Explaining what expat life is like (at least in the Middle East) can be vague--it's not rough like rural parts of developing countries. We have an overabundance of retail outlets. However, it's not that easy. People say things like, "you can find most of the food stuff you need, but sometimes you have to go looking for it, and sometimes they have it once but never again so you better buy everything you want (horde it)." This happens relatively often with cereal.
About a month ago, John really wanted/needed some Bran Buds cereal--he sprinkles it on other cereal in small quantity. One box of Bran Buds lasts about two weeks if he eats it every morning. We remembered seeing it at one store. No luck. I had to go to five different stores and ended up paying $9 per box for it. The store where I finally found it had probably 20 boxes, but I limited myself to only three...paying 100 Qatar Riyale (about 27 USD) for three small boxes of bran made me a little weak in the knees, but you know, when you need fiber, you need fiber. Enough said.
Now understand that this issue extends to all ingredients beyond the basics. Now imagine having to plan meals (including school lunches for 3 kids X 5 days EVERY FREAKIN' WEEK) and you see why you don't just find a yummy looking recipe on the internets and expect to make it for a meal any time soon. That is, unless you're willing to devote your life to grocery hunting-gathering, which I refuse to do.
Except last week, the Pioneer Woman had a recipe for chicken tortialla soup that looked soooooo good. It reminded me of my grandmother's taco soup, which I can't make because no one here has ever heard of hominy. This recipe looked more do-able, with a couple of exceptions: (1) black beans are hard to find, and (2) fresh cilantro I have never seen in Doha. Well, we can skip the cilantro (dammit) and I know if I am patient I'll find black beans.
Except I'm not patient. I make my list and go to the be-hated Carrefour, Superwalmart of France now with a branch in Doha, Qatar. Did I mention that Doha is hosting the Asian Cup (regional soccer thingy)? Did I mention that Carrefour is flanked by a huge soccer stadium and one of the fan zones? Did you know they had a game starting around 2 PM last Friday? Did I mention that even finding a parking place took 15 minutes and required exemplary parking lot stalking skills otherwise only demanded on the campus of Texas A&M? Except add in the total chaos of "international driving standards" (aka, if there's a space, ram your way into it, regardless of whose turn it was, but make sure to wave with all five fingers or you could get deported).
Yes, I'm rambling. But you need to understand the mental context of all this. The saving grace was that the kids were home with John, so this was me out on lone battle. Otherwise, I would have turned around and left.
I made it through my list except for the black beans. I went to the "gourmet" organic dried bean area and found adzuki beans as well as black lentils and mung beans but nothing close to regular old black beans. Next, I went to the canned beans, where I was delighted with this...
Salted black beans! In small cans, yes, but each can only cost about 75 cents. Considering I had seen this half-size can of Bush's black beans for about $4 per can 4 months ago, I was beyond pleased.
Of course, I was also skeptical. I'm no fool.
So I checked everything about the item I could find.
Clue #1 (not good): Lots of Japanese writing.
Clue #2 (not good, but not uncommon): Unknown brand.
Clue #3 (good): Label reads "black soya beans"...
Black soyas are listed as a substitute for regular black beans on sites like this.
Clue #4 (good): More label..."salt, water, and..."
Clue #5 (not good, but unsure): "sugar."
I looked at other cans on the same shelf and some were marked "fermented black beans." I didn't want anything to do with fermented beans, so comparing those to this can, these looked like they weren't fermented. Lacking other options and refusing to go store hopping, I decided to try.
But I'm no fool.
So look on the same shelf and buy two cans of kidney beans (ha! something familiar!) and one can of _____________________ beans (the one on top). But you see...I've learned. You have to turn it in 360-degree angles and look for the fine print. A ha! "Americana White Beans"!
[Sidenote: If you would like to imagine family grocery shopping here, please pause and think about doing this sort of investigative/critical thinking for at least 20% of your groceries. Step away from the seppuku knife and carry on.]
I was happy. Foolishly happy. Then I came home and made the recipe, drooling more and more as it went along. Thankfully, before adding the beans to the rest of the soup, I was wise to taste them first. I would like for you to now close your eyes. You may have to have someone else read this part to you since you can't see it: Imagine a jelly bean. A nice black, firm jelly bean. It looks normal. It smells normal. Bite into it. Now imagine that you have just done a short class full of the stinkiest, thickest, saltiest, fishiest soy sauce on the face of the planet.
Open your eyes.
I used the red kidney beans and _________________ beans instead. And yes, the soup was good.
About a month ago, John really wanted/needed some Bran Buds cereal--he sprinkles it on other cereal in small quantity. One box of Bran Buds lasts about two weeks if he eats it every morning. We remembered seeing it at one store. No luck. I had to go to five different stores and ended up paying $9 per box for it. The store where I finally found it had probably 20 boxes, but I limited myself to only three...paying 100 Qatar Riyale (about 27 USD) for three small boxes of bran made me a little weak in the knees, but you know, when you need fiber, you need fiber. Enough said.
Now understand that this issue extends to all ingredients beyond the basics. Now imagine having to plan meals (including school lunches for 3 kids X 5 days EVERY FREAKIN' WEEK) and you see why you don't just find a yummy looking recipe on the internets and expect to make it for a meal any time soon. That is, unless you're willing to devote your life to grocery hunting-gathering, which I refuse to do.
Except last week, the Pioneer Woman had a recipe for chicken tortialla soup that looked soooooo good. It reminded me of my grandmother's taco soup, which I can't make because no one here has ever heard of hominy. This recipe looked more do-able, with a couple of exceptions: (1) black beans are hard to find, and (2) fresh cilantro I have never seen in Doha. Well, we can skip the cilantro (dammit) and I know if I am patient I'll find black beans.
Except I'm not patient. I make my list and go to the be-hated Carrefour, Superwalmart of France now with a branch in Doha, Qatar. Did I mention that Doha is hosting the Asian Cup (regional soccer thingy)? Did I mention that Carrefour is flanked by a huge soccer stadium and one of the fan zones? Did you know they had a game starting around 2 PM last Friday? Did I mention that even finding a parking place took 15 minutes and required exemplary parking lot stalking skills otherwise only demanded on the campus of Texas A&M? Except add in the total chaos of "international driving standards" (aka, if there's a space, ram your way into it, regardless of whose turn it was, but make sure to wave with all five fingers or you could get deported).
Yes, I'm rambling. But you need to understand the mental context of all this. The saving grace was that the kids were home with John, so this was me out on lone battle. Otherwise, I would have turned around and left.
I made it through my list except for the black beans. I went to the "gourmet" organic dried bean area and found adzuki beans as well as black lentils and mung beans but nothing close to regular old black beans. Next, I went to the canned beans, where I was delighted with this...
Of course, I was also skeptical. I'm no fool.
So I checked everything about the item I could find.
Clue #1 (not good): Lots of Japanese writing.
Clue #2 (not good, but not uncommon): Unknown brand.
Clue #3 (good): Label reads "black soya beans"...
Black soyas are listed as a substitute for regular black beans on sites like this.
Clue #4 (good): More label..."salt, water, and..."
Clue #5 (not good, but unsure): "sugar."
I looked at other cans on the same shelf and some were marked "fermented black beans." I didn't want anything to do with fermented beans, so comparing those to this can, these looked like they weren't fermented. Lacking other options and refusing to go store hopping, I decided to try.
But I'm no fool.
So look on the same shelf and buy two cans of kidney beans (ha! something familiar!) and one can of _____________________ beans (the one on top). But you see...I've learned. You have to turn it in 360-degree angles and look for the fine print. A ha! "Americana White Beans"!
[Sidenote: If you would like to imagine family grocery shopping here, please pause and think about doing this sort of investigative/critical thinking for at least 20% of your groceries. Step away from the seppuku knife and carry on.]
I was happy. Foolishly happy. Then I came home and made the recipe, drooling more and more as it went along. Thankfully, before adding the beans to the rest of the soup, I was wise to taste them first. I would like for you to now close your eyes. You may have to have someone else read this part to you since you can't see it: Imagine a jelly bean. A nice black, firm jelly bean. It looks normal. It smells normal. Bite into it. Now imagine that you have just done a short class full of the stinkiest, thickest, saltiest, fishiest soy sauce on the face of the planet.
Open your eyes.
I used the red kidney beans and _________________ beans instead. And yes, the soup was good.
Two quick things: you can get Ranch Style Black Beans (good ones) at MegaMart for pretty cheap (less than $2/can). It's a pain to make the drive, but I've almost always been able to find them, so I just buy 4-5 cans at a time, and that holds us over for tacos, etc. Also, you know that cilantro is called coriander here, right? I don't know why it's called something different, but it's all kinds of Arabian foods. It took me forever to figure out why the stuff called coriander looked so damn much like cilantro! It's not quite as fresh as we get in the US, but once you start chopping it, you can smell it and it tastes just fine.
ReplyDeleteSee what a smart friend you are??? :) Thanks for the heads up on the Ranch Style beans--if I can ever bring myself to go into MegaMart, I'll grab some. At least it's close by the house.
ReplyDeleteI *thought* coriander and cilantro were the same thing, but when I've messed with (even torn off a leave and shredded it in my fingers) the coriander at the stores, it doesn't SMELL like anything? The Texas cilantro stinks good...wth? At least it's green...