I thought I'd post a little update about what's going on here in Bahrain. We're almost done unpacking and organizing and we got our Christmas decorations up! We don't have very many and we're celebrating our first Christmas with Christmas trees thanks to my sister, brother-in-law, and grandparents. No more light up palm tree circa 2007 (picture below)!
Over the weekend, we had our first guests over for dinner. I made pizza which was a staple in Nigeria and something I made often for company. I realized that I'll have to get used to our new oven because it cooked the pizza much different than our oven in Nigeria. First of all, it's gas and not electric. As a result, we had the pizza stone on the floor of the oven instead of the bottom rack. Secondly, the oven temperature in our new oven goes to 550 and our old one only went to 500. The bottom of the crusts burned before the toppings were as done as we like. I felt so bad, but at least the expectations aren't high for my cooking now!! Haha!!
When we went grocery shopping this past weekend, Chris found a spice packet for mousaka and got as giddy as a kid at Christmas. I kid you not - he has been talking about me making mousaka ever since. When I told him I'd make it today, he beamed and said he was really looking forward to it. Really? I hadn't noticed. The only problem is that the directions are very vague and since I've never made it before, they sure didn't help. This is what they say (word for word): "Brown the mince meat with olive oil and the mixed spices. Take off the stove and sprinkle in some grated cheese. Cut some potatoes and aubergines in to wedges and fry in a frying pan. Grease the baking tray and place a layer of potatoes on the bottom. Sprinkle this a little cheese, then a layer of mince meat, after this the aubergines and, again, some grated cheese. Finish off with a topping of bechamel sauce. Place in an oven preheated to 180 Celsius for one hour." Really?! How about letting me know amounts, the type of cheese, how to make bechamel sauce, etc. I had to look at other recipes online to have an idea of what I was doing, and honestly, it would've been easier to make mousaka from one of the online recipes than from the spice packet. Oh well. I hope it makes Chris a happy man tonight!
Charlotte is 8 weeks old today. It's hard to believe! She is gaining weight quickly and is much more alert. She's awake most of the day and sleeps through the night. Yay! Yesterday, I noticed that she can smile at you when you smile at her. During her last feeding today, it was hard to get her to start sucking because she was having too much fun smiling at me while I was smiling at her. It made my eyes water it was so precious! Yesterday was a big day for her because she went up a size in her pacifiers and bottle nipples and she's very, very close to being in size 6 month clothing. Her 3 month clothes are fitting her perfectly so it should only be a few more days before we have to put those away! She's still a really easy going baby and pretty content overall. She loves baths and doesn't mind us pouring water over her face. I put one of those water pourers (I know that's not a word - we'll call it a mandyism) on the baby registry that are supposed to keep the water off their face when you rinse shampoo out of their hair. It was totally unnecessary since she doesn't care. We really couldn't ask for an easier baby. :-)
Tomorrow we're going to a Christmas tree lighting at the Navy base. I'll try to remember to take my camera so that I can get some pics! I was going to sing in the choir at the tree lighting but didn't make it to the rehearsals. On a side note, we've decided that the Naval base's church will be our church while we're in Bahrain. I'm even going to get involved with the music! Since we go to the traditional service, I'll be singing in a small choir that was recently formed. I'm excited that the Lord has already given me an opportunity to start serving in our new church! And this Friday morning, Chris and I will be doing the reading and lighting of the advent candle. They did the same thing at the church we attended in Nigeria, so it's nice that they're doing it here, too. Well, I think that's all I've got for now!!!
An 8 week pic of Charlotte I took today.
Our palm tree in 2007 that we used as our Christmas tree
Christmas tree courtesy of my sister and brother-in-law
Christmas tree courtesy of my grandparents. I made the tree skirt and stockings below to match.
Our Christmas stockings with matching cuffs since we're one big happy family! :-)
1 week ago
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