Not enough cooks in the kitchen.

I forgot to mention earlier that I got into a fight with our oven last night. I really wanted to cook some chicken because that's what adults do, right? They cook chicken and stuff. But when there is no one around to show you how to work the damn oven because when you press what you assume is the "on" button and nothing happens and the entire instructional manual is in an language you don't understand, you and your chicken start to panic a little. By the time I figured out how to work it, it was too late to start marinating so I just had pita bread with zaatar and baklawa I brought from home. These things take time.

We have a little friend in our flat. He was an orphan and my flatmates (two of whom I've finally met) adopted him. Say hello to Oskar!

I'm a happy allergic person.

My allergies are precisely the reason why I cannot become a crazy cat lady. 

Globe trekkin' like Carmen Sandiego sans the thievery.

I'm trying to figure out where I want to go this year on my vacation. So far in the running are:

1. Paris
2. Amsterdam
3. Istanbul

Now I have some issues with each. Paris is expensive. I don't have much money. Paris and Amsterdam are so incredibly touristy and from what I've heard from a lot of people way too overrated. I know people have had a good time and I do want to see it at some point because well, it is Paris but I hate that so many people make such a big deal about it. It's kind of how I feel about Rome. It's a beautiful city but far from my favorite. And those who know me know I am defiant until the end and hate doing what everyone else is doing. I'm the girl who hated pink just because all girls I knew loved it. I guess Mladen is correct to call me a "hippy hipster lady." Moving on. I really would love to go to Istanbul but I'm unsure how concerned I should be in light of the protests and military presence. Anisha told me that a former coworker of ours was there and had to be evacuated out. That and I don't know about my budget just yet.

My cookie-obsessed Serb friend (I exaggerate but love to tease him about it) also suggested another point of interest that I had forgotten about: Sarajevo! I've wanted to go for quite some time (I also would love to visit Mostar) and it's a little more off-course than what people would expect. The architecture, the mosques, the food, etc. It'll be winter when I go but it will be the beginning of winter so hopefully it won't be too cold.

I guess my top picks right now are Istanbul and Sarajevo, we'll see which one works out. The other thing is that Turkey and Bosnia are both countries where I'd be interested in teaching. If you have any tips as to what I should see, where I should go, what I should eat, let me know!

In the meantime, the weather is so nice here in Czech. Anyone for a bike ride?

I am always thinking about my stomach.

Nerves, stress, and the tetris game that is packing to head back to Czech. I'm so sad that I'm going to miss Eid at home but my family is sending me to the airport with some goodies (kue nastar, kue kering biji pala, putri ayu, and some chocolate).  I miss a lot of foods from home while living in Czech so I've had to become a little more resourceful and make these things from scratch. What kind of thing do you miss Ariana? Well, I'll tell you, Ariana. I miss bagels like crazy. Soft, squishy, toasty bagels with peanut butter or cream cheese or as a breakfast sandwich or bagel pizza when I'm too lazy to really cook anything. Bagels aren't really available in Czech. My former flatmate, Kristy, said she knew of two places in Praha but that's about it. One of my students who visits his American father in New York every summer and I had a bonding moment when discussing traveling. It went something like this:

Me: What foods will you eat this summer when you're traveling?
Lucie: I will stay home and eat ice cream!
Marek: I will eat pizza in Italy!
Ryan: I will visit my dad in New York and we'll have some good bagels.
Me: *pause* My sweet child, thank you! You understand. Bagels. Kids, listen to Ryan.

So because bagels are amazing rings of goodness clearly sent for the betterment of mankind, I will share the recipe (courtesy of Emeril Lagasse) I have been using for the past couple months. They're not quite like store-bought bagels but they're still delicious and have a nice crunch when you toast them up:

2 cups warm water (appx. 110 degrees Farenheit/43 Celsius)
.5 ounces of yeast (roughly 3 tsp)
4 tablespoons of sugar
5.5ish cups of flour
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons oil
cormeal
toppings if you want. I like onion or plain but do whatever feels right.

1) Pour the water into your mixing bowl. Stir in the yeast and only 3 tablespoons of the sugar. Make sure the water isn't too hot because then you'll kill your yeast. I made that mistake the first time I tried the recipe. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

2) Start adding in 4 cups of flour and the salt. Don't add it all at once, do a little bit at a time.

3) Mix in the rest of the flour by hand.

4) Place on a floured surface and start kneading as much flour in as you can. Do this for about 5 minutes.

5) Put 1 tsp of oil in a large bowl and spread it evenly around. Put the dough in and turn it over so it's covered in oil. Cover it and let it rise for an hour. Meanwhile grease a baking sheet or two with the remaining oil.

6) Take the dough out and punch it down. Cut it into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then into a log about 6 inches long. I just figure if it can wrap around my hand that's long enough. Make the logs into circles and pinch the ends. Put them on the baking sheets, cover, and let sit for 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 400F/ 200C. Also, start boiling a large pot of water (I use a 12-cup pot) and add in the last tablespoon of sugar.

 

7) Boil each bagel for about two minutes. As I put the bagels in the pot I throw down some cornmeal so the bagels don't stick to the baking sheet. If you're putting on toppings, dip the tops of the bagels in the toppings now.

8) Bake the bagels for 20 minutes. And then you eat them with your mouth.

"Fasting, eh?" laughed the cake.

So it's Ramadan and I'm home and I'm healthy. I thought fasting this year would be incredibly hard since it's so hot and humid here but it's turning out to be okay. It's not the lack of food that ever concerns me. I can go for hours without food but it's the lack of water that can be rough. Yet in this time of reflection and meditation I can't help but feel like I'm cheating. Being home automatically means I am spoiled when it comes to eating. It makes my life on my own look like an entire year of fasting and one month of indulgence. But as I rationalized to my older sister while my one-year old nephew was throwing his peas on the floor, I do need to keep my body nourished. So I only feel like I'm eating more but it's all for the sake of maintaining my health...and the fact that we have two June birthdays, two July birthdays and two July wedding anniversaries so you MUST have cake and celebrate.

Anas's rainbow birthday cake

Taufiq's birthday cake (homemade Snickers cake...so much sugar and butter)

I am so happy I am able to be home during this time of year because being on my own, I tend to become so tied up in myself. Who am I? What am I doing with my life? But being home makes me a bigger part of something. I am a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend, and I can stretch those roots that have felt like they were lying dormant for so long. I had a sad moment a few weeks back. I came home excited to see my family and friends but one of my main goals this summer was to form a bond with my nephew. When I found out my sister was pregnant, I was walking on Newbury Street in Boston with my younger sister (sorry, Kyla, she couldn't contain it but I kept my mouth shut). When those words came out of my younger sister's mouth, I start to scream with joy and it was all I could think about. It gave me so much to think about when I went home that night. I haven't always had the strongest relationship with my family but something inside me changed. Our family was changing and I wanted to be present and accounted for during that change. I wanted to be a part of my nephew's life so that when he gets older, Kyla and Taufiq have someone they can rely on and Anas can turn to me for advice. Not only that but it made me begin to think about my future and the influence I'll have on my kids and what my potential future husband should be like. I like how my sisters and I turned out. While we're nowhere near perfect, I think we've turned out really well and I hope my future kids have the same views on life. You need to step outside your bubble because the world is a big place and stop trying to impress others but rather impress yourself, have as many adventures as possible but the best bed and the best food is always in the place where people love you the most. I'd like to stress the food part of that sentence because my father and I will cook the same thing and his comes out way better than mine.

Anyway, getting back to my original point, I had a moment of realization that even though I get to spend all this time playing with Anas and teaching him to give high fives (and low ones), he won't remember any of this time we had together. We will still have plenty of Skype dates but I won't be able to hold him and play with him. It really made me sad. I mean he's just getting used to me and doesn't cry when I pick him up.

Sous chef Anas helping in the kitchen

On the note of happiness and self-contentment, I'd like to mention a friend's film project he and his friend are trying to get off the ground. It's called "Pursuing Happiness" and I'm sorry for not being so tech-savvy because I don't know how to embed this video but even if you can't or, let's be honest, don't feel like donating, it's worth a watch.