Couscous

We were at a friend's house last night for a delicious meal, which included couscous, and the discussion turned to what is couscous. I always thought it was pasta, sort of like pastini, which according to Wikipedia is about half right:

Couscous (pronounced /ˈkʊskʊs/ or /ˈkuːskuːs/) is a food consisting of spherical granules made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat and then coating them with finely ground wheat flour. The finished granules are about one millimetre in diameter before cooking. The name couscous is also used for prepared dishes made from other grains, such as barley, pearl millet, sorghum, rice or maize.

Attiéké, a variety of couscous that is a staple food in Côte d'Ivoire and is also known to surrounding areas of West Africa, made from grated cassava.

But I discovered that couscous is steamed. What we had last night was very light and fluffy, so I'm thinking it was steamed, although I need to confirm that with the chef. I need to know how to make it -- I think it's the first time I've had it where I really enjoyed it. So now I'm in the market for a couscous steamer! Actually I'll try it with the steamer I have. Wikipedia says you can do that, just cover the bottom with cheese cloth to keep them from falling through the bigger holes. I still have some pearled barley, and I may try it and see if it tastes like couscous. Or better yet, I'll just get a couscous lesson from Juste.

Tirana Qender I

Qender means center, and in this usage is akin to "downtown," although it has a narrower connotation than does downtown, but not as specific as stadtmitte, which as I remember from Germany was not only a loose term for city center, but was an actual marker in the exact "center" of the city, and from which the mileage calculations were made. Which was totally different from the U.S., where mileage calculations are from the city limits. So in the U.S., from Jackson to Ridgeland may be 0 miles, since their city limits adjoin; in Germany it might be 10 miles, center to center. Not sure why this is relevant here, but it's late. These photos are all from the Qender, taken over Christmas/New Year's vacation, when we went downtown in an effort to cure a bout of cabin fever. Qender is pronounced Chender, like lender, and the ch is like the ch in church. Close as I can come.

This first photo is the mosque on Skanderbeg Square. In the background, dissected by the minaret, is a new building under construction. Construction has slowed substantially in Tirana during this downturn, and although work is still progressing on this building, it is extremely slow. I keep up with the position of the crane, so I know it is still moving, and I'm assuming from that that work is ongoing.

Just to the right of the mosque is one of the ministry buildings built by the Italians in the pre-war period.

This is me, as Susan pointed out on facebook regarding another photo, sans glasses. Since my two cataract surgeries I now have Alcon plastic lenses embedded in place of my old ones, which were corroded. There is another more precise medical term which escapes me. I used to occasionally take the deposition of a Dr. Guy Vise in Jackson, an orthopedic surgeon, who would self-deprecatingly describe orthopedic surgery as carpentry, using drills and saws and screws and just repairing the framing. That's kind of what they did to my lenses -- took out the old ones and put in new plastic ones. Since they can put in any sort of lens they want, they match my glasses prescription, so with the new lenses my vision is almost 20/20. Except for reading. Since the lenses are plastic they don't adjust to closeup, so I have reading glasses. To which I will adjust, hopefully, eventually. Actually, now that I have a lanyard and they continually dangle from my neck, at least I can find them, which is a great improvement.

Anyway, behind me is the Tajwan Center, which has a few restaurants, a bowling alley, ringed by coffee houses, and surrounded by a one-square block park. It is the only park in the area. Tirana has a serious shortage of public spaces. We have Sunday lunch here occasionally and eat and watch the people.

Compare this scaffolding to the top photo. This is all wooden frame scaffolding on the new Orthodox Church being built close to the square. It has the main building plus baptistry and clock tower. The first Albanian Orthodox bishop was ordained in Boston (I think Boston -- may have been New York) in 1908 (I think 1908.) I may be misremembering the time and place. Fan Noli was his name, and he was active in Albanian politics and religion.

This is the mosaic on the front of the national history museum. It was built by the Russians, but the mosaic was designed and constructed by Albanian artists. It is a typical revolutionary motif, and one of these days I'll post a closeup and more explanation. Not too many years ago there was a movement to destroy it as not being appropriate for a democratic country, and a reminder of the dictatorship, but preservationists won out and it's still here. I think it would be a mistake to just obliterate all reminders of Albania's communist past. It is healthier to recognize it and deal with it, and not deny it.

The Efrem Bey mosque from the opera house. The mosque dates from the 18th century.
The painting on the arches. It looks sort of drab from a distance, but close up it is quite tastefully colorful.

Burns Ball

Well, here we are at the Burns Ball last night. It was fun -- a little long on the program side and even longer for the meal. We had the same problem at the Marine Ball -- I don't know the reason, whether the kitchen is too small, planning is not sufficient, not enough prior food prep, but the Sheraton is pretty slow to bring out the courses. So we do a lot of visiting among different tables while we're waiting and probably end up having more wine or scotch than ordinarily prudent. That was a nice plus -- each table had a bottle of scotch. It may be planned this way on purpose -- it was a great chance to catch up with a lot of people we don't see on a regular basis.

We had a glass of champagne and "mingled" for an hour or so when we first arrived, and then went in and sat at our appointed table. Our table was named "To a Kiss." "To a Louse" was not represented by an eponymous table. Then our ambassador gave a little talk about Robert Burns and why he was so popular; then the English ambassador read a Burns' poem, one was read in Albanian, followed by toasts to the laddies and lassies, reasonably long and humorous. A lady from our embassy sang a Scottish song somewhere in there. Then we ate and some people danced. In fact probably most people danced. There was a piper from Scotland, who led the procession of the haggis around the room, which we later ate with mashed potatoes.

It was my first haggis tasting, and it was pretty tasty.

Happy Birthday to Me

Tomorrow is my birthday, number 62. That used to seem pretty old, but of course it doesn't anymore. Now I can sign up for Social Security whenever I want, but there's no point as long as I'm working. It is 75% at age 62, and 100% at age 66, so I get roughly half a percent more each month I don't get benefits. Isn't that wonderful news? I'll be on the dole! I'll keep working here until we leave, which will be a year and a half or maybe two years, and then maybe I'll apply. It depends on where we go and whether they have any jobs I might want. I'm leaning toward not working, but like I say, it depends.

Tirana is wet -- it's been raining a lot. It reminds me of Seattle -- everything is wet, but it seldom rains hard. That's not been true in the mountains and areas in the north of the country. It has rained extremely hard there, and the hydroelectric dam reservoirs are filled to capacity and they've had to open the floodgates, which has caused much flooding. Two of the major highways to the north are impassable due to flooding. The army has been trying to evacuate people, but resistance to leaving their homes is widespread.

A new USAID person moved in just down the street a week ago, and Taylor has enjoyed the two twelve-year-olds. They have all spent a lot of time together -- they're the first American girls that are sort of her age who have lived in the neighborhood since we've been here.

The Saints-Cardinals game next week might be just like the Packers-Cardinals yesterday -- neither team seems to have a defense, so 55-49 is definitely a possibility. I won't be watching it, though -- 4:30 in New Orleans is 11:30 here, which is past my bedtime. On Armed Forces Network we get a sportscenter show and reruns of games, so I can keep up with them. I did watch some of the Baltimore/New England game, because it came on here at 6:30 or 7.

So far this winter seems much wetter and colder and just all around uncomfortable than last winter. So I'm hoping for an early spring.

New Year's Eve

My last post of the year -- I'm actually surprised I posted as many as I did, even accounting for the long periods of nothingness.

The weather is cool/cold here, but clear, so I'm looking forward to a good view of the fireworks tonight. We were going to go downtown and watch them from a friend's apartment right off of Skanderbeg Square, but all of our Albanian friends kept pointing out how packed the square would be at midnight, to the point of not being able to move. So instead of going downtown at nine and not being able to leave until two a.m. or so, we're going down the street to a house which has an unobstructed view towards town, and we'll go up on the roof (three storeys) and watch from there. Sounds much better. All this presupposes that I'll still be awake, of course.

We have nothing much planned for our four-day weekend. We're off Monday too because Saturday is an Albanian holiday, so since it falls on Saturday we're off Monday.

Over the last few years I've made a pot of gumbo for my birthday, and I'm planning on doing the same this year, and maybe some red beans and rice. The problem is that there are no gumbo crabs here, nor is there any andouille. There is no substitute for gumbo crabs, and not a real substitute for andouille. But there is a very small German store here that sells kielbasa and other types of sausage, so I may have to try some for the base. I'll have a report in a couple of weeks.

A giant mall has opened in Tirana, called City Park. Not sure what all they have, but I think we're going one afternoon while we're off. They are supposed to have a very big and nice grocery store. The company is out of Slovenia. Each time a new store opens there are new products available. When we got here April of 2008 sour cream was not available, or buttermilk, or several other things. Since then I've seen sweet potatoes (only once, but I saw them), peanut butter, intermittently and not very good, Kraft mayonaise -- it says Kraft, but it's different. So a new grocery store brings hope -- vanilla extract? Cottage cheese? We'll see.

Ten years ago today I was in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, babysitting Jackson the dog while his owners were in Belize. The intervening 10 years have seen a lot of changes, not the least of which is that the Ocean Springs house washed completely away in Katrina. Cindy and I got married, completely remodeled a house, then sold it and moved to DC and now Albania. We're both enjoying our life here, and even enjoying being "homeless."

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Gezuar viten i ri!

Baku

Our trip to Baku was very restful and enjoyable for me; a lot of work for Cindy. The old part of town (Icherisheher) has been settled since the 5th Century B.C. At one time Baku produced over half of the world's oil; it is still the main source of Azeri income. Baku started producing oil commercially in the 19th century; by the turn of the century it was a wealthy place. Outside of the Old City it is Parisian architecture, laid out with parks and boulevards and French-styled buildings and fountains. Then beyond that is the Soviet part, which is pretty drab and unimaginative.

Friday afternoon the Azeri prosecutor who had been coordinating and presenting the Azerbaijan government positions took us on a tour, and this is one of the places we went. This is a good brief website for further info. http://www.sputnik.in-baku.com/inbound/atesh.html

Atashgah Temple on the Apsheron peninsula.

This is also from our Friday afternoon tour. It is a defensive position now on the outskirts of Baku. Our guide told us that when the Russians took over Azerbaijan in the 18th and 19th centuries, they tore most of these down. He said something like 30 to 40 large ones were torn down. They left this one because it is so small and they didn't feel threatened by it.

The view back towards the city and the Caspian Sea from the castle above. It overlooks some of the oilfields, which I think are pretty polluted. Not much in the way of environmental standards in the 19th Century, or during Soviet times either. Stalingrad, now back to Volgograd, is not too far north of here. The World War II battle of Stalingrad was initiated because Hitler, against the advice of his generals, decided to try to capture the Baku oil fields before he finished his capture of Moscow. Bad decision -- he lost both.
The Maiden Tower on the Caspian Sea in downtown Baku, in the Old City. This is taken from our hotel balcony restaurant, which fortunately had an inside part as well.
The new theatre. Modern plays as well as Shakespeare were on the marquee.

The minaret at one of the old mosques in the Old City. Much of the city is built with sandstone, which is carvable without a lot of difficulty, which accounts for the delicate carvings all over.

Dave on the top of the Maiden Tower. The guard wanted to take my picture; then he asked me if I had any cigarettes. When I said no, I offered him about $1 in coins, but he wouldn't take it.
Old city wall. The entire wall around the old city is still almost entirely intact. it used to extend to the Sea, but in this century the "beach" was extended a hundred meters or so and is now a long promenade.

Sharm el-Sheikh

We just returned from a little trip to Egypt over our Thanksgiving holidays. Because of three Albanian holidays and Thanksgiving and a weekend, we get six days off. So Cindy, Taylor and I went to Sharm el-Sheikh, at the very tip of the Sinai peninsula, and took life easy for a few days. Sharm used to be a quiet little fishing village, but now is a destination tourist resort, owing entirely to the spectacular coral reefs and tropical fish close by. Sharm is at the very top of the Red Sea, where it divides into the Gulf of Suez to the south and the Gulf of Aqaba to the north. The water is very, very clear. This first photo is of a small batch of coral close to the shore. It looks sort of like seaweed or something, but it is a coral bed almost to the surface.

This is also taken from the boat. The entire Sinai landscape is exceedingly desolate looking. Mt. Sinai is about 75 to 100 miles north of here. Other than the new resort city, hardly anyone lives on Sinai, and haven't for thousands of years. Since it's a peninsula it is not on the way to anywhere, there is no water, no vegetation, and few people. No wonder the Children of Israel got annoyed wandering around here.
On the boat, after a couple snorkling outings (three for Taylor; two for Cindy) recuperating.
The view from our balcony. Red Sea in the distance. Palm trees imported from somewhere. Grass -- all this stuff is imported. It reminded me of Las Vegas.
Another view of the Red Sea and Sinai. Flying over it on the way in I could see nothing green. The mountains go on for mile after mile, and nothing seems to be growing. Desalinization plants seem to provide the water.