Dog Walking and baking

So I dropped the hubbie off at work this morning at 5, then got home  and went to bed...I slept til 12!! Ooopps!! Anyway, I dithered around for a few hours and then I went dog walking.
When I got home I was feeling fussy as to what I should eat tonight. After all, it gets boring cooking for yourself when the hubbie is away!! Anyway, after much consideration I decided to make cheeseless pizza and hummus

before cooking the pizza

before mixing the hummus

the pizza was really easy to make...1 arabic bread, tomato paste, and whatever you want to put on top..I put on it
-jalepeonos
-sweetcorn
-red pepper
-tomato
-fresh basil and dill
-dried oregano
I then grilled it and it ended looking a little crisper then I had hoped (to put it politely)


over cooked pizza

Still tasted good though...and my really simple hummus ended up looking like this



yum

I was in a bit of a baking mood, so I went online to find something simple that I could make with the ingrediants that I had...and I came across banana cake..also vegan...I had to adapt the ingredients slightly as I didn't have ALL of them, so we shall see how it turns out, but here it is so far

the mixture

before it went into the oven



eagerly awaiting for it to cook

Once I had a chance to look up, this was what I was faced with!!

But after 5 minutes of intense cleaning...you would have never had known!!

Phew...so all I have to do is wait for the bread to cook hopefully in all its yummyness...

Fingerprints, Sandstorms and LuLu's

Hi guys, so today I had to go and have my finger prints taken, the next step for getting my residents permit..The place opens at 7, so with the rush of the medical in mind we decided to go early.

I didn’t sleep very well last night, the husband was working until late and I waited up for him, by the time we got to bed it was like 2 o clock. Then I couldn’t sleep as the air conditioning unit tends to make a loud whirring noise that DOES MY HEAD IN!!! Anyways, the alarm was all set for 6.20 but we both fell back asleep till 6.50,  once we were up and on our merry way, I realised that visibility was rubbish and the haze was due to sand in the air…in fact it was a sandstorm…it wasn’t much of a sandstorm to be honest, I’ve been informed that they get much much worse, but it’s something that I’ve never seen before…our car got covered in sand and I got a free microdermabrasion…happy dayz!!

The fingerprinting all went well and later on we decided to do some shopping. We ended up at Lulu’s Hypermarket! This place was fantastic and left me very very happy!! There was a lot of food that I would buy at home; it was expensive but soooo worth it! (I bought Pure butter…it was £3 over here…eek!!) We also bought some foods that we probably wouldn’t normally buy…me and the husband decided that we should try and be a bit more adventurous with our cooking, especially as there is such an array of ingredients in the shops over here..so tonight, we cooked curry…from scratch...we need to work on our rice skills, but the rest was pretty good actually, we dabbled with coconut milk and soya pieces…soya pieces in curry I hear you say?? Yup, and it worked quite well…well I’m vegetarian, I need my protein from somewhere

Medical Drama

I just have to tell you about my medical experience, it was craaaazy…so my new yoga friend Tash had given me the lo down of the what to expect…’get there early…make sure your at the front of the queue…you need to be the first one in there…don’t be polite as you’ll get pushed back….get there  for 6.30, I was out by 9’ so I was fearing today as I DON’T LIKE VIOLENCE.…and was secretly hoping that my height would have some advantage at this point….so we are there bright and early and am the second person in the queue waiting for the doors to open for the 7 o clock rush…I get out of the queue for less than 5 minutes and this mass array of people had formulated in a blink of an eye…how did that happen and where on earth did they all come from? It’s a womens only place, so I had to leave hubby slung against a building window as I quickly got back in the queue…o why o why did I leave it in the first place…people are gathering around me, people are pushing in, and I’m just stood there cussing myself for leaving this darn queue in the first place…why wasn’t I person number two with my arms spread across the door so no-one could get past me???

 So the doors open…and a huge tidal wave of people come rushing towards me…no wait a minute…the door…they’re trying to get in…and I’m now part of the tidal wave…following the crowd…people are pushing and shoving…o how grateful I am of my height right now..no-one is getting past me for sure…so we go to one room where this dude is handing out tickets…again  more of this pushing stuff going on, and I get my elbows involved…o how sorry I am that someone may have walked straight into them, but how happy I am to have that golden ticket in my hand….and….o….ticket number 13…of all numbers…but not bad considering…so I went down 11 places…not bad at all…now onto the next challenge (and also the longest part…you really do need a lot of patience out here) was to pay the lady…so we are sat…waiting for the staff to arrive for work, get off their mobile phones, eat there morning cookie, kiss their friends on the cheek, then FINALLY sit at a counter, where they can make just one last teeny weeny phone call before that counter displays TICKET HOLDER – 1 COUNTER -4 so you’d think all the staff would jump on the band wagon and perhaps follow suit, to help ease the already maxed out waiting room…but NO…one lady it is then….FINALLY, I pay the dosh, and head for my x ray, ‘take a gown, change in there, all clothes off’ ooo my dignity…but it’s ok…she didn’t mean it, she just meant all clothes from the top half…but I knew that right?…then the x ray room…some crazy French lady with a mass of crazy hair  (bless her, the amount of people she must get thru in a day…no room for politeness)  shoves me into some plastic wall, arms around my back then ‘click’ I’m done….out, changed and heading for my blood test….well so far this is going quite well…I sit down have a small chat with the doctor and am told I look like Julianne Moore…hmmm is that a compliment? She is a beautiful lady, but she’s in her 40’s…do I look like I’m in my 40’s already…gulp…don’t answer that….so I’m done for 8…what a result….I’m pleased that the ordeal is over and I return to the car to find a snoozing husband…wakey wakey…we can go home now… 

A week and a half later!!!

Ok, so I haven’t been very good at keeping this blog up to date, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind since I got here…and I’m beginning to forget what’s been going on and what order…however, it has been a week and a half of just finding my feet here, exploring Doha, the compound, buying bits and pieces for the apartment, shopping, more shopping, oh and the hardest part, relaxing by the pool. I’ve tried a spot of yoga, which was introduced to me by a lady on the compound called Tash, and we went for coffee at this mall called the Villiagio…

o and did I mention the compound has two swimming pools, a gym, a Costa coffee, a supermarket, a laundrette, a community centre and more…it’s a pretty cool place to be.

The gates to our compound

So, this weekend, I really fancy a beer!! Qatar isn’t a dry country, but you have to drink in licensed premises…so tonight we are going to the Sheraton so I can have a Guinness and I cannot wait! Just a little bit of pub normality will be awesome!!

Goodbye England, Hello Qatar

I flew out of Heathrow at 7.55 am this morning, I never did get to bed, and I was still running on adrenaline when I got to my mum’s at half past 4. It was an emotional time, I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer as everything got to me..I was so nervous. After a long hug from my mum, (she has a knack of making me feel very comforted, and confident that everything will be ok)…we got in the car for the hours drive to Heathrow…my little sister came too and my nephew who is only 4 and a half weeks old!

Once there, I checked in, went for coffee and then said a very emotional farewell to my mum, Cara and Phoenix…It was horrible, and just reliving the moment in my head makes me want to cry like a baby, I was birthing partner for my sister, and it was hard to leave her, she’s more than my best friend…and Phoenix…I want to play such an active role with being an aunt, I feel like I’m letting him and my sister down by going away…the only pick up from this was that someone once told me that there favourite aunt lived abroad…I can only do my best with being the best aunt to him and have an influential role in his life…and my mum…saying goodbye to my mum was tougher then I thought it would be, she is mum at the end of the day, and knowing that she was no longer just around the corner to be my emotional rock was upsetting, but I’m proud of her, and love her very much…

I literally went through security, got on the plane, had some breakfast then woke up in Qatar!!

I FINALLY got to see my husband, after 3 and a half weeks, there he was, like we never had been separated at all!!

Then we went outside…geesh!! HOW HOT!!! I knew it was the dessert, but nothing had quite prepared me for this!!

The first thing that struck me was how flat the place was…no hills…secondly, as to be expected, no grass, which was very weird…but not a major issue..Then it was off to my new home….

Talking myself out of it…

So it’s the 18th may, the day before I leave this grassy homeland for sandy, sunnier climates!! I have a million and one things to do, and I always seem to be last minute.com…it’s better this way, as the pressure gets me motivated to do anything…so here’s what I have to do

repack my case- I was misinformed that I was allowed to check in 70kilos worth of baggage, only to be told a week before I go that in fact it is 20!!! ARGH!!! That won’t even cover all my shoes!!!

Pack the rest of the house up (bearing in mind I have been TVless, Sofaless etc for the last 3 weeks)

doesn’t sound a lot really, but there is a heck of a task to achieve in 24 hours! Luckily my good friend Leah offered to help (aka little sis) and without her, I would never have been able to do all this

So she sorted out paperwork for me, folded up clothes, cellotaped and wrote on boxes, cleared out the food in the kitchen, lugged boxes down the stairs into the car and to my mum’s (a big shout out to Leah’s BF Tony who helped with the boxes, thank you times a million!!) meanwhile, I cleared out the bathroom, packed, unpacked, repacked, sorted out what was to be put into storage, what was to go to my mums, packed then repacked, and we still had time to dump stuff off at the tip AND have coffee with my big sis AND have dinner at my dad’s…We achieved quite a lot, and I am eternally grateful for all of Leah’s help today…however I still have a bit to do at home, but that could wait until I say my emotional goodbyes to Leah, my dad, young Tony, Old Tony and Joe

I skyped the husband, and washed my hair…there are still bits to do and I don’t think I’ll be getting to bed at all tonight…

O and ps…I’m getting really scared now. I’ve never really flown on my own before and that is scaring me slightly…not sure why, but it is…I’m a real comfort zoner, and have to be really pushed to get out of my ‘safe’ zone, but I’m so scared that I’m almost talking myself out of going ?!! If I go to sleep at all then tomorrow will just come quicker, so another reason to stay awake all night