Week(s) in Review: The Doha Days are Over…

As soon as we got back from Sydney, John and I finalized a major decision.  As much as we’ve enjoyed our time here, we both feel ready to take on a new adventure, so….after some careful planning and research, the Hollers will no longer be in the ‘ha, as of January 30th!

There will be more details to come, but for now I’ll just wrap up the events of the past couple of weeks.

The jet-lag was pretty intense the days following our arrival, but once Sunday rolled around we had no choice but to buck up and get back into the routine, especially since I had an important work related event that first week back.  Luckily I was able to break it up by having a beer out with the ladies after work one day, and of course still make it to yoga and Bachelor night!

By the time the week was over, we were both exhausted, and just stayed in Thursday night and made tacos.

Friday we got up at a decent hour and cheered a friend on at her first marathon!  She did a great job, and we were all very proud of her!

We didn’t run at all, but needed to refuel from all of that stressful spectating afterwards at FatBurger.

Saturday we got lucky and scored some free tix to the ExxonMobil Tennis Tournament. This also gave us a good excuse to eat at Bukhara beforehand.  At the tournament we had a special treat- a surprise visit from David Beckham!

We had a lot to take care of that week, but I managed to cook something new- tofu curry.  It was actually pretty good!

John went out with some friends that week too to the International Handball Competition.  I’ve never heard of this sport before, but apparently its like water polo on land.  Qatar tried to draw a crowd to this not very popular sport by flying in both Pharrell and Gwen Stefani to play for the semi-finals.  Apparently there were still empty seats though…

Thursday night I went out with some gal pals to La Spiga, and then out to Wahm at the W.  We had fun!

Friday night we went to a party our friends in the compound threw- it was a combination goodbye to us, and welcome to our new friend’s upcoming delivery!  Our friends certainly are very clever and thoughtful!

After the party Friday night we checked out “Krossroads,” a super smokey bar known for their fabulous Filipino cover band.

Saturday we took care of some business, and pretty much spent the rest of the week doing the same, with the exception of yoga and Bachelor night on Tuesday.

Once Thursday came around, we were ready to party again!  We had people over, along with a specially delivered keg, and a whole lot of food.

Friday ended up being a pretty lazy day (probably had something to do with the fact that we went to bed at 4:15 AM…), but we had planned on going to a golf tournament, where UB40 would be performing at the end.  They are most famous for (the song they probably wouldn’t be allowed to play in Doha) “Red Red Wine.” Unfortunately with the passing of the Saudi King, Qatar decided to cancel the concert so that the country could mourn.

In hindsight that was probably a good thing though, since we had a lot to do!

In lieu then of the concert, we went with some friends to Issan at the Grand Hyatt.  It’s a Thai restaurant and very good!  We all did a tasting menu and had lots of yummy dishes.

Saturday was a big day- the packers came!  They worked very quickly and within a couple of hours our entire villa was in boxes.

John took some items out to donate, and we were happy to see that they were taken right away.  He also brought us back a snack from one of our faves-Paul.  Later on I took this bag of assorted currency and was able to exchange it all at the Travelex.  (for a rather large commission of course.)

Saturday night we went to dinner at a friend’s villa, and then afterwards had our last night in the compound.  The next day we moved into the Marriott for the week.  The hotel is very full- lots of the handball teams are staying here right now.  We had to compromise and get a room with 2 double beds because it was the last non-smoking room left!  Luckily though the hotel is very conveniently located, and they have a WONDERFUL breakfast included with our room.  Omellette station erryday.

Sunset view from our room

After a long day, we just had a quick dinner and then retired for the evening, although I didn’t get much sleep that evening because I was constantly checking my phone- my sister back in the US gave birth to my very first nephew!  I’m a proud new Auntie.

 

And that brings us to today!  Only 3 more days and then out of the ‘ha.  We’re both working up until the very last minute, so with that, TCB, and meeting up with friends, the time is flying. Sappy nostalgic post to follow, once we’re out!

Week(s) in Review: Turkey Time & Family Fun

After getting back from South Africa, we had some fun things to keep us busy in Doha. It always helps me to get “readjusted” if I have events to look forward to!

Tuesday night I went with some gal pals to the Souk for dinner. We got there early to walk around, and checked out the Arabian horse stables. I’m not a big “horse person” but these were beautiful animals.

Note: We also discovered the “secret” underground parking garage located close by. It has a tunnel that pops you out right by the falcons!

We ate dinner at the Shebestan Palace- Irani food in a beautiful setting. We also had a really flirty waiter, which is very uncommon here!

 

Wednesday night we had yoga, and then Thursday night we stayed in and made tacos and watched the movie “Rush.”

 

Friday morning we met up with a friend who was flying through Doha on her way to Amman, Jordan. We checked out “La Varenne” in the Tornado Tower and had a great breakfast.

 

I was also very impressed with the art collection on the display.

 

Friday night we met up with some friends for dinner at Mykonos at the Intercontinental Hotel. The food was great, and I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant!

 

Saturday we were bums. The highlight of the day was setting up our hammock (which I’m currently typing away in) in the backyard.

 

We also tried out a new takeaway place- good hummus, pickles, bread, and rotisserie chickens, and I made a “reconstructed” eggplant parmesan for dinner.

 

Monday night we went to yoga, and then Tuesday I went out with some ladies for a friend’s birthday at Hakkasan in the St. Regis.

 

Wednesday night John and I had a special “date” night yoga as we were the only 2 people in class, haha. Made it difficult to get away with any bad form!

Thursday I had a half day at work so I went with a gal pal afterwards to lunch at Jones. Beforehand though I confiscated this weaponry at work-

 

Then Thursday evening we celebrated Thanksgiving in our compound at a potluck. I made a pumpkin cheesecake.

 

Friday, we celebrated Thanksgiving again with some friends. We brought mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and gravy, but we cheated a little…

 

On the way walking to and from our hosts’ villa we got trapped in a little sand storm:

Saturday we had a “family fun day” through John’s work at the Intercontinental. It was fun, but definitely geared towards kids.

 

W did leave with some fun, slightly non-PC souvenirs though.

 

Oddly enough, another company he is associated with had their “Family Fun Day” on the same day at the Golf Club, so we doubled up. I got another fun souvenir there:

I promise it was windy, and I wasn’t pulling a “Mary”

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Craving butter chicken for dinner, I attempted to make my own, along with paratha Saturday night. Not bad for a first try, but I know there’s room for improvement.

 

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That’s all for now. Can’t believe it’s December already.

Dhowing around

The week after Halloween was a typical week of TCB around Doha. Nothing too exciting to report but we did…

Try some new falafel

So many falafels!

Falafel

Arabic Falafel

Saj Falafel

We ordered take away from the appropriately named “Take Away” and got not one, not two, but THREE different types of falafel sandwiches.  It was about $12 for everything pictured…I liked the saj the best, pita bread with Arabic pickles and garlic sauce. Yum!

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Cook traditional Arroz con Pollo

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Make chickpea/spinach curry

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Have fancy gourmet macarons at girls’ night

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Get a Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks

Tastes like fall! 

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Indulge in a nice “stay date” at al fresco

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Eat a picnic at MIA park

Salads courtesy of Monoprix!

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Take a dhow* cruise around the harbor

A “dhow” is a traditional wooden sailing boat used originally by merchants.

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Make blueberry pancakes

Surprisingly enough they actually had Driscoll’s blueberries in the little convenience store in our compound!

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Eat Turkey Central takeout

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Have a “German/Italian” international dinner at a friend’s villa

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…and then we took off for South Africa for a few days! Post to come!

Hollerween

Halloween fell on a Friday this year, so of course we felt we had to take advantage of this serendipitous occurrence and celebrate in a big way- a #town pub crawl!

To prepare for our event, John and I spent pretty much all day on Friday making decorations and perfecting our costumes.

 

 

We didn’t head out until 7:30, and it starts getting dark around 5 now, so the kids were out in full force right at sundown. We were Scrooges and did not spend $200 on candy like most of our neighbors did for trick-or-treaters, and we would’ve been fine too if John hadn’t accidentally flicked the lights on our porch. Like moths to a flame we soon had a group of 10 kiddies at our door. Luckily they were satisfied with our offering of fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Onto the pubs:

Stop 1: The Starting Line- Potato soup and Pimms Cup cocktails, hosted by 2 Sri Lankan elephants.

 

Oh I suppose I should explain my costume in case you didn’t know-

The inspiration was obviously from bleaching my hair, and while I like to say I dressed as Guy ironically….I do kinda like Triple D and some of his recipes!

Stop 2: Dugong Dungeon- scary witches fingers, champagne cocktails and la piece de la resistance- a dugong skeleton in the backyard!

Stop 3: Klingers’ Kauldron- MYO spider cocktails, popcorn balls, and a scary ferocious beast guarding the house.

Stop 4: The “Scairport”- Buffalo chicken pasta and the running of the Gauntlet

Stop 5: “Third Floor, Eh?”- Canadian techno, maple syrup drinks, Timbits, and “Yeehaw!”

Stop 6: “Flavortown” (duh)- Pumpkin spiced white Russians, BBQ pork and Italian shredded beef sliders

I promise we had people there, just too busy dancing to take pics!

…and then we all bombarded another party with a DJ set up in the backyard.

So, as you can clearly see, we all had a GREAT time, and I’m kind of concerned how much I actually look like Guy Fieri. In fact 3 of my friends that I see on a fairly regular basis actually thought I was a man.

Another Halloween in the books!

Doha Daze

Hard to believe we’ve been back in Doha almost 3 weeks now after returning from Japan! The first week was a bit rough adjusting back to the time change/work schedule/being far from friends and family/restrictions of Middle Eastern living (what?), but as usual, time has flown by and I think now we’re back in our old routine.

Looking back, most of our excitement since returning has centered around, of course, food! I made a couple of firsts, and we ate at some new, and some tried and true restaurants:

I made:

Dahl

Apple chips

 

Schnitzel 

 

Lentil Shepherd’s pie 

 

 

And we ate at:

Kebab King affiliate– set up in the backyard for a party

 

Elevation Burger– a “healthy” burger joint, but…come on.

Jones the Grocer 

Cold Stone

“Korean Garden”

Zaatar w Zeit

…and John had “KFC” in the work canteen

 

We also made the rounds with a couple of faves- getting delivery/take out from Caravan Bukhara, Mr Chippy, and Thai Corner, and enjoyed some meals with friends at their villas.

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The weather is actually a fairly reasonable temperature now, and we’re able to spend some more time outside. I took a walk around the compound and snapped some pics the other day-

We also ate outside at Elevation Burger, located at the Pearl.  I love the people watching- a good combination of expats, stroll-ers, and tourists walking around looking confused.

“…and that’s the difference between jam and jelly!”

And we ventured out to the souk, where we had shisha and played chess. We forgot our own set, but a very nice shopkeeper let us borrow one fo’ free!

While we were there, we checked out the falcon souk, where apparently it is “new falcon” season. Each shop we went into had about 12-15 falcons. Never have I ever seen so many falcons.

 

Afterwards we went to “Party Kingdom” where we were met with a typical business hours snafu.

 

I then had a repeat later in the week.

9-1
4-10

 

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to attend the Al Jazeera film festival held at the Ritz Carlton. I got some interesting swag…

This…is a carpet.

…saw some interesting sponsors…

…and had the opportunity to see a film that totally blasted an industry close to the Holler home.

 

And then yesterday I took a 2 1/2 hour (round) trip to the grocery store.  I hate love Doha traffic! 

 

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So that’s all the news that’s fit to blog about…gearing up now for the #town Halloween extravaganza. Here’s some hints for my costume:

Adios!

Dohtoberfest

As I said in my last post, John and I went Thursday night to the very exciting “Fatburger” restaurant. It’s a “fast casual” chain out of California and it was delicious! I even liked it better than Shake Shack, the other “fancy” burger chain around here. (Which is good because Shake Shack is in Villagio Mall and I’m boycotting that mall now because of the horrible way the whole fire situation has been handled.)

The traffic heading over to the restaurant was horrific, but one plus is that we saw a couple of bros in their Land Cruisers with their falcons.

Once at the restaurant, we each got a burger and split the chili cheese fries (which were CRAVEWORTHY). John got a milkshake and was generous enough to give me a couple sips.

Fatburger is located on the Pearl– a cool place with soooooo much potential. Due to an alcohol ban and general lack of interest though, it has become a ghost town. Hardly anything is ever busy and lots of restaurants have closed down. They put in an IMAX theater recently that we’ve heard is nice, but John and I aren’t big movie-goers and I’ve heard it’s expensive, like $25 a ticket. I guess we’ll have to keep going to Fatburger so it doesn’t suffer the same fate as the Algerian restaurant we liked. Darn!

John hung out with some friends on the ‘pound afterwards, but I was induced into a food coma from my burger so I just went to sleep.

The next morning, we just hung around and took care of some business around the house. I gave homemade Baba Gnoush a try in order to use up some eggplants I had in the ‘fridge, but I wasn’t too pleased with how it turned out. We also had the whole “everything closed on Friday morning” issue and it took John 3 attempts in order to get bread (mini mart closed, mega mart closed, bought a ciabatta loaf from a restaurant for $5).

Friday night we had a lot of fun. When we were in Munich we bought traditional dirndls and lederhosen, and we told each other that we wear them every opportunity we got to justify getting them in the first place. Well, believe it or not, “Champions” Sports Bar at the Marriott had an Oktoberfest celebration! We went with a group of friends, including another couple who also had German attire and were definitely the hit of the bar.

The manager of the bar is German and he had gone all out- putting in astroturf to simulate a “beer garden,” German recipes, blue and white Oktoberfest decorations and hats, and even a band flown in from Germany.

 

We’re Doha famous!

Fun German band

My poor Old Navy shoes I’ve had since college did not survive the evening.

astroturf

Saturday morning was rough as a result of the evening’s festivities, but we sucked it up and paid our favorite Lebanese breakfast restaurant a visit for eggs and cheese and Turkish coffee.

Saturday night I made a quick chickpea curry over rice and then Sunday it was back to work as usual. Since technically it’s “fall” (even though its still 100 degrees), I made butternut squash soup for dinner on Sunday to put us in the seasonal spirit.

 

Monday, I had yoga, and then Tuesday I hosted girls’ night at mine and made a family recipe for dinner- sausage, egg, and cheese casserole making a couple of minor adjustments since I didn’t have pork breakfast sausage, half and half, or grated cheddar cheese readily available. (I know I can find some of these things in other stores but I hate driving to 3 different grocery stores.)

 

“spiced” it up a little too

Wednesday was a half day at work, so I took advantage of getting out early and got a pedicure, then watched a documentary on Netflix (Sushi-Global Catch.) I liked this guy’s advice in regards to Blue Fin tuna-

And now it’s Thursday! I went to the gym, then picked up a little treat for myself, then ate lunch en solo at Jones the Grocer. After that I walked around this new dining/gourmet store concept called “Eatopia” which seems promising, (although I question some of their “gourmet” offerings.) Got my hair* touched up in a bit and then came home to start packing for Tokyo (we leave in the morning!)

 

Oh, and a note on the hair. One thing that is very different here than in the U.S. is the beauty aspect of being “pale.” When I died my hair blonde, multiple people told me that it made me look more “pale” or more “white,” which is such a strange compliment to me. But over here it’s considered less attractive to have a tan- while in many parts of the world I feel it’s the opposite! They even have a plethora of skin whitening type hand soaps, lotions, moisturizer, spa treatments, etc, to achieve this “paleness.”  I guess kind of the equivalent of self tanner and/or going to the tanning bed.

The more you know!

Anyways, for dinner tonight we checked out “Salsa” at the Doha Marriott for a friend’s going away dinner. It was pretty good, but I think the best Tex Mex in town is still at the Holler house. Couldn’t help but notice the HORRIBLY RACIST menus….pretty shocked, especially since this restaurant is in an American hotel chain! (Also every server had a stereotypical name like “Juan” or “Pepe.”)

Will be on a brief hiatus until returning back from Japan. Eid Mubarak errbody!

PS: This ad replaced the “Slaughter your animals in the slaughterhouse” PSA.  I like this one better 😉

CHEDDA BAY BISCUITS

The day after we got back from Dubai we had a sleepy day at work, and then a special treat- dinner at Red Lobster. I say this facetiously, but it’s pretty embarrassing how excited I was for unlimited Cheddar Bay biscuits and clam chowder.

We went with a big group in honor of a guy who just moved into the compound. The menu, interior, and food was, well, pretty much what you would expect at any Red Lobster! There was even a bar with “mocktails.”

The week proceeded as normal- yoga, girls’ night, yoga, and then the weekend! We got take out from a new restaurant, “The Chippy,” promising authentic British style fish and chips, and it was surprisingly good- crispy breading, yummy fries, and a great curry sauce. The mushy peas were mushy and bland, but I think that’s how the British like them. Best news is they also deliver and are open until 4 in the morning….I spy potential late night munchies.

newspaper wrapping

*The name of the restaurant is actually just “The Chippy,” but John and I have been calling it “Mr. Chippy” and it just stuck before we realized we were incorrect.  We suggested they change it to that because it flows better.

After dinner, we met up with some friends at the Qube (yes, that’s a Q) in the Radisson Blu Hotel. We had gone there once before (see previous post), but unfortunately my “membership” card had expired and I had to stand in line for about 20 minutes to renew it.

 

This is the line…

Cool shirt bro

Once inside, we had a great time dancing, people watching, and acting a fool. Thanks to Tristan for the paparazzi shots.

 

All that dancing made us work up an appetite, and conveniently enough there is a DQ in the same parking lot as the hotel. Crazy to think, but this was actually my first Doha drive thru experience- there is no intercom, and they hand you a menu at the window. I went with a burger, John got a blizzard, and we were nice and bought one for our driver too.

The next day, we had some people over for fajitas and margaritas, and then Saturday I did a little experimental cooking that turned out great!

 

Homemade Gnocci

Sunday was a routine day, and then Monday we got some sad news….we lost our maid. (I know, Doha problems.) She was having some unfortunate issues with her sponsorship (you have to be “sponsored” to get a visa to live here if you’re not Qatari…John is “sponsored” by his company, and I’m “sponsored” by John) and had to go back to her home country. (I won’t go into too much detail, since I’m paranoid now about what I say on here due to Qatar’s new “cybercrime” laws.) But anyways, John and I had to get our act together and do our own cleaning and laundry this week (Oh the horror!)  I also made butternut squash curry-

The rest of the week went by rather quickly- yoga, girls’ night…

signature chocolate lava cake at girls’ night

…yoga again, and then today! Now that it’s the weekend John and I are getting crazy and going to FatBurger at the Pearl tonight. Expect foodie pics in the future.

So to conclude, a couple of ‘ha pictures for your amusement. I know I certainly stay entertained around here!

I didn’t realize there were cliffs in Doha.

No, I did not make camel fajitas

I have a feeling Zac Efron did not endorse this men’s “saloon.”

Something in the (h)air…

Another week has gone by and we’ve pretty much settled back into our Doha routine. We’re both officially back to work, and I’ve been adjusting my sleep schedule accordingly- waking up at 5:30ish as opposed to….9:30ish.

Last weekend we just relaxed on Thursday night- I made homemade pizzas again and we had those with a good bottle of California Zinfandel. We watched an old Michael Douglas movie called “Falling Down” which was entertaining.

Friday, we relaxed around the house, I got my hair cut, and then we went to a little “hole in the wall” Filipino restaurant that’s over by the grocery store I go to frequently. I’ve always driven by it and wondered if it’s any good, and I’m glad we finally gave it a try! It won’t be one of our faves, but it was fun to try something new, and it’s close and cheap.

Beef Stew

Chicken Adobo

Later that evening we went out with some friends to “Dunes” at the Grand Hyatt hotel. On weekends there is a singer and keyboardist, and they were great! I found the singer’s “promo” video on YouTube:

Saturday we slept in, I made naughty banana bourbon French toast for breakfast…

Then we just bummed around the ‘pound. I started getting “cabin fever” around 4 so we decided to go for a drive and came across some camels and some dudes playing with their falcons.

From there we popped into the grocery store, got some ingredients for dinner, and then just ended the weekend with a simple pasta and the movie “Neighbors.”

Sunday I made homemade falafel and tzatziki sauce- I made the falafel into patties and just pan fried them (as opposed to deep frying) so they didn’t have the same texture we’re accustomed to, but the flavors were good, and I was very pleased with the tzatziki sauce.

Monday was a transformative day…Feeling bored with my “look” I decided to switch it up by going blonde! Voila, the before, during, and after-

Tuesday I went to Ladies Night on the ‘pound and we celebrated a birthday.

 Wednesday we had a special “lunar” yoga class in honor of the full moon- I loved it! It was so flowy and relaxing- a nice change.

So that brings me today…plan is to have a fairly low key evening, as we fly out to Dubai in the morning. Looking forward to seeing family who is coming in, and to having a quick break from the ‘ha!

To conclude- a recent local news story about “Nanny Academy” in Doha.

The End of an Era…

Well, disastrous news in Doha. Turkey Central, as we know it, is no more.

But more on that in a bit, let’s start back to when I first got back to Doha after being in the States for a month…

I took the ol’ Tampa to Houston, Houston to London, London to Doha route again, with a stopover for the evening in London. I stayed in a cheap hotel (shared bathroom/ no air conditioning) but it was fine for one night, and I had absolutely no problem sleeping since I didn’t sleep at all on the Houston to London leg. I think I stress myself out over the fact that I can’t sleep easily on planes, which leads then to me “overthinking” sleeping, which leads to no sleeping! Luckily I think this kind of helps with jet-lag, because by the time I arrive to my destination I am absolutely exhausted.

Room for one!

Each leg of this trip had unfortunately a little hiccup (checked bags/rebooking/rerouting/turning around after being in the air due to a medical emergency onboard), but luckily I arrived safe and sound (albeit 3 hours delayed) to Doha.

I spent my entire first day back being a bum and unpacking, and then John and I went out for Happy Hour at Strata– a restaurant on the 56^th floor of the Intercontinental Hotel. Lots of hotels have Happy Hour specials, and this one had a “buy one, get one” on cocktails, so we each had 2- one kind of “experimental” before we switched over to fairly standard ones- mojito and old fashioned.

Friday I had another down day, the highlight being able to FaceTime with my family back in Florida for my sister and brother in law’s big “gender reveal.” I’m going to be an aunt to a new nephew!

Saturday we had a real treat- a visitor from back home! Well, technically he wasn’t in Doha to see us (for work) but after some careful maneuvering, we figured out a way to go get drinks at Dunes in the Grand Hyatt hotel and introduce him to our favorite restaurant- Turkey Central.

Monday I met up with John at our usual weekday meeting lunch spot- Vapiano, and then I started back on yoga that evening.

bruschetta pizza

Tuesday, it was back to work for me. That evening, the Bachelorette girls and I decided to do a little “ladies night out” and had salads at a restaurant called “the One.” We then had to offset those salads by getting chocolate fondue at Maya chocolate shop.

These pots are deceiving- luckily they are only about 2 inches deep.

Wednesday, I made my way over to Yama Yoga again since our new instructor was originally only doing Monday nights on the ‘pound. That has since changed, luckily, because the drive home really sucked out my “zen.”

Thursday night we met up with some friends for drinks at Trader Vic’s, before going to dinner at “Yee Hwa,” I restaurant I wrote about in a previous post– we decided this time to skip the sushi and go with the Korean menu, and it was great! We had a seafood and scallion omelet (def recommend) and then an assorted beef/chicken BBQ. We were noobs and didn’t know exactly how to go about operating our little table top grill, so the server did most of the work.

Friday morning unfortunately John headed out to Houston for the week, but I managed to stay pretty busy- finally caved and got Chili’s take out (I have gone this entire time here without eating Chili’s, Bennigans, Fuddruckers, Red Lobster), but I only got chips and queso so I think that’s ok…

Friday night I went to a friend’s house and had a delicious home made meal, including spring rolls, meatballs, and individual chocolate lava cakes. We drank some wine and played games- made for a fun night!

Saturday, I was feeling the effects from the night before, so I slept in and then bummed around the house for a while. Eventually gathered my energy and went over to a friend’s BBQ for some yummy burgers and sangria.

Sunday, I worked and then got Thai food delivered. Monday- yoga, Tuesday- hosted girls night and we started “Bachelor in Paradise” which is entertaining, Wednesday- yoga, Thursday- bummed around, and then Friday- lunch at a new spot with some gals from work, and a trip to Ezdan Mall where I managed to get a couple of new yoga duds at Forever 21! Hopefully they don’t all fall apart or split at the seams during downward dog. (But hey, got all of it for less than 1 article from Lululemon.)

Friday night, went back to one of my faves “Belgian Café” with a friend from the compound and indulged in a little fish and chips (not that great, but I got spoiled in London) and Belgian beers.

Saturday, got ready for my hubby to return and made him a nice meal. Very pleased with how my risotto turned out!

Sunday, we still managed to celebrate a friend’s birthday in the wake of a disaster- the closing of Turkey Central!

A while back ago, I had posted about the “second” TC location…well, this turned out to be the “new” TC, (the city is apparently tearing down the building of the original) and it:

1. Is take out only
2. Doesn’t have the ovens working yet, so no bread, (except for the bread they had “contracted” from another bakery) and NO CHEESE PIES!

Well, this was all news to us, and we didn’t find out until we had packed 7 people in our car to go eat in the restaurant. So, we improvised, called in a ginormous order, and had an impromptu birthday celebration back at our villa. At the end of the day, we still had a fun evening, and it makes me grateful once again for all of the wonderful people we’ve met in Doha!

UPDATE! TC will be opening a new “eat in” restaurant (en’shallah): via Doha News

So that brings us now to today. We have about 2 weeks in the ‘ha before our next venture out- going to try and make the most of it!  To conclude, a couple of random shots taken around the ‘ha:

skyline with crane- pretty typical

new PSA: “Don’t slaughter animals outside of the slaughterhouse”

…and just a white and purple Benz parked outside the grocery store.

I got that Ramadan, Ramadan sadness…

…well, not really!  The past couple weeks haven’t been too bad in the ‘ha.  Since we got back from Munich, we’ve stayed pretty busy and done some pretty cool things like…

•  Watch baby turtles emerge from the sand:

Believe it or not, Qatar is home to an extremely endangered species of Hawksbill turtles.  Scientists in the country are working hard to keep them out of danger, and their reproduction is carefully monitored.  We have a marine biologist friend and she gave us the inside scoop, which allowed us to drive about an hour outside of town and watch as a team of marine biologists dug up the nests and safely escorted the babies out to the sea!  My pictures didn’t turn out too great, but Beverly Klinger was kind enough to allow me to use some of hers-

•   Have a party for 4^th of July:

In true Doha tradition, we celebrated another American holiday in the ‘pound with friends of both American and non-American nationality.  John and I hosted at ours, and had a feast of cheeseburgers, assorted sides and salads, lots of yummy desserts, and the crown jewel- TACO BELL!  There is only one Taco Bell in Qatar and it is unfortunately located on the American military base, which is not accessible for most commoners like us.  Luckily, we had some very thoughtful guests and they brought an assortment of tacos, nachos and burritos!

We had beer pong, flip cup, and the night ended with a dance party.

•  Cook up a Thai feast:

Made homemade papaya salad, Paneang curry, tom yum goong and gave mango and sticky rice another go.

•  Get together with the ladies to watch the Bachelorette:

We’ve started up our rotation again, now that Andi (“stoppp…”) is the star of the show.  Our host this week made delicious HOMEMADE Swedish meatballs which were so much better than IKEA’s!

•  Go to an iftar tent:

John’s company treated us to an iftar (breaking of the fast) at the St. Regis hotel.  I subsided on juice using my new juicer that day to prepare for the evening’s feast and it was food overload.  We all had big “puppy bellies” afterwards and went straight to sleep in a food induced coma around 9:15 that evening.

•  Play Sequence and make homemade pizza:

Busted out the pizza stone and made 3 pizzas, including homemade pizza dough (which is actually really easy to make).  I did a BBQ beef sausage pizza, tomato, basil, mozzarella pizza, and the most creative- Nando’s peri peri chicken pizza!  After dinner, we played several rounds of Sequence and destroyed a box of Belgian chocolates, which we had gotten as a gift.  We also went through 5 bottles of red wine, which made for a headache the next day (considering there were 5 of us drinking wine, you do the math.)

 

• Say goodbye to friends who are moving

We will miss our wonderful yoga teacher and craftsman of delicious margaritas!  But as we see our ‘pound friends come and go, we know it’s not “goodbye,” just “see you later!”

•  Master homemade hummus

…and create a delicious snack that I’ve had everyday the past 4 days.

 

• Celebrate John’s Birthday!

…at Turkey Central, of course!

 

So as you can see, we’re doing pretty ok in the ‘ha, but…it probably helps that I’m leaving tomorrow for the U.S for about a month!  Can’t wait to see everyone and get my fill of all the things I miss.  Hollersintheha will be on hiatus until I return to the land of sand.