers), chopped olives, or chopped nuts.  Or try topping it with something more 'authentic' such as pomegranate molasses or sumac.

Notes:

*Tahini is a paste made from ground sesame seeds.  It has a nutty fragrance and over here it is sometime used as a dip just on its own.  I haven't ever looked for it in the States, but I wouldn't be surprised to find it in larger grocery stores in the ethnic section.  I also read some where that you can use peanut butter or almond butter as a substitute.  Over here there are more than 10 different brands of tahini available at the grocery store.

**Although the recipe didn't come from a local, the idea to add some honey to the hummus did.  We were at a fruit and vegetable market close to our house when I spotted a little shop that sold beans, nuts, etc.  (This was right after I had been looking at hummus recipes and before I knew what tahini looked like.)  We walked in and asked the gentleman if he sold tahini only to find out that he literally spoke not a single word of English.  Ben used his phone to translate a few words and between that and lots of gesturing we managed to communicate a little bit.  He pantomimed making hummus and part of what he 'added' was honey.  We ended up buying several things from him, one of which was Yemeni honey--from his home country of Yemen.

P.S.  I kept on the lookout for hummus at the grocery store and finally did find some--it was freshly prepared and in the deli section.  Since at the time we were leaving town soon I didn't get any, but we'll try it eventually.

Grocery Shopping--Overview

Apparently I have quite a bit to say about grocery shopping, so I'm going to break it up into a few different blog posts.  There are 2 main grocery stores in our city where the expats shop--Tamimi and Panda.  Tamimi is actually a Safeway store (the same company as Vons, Randall's and others) so there are many brands and products that we recognize.  They even have some Kirkland Signature (Costco) brand items!  The HyperPanda does have a few things in addition to food, kind of like a Super-Walmart, although the section of  non-grocery items is much smaller.

Other than anything that contains alcohol (such as extracts and vanilla) or pork products of any kind I have been able to find almost anything that we've wanted.  If you buy local brands, the groceries are cheaper than what they would be in the States, but even buying imported/American brands generally isn't much more expensive (surprisingly) than it would be in the States.  One exception to that is anything that is cold/frozen and imported--then it is VERY expensive.  We actually saw Bluebell brand ice cream (a Texas brand) at the store once, but it was almost $15!  (We didn't buy it.)

The grocery stores are open 24/7, other than during prayer time.  While most stores close and require everyone to leave during prayer, the larger grocery stores generally let you continue shopping if you are already in the doors before they close them for prayer.  Although during prayers there aren't any workers, meaning the registers are closed, and no one is at the produce weigh station, meat or cheese counters, etc.

One thing we've noticed is that quality control on the local brands doesn't seem to be as tight here as we would expect to see in the states.  A couple examples. . . they have a mango juice with pulp that we love.  The 'pulp' is actually small cubes of mango, and sometimes you have mango cubes with a little juice and other times you get mango juice with a few cubes.  It's always the same packaging, so it just appears to be random, but either way it is delicious!

Another example is the Arabic bread (like pita bread only a little thinner and softer).  It  comes in bags like tortillas would, and a bag is only 1 SAR, or about 25 cents.  The bags aren't labeled with how many are inside, and sometimes it will be 7, and the next time it will be 11.  So you aren't ever quite sure how many you get until you open the bag, but it's so cheap that it's hard to complain.  :-)

The stores are also a little unpredictable.  You can't always count on a particular item being stocked.  This definitely applies to the imported goods, but includes the local products as well.  For example, they haven't had sour cream (local brand) the last 2 times I've been to the store.  Cereal availability is particularly random--I learned quickly that if I see a cereal that our family likes I always grab at least one box.

A couple notes about checking out--The baggers here are excellent!  I know it may seem like a weird thing to notice, but I always hate to come home and find, for example, that my raw meats or eggs are in the same bag as my produce.  (Yes, I'm a little OCD at times.)  Here they are meticulous about only putting like-type items in the same bag.  Yay!  If you happen to come to a checkout station with no one in line ahead of you, the bagger will come and unload your cart for you onto the belt for the checker.

Also, it is standard for the bagger to walk you out to your car and load the groceries into the car for you--especially when I am by myself.  If Ben is with me, they will usually ask if we would like help.  It is customary to tip the bagger--anywhere from 3-10 SAR (about $0.80 to almost $3) depending on how many groceries you have.

Burger King Dinner

In Saudi eating at a restaurant has a few peculiarities.  The first thing to be aware of is which door you enter through.  There are separate entrances for 'singles' (meaning men) and 'families' (meaning women, children, and men who are with their family).  Most restaurants serve both singles and families, although you will occasionally run into one that serves only singles or only families.

Ben covertly snapped this picture outside of Burger King while we were waiting for prayer to end and the restaurant to open.  I am wearing my abaya (black dress) that I am required to wear whenever I leave the compound.

Once you enter the restaurant you order at a counter just like you would at any fast food restaurant in the States.  The only difference is that the counter has a wall down the middle, so that the singles are ordering on one side, and the families are ordering on the other side.

The eating areas are definitely completely separated--at Burger King the singles eat downstairs and the families eat upstairs.  We happened to be the first ones upstairs so I took the opportunity to snap a couple pictures.

You can see that in the family section there are separate booths that each have their own curtain.  The kids think the curtains are tons of fun.  :-)  In the singles section the tables are just open seating--no booths or curtains.

The booths with the curtains (and the covered windows) allow more privacy--especially for the Saudi women.  They then have the option of taking off their face covering (niqab) to make eating easier while still remaining 'modest'.

The food is basically the same as we would expect.  Although surprisingly the hamburgers are bigger (especially at McDonald's) and often have a type of white Saudi cheese instead of American cheese.  (Not a bad thing, although the cheese has a richer taste so between that and the larger size I have a hard time eating a whole hamburger.)

One interesting thing we've noticed is that the kids meal toys often seem to be old toys--ie having to do with movies that came out quite a while ago.  Although since they don't have movie theaters in Saudi, none of the locals would know the difference.  :-)

Shawarmas

What the hamburger is to the American, the shawarma is to the Saudi.  (Note: this is not official information, but just based on my observations.)

Hamburger--the first thing that come to mind in fast food, but it is more than that.  We sometimes make our own at home (think summer grilling) and it has many variations that generally includes adding different toppings (avocado, blue cheese, onion rings, bacon, etc) or sometimes adding ingredients to the meat.  Even 'fancy' restaurants will sometimes serve a variation of a hamburger.  And last but not least, we generally think of a eating fries with our hamburger.

The shawarma is pretty much the same--you can get them at busy fast food joints (prepared while you wait), but Saudis (and other countries) will also make their own versions at home and there are many variations.  There are 'fancy' shawarma restaurants, and, last but not least, you can order a side of fries with your shawarma.  The fries come with both ketchup and garlic mayonnaise for dipping.  Yum!

So what exactly is a shawarma?  Sometimes shawarma refers just to the meat that is cooked on a spit, rotisserie style (see below) and then carved off--although generally it refers to the whole wrap.  In Saudi the default meat is chicken, although other meats are available on occasion.  The bread is similar to a pita bread, although a little thinner and softer.  Inside the shawarma, depending on where you are eating, different things will accompany the meat--french fries, lettuce, cucumbers, or onions for example.

The shawarma shown above is from a place close to our house--it has chicken, onions, garlic mayonnaise sauce, and french fries (top right of shawarma).  I read somewhere that the fries are used inside the shawarma because they soak up the meat and vegetable juices and sauces--keeping them inside the wrap, instead of dripping out.

Note:  Even Erik liked these enough to eat them 'as is.'  In other words, he didn't have to pull them apart and separate the different ingredients into piles before eating them.  I consider that a win!

The drink you see in the picture is a mint lemonade--lemon juice with finely chopped fresh mint mixed in.  It seems to be a popular--or at least widely available--drink here.  I love both lemon and mint, so this is a treat for me!  I've tried this drink a couple places and some of them are pretty tart--I'm not sure that they added any sugar to the lemon juice!

So there you have it, the 'Saudi hamburger'.