Panini (with focaccia bread)

Something else to do with that wonderful focaccia bread: paninis.

Make the dough and then divide in half and roll out to fit two baking trays. Cover and leave to rise for about 1/2 hour and bake at 350 F until cooked.

Cut each flat loaf into about 6 squares and split each piece in half. Fill with your preferred filling. In those pictured below I spread Philadelphia on one half and mayonnaise on the other half, added a scattering of drained, tinned tuna, chopped olives, chopped tomatoes and a little grated Gouda cheese.

Sandwich together and place in the heated sandwich maker with griddle irons for a couple of minutes until the filling is warmed and the bread is slightly toasted, as in the photo. Yummmm!

Photo post: Riyadh New & Old

I took a little trip from my home in the north of Riyadh to the souq in the south on Friday afternoon and took lots of photos as we were driving, so I thought a photo post would be in order!

The Faisalia Tower, Olaya, Riyadh

King Fahd Road, Faisalia Tower appearing behind trees

Mamlaka Tower with Faisalia in the distance

Houses in the older part of Riyadh - Dirah

Orange building ahead with a tower on the corner is the Qasr al Hukm - Law courts

Behind the Law courts, the Grand Mosque of Riyadh can be found along with what is commonly known to the expats as 'Chop Chop' square. This is where the hudud punishments are carried out.

The Law courts

Masmak Fortress which I believe now houses a museum

View back towards the Law courts and Grand Mosque

Driving towards Bat-ha

There are more souqs at Bat-ha but predominantly for men. It is not advisable for women to go alone or in the evening when it is very busy.

The nice greenery that you find in the older part of Riyadh

Busy traffic heading back into newer Riyadh

The spaceship type building you can see on the left hand side of the photo is the Ministry of the Interior.

Gold shop at Owais, a souq in northern Riyadh

Check out the huge necklaces on display!

Watermelons for sale at Owais

Haram abayas & 50 degrees!

The temperature in Riyadh actually hit 50 degrees centigrade yesterday afternoon - meltdown!

We made a quick trip down to the souq at Dirah which is the old town centre. Sign posts pointing you to 'Wasat Al-Madinah' (Town centre) which not take you to Olaya where the Mamlaka and Faisalia towers are situated along with all the designer shops but rather to the old town.

We wanted to buy a new abaya for my eldest daughter plus a couple of other bits and pieces. We didn't manage to buy an abaya at that souq though after all... When we arrived we had some trouble finding abaya shops and then noticed abaya vendors wrapping sheets around their stocks and closing up shop. I thought my watch was wrong and it must be almost time for maghrib prayer... wrong, it was only 4:30pm.

It turned out that the mutaween were around and were 'raiding' abaya shops. The objectionable items in question? Abayas with embroidery or diamante. The couple of abaya shops remaining open had only 100% plain black abayas on display and any embellished abayas had been quickly whisked away.

It was a bit of a wasted trip all the way down there but I did manage to take plenty of photos of the area showing the contrast being new Riyadh and old Riyadh - photo post coming soon!

Forwarded email - hoaxes

Forwarded trash in my email inbox from people who really should have enough brain to know better, is one of my pet peeves. These include emails that promise big freebies or cash if you forward the email to all your friends or a specified number of people; bogus health warnings etcetera.

I urge people to read about hoax spotting at the two following websites:

How to Spot an Email Hoax

Guide to Recognising Hoaxes

When I receive too-good-to-be-true emails or emails warning about certain products or giving 'alternative' health advice, I generally pick out a few keywords from the text, type them into the Google search box along with the word 'hoax'. If the email is indeed a hoax, a link to the article at urbanlegends or hoaxslayer will show up in the results.

So people please, stop clogging your friends' inboxes with pointless rubbish and do your homework before hitting the forward button. It only takes up 1 minute of your time!

Riyadh at night

A couple of photographs of Riyadh by night.

This first photo is Tahlia Street (Champs Elysees of Riyadh!) which is just off Olaya Street.

 

The following photo shows The Faisalia tower which is on Olaya Street; it looks very pretty all lit up at night.