July 29, 2022

When your clothing choices are judged harshly by a mall escalator 😆

July 28, 2022

Took what ended up being a really cool (and unintentionally private) tour around Manama today to soak in a little culture, starting with the Qal’at Al-Bahrain fort right in the edge of town. This fort was created by the Dilmun people circa 2250 BC when it was a village housing traders, morphed into an urban center on the Hellenic trade routes around 325 BC, was re-populated and purposed as a date molasses/exports hub in the Islamic period circa 1250 AD, and finally ended up as a Portuguese fortified fort in 1561 AD. This span of land has been busy.

July 27, 2022

Night life

July 26, 2022

July 25, 2022

Manamana 🇧🇭

July 24, 2022

Louie shade

July 23, 2022

I miss having big dogs (ok, medium – I wouldn’t count Nembu as a big dog), but this …. 😍🐶🥰🐶🥰😍

Pineapple Fried Rice with Meatballs

This is a great meal full of natural juice from the pineapple and luxury from the coconut rice. The meatballs I could happily have on repeat.

A note on the ground chicken: if you, like me, cannot for the life of you find ground poultry in the store (seriously. I looked in multiple stores for a couple weeks and nada), you can whiz a packet of boneless skinless chicken in your food processor (or Ninja). It works just fine, but if you use breasts – it lacks a bit of fat.

gluten-free

Pineapple Fried Rice with Meatballs

Meatballs:

1 lb ground chicken (or boneless skinless chicken chunks)

1/2 onion, minced (or whizzed with the chicken chunks)

1/2 c cilantro, chopped (or whizzed with the chicken chunks)

1 jalapeño, minced (or whizzed with the chicken chunks)

3 cloves garlic, minced (or whizzed with the chicken chunks)

2 Tbsp hot sauce

1 Tbsp soy sauce or coconut aminos

2 tsp date molasses

2 tsp – 1 Tbsp spice blend (I used a hot chicken mix and it was great)

1/2 tsp baking soda

Generous pinch salt & pepper

Form into roughly ping pong sized balls and cook with your preferred method – I pan fried mine over medium; I also love to bake in a 400F oven for 15 – 20 mins.

Sides:

1 can pineapple cubes in juice, drained

1 red bell pepper, chopped

Sauté the pineapple and pepper in a little oil over medium-high heat until the pepper is soft and the pineapple is browned in bits.

Last week’s coconut rice

Topper:

1/3 c cilantro, chopped

2 scallions, chopped

To serve, combine the rice with the pineapple/pepper mix, top with cilantro & scallions and plunk a couple meatballs alongside.

Serves 4

July 22, 2022

Mom. We need that toast. You don’t need breakfast. 🍞🧈

July 21, 2022

Downtown works in progress