Wine Review-Sauvignon Blanc

"Sunrise--Concha y Toro"
Sauvignon Blanc
Chile

First sip, this white wine was very metallic, with a strong aftertaste like chewed aluminum. It did improve substantially after leaving it sit for 20 minutes (like it says to do on the bottle). Although I like dry whites, this didn't hit the spot for me. If you're looking for a fruity light wine or a sophisticated, dry one, this might not be either. That said, my husband really liked it.

Around 3.5 R.O.

Wine Reviews

I'm going to start doing wine reviews on this blog as well. Not being a wine expert myself, but always having had it around, I thought it might be helpful to give some hints to brush up on before hitting the Muscat stores.

Here is the first:

"Prince de Gravieres"
Syrah
This is a nice basic red wine, rich with plum compote flavors and roasted dark fruit. Woody and a bit smoky. A good buy for the money.
2.4 R.O.

cooking my way home: a new meaning for comfort food

A few nights ago, my husband George and I enjoyed an succulent grilled ribeye steak, oven roasted potatoes and sauteed spinach with sun-dried tomatoes and garlic, and of course, a few glasses of Shiraz. I tried to upload a picture, but the Omani internet service is having none of it.

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For us expats, food can be a taste of home. Some countries may offer a wide and exciting variety of cuisines, but certainly not Oman. Omani food is chicken, or fish, and rice. They do make different flavors of rice though, to mix it up. So that's exciting. For my demanding international palette, however, even endless variations of chicken and rice just doesn't cut it. Even in Muscat, the international options are extremely expensive and usually not all that great, particularly if you are used to having the choices offered by Chicago or another cosmopolitan environment. The Mexican food isn't very good here, the Thai is better everywhere else I've been, the Indian is good, but all the same: Today....we have chicken masala, chicken masala, chicken masala, and fish masala.

So I cook my way all over the world, which to me, feels like home. It saves my sanity and makes me feel like I belong in my own house here. Some of my favorites that I make weekly are homemade pizza, grilling (anything! Last week it was shrimp and vegetable kabobs), and pasta and a good thick sauce with lots of vegetables, red wine and herbs. Every time I make a ginger and lemon salad dressing, or hear a steak sizzling on our grill, or eat a big slice of whole wheat bread fresh from my oven, I feel like I'm home. It takes away some of the culture shock of being exposed for month on end with no break to a dramatically different culture.

So cook your way home. Or if cooking isn't your thing, don't feel bad about splurging on the hugely inflated items at the store that make you feel a little better. I might be an obsessive cooker, but my husband always has to have chips and salsa, tortillas and refried beans, German wheat beer, massive amounts of peanut butter, and bratwursts (which is insanely expensive because you aren't supposed to eat pork here). I still have to buy my essentials as well: balsamic vinegar, juicy raisins (which means buying SunMaid raisin for $9 a box), sun-dried tomatoes, Bonne Maman cherry jam, dark chocolate, wheat germ, Twinnings tea and Bailey's Irish Cream. At first I felt bad about spending so much on food here, when I could live for almost no money at all on rice, chicken and lentils, but I don't feel bad anymore. It just, though it may seem trite, makes me feel better.

Arab World Restaurant

Since I've been in Oman, people have raved about a Yemeni restaurant about 30 minutes from Muscat called the Arab World Restaurant. Maybe my expectations were just too high. The waitstaff could not converse in English, and their Arabic was incomprehensible. Don't expect to sit where you want or get what you order unless you speak Urdu. Inside it was hot and smelled like moldy rags (only a little..), so we opted to sit outside. The flies were the most aggressive I have even encountered. Swarming and persistent. The food was okay, but cheap. We didn't get what we ordered, got some things we didn't order, and fled as soon as possible to avoid getting eaten alive.

If you still want to eat there, it's about a kilometer from the Barka Lulu, closer to Muscat and on the coast side.

Bring a fly swatter and a translator!

Pavo Real, but Mexican Real?

Pavo Real is one of two Mexican restaurants in Muscat (and in Oman for that matter). Crazy, I know. The wait staff was unfortunately dressed in a uniform consisting of a cowboy hat, leather vest and jeans....but they were friendly and competent. Lit with very dim lights and table candles, it was a dark but romantic atmosphere, somewhat spoiled by a play list of "Home on the Range" and "My Achy Breaky Heart," which I certainly could have done without. The chips and salsa passed the homemade requirement, but we end up being charged for the first basket they brought (which was tiny), and for the second round which we ordered. Real Mexican restaurants have bottomless tortilla chips and salsa. That's just a must.
When the food came, it was good and served generously on big platters. It was too greasy and too heavy, but it was tasty. I did feel a bit ill after my camarones del mar seafood dish, but that might just be a result of overeating...
Over all, it was good, but not great. Certainly not worth the hype it's gotten and not worth the pretty penny it costs. Dinner for two without drinks or appetizers cost 18 riyals (almost $50). Considering that the Mexican dive that was my husband old high school hangout is just as tasty, has free chips and salsa, and costs 1/5 the amount, I think I'll pass next time. That said, it is one of two Mexican places in Oman, and it needed to be done once.

Halal: Part 1: The Slaughter

All meat eaten in Muslim countries has to be "halal." The closest thing to this that we see in American grocery stores is "kosher," the Jewish regulation for meat.

From what I know, just by living in a Muslim country and studying Islam in college, if meat is Halal, it has been slaughtered only after repeating the words "bismallah," meaning "in the name of God." Additionally, the animal has been treated well in life, and just recently I learned, has never seen another animal killed in order to ensure that the animal is not stressed at the time of its slaughter. These are the most commonly known regulations that must be followed in order for meat to be Halal.

To me the most interesting regulation is the manner of slaughter, which is a knife incision through the neck, but leaving the spine intact. I learned that rule only after I witnessed from my balcony my neighbors slaughter a bull in front of their house for an Eid (Islamic holiday) celebration. I wondered why they didn't decapitate the animal, but left its head hanging by the spine. This rule seems to me to conflict with the other regulations that mandate that the animal be treated well and not experience stress and pain. Because the spine wasn't severed, the massive bull stayed alive, kicking for several minutes after its jugular vein had been cut. It was a somewhat traumatizing experience, but that was four months ago and I've since returned to my carnivorous habits. Nevertheless, every time I buy Halal meat, which is every time I buy meat, I think of that morning.

I'm still not quite sure what to think about the Halal rules. I'm personally more interested in the life of the animal, rather than its death. When people talk about and explain Halal to non-Muslims, the life the animal prior to slaughter is often not mentioned. I wonder why, since respecting God's gifts is such an important part of this religious and cultural tradition. How are animals to be raised if they are going to be Halal? And more importantly, how well is this rule followed by the average Muslim farmer?

spices and herbs galore!

Oman might be one of the best places to cook (that is, besides their crazy stoves that are like stone ovens with no heat gauge). Although you can't get many convenience items without quite a hassle, you can find just about any herb or spice that you want. Even items that are novelties in America, or have to be sought out in special ethnic stores, are available everywhere here. It's just the normal things in America that are novelties here. Besides Arab and Western spices, you can find everything Indian, Pakistani, Thai and Chinese here as well because of the large Asian expat population.
I probably have more spices in my kitchen right now than I ever did in America. I haven't even used all of them yet, but I've got:
chilli pepper
thyme
basil
garam masala powder
curry powder
margoram
oregano
zaatar
coriander powder
sumac
cloves
ginger
cumin powder
tumeric
nutmeg
paprika
rosemary
cinnamon
dried mint
dried chillis
mustard seeds
cardamon pods
and
fenugreek (acutually, not sure what that is...but I have it!)

Herbs are sold in bulk here and are really cheap. I'm excited to try all of these in new Indian and East Asian recipes!

Okra

In an Indian or Pakistani restaurant, okra is my husband's constant vegetable side dish. Called 'bindi' in Urdu, this long, thin, green veggie always manages to be succulent and just the right combination of mushy and textured. Spiced to the max and slopped generously onto a big piece of naan, it can be pretty darn tasty.

So why is it that I find it so intimidating? Once, many years ago, I tried to make okra and it was disastrous. Slimy and stringy, it was more like gristly seaweed than anything else. I've been scared off since.

But now I am committed to being more experimental. Since my mother sent me a great Indian cookbook from America, I've stocked up on spices galore and am ready to try it again... Wish me luck.

Sultan Center

This is one of many massive stores, advertised as a "bulk" food store, but really by American standards, it's about Whole-Food sized (although not quite so organic, nor quiet so expensive). It does, however, stock A-1 Steak Sauce, Hooter's Wing Sauce, organic maple syrup, limes (see previous post), and spinach lasagna pasta. Maybe you don't understand how remarkable this is...but it is.

Anyhow, needless to say, my husband George and I spent far more than we intended (which usually happens when we discover the wonders of a new Muscat specialty store). We did find some dearly need (or dearly wanted, in some cases) items. We just haven't been able to find these things at other places in Muscat: standard car thermoses, hanging plant pots, ground beef, brie, an alarm clock, and parsley. I'll pass on the Hooter's Wing Sauce, but why are these other items so hard to find in Oman?

Perhaps I haven't grasped the fact that Oman is still considered a third-world country and survives on a sometimes confusing mix of prosperity and deprivation. That in mind, I would still take a decent internet connection over most western items.

Limes, Please

It seems, after months of searching, that Oman doesn't really produce many limes. I'm sure it doesn't help that despite however many times I hear the word in Arabic, I can't remember it. In any language, however, that little sour green fruit needs to get itself imported.

One souq did have five. We took the last ones. Being only 9 a.m. at the time, that would imply great lime demand among the early morning Omani market-goers. Right? Either that or the farmer produced only five limes. I don't cross many things off the "it could happen" list here in Oman...

In any case, if anyone knows a lime exporter, clue him in please. Thanks.