The Royal Cavalry Horse Show

Wow, what a wonderful afternoon! I was told it would be a super thing to witness and I was not disappointed. I thought it would be a great experience for Bear and we got to see it together. 

We arrived in plenty of time and found parking straight away in extra bays laid on for this event. Then the buses were regular enough that we just hopped on one and headed in to the Royal Cavalry barracks. Bear had her little camera and with a little persuasion, she found the confidence to start clicking away.

We had a little wander and saw where we would be sitting; although three-quarters of the seating had plush comfy covers and the remainder were the plastic garden chairs! We thought we’d head to the comfy end to grab a seat…then I read the tickets again and I’m very glad I recognise Arabic letters as we were seated in آ/A, aka comfy cushions, yay!

I won’t bother recounting the frustrating step by step procedure required to actually get to our seats but I will say that even the debacle with the checking of cameras did nothing to spoil the day! I will say that the only thing that really did spoil it was the amount of litter on the ground, even hours before everyone had arrived. Royalty were attending for goodness sake!!! It has always been one of the very, VERY few things that I do not like about this country, and all it could take is a couple of seconds to find the nearest rubbish bin or keep hold of it and take it home. Grrrr…ok, off the soap box…

We saw we were quite close to the Royal Stand and would have a pretty good view of everything!

On recommendation, what I was looking forward to were the horsewomen, both jockeys and display. You weren’t wrong, OPNO and Noora. S.! I’m very glad that Omani women are free to become horseriders because they were a highlight of the day!

Even when they couldn’t stand up on the horse or when the horse refused to ‘curtsey’ to the Queen and the Sultan, seeing a smile and an obvious giggle made it all ok! All the displays were amazing and some breathtaking, the skills was incredible – I loved the tent-pegging!

Some random photos from the day:

A lady's gorgeous Chinoiserie fan

I’m going to try and get to see a few more shows and races, now I know where I find the racing schedule – thanks again, OPNO.

Garden Update mid-November 2

Orange

Lemon



Mango no. 1



Mango no. 2



Fig

Fig

Kumquat

Kumquat in foreground and opposite corner of patio

A slight fuzz of green grass...honest!

Frangipane

Redcup

Firepit!

Omani Rose

Redcup

Garden update mid-November 1

Garden - Day 3

I have found a way to get rid of the neighbours' kids from your  garden - quickly. Empty several sacks of manure on your garden, water liberally and watch them disperse in squeals of disgust!! Hilarious! ;-D

Pop-up Sprinklers! Cool!

A few pictures from the rest of the garden:

Ships and Jets...cont'd

It seems I may have had a gleaming career as a defence procurement analyst in the services (!) had I continued that path, sharing the opinion of two top Royal Navy Admirals….oh ok, and probably several million others in my home country…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11723589

Still trying to find my photo of The Ark…

I can see the Garden parties now...if I squint...Days 1 & 2

Garden development

Finally we’ve decided to get on with sorting the back garden out. We think hope that we will be in this house for a little bit longer … insha’Allah … so we’ve decided to make the most of it.It is just a wasteland at the moment; it would be ideal space for the children to play. Already, we have moved the trampoline round and the kids have been on that every day! We are really looking forward to spending time sitting on the patio as the sun sets having watched the children play on the grass and bounce on the trampoline with their friends. Here are the first set of Progress Pics:

An entry on food? On this Blog? Really?

Those of you who know me know that cooking is not a passion, probably far from it to be honest. That’s not fair actually, I will cook. And don’t mind doing a big pot of chilli or Bolognese or stew…something that has everything thrown in together and cooks at the same time. I used to become quite flustered if I was to cook things at different times for different durations at different temperatures. The first time I did a roast dinner was momentous, if somewhat overcooked in places!

Not mine I'm afraid. Bear would love filling these up with gravy and Booker-amounts of mint sauce....mmmm!

My attitude was very much that I will cook so that my family did not go hungry. Taste and presentation were not priorities! But then it was made more difficult when I had two children who are far from fussy and enjoy new tastes. So I had to be more interesting. I think I’m doing a lot better these days and will even rely on a recipe with less than a day’s panicking and planning!

Moving here opened up a new style of cooking that I was actually looking forward to… I saw it as a fresh start and something that I could use a recipe and not feel incompetent and unadventurous (The Captain is the, well, captain of improvisational cuisine. Anything in the cupboards and fridge can be made to taste great at his hands. I’m very lucky he enjoys cooking. Except he’s been working more than ever recently and hasn’t had chance to be in the kitchen…grrrrr….).

One book I managed to get before coming here was Cooking of the Gulf by Tess Mallos. It’s difficult to get hold of, Amazon don’t even have it just now. If you see it, grab a copy as I'm not sure when you may find it again.

On the menu last night was Quwarmah ala dajaj (curried chicken) served with my personal favourite, Muhammar (sweet rice).

I think I might have actually improvised today! Get me! The recipe asked for tomatoes….none ….so I used tomato paste and added a lot more water. As you can see from the picture, it turns out a lot darker and richer looking. I also missed out the chilli and cooked with oil instead of ghee. And I used two of the Loomis that I made over a year ago! It was absolutely lush, if I do say so myself.

Slightly different! (note to self: stop cooking with the recipe book right by the pan).

The Captain is yet to try it as he was working all today, so I’ll await his opinion! My last chilli was a bit ‘metallic’ apparently so we’ll see! (I’ll blame it on him having just got over his flu and so his taste buds were shot…the kids scoffed it all so it couldn’t have been that bad!)

If anyone is interested in the recipe, drop me a line and I’ll scan it over to you. A little easier than typing it all up! It was really delicious, sweet and tangy with a very slight hit from the turmeric and baharat. I omitted the chilli pepper merely for the kids' benefit so it would normally have a kick.

Have I just written enthusiastically about cooking??? Wow….

Edit: This sums up my disorganised approach to cooking - I read ‘tinned tomatoes’on the recipe, I have a look at the recipe after I’ve cooked it and it says 1 cup of tomatoes, chopped and peeled. Where did I get tinned from…? And so I have just discovered fresh tomatoes in the fridge. Typical.