Photo Challenge Day 16: What I ate

Photo Challenge Day 16: What I ate

When I go to Gaucho Grill...it isn't only for the Steaks

but also this yummyliciousPalmoto Salad!!!

That day when we went there I only had the Salad and stole

few pieces from Fahad's steak :)

Photo Challenge Day 15: My Shoes

Photo Challenge Day 15: My Shoes.

I really thought about taking a pic of my shoe closet...

and I did, and it didn't look nice at all!!! So messy!

Needs to be cleared up this week! ASAP!

Yes these Sergio's are high, but they are the most comfortable heels I bought last season and I love them so much, unlike the soft ballet flats I wore the other day which gave blisters to my little toes :s

Detox Day 5

The good thing about this diet is I've been so busy, I don't have the time to think about the hunger pangs or the cravings! (Apple cupcake with cream cheese *sigh*) Yallah 9 more days to go!

Day 5

Breakfast: Egg with the leftover tomato salsa and a sprinkle of parsley

Lunch: White fish fillet tandoori fillet with yogurt & cucumber salsa, lettuce wrap.

Dinner: skipped.

 Sawili baith w 6ma6! w 7e6eli foga be6a6!!!

 Maqo! Maqo! Maqo!

 Almond milk

Slice white fish and rub with 1/4 tsp of tandoori paste (you can add more paste if you like), marinade for a couple of hours. Fry with a little bit of olive oil until done. Then add 1/4 yogurt and chopped green onions. In a different bowl add 1/2 cup of yogurt, with chopped parsley and dill, salt & pepper and a tiny squeeze of honey. 
Place fish and yogurt mix on lettuce, wrap and Bon Appetit!
The same recipe you can try it with cooked shredded chicken and add some sweet mango chutney. You can also use Saj or pitta bread with it :)

Detox Day 4

The evening before I slept early but was rudely awakened by Ahmed who crawled into our bed sometime earlier and gave me a "Whack!" on the face with his little feet. Disgruntled I tried to pick him back to his bed and he started crying! Did I ever mention about Ahmed when he starts crying? Once his Jukebox opens it never closes!
"Ok habeebee!...5ala9… come sleep in our bed…5ala9!!"


But then he hangs on to one word.


"Laish…laish…laish…laish…laish…!"


Ya rabi! Slowly he quiets down, as for I, I toss and turn for half hour before I gave up and got up. I started reading hoping it would make me feel sleep. I hear the Fajer prayer, so there is no point in going back to sleep. Besides Fahad woke up.


Ok…side tracking…the point I'm trying to make is the lack of sleep makes me stressed and when I'm stressed I get very hungry! I had a late start on my exercising and I had to change and rush out of the house, and on my meal plan I had smoothie for breakfast. So the only thing I can think of is… what I had for dinner last night is what I'm going to have for breakfast. Chopped pineapples and papaya with 3 Tbs skimmed yogurt and a dash of almond milk and whizzzzzzzzed! I poured it in my coffee cup over some ice and went out. The taste wasn't that bad. Usually when I do my smoothies I add freshly squeezed orange juice. Next time I'll add some oranges. As the day went by, the hunger and cravings kicked in! Today I craved hot chocolate. Yummy, creamy hot chocolate!


Day 4


Breakfast: Smoothie, yogurt pineapples, papay with a dash of Almond milk.


Lunch: Lemony white fish fillet with a sweet tomato garlic salsa! (the best I made so far)


Dinner: skipped.

 My Breakfast

 Pulpy tomoatoes

Et Voila! There will be some tomato salsa left

save it for breakfast the next day :)

1 lemon, peel the lemon avoiding white pith, slice the rind thinly. Squeeze juice from lemon. Combine fish with rind, juice, 1/4 cup parsley, 1 clove garlic crushed, and 1/4 tsp turmeric 1/4 chili in a medium bowl cover and refrigerate 3 hours. Place fish in the oven for 20-30 min with marinade until done. Cut tomatoes and place side up in a baking tray. Sprinkle with salt, drizzle with combined with 1 tsp oil, vinegar. Bake 30min or until tomatoes browned and pulpy. 1 garlic bulb wrap in a foil and bake for 1 hour until garlic is soft. Squeeze out the pulp of garlic, mix with tomatoes and mash with a fork.

Wisdom Of the Week

Women are meant to be loved, not understood!

Detox Day 3

It is going to be a tricky day, I thought when I first got up. Today we're having lunch at the family home with lots of yummy food which will be served for the meal. The tricky part was can I stick to my diet? Can I resist? Should I bring something with me or depend on what they will serve?

I decided a hearty early breakfast was essential. So I prepared a mushroom with parsley omelet, and of course a cup of Almond milk and three piece of Calamata olives to make it interesting ;p


I didn't want to take the risk of finding myself without any healthy options and stray from my diet. So I rushed back home and hurried to prepare a roasted vegetable Salad with an herbed yogurt dressing. Which turned out divine! And not only I did enjoy it but even my nieces who happened to be on a diet too :)  


Thank god I prepared it because lunch was all about red meat today. I thought I'd be tempted to try something, but I didn't feel a the urge to do so. I was quiet satisfied with my salad.


Later after 6 – ish I had about 1 liter of white tea with a handful of almonds which Fahad ate half of it! but hey! Sharing is caring! And think of it a little few more calories and inches from your waistline ;p


My dinner was a bowl of chopped pineapples and papaya's with a couple of tablespoons of yogurt.


It was before dinner when I started craving something sweet and the headaches started, and what not helped was Fahad enjoying the brownies and date squares plus a piece of chocolate basbousa which we brought with us "For the Kids" from lunch. I got up and picked my icy bottle of water and locked myself in the room! until the craving subsided and I was ready for my dinner.

 Day 3


Breakfast: 1 egg omelet with mushrooms and parsley, and almond milk sweetened with stevia.


Lunch: Roasted vegetable salad with herbed yogurt dressing.


Dinner: Bowl of yogurt with chopped pineapples and papaya, just similar to what I had on Day 1. 

 Mushroom  and parsely Omelet

with some olives

 Almond Milk

 Before I started chopping the Veggies, I marinated 1/4 cup of olive oil with 1/2 tsp of some spice, mixed dried herbs. I chopped 2 small Zucchini, 1/2 large egg plant, 1/2 red pepper and 1/2 yellow pepper both deseeded. I chopped some cauliflowr and droped them in boiling water for a couple of miutes or at least until tender. Some lettuce and Rocca.
I mixed the chopped Zucchini and eggplant with the marinated oil. Then drained the execess oil, and placed them in a baking sheet and into the oven for 30 min. In another baking sheet I placed the peppers skin side up and popped them in the oven for at least 30 min. or until the skin is charred. 
There will still be excess oil from the Zucchini and eggplant, drain and place them on these papers which soak the oil out (can't remember the name). Remove the peppers out and cover them with clean towel for few minutes then remove the skin and slice meaty part :)
Place the all the veggies on the lettuce and rocca.

Now the herbed yogurt dressing: 1 cup of skimmed yogurt, 1/2 tsp of ground cumin seeds, 1 clove of garlic minced,

1 tsp of dried Oregano, 2 Tbs of chopped parsley,

juice of half a lemon, tiny squeeze of honey, salt and pepper.

I like to prepare the dressing ahead to give

the flavors enough time to marinate

Now see what I was up against!

 The Arabic version of Chili Con Crane :)

It was set right in front of me!

 Home made brownies

Date squares

I felt empowered because I resisted these temptations!

*sigh*

 12 more days to go J  

Photo Challenge Day 14: Flowers

Photo Challenge Day 14: Flowers

I love these bouquets of flowers which has

happy colorful Gerberas in them.

Detox Day 2

The good thing when I put my mind into something, I stick to it, and as long as I don't lose my focus on the main goal. So I do hope I don't err from my objective.

Day 2 wasn't that hard, because I was busy most of the day. After finishing my morning exercise I checked my meal plan and my breakfast today is a detox smoothie. I went looking for my smoothie recipe book and couldn't find it!! So out of the top of my head I mixed 3/4 of green apple, 1 kiwi and 3Tbs yogurt with a splash of water. Awful! Nevertheless I drank all of it.

Midday I did crave some sweets, instead I drank iced water as much as my tummy can handle! It helped warding off the craving. By the time I reached home I was really hungry…

2.30 hours after lunch I was still feeling a bit hungry so I made me a 1liter white tea which I drank by myself (usually Fahad has a cup or two with me) and a handful of organic & unsalted hulled pumpkin seeds from Nature Land. Late evening I had half a pot of skimmed yogurt.

What strange about this I'm expecting to be very cranky however I'm not. Headaches… only on the first day and because I didn't sleep well the night before.

Day 2

Breakfast: Smoothie (3/4 apple juice, 1 kiwi and 3 Tbs yogurt with a dash of water)

Lunch: Nicoise salad with Tuna. I dropped the potatos and didn't have beans. But it was very yummy!

Dinner: Handful of organic hulled pumpkin seeds, half a pot of yogurt.

 I didn't like it and I have to find my smoothie book :s

 My Niciose salad. I love sweet and sour flavors and this sald has it all :) Lettuce, Roca, cherry tomatoes, 1/2roasted red pepper, 1/2 roasted orange pepper, 1/2 avocado, calamata olived deseeded and sliced, 1/4 onion sliced. Of course Tuna in water, The Diet Ninja advised me to drain it and wash off the salt in it with cool water. It was super!  Now the dressing: 2 Tbs olive oil, 2Tbs balsamic vinegar, juice of small lemon about 3 Tbs, 1 Tbs honey, salt and pepper.

 Organic hulled pumpkin seeds.

My dinner Yogurt!

My day wasn't that bad. Still miss the chocolates. But the French say "Il faut sufrir pour etre belle." ;p I will suffer to feel healthy :)

Tomorrow will be a tricky day, lunch at the family home :)

Detox Day 1

I've been feeling very fatigued, out of energy and icky. I know it is because of my diet, since Ramadan ended (which BTW during that month I really watched what I was eating and lost 3Kg.) I went on a rampage on food. I spent almost every single day eating out, most of the time lunch, but still restaurant food is really heavy and some not good to have every other day :s

Besides I wasn't happy with myself. I was bloated, the weight which I worked so hard to lose about a year ago was crawling back slowly, and if I don't watch myself, I'll be back and maybe more to my heaviest weight.

Reading a post by The Diet Ninja, click here to read his post, inspired me to go on a detox for a couple of weeks to jump start my weight loss, and help with the water retention which is killing me! Every attempt I did of detoxing failed in the past because it was brutal. I remember once I only lasted half a day. The do's and don’ts, Fahad wrote about are very simple, I just have to use my imagination and my culinary skills. I just hope I'm on the right track ;p

Simple rules I've put for myself:

- Lots of water. (I'm drinking about 2 liter a day)

- 5 hours between every meal ( 3 meals)

- Drink herbal teas between meals (white tea, green tea, my favorite mix of sage and thyme)

- Exercise 30-40 min every day.

- Wake up early (which I already do) and sleep early (which I normally don’t but been turning early these past two days)

Day 1

Breakfast: Almond milk sweetened by stevia and 1 organic egg omelet with a mix of peppers and spices.

Lunch: White fish fillet marinated in seasoning, mushrooms and sweet potato mashed in yogurt.

Dinner: A bowl of chopped papaya with pineapple with a 3 Tbs Yogurt.

My omlete, I used loSalt, black pepper,

 paprika and tumeric.

Almond Milk, tolerable, added a bit

of stevia to sweeten it.

 Spiced white fish fillet, which will

 be what I'm eating for the next two weeks.

Mushrooms, mashed sweet potato mashed with yogurt,

 garnished wiht herbs and peprika.

My dinner, it looks big but it isn't, 2 slices of pineapples,

2 slices of papaya, and 3 Tbs yogurt.

Early morning Fahad comes from the factory bring with him a sample of new flavor we were working on. I started crying! Please don't sabotage my first day! I refused to try it. Yaaay!

Midmorning I started craving something sweet, specifically chocolate chip cookies. After I had my lunch again I craved some chocolates which I always have after this meal.

During the day I felt listless and a bit cranky, and Abdulaziz didn't help much he drove me crazy while helping him with his homework. I didn't feel that hungry as much as I craved something sweet which drove me a bit crazy

So is it approved?

Photo Challenge Day 13: From a Distance

Photo Challenge Day 13: From a Distance

Scene of the moon from far away,

taken from my favorite place on earth Oman,

at Bar Al Jissa, AlBandar Resort.

Photo Challenge Day 12: Close Up

Photo Challenge Day 12: Close Up

The yummiest Pomme Noisette from OFK.

Photo Challenge Day 11: Somthing Fun

Check out the cool dudes ;p

Photo Challenge Day 11: Something Fun

XD Theater was the last fun thing I did with

boys a while back (apart from the daily drama!).

 It was hilarious!!!

I highly recommend it if you haven't tried it yet!

Movie Review - La Princesse de Montpensier

Yesterday I watched La Princesses de Montpensier, a period romance. I love French period movies

because I feel they are so meticulous to details, and since France

is littered with Chateauxs the sceneries are breathtaking.

Not to forget to mention how poetic

the story line is in these movies.

I highly recommend you watch this movie not only because of the romantic story, filled with love, passion, loyalty and betrayal, but because, Ladies, it is filled with a lot of eye candy ;p

Move over American, Brithish and Australian actors!!!

The French are taking over!!!

"The Princess of Montpensier is a 2010 French period romance film directed by Bertrand Tavernier, inspired by a short story anonymously published by Madame de La Fayette. It stars Mélanie Thierry in the title role, alongside Gaspard Ulliel, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Lambert Wilson and Raphaël Personnaz. The story takes place in the French aristocracy during the Wars of Religion, and focuses on a young woman who is forced into marriage while passionately in love with another man. The film competed at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival and was released in French cinemas on 3 November 2010"

Now the Eye Candy ;p

 Gaspard Ulleil

 Lambert Wilson

 Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet

 Raphael Personnaz

 At the 2010 Cannes Film Festival Photo Call

They are so cute!



Books Review: These Old Shades & Devil's Cub

My copy of the Devil's Cub is a limited edition.

They printed only 300 copies of it, as you'll see in the picture

below. They recently reprinted the book in 2009 which you'll

find available at amazon.com :) 

I've been rereading a couple of the older books I've got on my shelf. Both books are by Georgette Heyer.



"These Old Shades" Is one of Ms. Heyer's best books and one of my favorite. It is a fast paced with a character driven plot, colorful strong secondary characters and a very witty humorous dialogue. I highly recommend it.


Society believes the worst of Justain Alistair, the Duke of Avon, who is clearly proud of his sobriquet, 'Satanas'. It is he who buys Leon body and soul from a scoundrel in a Paris backstreet. The redheaded urchin has strangely familiar looks, and should play a fine part in Justain's long overdue schemes to avenge himself on the Comte de St. Vire – until, that is, Leon becomes the ravishing beauty Leonie…


The second book "The Devil's Cub" is a sequel to the first book, also a very entertaining read and it is the story of Justain and Leonie hot tempered son, Dominique. It is filled with abduction, adventure and romance. A very funny & witty dialogue. Again I highly recommend this book as a conclusion to the Alistair Saga.


The Marquis of Vidal is a bad lot a rake and seducer, reckless, heedless, and possessed of a murderous temper. He is known by friend and foe alike as the "Devil's Cub." Yet as the handsome and wealthy heir to a Dukedom, he is considered a good prospect on the marriage market. Vidal currently has his eye on the young, lovely, and unintelligent Sophia Challoner, and Sophia's greedy mother is more than happy to encourage his dubious attentions. The colorful and eccentric characters fall over each other's plots, get involved in very peculiar coincidences, engage in colorful derring-do, and generally make life difficult for each other.

 This is a print inside the book.

Wisdom Of the Week

Life is like a disco no matter how

the music changes you keep on dancing!

Visible Only From Above, Mystifying 'Nazca Lines' Discovered in Mideast

They stretch from Syria to Saudi Arabia, can be seen from the air but not the ground, and are virtually unknown to the public.

They are the Middle East's own version of the Nazca Lines — ancient "geolyphs," or drawings, that span deserts in southern Peru — and now, thanks to new satellite-mapping technologies, and an aerial photography program in Jordan, researchers are discovering more of them than ever before. They number well into the thousands.
Referred to by archaeologists as "wheels," these stone structures have a wide variety of designs, with a common one being a circle with spokes radiating inside. Researchers believe that they date back to antiquity, at least 2,000 years ago. They are often found on lava fields and range from 25 meters to 70 meters across.


From: Yahoo New

Photo Challenge Day 10: Something I made

Photo Challenge Day 10: Something I made...

I still bake. It is my stress breaker :)

I made these for my cousins birthday :) 

Kristy Alley Stuns on the Runway!

 Kirstie Alley makes her runway debut

at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

                                             

At Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week,

celebs usually sit perched in the front row.

Kirstie Alley, on the other hand,

strutted her stuff on the Zang Toi catwalk

in New York City Tuesday.

Mashallah! I wish I'd look this

good when I reach 60!!!

Photo Challenge Day 8: Technology

Photo Challenge Day 8: Technology

I am a new Apple addict!

I still haven't used my iPad yet,

but planning on it very soon! :p

Photo Challenge Day 7: Something New

I know I'm way behind on my photo challenge.

Here is Day 7 photo :

Newly fresh baked bread brought early this morning :)

Almarai LactoFree

For the past two weeks I've been using Almarai LactoFree milk and... it is amazing!!! The taste is tolerable, but the feeling of not being bloated is the the best feeling ever!!!

I can enjoy my morning lattes and cereals without feeling uncomfortable all day.

I am hooked!

My New Addiction

I love Ice Tea...unfortuanately in some caffees they add flavoring syrups to them.  However at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf they have this fruit ice tea without sugar and you have the choice to either add sugar syrup or like me artificial sweeteners :)

I love it!

*Sigh*

Photo Challenge Day 6: Childhood Memory

Childhood Memeory.... it was all about cartoons!

Yes...I still watch them and have

all the collections and more ;p