Tag Archives: baking

Day 247 – Gate crashers

The chocolate sponge is done; the chocolate for the mousse layers is waiting...

The chocolate sponge is done; the chocolate for the mousse layers is waiting…

I promise, we did not know about the birthday before we decided to stay another day. When we told Lina and Michael that we would stay one more day before heading for Muscat, they said that today was Eric’s birthday and we were already invited to come along if we were still around. We liked Eric, his wife Emily and the other teachers we have met so far, so we were cautiously looking forward to it.

Going to any kind of celebration of people we have just met is always a bit stressful for us. Nina decided to fight this by channeling her anxiety into baking. This time we were prepared, though, and the triple chocolate birthday and goodbye cake came out pretty good for a spontaneous bake.

Isn't that amazing?

Isn’t that amazing?

The rest of the day was filled by active relaxing – a lot of TV on my part and sleeping for Nina. We also tried to tidy up the house a little (our mess, of course) to make it nice for our hosts when they come off work. Around 6.30 pm, they came home and everyone was ready to leave for the party.

The birthday was really nice. Our friends’ friends are pretty much all lovely, but probably the real kicker for us was that we had 80% introverts. I feel, that is just the right mix for any social gathering. Lorie Ann especially turned out to be blessed with a delightful sense of humor. The real star was the food, though. Eric’s wife Emily has outdone herself in my opinion with 27(!) different dips to go with the fresh fruit, veg, crackers and bread. It was a feast!

Nina’s comment: So.much.food. There was so much to try that by the time you were through once, there was barely enough room in the belly left to double up on your favourites. And there were dessert dips as well, including salted caramel, a key lime pie dip (my favourite!) and a whisky dip that had it in it. Our chocolate cake and Todd and Megan’s ice cream went well with everything else on offer, especially combined with the cookie dough dip…

And this is just the table with savoury dips...I had no time to take one of the sweet version of it =P

And this is just the table with savoury dips…I had no time to take one of the sweet version of it =P

Honorable mention needs to go out to their cat Solo. A rescued street urchin, he definitively provided ample entertainment for the night.

We also got to have a good chat with Jorge and his wife Abby. They aptly came to the gathering on Jorge’s KTM 950 Adventure (which he insists, he bought for his wife – to be pillion. His other bike is a single seat … 😉 ). He even was kind enough to bring and lend us one can of chain lube, which we forgot to buy in Dubai. Legend.

That was it then – our time in Sohar was almost up. Tomorrow, we will leave for Muscat.

 

 

Day 246 – Baking fails and other delays

Our last day! Or so we thought. I, at least, started preparing pretty early on. Cleaned the kitchen box, sorted through our documents etc. Flo was way more relaxed. He voted to watch “Cowpocalyse” which we did as I needed to stop running around. While watching, the power suddenly went out. First, it was mostly annoying because the movie just went black. Then, we realized that Lina had started the breadmaker this morning which was now also off. What happens to the bread if the power just turns off?

If at first you don't succeed, why not fail again?

If at first you don’t succeed, why not fail again?

An hour later, it came back on. The bread didn’t fare too well…Flo set it on bake but when the breadmaker beeped, it didn’t look finished at all. Since this bread was ruined, we put the breadmaker back on with a new round of ingredients. It refused to start, telling us that it was too hot. Finally, it started. The end product was not impressive at all. The bread didn’t rise nearly as much as it should have and the texture was very dense and doughy. The heat probably killed off the yeast before the bread making even started. What a fail. 🙁

To make up for it, I wanted to make very chocolate-y cookies. Weighing the flour, we then searched the house for baking powder and cocoa…both of which we just couldn’t find! Deflated, we succumbed to an afternoon on the couch, watching tv, waiting for our hosts.

The slowest pizza on earth ...

The slowest pizza on earth …

Flo already toyed with the idea of staying another day as his arm was not as well as he would have liked it to be.

Lina and Michael arrived and showed the appropriate amount of piety for our baking failures. In comparison to their day, we have had a stroll in the park though.  Soon, all four of us jumped into the car to have pizza. In your face, strange day!

The pizza place looked abandoned from outside but a member of staff opened the door and nodded so we went in. Lina’s and my vegetarian pizzas arrived soon after and we munched away. Flo and Michael had to wait for a curiously long time. In fact, a white car delivered plastic shopping bags to the pizza parlor before they got their pizzas so they must have run out of something.

It got later and later. By 6.45pm, the pizzas arrived. The guys asked for a take-away box as Michael just wanted to go home to relax. On the way back, we decided to actually stay a day longer. That was probably the best call to make as we then had a lovely, chatty evening watching comedy on the TV.

Try again tomorrow. 😉