Seasonal Affective Disorder in Dubai

Since the beginning of January, there has NOT been one drop of rain. Every day this is it...

Sunny days - idyllic right? Not after 5 1/2 months and counting. I am desperate for a cloud, for a good old Texas thunderstorm in the late afternoon, for anything that appears overcast (except a sand storm). So, you can imagine my excitement when I checked weather.com and there was a 60% chance of rain on Wednesday (before then, I haven't seen anything higher than 10%)! I was thrilled, elated, on cloud 9 (hee hee). I started planning what I would do during my morning of rain - a book, a movie, (actually I was planning on swim suiting it up with D and doing a little dance outside, but the first two sound much more sane).

I've been checking weather.com every hour since last night and giggling like a drunken sorority girl. This morning I pulled up the website again hoping for a spot of cheer, since I woke up to yet another sunny, impossibly hot day.

TueJul 29
Partly Cloudy
102°94°
0%

WedJul 30
AM Clouds / PM Sun
100°90°
10%

ThuJul 31
Partly Cloudy
102°90°
0%

FriAug 1
Mostly Sunny
104°90°
0%

SatAug 2
Partly Cloudy
107°90°
0%

SunAug 3
Partly Cloudy
105°91°
0%

MonAug 4
Partly Cloudy
106°91°
0%

TueAug 5
Sunny
108°91°
0%

Yep, it went from 60% to 10%. Great. Guess it's another day at the pool. 2 1/2 months until the blissfuly unpredictable weather of Hoston.

The Suspense is Over..Here are the Balls

I know you've been waiting forever, but I've been busy! After bunco and cooking for 12, I had to take a few days off! Could have had something to do with the wine, but I'm using the cooking excuse.


Ok, grab a box of cake mix and a bottle of wine and let's make some balls.

Here's what you need:
1 box of cake mix (whatever flavor you fancy - in this demonstration I used a french vanilla cake mix)
1 tub of frosting (again, whatever flavor you'd like - I used strawberry)
Roll of wax paper
Chocolate bars (I used Lindt 70% and I mixed in some semi-sweet chocolate chips as well)
Decorator icing tubes or the rest of the tub of frosting

1. Make the box cake mix according to directions in a 13x9 pan.

2. Mash it all up (with a fork or your hands).

3. Put the crumbled cake in a bowl and make sure there are no big lumps.

4. Put HALF of the tub of frosting in the bowl with the crumbled up cake. Mix it into a dough with your hands. Mayonnaise is an optional ingredient - just kidding! Don't know how that got into the picture.

5. Roll the dough into balls that are about an inch in diameter. The smoother they are, the better (hee hee). Put them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

6. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (put a heat safe bowl on top of a pot of gently boiling water). If you melt the chocolate directly on the stove in a pot it will separate and not be pretty. I have a stainless steel bowl on top of my pot.

7. Drop the balls (a couple at a time) into the melted chocolate. Using two spoons, roll them around until they are completely covered in the chocolate.

8. Let some of the excess chocolate drip off and then place the balls back on the wax paper covered cookie sheet.

9. Put the balls in the fridge until the outer shell is hardened.

10. Decorate with the tube icing or melt the remaining tub of frosting in the microwave and drizzle over the balls. After it's melted, I would put it in a plastic baggie and cut a tiny hole in the bottom corner and drizzle that way, so the lines are really small. I decorated mine like dice for bunco night.

You can break off some of the excess chocolate once it's hardened, but be careful. One cake mix makes around 40 - 50 balls depending on their size. Obviously, these need to stay in the fridge. They taste great the next day! My friends have also used coconut, nuts, and sprinkles to decorate the tops.

Since it's so damn hot, my friend and I decided to take our boys to Children's City (all INSIDE) so they (and we) could get out of the house. It was pretty cool and Dylan had a fab time. Here are a few of the highlights.

Playing in water - always a good time

Sounded so good we let them play all of 30 seconds!

Giant elephants and the Karate Kid

D even managed to fit in some flirting with an older woman. Here's what he is saying - "Is that a dress? Are you wearing shorts under there?"

And

then

we

came

across

this...

(please study it for a moment and I will then add my commentary).

This is Taylor who is crazy brave wearing both blue and red. He hasn't decided his Crip/Blood affiliation yet. He's only like 6, give him a break! He has time.

The chics are his "friends". Right. We've all heard that before. Girl on the right seriously has to pee and is trying to distract herself by staring at the sun.

This my friends is school in USA.

Oh yeah, and the "American spice" is mustard.

Stay Tuned...

I've been insulted, queried, and bribed about these cake balls. I am making them next week for my bunco night and just for y'all, I am going to post a "how to" complete with pictures!

I will warn you though that once you taste one of my balls (hee hee), you'll be a frosting junkie like me!

On a side note - anyone remember Schwetty (spelling?) balls from SNL?

9 Cans of Rotel and 8 Tubs of Frosting

I know, I know, you're wondering...rotel and frosting, where is this gonna go?

I've enjoyed living as an expat tremendously! Have I changed? Absolutely! If it's possible, I've become more outgoing, apparently fell in love with the exclamation point, and am now a hoarder! The latter makes me a true expat - no longer a rookie. Let me explain.

HEB does not exist in Dubai! Oh how I miss it (and Target)! The grocery stores over here, while well stocked with a variety of items, don't always load up on the Texan goods or other pantry necessities. You can't find a chipotle here to save your life! And, it's quite often hit and miss. You can't bank future success on past finds.

So here's the deal. When you find something that you LOVE, you must buy every single one on the shelf, because quite possibly it will be not be there next time. Frosting, tortillas, and rotel all fall into the stock up category. It's so bad that there are posts on the expat woman forum of ladies looking for certain items. I could have made a fortune selling Betty Crocker frosting on the black market! Cake Balls (thanks Mel!) are a hit here and tub frosting is a vital ingredient. It's not uncommon for me to receive an email from a friend here passing the word that frosting is in stock (of course only after she has stocked up herself!).

So there it is. I hoard. And I am not ashamed.

Anyone for dinner? I'm serving queso with a little frosting on the side.

New Trend in Photography!

I couldn't figure out why everything looked so fuzzy in the viewer. I turned my camera around and discovered the lens was completely fogged up. Yes, it was THAT humid out!

Day to Day in Dubai

Not much of a post, but here are a few pictures I thought you'd appreciate.

Well, if this ain't clearer than mud...

I'm not sure if it's intentional that the workers look like prisoners...the side of Dubai not on those cutesy little powerpoints you get from that person who never emails to see how you are, but forwards you anything that comes through her inbox!

I rarely leave the villa without my camera, but on these occasions I was high and dry. Thanks Heather (she's always prepared) for forwarding these to me :)