A Tale of Two Chillis

Liz decided one day last week that she was going to cook up a white bean chilli. This is something we've made a few times in the past, and it's really good. In Japan, though, we couldn't get green chillis at our local supermarket so we used a kind of Japanese chilli called shishito. It probably wasn't the right thing to be using, but it worked for us and was nice and mild.

Here, however, the UAE is home to a vast array of different chillis and peppers. We often go to the supermarkets and have no idea what some of the vegetables are. I've always thought I'd like to try them out, and suddenly I had my opportunity. Liz was making the white bean chilli, and we needed green chillis. There are chillis a plenty here, but which ones should be use???!!?

Liz came home with her choice... which turned out to be Thai green chillis, and were far too firey for our chilli needs. So we went back out to a nearby supermarket and I spotted what looked like a milder green chilli. Actually, it was a pack of about ten of them. We decided to try them out. They were much larger than the Thai green chillis, so I imagined they might be milder. When we got home I chopped one up, and tried a bit of the raw chilli... at first it was mild as expected, but then it kicked in... spicy! I told Liz I thought they were a bit spicy, and gave her a small piece to try. For some reason I took another piece for myself (not the most sensible thing to do). It made my tongue even more firey. Liz, however, thought it had no heat at all!! I was so baffled by this that I took an even bigger bit to try (stupid, I know!). This time was the clincher. My mouth became so hot it was like there was a fire burning on my tongue. Then it spread to my lips, which tingled in a painful burning way for the next hour!!! Liz then agreed that they were spicy.
Turns out these were jalepenos. Doh!
Moral of the story is, if you think a chilli is so spicy it's burning your tongue, there is no need to try it again and again until your lips feel like they're melting off due to the fire on your tongue. haha

Game, Set, Match

Let's take a quick trip back to New Year's Eve 2010...Bryn and I were sitting in our little Japanese apartment, sipping hot chocolate and eating soba while we watched the snow settle outside. Bryn got a text message from his father, saying that he and Jan were enjoying warm, sunny weather and watching Rafael Nadal play Rodger Federer in the final of a tennis match in Abu Dhabi...MAN was I jealous!!!


Little did I know that would be how Bryn and I spent our New Year's Eve one year later! We spent the better part of the afternoon wandering around the exhibition stalls (but decided against waiting in the 45 minute line to get autographs) and snacking on "stadium" food. There was the usual hot dogs, cheeseburgers, nachos, and then...falafel nuggets! (a little bland, but overall not bad!)

Racket juggler in the tennis village.

Me, definitely not complaining about wearing a t-shirt on the 31st of December!!!

We watched two matches that day. First, was the 3rd and 4th place match between Federer and Nadal. Nadal won, but it was a really close match. It was a little surreal to actually get to see them play!! I have been watching them play on TV for years, so it was awesome (still planning on making it to the Australian Open one day though!!!)

Self-portrait :)

Federer & Nadal get ready to play

Nadal

Federer

The second match was the final, between Djokovic and Ferrer. They made it look easy! Djokovic won, but I don't think that was a surprise to anyone!

Ferrer (a poor kid behind us thought that this was still Federer playing, and would yell, "Go Federer!" at the top of his lungs during the quietest moments!! Thankfully someone set him straight after the 3rd or 4th time!)

Djokovic

I think that our pictures turned out pretty neat. They would have been even better if we had this lens, (in silver) though! (Hint, hint to anyone out there!! ;) )

Thank you SO MUCH to Robert and Jan for the tickets - it was an excellent Christmas present. We're very sorry you couldn't join us, though.

New Car!

Well, I tell you what - looking back we had one busy holiday! We went to the zoo, watched some pro tennis (coming soon...), painted the dining room, and...bought a car!


Meet our new toy! It's a 2011 Kia Carens. We like it (or at least I do, Bryn hasn't had the opportunity to drive it too much yet!) It's sort of a "crossover" between a station wagon and a SUV. Bryn and I have no intentions of driving ourselves out in the sand dunes, so 4WD wasn't really a necessity for us. We did want something a little bit bigger than the Peugeot 207 we were renting though...when everyone else drives ginormous Toyota Land Cruisers and Nissan Patrols, you feel like an ant in a tiny little car. This one fits the bill just right.


We'll get some better pictures soon, but these will have to tide y'all over for the time being.