The Kitchen

Ahh, the kitchen. This is where the magic happens. It was a little rough getting started, but wife has really been cranking out some great chow, al'hamdu'lillah. She has to make this whole transition from having anything you want (America) to utilizing what's available (Jordan). Not only that, it's Ramadan. People are fasting all day. Come sunset, folks are hungry and expectations are high. She's fasting too. That means no tasting the soup to see that it needs more salt. 5y helps out with that, though. The danger here is that every thing could turn out tasting like gummy bears.

Check out our stove! It's three burners on a table fueled by a tank located in the cabinet just to the left of the stove. Where's the oven? We thought we didn't have one for a couple of days. We were poking around in the cabinets and found what we thought was a microwave. Turns out it's a small electric oven, so now baking is in full effect.

Wife baked us a couple of batches of chocolate chip cookies. We couldn't find chocolate chips, so she chopped up a chocolate bar. They brought on great, sweet memories of home. I like to dunk mine in milk and there is nothing like the milk they got here- 3% full cream goodness! In fact all the dairy here is really good. The cheese, yogurt, and especially the ice cream- all really rich and flavorful.

To the left of the picture you can just see the table of 10m's (formerly 9m, soon to be 11m) high-chair. We're borrowing this from a neighbor. Before that things got crazy, with wife chasing 10m all over the place trying to get her to slurp her oatmeal. Just before we got this high-chair, wife had resorted to tying our baby to one of the white plastic stackable patio chairs that came with the kitchen. Cruel, but effective.

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons alcohol-free vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy, two things you will not be if you eat too many of these cookies. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended, all the while making constant remembrance of Allah. Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minute in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. Enjoy with people that you know who might be far from home and a little scared.

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com.