Country Music and all it's glory...

For those of you that don't know, I LOVE country music. Now, living in Chicago (in or about or near...however you choose to define my current abode) makes it a little difficult to get a decent fill of that good ol' country music, since there is only one country station. Nevertheless, I try and get my fill by substituting radio stations for the fact that I can still view CMT. CMT, home to classics like: DCC (Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team 4) and the top 20 countdown.

The top 20 countdown is really my saving grace when it comes to filling me in on the newest hits. Which brings me to my point...I am LOVING Darius Rucker. Now I will be the very first to admit that I HATED/HATE Hootie and the Blowfish. There was just something about the sound that I was not vibing on. But when it comes to Darius (yes, we are in fact on a first name basis), I can't get enough. So much so that I bought the album on iTunes...didn't even illegally download it. Now that's saying something...

Happiness is...

On my way back from Jordan, I was struggling to find contentment in my then home of the UAE. In the hopes of realizing things that made me happy, and would thereby give me perspective on my life, I started a list. Re-finding that list, I realize that I wrote 8 pages of things that made me happy in life and that I'd like to share some of those now. (And chances are high that I will return to this list throughout the blog when I feel that nothing else is worthy of sharing :-D).

An Entry Stamp in My Passport
Nothing quite says "Welcome Home" like landing on US soil and getting that stamp recognizing the re-entry. Regardless of whether the Homeland Security/Immigration official is less than friendly (or should we say welcoming), nothing makes you feel like you've come home more than seeing that concrete evidence that you made it back. Especially so when the places you've travel make you appreciate where you come from so much more.

Warm Towels
There's nothing like pulling towels straight from the dryer (especially when they are so hot they almost burn) and wrapping yourself in them. The terry loops are always clean and standing straight up as opposed to a used towel. It's like they are inviting you to cuddle in the softness and warmth. It always ends up warming me to the bone.

The New York Times...

For those of you that don't know, I LOVE the New York Times. The online edition is great because since I spend all day in front of a computer, it's easy for me to catch up on the latest (and sometimes random news) when I have a lull at work.

But more importantly I love the travel section. One of my favorite parts of the travel section is the "36 hours in __" columns. It give you some quick new ideas on things to do in a place that you don't know much about or a place that is right in your backyard. (It also helps me come up with new places to visit.)

Italian Dinners

So tonight, in an effort to do more cooking based on what is already in my (sparsely filled) refrigerator and pantry. Tonight's find was a standard Annie go-to: pasta with tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, garlic, and olive oil. The twist was that I was basing the evening's meal on a recent incredibly enjoyable experience at Francesca's North with my dad. I got rigatoni with a cold tomato, basil, mozzarella topping. In my effort to emulate that meal, I think I succeeded.

It's a fairly simple meal. I made half a box of pasta (boiling the water, adding pasta and salt and reducing to medium heat) and added the tomato topping as soon as I drained the pasta and had returned it to the pot.

The topping consisted of various colored (red plum, orange, yellow) tomatoes, one clove of garlic, about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, some chopped mozzarella cheese (small to medium chunks), julienne basil (thin strips), and salt and pepper to taste.

After I plated the pasta and topping, I added some goat cheese chunks. (If only I had a picture.) It was quite delicious. Everything got all melty together. I paired it with a nice new riesling, my sister's company, and a new Law & Order: CI episode.

Welcome Back

Yes...I know I said that I would be updating my blog more often. Clearly I failed at that attempt. I've been back in the US for a little over 3 months and started work again at the beginning of June for the same company...

But on to the new point of this blog. As I mentioned in one of the much earlier postings, my goal in the UAE was to become a better cook. And while that did happen, it is still an evolving goal. So my thought was that this blog become devoted to all things that I enjoy talking about/thinking about, aka food, travel, life, and random thoughts.

Welcome to the newly renamed Inconsequential Musings.

It was a good run...

Well, for those of you that don't know, we closed our UAE office this week. The process of actually taking down the office only took about 2 days, but it was a small bittersweet moment. We worked so hard to keep the office running, so it was a little sad to know that the hard work didn't pan out how we wanted.

Fortunately though I don't regret this experience in any way. I have learned a lot both personally and professionally. Additionally, I got to be a resident of another country which gave me a huge appreciation for the US.

I will continue my blog with a post about Jordan, but then this blog will be closing up shop as well. For those of you that might be disappointed, never fear. I am planning on starting an "Inconsequential Musings" blog in general that I hope to maintain on a regular basis.

I can't wait to return to the US and see all of you!

Child Safety Seats & more thoughts on driving in the UAE

My 6 months in the UAE have brought me great appreciation for US driving. Yes, there may be bad traffic & tailgating, but it's all within reason. In the UAE, we say that there are 2 levels of accidents: super minor & fatal. I wish I could say that we meant it entirely as a joke, but it seems that accidents are a minor fender bender or someone was killed on impact. It's horrible. Most of the time I'm convinced that if you get into a car accident in the UAE, the chance of an ambulance making it to you in time is so small. And all of this leads to my point...

That people drive like crazies in the UAE. The reason that an ambulance might not make it to the scene of a crash in time is because other motorists are driving on the shoulder (where the government has actually placed speed bumps...another worthy discussion) so that they can get to their own pressing engagements.

Now given all of this knowledge, wouldn't you expect the parents and caregivers of children here to calculate that into their daily lives and invest in child safety seats? I suppose real problem with my question is that I used the phrase "wouldn't you expect". Anytime I use that phrase here, I am forced to remind myself that nothing is what you expect in the UAE. Back to the point at hand...

People do not invest in child safety seats because they are still investigating whether child seats are effective in preventing injury to children in accidents. All the while, parents allow their children to ride in the car unrestrained and essentially hopping all around the car. That is, if the children are sitting their parents laps as they pull a Britney! It's really astonishing...

According to "Propaganda Weekly" (or one of the weekly newpapers here), doctors are starting to give away child seats to parents with newborns...

I guess that's something...