Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Middle East and North Africa	What were your SO's first thoughts of the US?	My husband is shocked at the obesity in the United States vs other countries and he comments on it at least once a day. where do you live? Are people from Jordan that skinny? The other thing is quality of family life here - its pretty bad. As a result, we are planning to move to Jordan to raise children together, God Willing. Again maybe it's where you are living now. The US is a BIG place and there's so many awesome locations to raise a family. Unless I'm totally missing something here. I love my little town, though it's wicked expensive. The kids are getting a great education and the town really looks out for one another. Maybe he'll like it once he's here a bit longer. Agreed... the only place that my husband was blown over by the number of obese people was at Six Flags. I guess it depends on where you live. We live in Boston and, while you see your fare share of overweight people, I wouldn't say it's shocking. I also think there are tons of fabulous places to raise your kids/start a family, you just have to choose wisely. That being said, I plan on moving back to Paris! Seriously...your husbands have never seen fat ppl? There were plenty of fat ppl in Egypt. I can't imagine that Morocco and Jordan don't have fat ppl, too. Not to be rude or anything but plenty of MENA men have married obese women. I can't believe that word hasn't gotten around about this phenomenon. Algeria's got em too!! I don't think I ever added to this thread when it was started, so I'll comment a little on my husband's first reactions... he was worried that we were living in the woods because in Algeria there are criminals/terrorists that live(d) there. He was surprised that you could buy a 2 liter bottle of coke for $1. He loved the selection of food in the grocery store. He loves getting paid overtime. He was surprised that people were so polite to each other (he had gotten really used to living in Paris). He liked how cheap new balance sneakers were.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-16 14:41:00
Middle East and North Africa	Koshari Places in the US??	yeah I'm seeing quite a few Bostonians on this board. Kinda cool! Oh yeah and for the Bostonians.....in my "hood" we have Safy Market. They are a halal store but they have recently opened up a mini restaurant. They have the best kebabs east of Boston (so far in my neverending quest to find middle eastern food anyways:) Hmm...I'll have to check that out! I live on the North Shore. I think we should have a group meeting sometime....someplace where there's satellite tv so the guys can watch soccer!!! I think I remember someone telling me a bunch of guys get together in the North End a lot. Yup, that was me. Cafe Paradiso is where it's at! Oh, and Safy Market. Is that the one on Broadway, Revere? ETA: I think there are lots of ME places to eat around Boston. A few I know of: Tangierino, Charlestown (Moroccan) Rami's in Brookline Cafe Jaffa in the Back Bay Sabra Grill in Harvard Square Karoun in Newton Zuzu in Central Square Yummmm.... I've been to Rami's, the falafel is good, i think that's all I've had... it's always packed though. Cafe Jaffa I've had in the past and liked - good kebabs. I'll have to try the rest of these... I've had Tangierino in mind for awhile! I've also been to Baraka Cafe in Cambridge near Central Square. It's a small Algerian-Tunisian restaurant that has great couscous and karantika. It's pretty authentic and everyone that works tehre is Algerian. My husband knows the owners of The Jewel of Newbury, they own a French/Algerian restaurant and a hotel on Newbury Street. They're Algerian and make AMAZING food. it's a neat little restaurant, really pretty, but a little pricey. Algiers Cafe in Cambridge used to be better (in my opinion), but the upstairs is nice and they have a roof deck (or at least used to). I feel like it's very Americanized. And its always swarming with college students. I've had good food there though. I've heard of a restaurnat called Red Fez, but haven't been there. It's in the south end. I'm guessing Moroccan? The menu looks like it has some lebanese dishes too. There's also an Ethiopian restaurant, I think there's one on Tremont street and one in Cambridge, called Addis Red Sea... I've heard the food is good and it's a fun place to go. My friends say that instead of plates they give you a large pancake for the table and you scoop food into a smaller pancake and you eat with your hands - sounds like a good time to me! What's the best one food wise? Ooooo I don't know... I haven't tried all of them, but I guess it depends on what you want, they are all so different - some fancy food, some fast food, some middle eastern, some north african....	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-19 09:32:00
Middle East and North Africa	It's Friday!!!	I love Persians, they're beautiful. I used to have two when I was young. One of them would sleep in the litter box and poop on the floor. My favorite kind of cat is the Himalayan. A cross between a Siamese and a Persian. My first cat was a Himalayan. She was gorgeous! Her name was Cleopatra. Go for it, Jackie...get yourself a beautiful kitty to spoil. Aww when i was a kid we had himalayan cats!! we had two, their names were Fluff and Burt... then Fluff had babies so we called her Mommy Fluff and her kittens were named Gwen, Arthur, and Burt 2. They were GORGEOUS. Mommy Fluff was a dark grayish black color, both Burts were a deep chocolate brown, and Gwen and Arthur were both white blondes. They were great cats.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-20 10:51:00
Middle East and North Africa	It's hump day!	Last night I went to look at the apartment we'll be moving into in Somerville (MA). What neighborhood? I used to live in Teele Square... I miss it! The Somerville Theater, the library, Sound Bites (if you don't know about Sound Bites send me a PM and I'll tell you where it is; the owner is totally the Breakfast Nazi, he has all these rules lol!) Today...going to the gym after work. That's my grand plan. It's still HOT here! I love Sound Bites!!!! One of my friends used to live on Winter Hill and we used to go there allllllll the time. We're going to be in Davis Square, so really close to Teele. It's going to be such a great change from being in the suburbs (don't people usually want to move OUT of the city?? I want to move back in!!!). I used to live in Coolidge Corner in Brookline so I'm excited to try out another part of Boston. Last night I went to look at the apartment we'll be moving into in Somerville (MA). It's my mom's house that she bought after law school (a two family house) and my husband and I are going to rent the downstairs and my brother and his girlfriend and maybe a roomate or two will rent the upstairs (because it's a 4 bedroom). The downstairs apartment is a 3 bedroom and it's two stories... it's pretty nice!! The tenants there now haven't taken very good care of the outside of the house (the backyard that used to be very nice and green is all dirt.... the driveway is a two car driveway, but they've made it a three car by parking one in, what used to be, a garden.... etc) so we'll have some work to do. I can't wait to plant some flowers! The only nice one i saw was a red trumpet vine that had winded it's way along the front porch. They've also painted some of the rooms a very obnoxious shade of yellow, so that'll have to be painted over. But I'm really excited!!!!! Right now we're living outside of the city and we only have one car at the moment, so it's pretty hard for us to get around, especially because we go in different directions to work and have different schedules. I have to drop him off early at the train and he has to wait for two hours at starbucks before work and i have to wait at night until 11/12 or later sometimes to pick him up. So it will be a breath of fresh air to have the T within walking distance and be able to go out and do stuff... right now all we have is the woods So much stuff to do before the end of August! The summer is going by so fast Wow what a great investment your mom made!!! I can't imagine living away from busses/trains, etc. Even though I never use them I still would feel suffocated due to the lack of options!!! I"m on the north shore in a wee little town on the water so it feels like I'm far away from the city but you can see it from the beach and we have a train station and busses and the t is closeby. Near Ipswitch by any chance?? One of my older brothers and his family moved up there about ten years ago - I love it!	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-11 12:51:00
Middle East and North Africa	It's hump day!	Last night I went to look at the apartment we'll be moving into in Somerville (MA). It's my mom's house that she bought after law school (a two family house) and my husband and I are going to rent the downstairs and my brother and his girlfriend and maybe a roomate or two will rent the upstairs (because it's a 4 bedroom). The downstairs apartment is a 3 bedroom and it's two stories... it's pretty nice!! The tenants there now haven't taken very good care of the outside of the house (the backyard that used to be very nice and green is all dirt.... the driveway is a two car driveway, but they've made it a three car by parking one in, what used to be, a garden.... etc) so we'll have some work to do. I can't wait to plant some flowers! The only nice one i saw was a red trumpet vine that had winded it's way along the front porch. They've also painted some of the rooms a very obnoxious shade of yellow, so that'll have to be painted over. But I'm really excited!!!!! Right now we're living outside of the city and we only have one car at the moment, so it's pretty hard for us to get around, especially because we go in different directions to work and have different schedules. I have to drop him off early at the train and he has to wait for two hours at starbucks before work and i have to wait at night until 11/12 or later sometimes to pick him up. So it will be a breath of fresh air to have the T within walking distance and be able to go out and do stuff... right now all we have is the woods So much stuff to do before the end of August! The summer is going by so fast	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-11 11:20:00
Middle East and North Africa	Suicide Bomb in Algeria	This makes me so sad ..... it must be just devastating to the algerian people	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-11 10:48:00
Middle East and North Africa	MENA RELATIONSHIPS	I've never been worried that my husband would find other women in the US attractive and leave me for them. Actually, the thought never even crossed my mind until I read this post. I guess I would have been worried about our relationship if that was an issue and wouldn't have filed the visa in the first place. Not picking on anyone, that's just my personaly opinion... Before we left to visit his family in Algeria my parents (and some extended family) were worried about my safety - but then again, so was I. They didn't want me to go, even though they had been right next door in Morocco the year before. I think it had a lot to do with the terrorism that plagued Algeria when they were children. I think that image is set in their heads. Of course everything ended up being fine, but with all the bombings in Algeria lately I don't think I would go again any time soon... I'd like to wait for it to calm down a bit. That being said, I do think my family/friends would have had a MUCH bigger problem with my husband if I had met him on the internet or if he was still unemployed here (he's been here since November) and I was supporting him. The fact that we met when I was in France and he came here and had a job within a month and a half have made a BIG difference (in my opinion). Everyone that my husband has met in the US has been nothing but nice to him. My family and friends welcomed him with open arms and everyone at his job loves him. His employer knows that he just came from Algeria and they have been wonderful to him. He was employee of the month in April and was chosen as employee of the quarter this past weekend and won a iPod shuffle and a weeks paid vacation!! He is 1/2 italian and he looks very much italian, perhaps this has something to do with the way people treat him - would people on the street treat him differently if they knew where he was from? Maybe...	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-12 12:05:00
Middle East and North Africa	What are your SO's favorite American TV shows	My husband loves 24, Prison Break, Lost, Heroes, anything on the National Geogrphic channel, the Planet Earth series, most stuff on the history channel, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the Cosby Show, aaaaaand the Girls Next Door................................. although he says he doesn't PS my husband has decided that to watch all of this fabulous TV we're going to have to buy a HD LCD TV, at least 42 inches.......... Edited by hollyw, 11 July 2007 - 11:25 AM.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-11 11:25:00
Middle East and North Africa	What are your SO's favorite American TV shows	Girls Next Door! We were watching that on Sunday night and Moh turned it off. He said the girls were too stupid for him to continue watching. I, personally, get a kick out of that show. My husband loves 24, Prison Break, Lost, Heroes, anything on the National Geogrphic channel, the Planet Earth series, most stuff on the history channel, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the Cosby Show, aaaaaand the Girls Next Door................................. although he says he doesn't haha, so do i!! it's pretty entertaining if you don't take them very seriously	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-11 11:03:00
Middle East and North Africa	What are your SO's favorite American TV shows	My husband loves 24, Prison Break, Lost, Heroes, anything on the National Geogrphic channel, the Planet Earth series, most stuff on the history channel, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the Cosby Show, aaaaaand the Girls Next Door................................. although he says he doesn't	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-11 10:45:00
Middle East and North Africa	happy thursday	The biggest thing I cannot WAIT for is hearing the call to prayer. I don't know why but that just always gets to me!!! i know what you mean... i'm not muslim, but i always loved sitting on the roof of my family's house and listening to it... it's so peaceful. in other news, i've had a cell phone for a couple months that has been broken - the flip part of it has snapped off basically and it's hanging on by a couple of wires... last night the screen went blank, so all i can really do is answer calls. but i ordered a new one on monday and get to pick it up from fedex after work today!! Edited by hollyw, 12 July 2007 - 02:18 PM.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-12 14:15:00
Middle East and North Africa	Friday..yeah	Call me crazy, but with all the talk about SOs arriving today and plans being made for future arrivals, I'm kind of missing all of the feelings of anticipation for the big day and how excited I was waiting at the airport and the disbelief at having my husband here finally. Congrats to everyone with upcoming reunions! Do you miss when life just plain sucked azz though not knowing if he would get the visa or not and wondering if it was even gonna work out when he did? That wasn't meant to sound insensitive. Edited by hollyw, 13 July 2007 - 07:45 PM.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-13 19:43:00
Middle East and North Africa	Friday..yeah	Im spending Friday as a total slacker. Im supposed to be calling on all these high-dollar claims, but I have a serious case of the dont-want-tos. So that brings me here Same here. I have a pile of stuff to do on my desk, but I'm pushing it to the side and will continue with it on Monday. Call me crazy, but with all the talk about SOs arriving today and plans being made for future arrivals, I'm kind of missing all of the feelings of anticipation for the big day and how excited I was waiting at the airport and the disbelief at having my husband here finally. Congrats to everyone with upcoming reunions!	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-13 15:22:00
Middle East and North Africa	funny expressions	you guys are funny. lol I was thinking more along the lines of expressions though rather than english screw ups, but these are kinda funny. Yesterday he texted me "the gays think I should go to Alex Friday" hahahaha that's great. i can't think of any expressions that my husband uses..... but does anyone know the restaurant California Pizza Kitchen? Well, he thought it was California Pizza Chicken for about 8 months	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-12 12:07:00
Middle East and North Africa	Moroccan Health Question	It always seems weird in Morocco when people die that no one really knows why, and they never find out what happened. Hicham told me about his friend's Mom dying and I asked what happened and he said "she ate something that was in the microwave for too long". I just say, "oh that's too bad" even though that sounds like the most ridiculous reason ever. Do people go to the emergency room there? Everytime someone passes away that I have heard in Morocco it's in their home, and the family doesn't ever really find out how they died. Oh well. I've noticed this too, although I've never heard a reason as ridiculous as someone died because something was left in the microwave too long. Although I'd believe if someone died because meat and dairy were left out in the heat too long. When I was in Algeria, I was constantly asking my husband if stuff should be put in the fridge rather than left in the oven overnight... When we were there last summer and my husband's aunt was sick they just tucked her into bed. They had NO IDEA what was wrong with her, she was just sick - it was a mystery. Now I guess they had brought her to a clinic, but the doctor couldn't find out what was wrong, so they just went home. She was sick for like 4 or 5 months. I could never understand this... if one person couldn't tell you what was wrong, why wouldn't you go to the next person?? I don't know. On the other hand his aunt's son got hit in the eye with something and was almost blind. They dragged him all over North Africa and Europe to get that fixed. And his other aunt goes to France when she's pregnant to have the babies because it's more comfortable. I think there's definitely the idea that some things can be helped and some can't, whereas here I think we're more likely (at least from what I've experienced) to go to the hospital because we have better medical care - something that can be treated here can't necessarily be treated there and why not get comfortable in your own home if things are gonna get really bad, ya know?	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-13 09:35:00
Middle East and North Africa	Moroccan Health Question	Same here. When I was in Algeria and it was about 100 degrees out my husband's mom used to get upset when I took water directly from the fridge to drink it. She said it was bad and would make me sick (upset stomach? sore throat? i dunno) and I needed to drink warmer liquids. I was like, I'll do a lot of things, but one thing I won't do is drink room temperature water when it's 100 degrees out. I'm hot. And if i get sick - so be it! ALSO... I like this one: I really like popsicles. And those are cold. So my husband says not to eat them/eat them too fast because they're so cold. But when he gets out a mixing bowl full of ice cream and shoves it in his face everythings fine!	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-12 12:33:00
Middle East and North Africa	Non muslims in a Muslim Country..	i'm not sure if this is relevant because i'm not living in a muslim country, but i'm not muslim and i don't cover here. I don't really cover in Algeria either, but i did find that whenever i started to feel uncomfortable with the people staring, i could just throw on a djleba/abaya and no one gave me a second look. it was nice sometimes to feel like i blended in with everyone else, but most of the time it was too freakin' hot! i though it was interesting that people didn't notice me with the djleba because i'm still a strawberry blonde with hazel eyes and freckles, but i guess my husband said that people probably thought i was berber. i haven't ever worn a head scarf, it makes me feel very self conscious for some reason, even in a muslim country where half of the women you see are wearing one.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-11 10:58:00
Middle East and North Africa	First day Home Alone!!!!	How cute! I left mine alone for a bit and he just cleaned the heck out of my house, so it worked out. I asked him about learning the washer and dryer though and he said NO, not at this time. ?? Like what time would be better? My husband is home from work today and I'm hoping to go home to an emptied dishwasher, folded laundry, and the pile of dishes in the sink washed oh ALSO, if you're gonna teach your husband about the dryer, teach him about the lint trap!!! I forgot about the lint trap and i think he left it unchanged for 2 or 3 months before i noticed that all of our clothes were coming out with lint all over them time after time.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-16 14:46:00
Middle East and North Africa	First day Home Alone!!!!	Dag you're a brave woman! I don't trust letting anyone (including my husband ) do my laundry. Yea, seriously.... especially since the first time he did laundry my husband went dryer happy and threw all of my cashmere sweaters in the dryer... i had to give them to my six year old niece he also turned all of my whites a grayish blue color	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-16 14:27:00
Middle East and North Africa	Friday, I'm in love......	I'm counting down the minutes until i can get out of this office... have to be on the road by 4 to drive to the cape, I'm trying to make the 6:00 boat to the vineyard! woohoo! yay for the weekend!!!	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-06 10:57:00
Middle East and North Africa	INTERESTING WAYS TO PASS TIME	I didn't really do anything different either. We spoke daily on the phone and occasionally online. For those of you who are still waiting, I know how rough it is but believe me when I say as soon as your SO gets here the bad memories of waiting will fade quickly. Moh and I will talk about how it doesn't seem like it took that long once everything was said and done. I don't remember doing anything different in particular. Although we were lucky to only be separated for about 5 months. He was not very internet savvy at that point, so we didn't chat or anything like that. I was able to catch up on a lot of American TV and movies that I had missed though after being out of the country for 3 years. That was crucial for me. Same. I think the only thing I did differently was spend more time on the computer using skype and more money on calling cards. We did long distance for about a year (but saw each other about every two months) and it took about two months to get our visa, so we didn't really have it that bad. I ordered a lot more take out food before he came. I spent a ton of time with my friends. I visited my grand parents in florida. Mostly I just tried to keep busy because i found that when i sat around the house the time passed much much slower. When he came, i shoved some of my clothes over in the drawers. I might have cleaned. I can't remember. I did get my old desktop computer from high school out and set it up for him so he'd have his own computer and not have to use mine (he likes to use the computer and eat at the same time and it just drives me NUTS). Then my brother gave him his old laptop and xbox so he was alllllllllll set.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-05 13:47:00
Middle East and North Africa	It's Tuesday	anyone have a cold stone creamery near them? Apple Pie a la Coldstone is BETTER THAN SEX!!!! http://www.coldstone..._creations.html oh man... i have purposely never been to a cold stone because i know that i would never be able to stop. each year i get closer and closer to caving in...	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-10 13:48:00
Middle East and North Africa	It's Tuesday	Have you ever tasted Ben and Jerry's Holy Cannoli? Yumm! I dunno if they still make that flavor or not as it's been a few years since I've eaten it. Looks like Holy Cannoli is in the Ben and Jerry's flavor graveyard http://www.benjerry....avor_graveyard/ They have some other yummy looking flavors in there... i wonder if they'll ever bring them back from the dead They've got some good ones out there still though! Brownie Batter, yummmmmmm..... their flavor generator is fun too!!! Edited by hollyw, 10 July 2007 - 01:37 PM.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-10 13:37:00
Middle East and North Africa	It's Tuesday	Man, i don't know if i could handle teaching my husband to drive, i'm glad he already knew how! in fact, he's a valet here One thing i was really surprised about though, when my husband went to take his drivers test, he decided to take it in french and it was a realllllllllllly old photocopy of a test that looked like it was from the 80's! remember when xerox machines used to print in that awful chunky purple ink?? it looked like that! so not only was it hard to read, but all the questions were about cars with manual transmissions. of course, he had only ever driven stick, but there were still some questions that really had him stumped. luckily the woman that was monitoring him was really busy and didn't notice that he went about 25 minutes over the time limit for the test or else he would have failed. and we would have had to pay the fees again! Also, his driving test was really funny. it was pretty easy, but at one point the police officer in the passengers seat yells "STOP THE CAR!!!" he scared the sh!t out of me and my husband. i guess he had seen someone driving a car that he had FAILED earlier that day (imagine failing your driving test and then driving past the RMV later?? ballsy). he gets out of the car and makes the man call someone to come pick him up. the police man gets back in our car and rants about it the whole way back to the RMV, but thankfully passed my husband...	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-10 11:44:00
Middle East and North Africa	It's hump day!	I just texted my hubby and told him "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!!!" and he wrote back "you eat horses there?????" My husband made horse for dinner one night when we were living in Paris. He got pissy when I told him it tasted like a pork chop. I've felt bad ever since for eating horse... but it was right after I told him that I was an adventurous eater and would try anything. I should have said "not the cute animals"	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-07-11 15:23:00
Middle East and North Africa	happy hump day :)	i reallllllly hope my fiance is like you both! also, would you be offended if you went to a dinner at your inlaws or friends and there was pork (but also other things to eat?) yea, it's all new for me because we never ate halal meat in Paris (where there are tons of really nice halal butchers), but all of a sudden now we are just in our own house though, we don't worry about meat served in restaurants or other people's homes. either way is fine with me, except that it's a little out of the way to go to a seperate place to buy meat. but it's really fresh and we get these HUGE chicken breasts... my husband and i can split one for dinner and still have some left over! it's great. I'm not muslim, so pork doesn't offend me. My husband just eats around it. A lot of times in restaurants i have to point out the dishes on the menu that contain pork because sometimes it's cleverly disguised as pancetta or prosciutto or chorizo pork isn't served a lot in my family though besides bacon (and we're never at my parents house early enough to catch that), so we never really have to worry about it.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-27 11:49:00
Middle East and North Africa	happy hump day :)	Does anyone in the Boston area buy halal meat?? We've been buying meat at Zamzam Foods in Norwood which has been good, but we're moving to Somerville in September and it'll be pain to drive all the way out there... I've been looking at reviews on zabihah.com, but I'm just curious if anyone has been to any of the halal markets in the Boston/Cambridge/Somerville area and liked what they found.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-27 10:55:00
Middle East and North Africa	happy hump day :)	It's like day 3 or 4 of the heatwave here and I've had just about enough of it!!! i have to agree... i miss the low 80's!! normally i'm fine with a fan, but this heat is killing me. my husband decided yesterday that he can't live any longer without air conditioning. he has *even*.... been turning the AC on in the car!	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-27 09:14:00
Middle East and North Africa	Point of Entry.. does he HAVE to go to New York?	That's interesting, I've never heard of that... there is no state/city stamped on my husband's visa. FYI my husband went through customs in Boston and it was great - fast and easy. He was out in the same amount of time as the rest of the flight.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-28 10:51:00
Middle East and North Africa	freaky friday	That is my #1 reason for not wanting to try Alli. No thanks on the ####### leakage. i bought that new diet pill, alli, today. feel the burnnnnnnnnnnnnn! Keep me posted about how that works. I've been thinking I might try it too. Watch out for the ####### leakage! ok i'm intrigued..... i took a look at the site. very interesting. maybe if i was scared i was going to have "treatment effects" at work i would stop eating the cookies they put out at meetings.... ####### leakage is probably the best incentive i've ever heard of for cutting the fat outta my diet.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-29 15:43:00
Middle East and North Africa	Bizarre foods of MENA	I LOVE escargot!!! omg that's my favorite appetizer smothered in butter/garlic sauce that you dip the crusty bread in afterwards. YUM!!! AGREED. although quite often i've thought, maybe it's not the escargot that i love, maybe it's just garlic bread.....	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-22 10:21:00
Middle East and North Africa	interview not so successful	This happened in Algeria too when they were switching over to the new affidavit of support forms... i was hearing that consualtes were only accepting new versions of the form, but the CO in Algeria wanted to old form. Luckily i sent both cause they took the old form, but they just all work in their own little bubble over there, i dont think they really care what the rest of the world is doing... however, i am SHOCKED that he wasn't just given a 221g like everyone said and am sorry that you're going to have to wait longer....	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-11 11:35:00
Middle East and North Africa	was your interview in English?	The CO that handled my husband's case (he didn't have an interview.... unless you count asking where we lived in Paris an interview ) spoke to him in french and my husband was so nervous that he answered him in english. We're both fluent in english and french so i guess it didn't really matter.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-19 23:47:00
Middle East and North Africa	Good middle eastern reciepes!	All this bourek talk is making me hungry, I think I'm going to make it for dinner!! I did it! I made salad, bourek, and some harira for dinner last night... yummmmm. I made the traditional bourek with ground beef and onion and added a half of a cut up red pepper and some laughing cow cheese... it was tasy	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-20 10:51:00
Middle East and North Africa	Good middle eastern reciepes!	Mouloukhia aka Jew's mallow is a type of green. It's from the same family as okra so it tends to be kinda "slimy" like okra. Moody: I have only come across the frozen variety in Dearborn. Have you ever seen the fresh? Holly: To add more to what Moody said molokheya is an annual herb. Many mistake it for spinach. In the Middle East, it is grown for its leaves. (In India, it is grown for the fibres in its stem. ) There are several ways to cook it. In Egypt it is a natioanl dish, but are variations of from Syria, Lebanon, and Tunisia.The perferred way to make Molokheya is with rabbit, using the soup for Molokheya. But, since rabbit is a delicacy, and often pricey, one can use other meat, such as beef, or more commonly chicken. There is even a dish of Molokheya with shrimp in coastal areas. Molokheya is served with plain rice, or with full wheat flat bread. It is also customary to have a red tomato sauce (???? dem'a). Also on another note bourek is one the most easiest things to make. Well actually all of Algerian dishes so simple to make...but esp bourek...and everyone loves it! I love ones with spinach and the ones with seafood filling (but the traditional lahma hachee is great too!) Mmmmmm!!! I also the Marocain and Bosnian versions. That's funny, when I was reading the recipe I thought it sounded like spinach... I'm not sure I've ever had it. i really enjoy looking through the recipes on this site because you can search by country, course, and ingredients: http://www.gourmed.g...recipe_home.asp i think the only recipe i've tried was the bourek and it was gooooooooooood I cooked bourek today, mmmmm good!!! Meriem All this bourek talk is making me hungry, I think I'm going to make it for dinner!!	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-19 18:39:00
Middle East and North Africa	Good middle eastern reciepes!	i really enjoy looking through the recipes on this site because you can search by country, course, and ingredients: http://www.gourmed.g...recipe_home.asp i think the only recipe i've tried was the bourek and it was gooooooooooood	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-19 16:34:00
Middle East and North Africa	Good middle eastern reciepes!	I don't think there's a recipe up there but I'll tell you how I make it.... 1 whole chicken cut up and skin removed 4 (or more) large cloves of garlic, minced 1 small onion, diced 1-2 teaspoons cumin 1-2 teaspoons ground coriander (khuzbara) salt and pepper to taste 1 packet frozen mouloukhia Saute onion in a small amount of oil (1-2 T) until translucent. Add garlic and saute until browned. Add chicken, salt , pepper, cumin and coriander. Stir to coat chicken. Add water (about 1.5-2 cups). Cover and cook for 45 mins or until chicken is cooked through. Check and stir once in awhile. Remove cooked chicken to a plate and add defrosted mouloukhia (I defrost in the microwave). Add more water if needed, the mouloukhia shouldn't be too thick nor too watery. Add additional salt, pepper and spices if needed. Serve with white rice or riz bi shariyya (rice with vermicelli). How do you make mouloukhia??? I'm going to Egypt Saturday and that is my husband's favorite food (mouloukhia with rice and chicken). I could do the rice & chicken......but the mouloukhia seems a little complicated. I could by the frozen basma bags of mouloukhia.....but then what? Is there a recipe in the sultan's kitchen? The Egyptian dishes I make most often are....mouloukhia, koshari, firakh meshwiyya (with potatoes), lahma bi pisella or bamia, baba ganoug, fuul, kefta and fried cauliflower (karnabeet). My next experiment will be goolash (not Hungarian). that sounds fantastic....... but what is mouloukhia?	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-19 13:26:00
Middle East and North Africa	Martial proofs	...since Alger is taking us for long ride I think. oh no! i'm sorry to hear that... it's too bad because everyone there was no nice and laid back when we were there almost a year ago ( i can't believe its been that long!). We handed them a stack of stuff and they barely looked at it. I did get the feeling though that if we hadn't had as much as we did they would have been asking where it was. anyways, i'm sorry to hear that they're giving you a rough time. i haven't been keeping up with the consulate news, but i'm assuming that you're able to do DCF again there. there was a really nice american man that worked there who handled our case.... ahhh good times. Good luck Henia!!!	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-19 23:41:00
Middle East and North Africa	GUESSSSSS WHATTTTT	last summer i bought my ticket to paris through Best Travel Store... i did a lot of research before i did though - they're legit. i was eticketed and could even log into the airlines website and choose my seats. it was just as easy as ordering on expedia seems like a good week so far!!!!! i found a ticket on best travel store website for 1278....ive never heard of that site so i dunno whether to tell Geo about it or not......i may just wait and see what he comes up with in Saudi. the hole in my mouth is doing alright. had a bit of a scare late last nite. it started bleeding again and i freaked out. i just put some gauze back in it to catch it and put an ice pack on my cheek for 25mins, then fell asleep...woke up and it seems okay. i havent taken any pain meds since b4 bed.........i may take an advil just for good measure.	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-26 15:37:00
Middle East and North Africa	Buenos Dias!	oooo that didn't happen to me in Marrakech, but when I was in Milan I walked to see the duomo with my camera and when I was taking pictures these two men forced some birdseed into my hand and tried to take my camera away from me to take a picture . I didn't know what to do since I had the birdseed in my hand already, so I took the picture myself (... very blurry of my own hand with a pigeon on it...) and then they asked for 50 euros!!!! I said no way and told them I wouldn't pay for anything, but the guy grabbed my arm and eventually got down to 2 euros so I gave in. haha that picture with the monkeys in marrakech is cute! i had a run in with the owner of those monkeys... he put them on my shoulder as i walked by, my friend took a picture, then he DEMANDED i pay him $50! i told him, "yah right!!!" and he and i had an argument i won't repeat the words here. lol cute pics though!	hollyw	Female	Algeria	2007-06-06 11:51:00