Sunday, December 25, 2005

Christmas:

We were invited for breakfast at a friend's house.

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On the menu: strong fruit punch and I mean strong along with tacos, spicy salsa and the best guacomole on this planet and it wasn't even 10 o'clock in the morning.

Bartender at work.

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Later on that evening, we had a Christmas dinner at our place with some friends and family. We ordered some food to save us the trouble of cooking. Golden rule" never let a guy order food on a empty stomach!"

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Cheers to everyone and have a merry Christmas!

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Just wanted to share the sunset from our balcony, Nature's gift on Christmas.

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The Day Before Christmas:

Michael and I wanted to have a snowy Christmas. So we decided to hit the slopes. We actually went snowboarding for the whole day which is more than 8 hours!

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I stopped when it started to be painful and when I had more than a few bruises. But it was great fun and I would do it again anytime. Ask me if I managed to walk the next day!

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The snow is real, the temperature is below Zero and the slopes are very realistic and wide.

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Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Baking Christmas Cookies:

I guess Zahed/Mirfield is not a good combination when it comes to baking cookies. I tried baking them all afternoon and all I got was chocolate soup! Michael and I kept adding flour, even Zadok, our roomate suggested more flour. More flour. A bit more. It felt like chewing gum in my hands. We burst out laughing, we even had tears in our eyes but it did not help. Maybe more flour. Alright, let's put it in the oven and see...
(20 min. later)...
Try with a hammer, maybe you can break it...More flour?... How about calling a dentist?

Well, I promised myself not to step in the kitchen. That was two days ago. Today, I baked cinnamon star shapped cookies, French sables with apricot jam and some icing on top and a New Zealand sponge cake with forest berry jam, quite yummy! Merry Christmas everyone, wish you were here!
Here are some finger licking receipes for this holiday.

Butter Cookies:

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Prep Time:
15 Minutes
Cook Time:
10 Minutes
Ready In:
1 Hour 40 Minutes

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, put together the butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least one hour. Chill cookie sheets.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Press dough out onto ungreased, chilled cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly golden at the edges. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. Put jam on top, icing sugar or anything else you fancy.

Another Bonus!
Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

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Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1(3­-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1 egg
1 (18.25­-oz.) pkg. Food Cake MixFROSTING
1/2 cup Vanilla Frosting (from 15.6-­oz. can)

Preparation Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F. In medium bowl, combine butter and cream cheese; beat until smooth. Add melted chocolate and egg; beat until well blended. Add cake mix; beat until well mixed.
2. On lightly floured surface, roll half of dough at a time to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with floured 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1/2 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake at 375°F. for 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are set. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets. Cool 10 minutes or until completely cooled.
4. Heat frosting in a small pot for 15 seconds; stir frosting until smooth. Drizzle frosting over cooled cookies.
Et Voila! Bon Appetit!

Maybe another one!

Cinnamon Stars or Zimtsterne:

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Ingredients:

400 grms almond powder
3 eggs
300 grms sugar
peel 1 fresh lemon
1 soup spoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ntmeg powder (optional)

Method:

Beat the egg white with sugar. Take four soup spoons of the beaten meringue and keep on the side for later. To the remaining mixture, add all the other ingredients and blend carefully.
Sprinkle the table with sugar and roll the dough to cut in star shape cookies or any other shape. Put the stars on a tray with the meringue on top to be baked in the oven for 12 min at 180 degrees C.


Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Christmas Party:

Every year, D. W. T. C. invites all the tenants to a party by the pool.

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It is a challenge for Santa to impress people with his theatrical entrance. Whether it is on a camel, a Hummer, a crane or a helicopter, he always amazes kids and adults alike.

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That is not the best part! My favourite part is the chocolate fountain where you dip your fruits using a skewer et Voila! chocolate fondue! Yummy!

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Friday, December 09, 2005

X-treme Sports!!

Now that is what I call x-treme sports! Kids don't try this at home.

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The ESPN X-Games came all the way from California. It was a fantastic show which included skateboarding, rollerblading, cycling and motor bikes. Professional stunt men!

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No this picture is not upside down, HE IS!!

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We had so much fun watching them all day jumping over a 4 meter ramp even higher.

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Thursday, December 08, 2005

Goodbye, Farewell:

Nipper (the dog) and Pebbles (the cat) were spending their quarantine time at our place. Their family has already left for Australia since June and now it is their turn. Today, the house is so empty without them running around. We will miss their sumo wrestling. Take care and bon voyage. We love you.

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Monday, December 05, 2005

Ski Dubai is Ooooppennn!!

Would you look at that!

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Down the slope we gggoooo...

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For those who never heard of Ski Dubai, well it is an indoor ski resort with so many challenging slopes just in the middle of the desert! You can visit the website.

Fact of the Month:

The elephant is the only animal with 4 knees.

Picture of the Month:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!!

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Friday, December 02, 2005

OffRoad in Oman:

We decided to go on Friday offroading in Oman! Quite nice, check for yourself...

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It is like walking on the moon.

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People live peacefully here so far away from civilization.

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A bit of wakeboarding...behind the car!!!

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