Hmmm, I'm not the one who should be welcoming me back... Oh, well!
I'm back for good, done with the internship. Three long months in that old, wet, soggy city of Fort Wayne. The internship was good in many unexpected ways. The major take away from that, which happens to be a question I need to find an answer to, is: Do I want to work in Corporate America? I don't fit; don't like it. Too much politics, heavy politics. Damn the politics! I will have to do some more career counseling once school starts.
Moody's orientation was yesterday. Kindergarten, yay! He's thrilled. And yes, he has school on Fridays too. "Tala doesn't. Only I go to school on Friday," he keeps saying.
Tala's orientation was today. She "cutted" bits of her hair... again! And some of her "Chicago dolls" hair. I was not happy at all—I was mad! At least I couldn't even tell where she cut her hair; no bald spots visible. She didn't want to take the picture. She said, "I don't feel good because I cutted all our hair."
I'm glad I'm back. It feels good, though overwhelming! All those months, I kept thinking that once I'm back, I'll have some relaxing and quality time with the kids. Today, I even entertained the idea of taking a nap. Oh, the kids! They have to get used to me again. They've been in my hair all day! Demands, whining, arguing, complaining, never-ending attention seeking. Oh, the closets! I need to sort them out. The kids' closets, the coats closet, the mud room, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera! Oh, the forms and paperwork! They loaded us with forms and forms from school. Things to fill out, lists to buy, lists to do... Oh, my—whom was I kidding!
Although I didn't do any of the things I imagined I'd be doing, I did something useful: I cooked dinner. I bet the house hasn't smelled like it does now in a long time. We have sharba, green beans stew, and rice. I make good rice; sol would eat it all by itself, white--that's how good my rice is. Moody asked when I was cooking, "What are we having for dinner?" I said, "Sharba." He whined, "Oooh, that makes me choke!" Thinking that he forgot, I asked him, "Do you know what sharba is?" He answered, "It's the soup with the potato beans in it. The beans make me choke!" That's hummus for you, aka chick peas, aka garbanzo beans!
It's nice to be back. Nice to be home!
welcome back Hanu, we will enjoy your blog as usual, as for the picture of the food, it made me home sick especially with Ramadan coming close, I guess I am going to spend it alone this year too, stuck in hospital and studies for my specialty, but I will be cooking for myself, better than nothing, and anyway I like my cooking, I enjoy making it more than eating it... hope good appetite for you and family... Ghazi
ReplyDeleteHello, Ghazi, good to see you. It's so nice to have Hanu back, we all missed her very much. Now we can have some order in the house, and I get back my partner. Aaaaand... I get my quiet, creative Sunday afternoons in the office. Actually, I just lucked out for today: Hanu took the kids skating, and the T-ball coach just called to say the practice has been called off for bad weather. Yippieeee!
ReplyDeleteIt's true that we haven't had the smell of Sharba in the house for quite some time. That's not to say, I did not cook anything in three months--y'all. I did, but only Bazeen and Macroona, which reminds me that Hanu hasn't actually had Bazeen at all this summer. I will make it tomorrow for dinner.
And it's a pleasure to second what Hanu said about her rice. I'm not a bad cook, but I could never get rice just right, not the one cooked in water, and not the traditional Libyan steamed rice, either. I could never manage to avoid that little bit of clear sauce that trickles down through the bed of rice to the bottom of the bowl. I don't like that. I even tried to make systematic (scientific) variations: warm rice/hot sauce, cold rice/warm sauce, etc. Nothing worked. Believe me, I know what bad rice is... made it many times! Hanu's is the very best, both the boiled white rice, and the steamed rice with the vegie and mint sauce. Now I'm getting hungry!
Hi Ghazi, and thanks.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I find Ramadan more tolerable outside Libya. Life goes on and remains busy and nothing changes in your day, which makes the time pass by quicker and it's sunset before you know it. The distraction of the busy days definitely helps take one's mind off food and drinks. In Libya everything stands still (or at least it used to when I was there) till sunset and that makes the days very long and stretchy.
As for the cooking, be ware, keep an open mind to other people's cooking and their way of doing it and you'll be fine. When Sol and I got married, we both had to get used to each other's ways in the kitchen. I'm still not used to his and I stay away from the kitchen when he's cooking. But, that's not to undermine Sol's cooking. He makes the best bazeen ever. Hopefully you'll visit one day and judge for yourself. That's an invitation!