"Doggy dog world"

Yoshi's old contest photo- still tied for the cutest dog ever with Saki ;) 

Nicholas and I recently discovered the sitcom Modern Family. I have heard a lot of people talking about this show for a couple of years, but I never checked it out until recently.

One of the reasons I love it, is that the show doesn't go for the cheapest laughs and at the end, there is always a touching recap or moral.

Another reason I love it, is one of the characters is Colombian. There are several things that she does or says that remind me of my life with Nicholas :) Before getting into it, I give her and Nicholas a lot of credit for speaking a second (3rd, 4th...) language at a near native level. One episode we saw, Gloria, the Colombian, is talking to her husband and asking him what words or phrases she mispronounces or gets completely wrong. He lists a few right off the top of his head. The first one he says, she wrinkles her nose and argues with him.

Gloria: "It isn't a doggy dog world?"

Jay: "No, Gloria. It is a dog eat dog world."

Gloria: "Oh..."

Simultaneously, I hear Nicholas say "Oh..."

:)

Too soon

On my way home from my run this morning, I saw this sign in front of the book shop:

The 2012 agenda books are out already... Wow, did this year go by super fast, or what?!

My address is...

Way to go Cleveland :)



I saw a lot of development taking place when I spent a month there in February. The Downtown Cleveland Alliance is doing a great job!

Live by the sun, Love by the moon.

Paris storefront. 

Bakdash Booza

notice the heart shape and all the layers I am wearing? 

Forget about gelato and Ben and Jerry's, they've got nothing on Arabic ice cream. The one we had is a Syrian variety from a famous shop called Bakdash. We found this in the Dubai Mall and we were drawn to the sweet shop because of the pounding of the two men at the store front into metal tins of some sort. (See the crowd peering in the front of the shop?)

Curiously, we wandered over to see what the commotion was all about. After the men would beat out a short rhythm, the one guy would reach into the large steel tin and pull out a sticky concoction covered in pistachios. We watched as a few women were buying it and eating it with small spoons. It looked like taffy.

We leaned over the counter and asked what it was. The guy told us it was Arabic ice cream. We immediately ordered one to taste and the show started again. Turns out, they beat the ice cream in the tin. After a few minutes, the ice cream is brought out and cut with a large, sharp knife. The man shaped ours into a heart, how cuuuuuuute....

The texture was so different and it tasted amazing! If you go to the Dubai Mall go to Arabesq Sweets and have the Bakdash Booza. Or better, if you are in Damascus, go to Bakdash. And don't share, get your own :) YUM!

Information overload

I have so much to write about our trip to the Emirates that I fear what I am coming up with is closer to a novel than a blog post. As Mark Twain said, "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." Once I figure out how to dial back everything I want to say, the posts will come. For now, I just need more time :) 

UAE

I headed to the UAE for the week to take advantage since Nicholas was there for a big conference. I spent a couple days in Abu Dhabi, then Dubai and back to Abu Dhabi before heading back to Geneva. What an amazing trip!