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CURRENTLY VISITING HAWAII!!

Hawaii

Hawaii
Akaka Falls

See the World for Free

The idea here is to TRAVEL THE WORLD regardless of time or budget. It dawned on me one day that even if I had unlimited time and money (which I definitley do not), I still couldn't see everything in the world that I'd like to see--I'm simply not going to live long enough to do it.

But I had a bit of brain wave and soon after the travel envelope was born. This is an actual physical envelope. I typed the name of every country in the world, plus every state in the US on little slips of paper which I then put into the envelope. In the beginning we (myself, my husband, Dave and daugher Catherine) would draw out a slip at random at the beginning of the month and that's where we would go---at least in our minds. We grab some books about the country from the library and put them in our bathroom to look at. We also check out some videos about the country if any. We check it out on googleearth, listen to the music, try the food, maybe even attempt to learn a dance or celebrate a festival.

After the first two years we discovered that even virtual traveling can be tiring, so we travel now whenever I happen to be in the mood.

It's great fun. I especially love it when people I meet have been to the place I'm "visiting" in real life, or get excited and have some virtual adventures of their own. I hope that anyone who comes across this blog will feel welcome to come with us on the trip!



You have a standing reservation to see it all!

Feb 12, 2010

Afghanistan--Green

Okay, I take it back.  I watched a bit more of the video and it would seem that there are at least some trees and at least one striking picnic spot.  It is also a relief to see that every male in the country is not a brainless tyrant.

Feb 10, 2010

Afghanistan--Brown

Here's one of those searing insights that will make everyone want to return to this blog over and over.  Afghanistan is BROWN.  Judging by a documentary I started watching (will post name when movie and I are both upstairs), Kabul is just plain brown.  The landscape, the houses--everything.  I'm thinking of when we lived in Tucson, Arizona and how starved I was for greenery then.  Compared with Kabul, Tucson is a positive oasis.  No wonder the mosaics are so colorful--I'll have to look this up.  Are mosaics everywhere in all the mosques or just the really famous ones?

Feb 9, 2010

Afghanistan--Naan

Oh yummy!!!!   In Afghanistan they eat a round flat bread called Naan (they eat in in India and lots of middle Eastern countries).  It can serve as the plate, and also as a knife and fork as the bread is used to soak up sauces or folded to take a piece of meat.  There are all kinds of recipes online.  I made the mistake of trying to make this version on a fast Sunday which was stupid because the whole house smelled fabulous all day.  On youtube there are videos that show you how the bread is made in a real Afghani oven.  Strange technique!  The oven is basically a hole in the wall with a fire going in it.  The baker pats the bread out to the right size then flings it onto one of the walls in the oven where it sticks. A few minutes later he reaches in with long metallic sticks (I would think tongs would be easier) and fishes it out.

I used a frying pan sprayed with PAM, adding my own twist of playing the board game LIFE with Catherine on the kitchen island while I was at it.  It turned out simply terrific.  Looked professional, reminding me of bread you sometimes get in better greek restaraunts.  Catherine, who's been to Turkey, said she thought it looked and tasted authentic.  This will not be a one-time receipe.  I can feel a family staple coming on.  The receipe came from allrecipes.com--click on this link Naan 

Next step is to find recipes for all those sauces.

Feb 7, 2010

Afghanistan

Hey!  Check out this month's "Reader's Digest" there are pictures of the country from photo journalists and the reasons why these journalists found the images compelling.