Project 365 Day 11, 12, 13 Busy Week

Day 11: On the walk to work

Day 12: Unwanted house-guest

Day 13: A trip to a "REAL" grocery store  :-)

Project 365 Day 10: Fish Sticks Take 2

Ah, I forgot to post yesterday! So here's a series of 2 related photos - one for today (day 10) and one for yesterday (day 9). The way these fish were cooked was really fascinating (see photo on the day 9 post below), and they were really tasty. In a place where there isn't much to do, let me tell ya this is pretty exciting.

365 Project Day 9: Fish Sticks

During the summer and early autumn months, these fish are caught in a nearby ancient river, then skewered and roasted around open flames. Restaurants have outdoor seating on the mountainside nearby underneath grape vines and apple trees. My roomies and I had a lovely evening here with some beautiful Kdish friends.

365 Project Day 8: George Clooney

We have a celebrity in our midst. He keeps such a low profile that the first time I saw him I had only a small twinge of recognition. But now after seeing him several times, my roomies and I are sure…it's George Clooney. Yep, George Clooney's hidey hole from the paparazzi is right here in Kstan. He spends his days running a local grocery store and carrying my roomie's flat of Pepsi Max and carton of eggs to the car for her. What a gentleman. It's true that the camera adds ten pounds because he sure is shorter and thinner in person. I don't have a current picture because I'm too shy to ask for one and I hate to blow his cover so you're just going to have to trust me on this one. Or even better, you can come see for yourself!

Project 365 Day 7: Frivolous Friday

Friday in Kstan is like Sunday in 1950 small-town America - shops are closed pretty much all day and the streets are more quiet than usual because people stay home with their families. More people, mostly men, venture out to visit the mosque in the middle of the day while women stay at home to cook and clean. After the family lunch comes the afternoon siesta. A lazy "Sunday" afternoon. I tend to use Fridays to sleep in, read, reflect on the week, do a little housework, hang with the roomies, and/or otherwise putter around the house. Today I deemed "Frivolous Friday" because I wanted to eat ice cream, a cupcake, and a dollop of imported icing topped with imported chocolate and caramel syrup for lunch....so I did. Mom, in case you're worried, this is not my usual MOA :-)

365 Project Day 6: The Butcher

Being brought up in the "country" and having seen my father gut a deer didn't fully prepare me for a trip to the butcher in Kstan. It wasn't so much the sights as it was the smells that grossed me out, something a picture can't fully convey. Anyway, these baby cows, slaughtered earlier in the day, were reported to be of top quality. I don't really know how to grade meat at this point, but I have resources and I plan to figure that out...

365 Project Day 5: A little thing called LOVE

The newlywed getaway car in Kstan

365 Project Day 4: I like to move it, move it

My travel last month took me to Hong Kong. One of the most densely populated areas in the world (according to Wikipedia), Hong Kong is an interesting mix of capitalism/western culture and traditional conservative Asian culture. The city was impressively clean and well-run. There were signs posted on business doors assuring customers how many times a day door handles were sanitized as well as signs about hand hygiene and how to properly cover coughs and sneezes. Sometimes I would forget I was in Asia until I would see people wearing avian-flu masks. A foreigner that I met who lived there for a while likened Hong Kong to London. Wouldn't know because I've never been there, but it's not surprising since Hong Kong was once a British colony. I like that this photo displays the orderly traffic lanes and three different modes of transportation: the red taxis, the yellow double-decker bus, and the pedestrian footbridge above the road. Can't you almost hear the rush of millions of people getting to work to make a buck?

365 Project Day 3: Blackout

Tonight we had the entertaining task of watching several men try to fix our electricity for a couple of hours. Our house was the only one that lost power - apparently due to bad wires. Amidst the protests of my roomies, I covertly snapped a picture of one of the men perched precariously atop a ladder. I didn't want to use flash and draw attention so it's dark, but anyway here 'tis.

365 Project Day 2: Lamb Chops

Just a regular day driving around Kstan and BAM you see someone's dinner riding in the back of the truck next to you.

365 Project Day 1: Mom's Chicken Enchilada's

I'm plagiarizing an idea for my blog. The 365 Project. A photo-a-day for a year. Since I love photography and I need blog material that's fast and easy to post...I thought I would give it a shot.

My roomies and I made lunch for friends today. Based on the fact that we miss Mexican food and there have been an abundance of imported tortillas in stores around town for a few months, we had decided earlier this week that we would make enchiladas. Wouldn't you know it, when we went to purchase said tortillas, they were all gone! Instead we substituted some really thin pastry bread "tortilla-equivalent" product. Surprisingly, they turned out better than the last time we made this recipe using real flour tortillas :-)