The ultimate MANSAF!

Not with low fat yogurt...not with liquid jameed, not with chicken or beef or Chinese rice...not with Arabic bread on the bottom...THIS TIME...everything is REAL!!!

-Shrak bread. A very thin and large round bread (about the size of two big tortillas) baked over what looks like an upside down wok.

-Long grain rice. If you don't know what this is Google it :)

-Jameed rocks, yes rocks, fresh from Jordan. Dried yogurt that when its cohesive enough is formed into round balls and left in the sun to dry till they are hard enough to be used as effective weapons :*0

-New Kitchen Aid blender with 1 HP motor to be able to pulverise the Jameed, MASHALLAH !

-Lamb shoulder chops with the bone, mmmmmmm

-Pine nuts and almonds sauteed in butter for garnish.

Getting hungry? Well you'll just have to wait for the pictures till tomorrow when everything, God willing, comes together. The lucky ones will be the Sarsour Family who will be joining us for dinner.

Wish you were here as well to join in with your hands :D

By: Jeeeeeeeeeej.

------------------------------------------------------------

Don't take me the wrong way...I do miss Jordan, and I love it as no other country...Some people thought that the meaning of NIDO *love* JR, on my car's plate is NIDO "love" JORDAN. What it means, is: NIDO "love" Jihad Rasheed. Husbandi's Arabic name :D

Im Azeeezeh...No more naked :p

Im Azeeezeh = Om Azeeezeh= Azeeezeh's mother!

I finally got her dress! Full of colors and love :D

I got it's receipt on Tuesday night and couldn't wait to get it on Wed. morning!! I was too excited until Jeeej discovered a deep scratch in her body !! Someone REALLY sick did this to her shiny

-most of the time clean :p- body! I got upset, but I believe she has a strong body and it'll always shine no matter what...I know it could have been worse, so Thank God for everything:)

Some people said, it's to protect it from people's eyes...But I believe it was meant to happen no matter what ...

I wanted to take pictures since last week, but was so busy, I don't know why...But now, since Jeeej has taken his mom to movies to watch another stupid movie for an actor that I dislike...YESSS...Pirates of the Caribbean...I thought of going out and started taking pix! These were the clearest ones, for it's almost 10 pm here:)

He wanted me to go, but I thought it would be better to stay home and do nothing :p hehe...so I thought of blogging about this gift my car got:)

Anyways...Congratulations Im Azeeezeh, and I'll make sure your next gift will be a covered parking spot to protect your body from the birds' nasty master pieces :ppp

ChinTaliano in picturrrrres!!!

I had so many vegetables in the fridge...our days off are coming soon, and we wont be eating home, so I had to get rid of all the vegetables before they go bad...

I cooked a meal that contains ingredients from both kitchens, Chinese & Italian! And so, Jeeej named it ChinTaliano!!

From the Chinese kitchen:

* I cut the Broccoli, chopped green onions, celery, green bell pepper & baby corn. I shredded the carrots & cabbage.* The sauce: Soy sauce, vinegar, honey, fresh ginger & a little bit of mustard.

From the Italian kitchen:

* I used spaghetti & angel hair instead of rice noodles.

First I cooked the ground beef and started adding vegetables, one kind at a time, depending on the cooking time each kind needs. I added the sauce just before adding the cooked spaghetti and angel hair...Mixed them altogether. Served HOT HOT HOT :D

To turn the heat off, I made lemon pie :D

Cleaning up the mess afterwards was worth it, since I saw a BIG smile on Jeeej's face :D

Bon Appetite Jeeedo!

To our parents, who gave us everything!

2 movies are highly recommended..."House of sand & fog" and "The name sake". Watching these movies the last couple of days was so touching! Really great movies...talking about family connections...and how hard it is to let some one's family down!

These two movies, especially "The name sake" brought a lot of tears to my eyes. It reminded me of my own situation. Having difficulties starting a home and a family away from home!! I miss my family, everyone, everything back home...It gets so hard sometimes that my heart finds it too much to handle!! "The name sake" was dedicated to parents at the end!

The other day, a woman who works with me at the school told me that she is going to Jordan for few days, and she asked for my mama's cell phone #, for she wanted to meet her, talk to her and tell her how good I am doing here...I thought she was kidding or not being serious...To my surprise, she did it! She visited my family twice...mama made lunch for her and they got along really well! The lady met my parents, sisters & little brother! She spent quality time with them...and she told mama that she could send anything to me with her...

Today...I was at school, working on the students graduation awards. I looked up and I found the lady standing next to my chair looking at me! I found myself jumping up and down...I hugged her so tight...and I started crying like a baby!! She told me how much she loved my family and how great it was to meet them all! She told me that they are counting down the days till we meet up soon inshallah!! She told me that my brother misses me so much and how my father went to pick my sister up from work...I mean...she told me little details about how they were spending the day together...How my brother was playing cards in front of her, and how she made my sister eat more for she is being harsh on herself preparing for tawjihi...It was very emotional...I could smell home listening to her describing it! I swear I did!!
5 minutes later, my cell phone rang! It was mama calling me to say hello...I couldn't talk to her for long, I didn't want her to hear me crying...I told her I'd call her back soon...

The lady gave me a bag full of "Jameed, Magdous, Jibneh Nabulsi & Grape Leaves from our garden"

To my parents and family...here's to you!!! I miss you so much ...You have given me everything, and still do...
Love always:)

Back to the base:)

Packing last week wasn't easy at all! I started packing late at night, and I was so confused, I didn't know what to take with me, so I ended up taking almost everything I have!! Jeeej was laughing while watching me packing and asked: Are you sure this is enough?! Would you like to take some of my clothes with you?! hehe...

Chicago's weather was perfect!! Not a single drop of rain! Everyone said I was lucky to experience such a nice weather in crazy Chicago! On some days, I even felt it's warmer than our city here in CA!!

There, I got the chance to see all my relatives! I've even met my second cousins for the very fist time in my life! Big gatherings were really nice...It's never calm over there, especially with all the kids hanging around, playing, running, screaming, eating and crying! I still can't believe I was there for a whole week...it passed by so fast, but I enjoyed it to the max:)

Once my uncle picked me up from the airport and drove me to his place, I noticed the biggest difference between Chicago and California...The landscape! There, you can barely go up and down while driving...Here in CA, it's all mountains...wherever you go, wherever you drive, it's just like driving on the streets of Amman.
I also noticed that While driving in Chicago, you can see a lot of empty green spaces around you, while here in CA, it's more packed...and whatever green you see is from the evergreen trees and not the grass around!

Flying above the 2 states would be enough to notice these differences!

I drove my uncle's car few times there, and to be honest I didn't like it there...especially not being able to do a U-turn whenever you want and having to jump from one side to the other instead!

I did some shopping there, stayed home most of the time, relaxing, not having any kind of chores...no cooking, no laundry...nothing! I needed such a trip so bad...I have a big family over there...uncles and cousins in all ages...that i know I'm going to miss now...
We had a great BBQ at my uncle's on my second day there...and on my last day, we went to downtown and took the sky ride to Sears tower, which was amazing!! I wish we did some walking there, but it was too windy for the kids, and I was wearing a skirt, which makes it a really bad idea to walk around :p

I've been to Chicago 11 years ago, and stayed there for 40 days...but it was on summer time...really hot weather and high humidity...I'm just glad it had been perfect this time:)

Jeeej's trip back from Germany was one hour before mine...so he was waiting for me to get out of the gate with a big smile on his face...I missed him so much, and life isn't easy without him around. It feels really good that we are still sharing our stories from our trips. He had a great time in Germany...Nice hotel, nice company..nice food, nice Munich and above all a very nice Porsche he rented and drove over there, reaching a speed his own Honda Accord wont reach over here!! He said, he reached 285 Km/hr driving on their highway!! Now isn't that really nice?!??! Thank God I wasn't there with him...
I'm just glad he took Azeeezehwith him to give him right directions to the places he went to...

We are back home now...Unpacking for two wasn't easy at all...and going to work the very next day was even harder..Doing laundry between my classes was driving me crazy...Grocery shopping was so fast. I was craving for stuffed zucchini but had no time to core it so I ended up cutting it into pieces and cooking it with ground beef in tomato sauce and I served it with white rice...It came out great:D

I missed home, I missed my life here, I missed my blog and my favourite blogs too! I had the chance to check them all over there, but I did my best to stay away from the Internet as much as I could...to enjoy time there...to the Max:)

Packing For Two...

I am packing tonight...This time for myself only:) Last time I travelled by myself was year 2003...To Syria, A long trip that turned my whole life upside down...Positively:)
Tomorrow I'm flying to Chicago, To visit my relatives...I haven't seen most of them in years, and it's just so exciting to think about the gatherings we'll have over there!

Hubby has a business trip to Germany on Sunday, and for he'll be too busy there it wont be good for both of us to go there together...It's good to have sometime away from each other every once in a while...That's what I have heard...and about to see whether it's true or not;)

He is going to have some courses at Audi cars plant in Germany...He will be among 6 other guys from the states to visit Germany next week! I'm so happy for him and proud of him too:D He'll just fall in love more with Audi cars, and it's good for his work too!!

As for me, I will miss Jeeej and our place, but I will be tasting family flavours!! I was talking to mama the other day, and I told her that I am not expecting a lot of sight seeing or outdoors activities in Chicago, for my relatives have babies now and it wont be easy to go on trips or something...at least this is what I think...nothing is for sure of course...I will just enjoy the gatherings, Isn't it what I really miss!?!?

Yesterday we had a great day, for we knew we'll be away for a whole week...So we went to Santa Cruz Beach and walked around the city, played mini golf, and had so much fun at the Arcades!! We had a neat Mexican lunch and did some shopping...we also went to the Mystery Spot...I will talk about it laterrrrrr:D

I still have to go shopping for some gifts, and then I have a class to give...I have work for 3 hours at the school...and then late at night, packing for me will start...I might start helping Jeeej in packing too...He's better than me in doing so, so I might end up watching him packing for two :p

Chicagoooooo...here I come...ready or not :D
We both will have fun no matter how far we are from each other...God's willing !!!

April Movies...

April passed by so fast! March was so slow compared to it...And for some reason, this month we have watched some old movies, that Jeeej has seen before...He rented them hoping that I would like them...Let's see about that:)

- Apr. 3rd: Shooter. We watched it with our friends "Sarsour Family" at Great America Pkwy, I thought we were going for another movie, "The name sake", but I was mistaken and got disappointed and didn't enjoy the movie:) The guys did though, Well of course they did, it was about a professional shooter!

- Apr. 4th: The Good Shepperd: We watched it at my In-law's, In Sacramento. It was recommended by my brother-in-law. A very long complicated and boring movie! It's so political and I understood nothing of it...I fell asleep several times while watching it...But I guess my suegritto -Jeeej's dad- enjoyed it:)

- Apr. 6th: The Affair Of The Necklace: Based on a true story. A historical drama movie. It was an interesting story, but to be honest, Hillary Swank should have been replaced by another better actress for this role. Maybe because I've seen other great movies for her, acting differently.

- Apr. 7th: The Prince & Me: I watched by myself at home, for Jeeej went by himself to the movies, to watch The Grindhouse! I didn't want to watch it with him, and knowing that he wanted to watch it so bad made me feel good even though I didn't join him. As for MY movie, it was a romantic one. I really liked it's fairy tale:D

- Apr. 9th: 11:14: A crazy movie! I thought it was a comedy movie, then it became scary and then...I don't know! It was never dull...I can call it a dark comedy one, where events start to unfold one after another. I think there were more than 5 stories, each one leading to the other backwards. We liked it:)

- Apr. 11th: Rocky Balboa: Sylvester Stallone's 6th Rocky movie! I loved this movie! I never watched any of his Rocky movies before...but I truly enjoyed this one..Jeeej liked it too:)

- Apr. 13th: Robin Hood: I've been waiting for years to watch this movie and it brought so many nice memories to me...I talked about it in a previous post.

- Apr. 14th: The Reaping: We were waiting for it to come on the big screen. We both liked it. It had many disgusting scenes, that I had to close my eyes several times while watching...2 days after the movie, I went to the shaikh of the mosque and asked about the true story. He told me that in the Quran, the story isn't mentioned in details...

- Apr. 15th: The Holiday: We loved this movie!! It had really good actors! The happy ending was expected, but oh well, many stories end up happily :)

- Apr. 17th: Dangerous beauty: Watching it was like reading a romantic novel. We enjoyed this movie, a lot!

- Apr. 20: A Good Year: Russell Crowe did many great movies, unlike this one. This movie was so boring and too long, and it made me fell asleep before it even ended!! Jeeej watched it all and he liked it!.

- Apr. 22nd: Fracture: A BIG YES to this movie...THUMBS UPPPP!!! Antony Hopkins can never fail you! Jeeej said: In one movie He can make you love him and then you just hate him to the bone in another one!! PLUS, Antony was driving Jeeej's FAVOURITE CAR of all times, I forgot what it is:p I think it's Porsche:p...and this is a really big thing for hubby!!!! SUPER movie, actor and car!

- Apr. 24th: Reign of Fire: Jeeej thought I would enjoy such a movie!! A movie about dragons!! Well,,,That was not a good movie for me:D Why would I like it! I slept before it even started:pp hehe...No really, I tried but didn't enjoy it!!

-Apr. 25th: Sideways: A very funny movie!!! A lot of mishaps...We both liked it, and we laughed a lot! It ended up good too! I can watch it again:D

-Apr. 27th: Spanglish: It was Jeeej's second time to watch this one too. I liked it, a very real movie, showing the differences between the Mexican and American cultures! It didn't end up in a Hollywood way, but I enjoyed it:)

- Apr. 28th: Monster in law: Hilarious!!! I loved it! Jeeej's second time watching it and he didn't mind it at all:) I finally watched it and loved it and I thank God for my mom-in-law :D

- Apr. 29th: Hot Fuzz: A very funny cops movie!! I mean really funny...but it had really disgusting bloody scenes. I had to close my eyes several times here too. It also had some sad moments...Jeeej left the theater LAUGHING!

- Apr. 30th: Cape Fear: I was either too sleepy to watch such an old movie, or maybe it was really boring! I don't know...I just didn't like it. Robert De Niro was a very bad guy in it and I hated him...we didn't finish watching it anyways...we fell asleep!

18 movies! wow...that was someting :)