Ol' Big Jim's Place

12 January 2011

What's the best place near you to get some ice cream?

Gerards

08 January 2011

Biscuits, cornbread and other thoughts

One of the things I've missed since coming to Jordan is biscuits. No one seems to know what buttermilk is. I've attempted to make the "fake" buttermilk by adding lemon juice or vinegar to milk and allowing it to clabber. Nope. Didn't work. However, the discs that came out of the oven were handy for doorstops and for lobbing at the cats that seem to be constantly making out behind our building. They weren't, however, fit to eat.

We have a dairy product here called shaneenah. It's sour. Oh my gawd, is it sour! Does it taste like buttermilk? No idea. Last time I had a sip of buttermilk I was about nine years old. Didn't like it. But I love to cook with it. So, we decided to give this shaneenah a try. It worked!!!! I can make biscuits again! I made them again tonight. Want to see how they look?

Ok, about the cornbread. I can't get cornmeal over here either... Lord knows, I am no stranger to suffering! My best friend in the whole wide world, Dan sent us some cornmeal by mail! He sent something else, too but more about that later. Straightaway I broke out the shaneenah and made some cornbread muffins. Can you say "perfection"? Light, fluffy, brown cornbread... arrrrrrrrrrgh... it was heaven I swear. If only I had an iron skillet rather than the new fangled non-stick thingamabob, but I'm afraid that's unheard of over here too.

Lest I seem selfish, let me tell you I am grateful as hell to Dan for the cornmeal. I'm grateful for two reasons actually. I now have a sample of it to take to the grinder so he can understand what it is that I'm wanting him to do. Then, off to buy 5 kilograms of corn and get it ground so we can have cornbread any time our precious little hearts desire!

Back to the "care package" Dan sent me for Christmas. The other TREASURE it contained was a crockpot! Again, unheard of on this side of the world. All we have to do now is buy the appropriate step-down converter so we can use it. We tried to use the one we had. Apparently it was too much and the poor dear gave up the ghost. I'll let you know when I cook my first crockpot meal over here! And now, as Julia Child would say...bon apetit!

Umm ar-Rasas

The ruins of Umm ar-Rasas are situated about 30 km southeast of Madaba, halfway between Dhiban on King’s Highway and Desert Road. The ruins are comprised of a walled, fortified camp with an open quarter of roughly the same size to the north. The remains of a tower are located beside ruins of some edifices, quarries and water cisterns hewn from the rock.

A basalt pillar base and a stone scarab date the sites habitation to at least the Iron Age (7^th century BCE).

Umm ar-Rasas is identified, in the biblical book of Genesis, with the Moabite town of Kastron Mefaa in the territory of Reuben. Prophet Jeremiah, in his condemnation of Moab mentioned the city as Mephaath (Jeremiah 48.21). Eusebius, the 4^th century historian recorded that a Roman army unit was stationed there. Ruins from the Roman, Byzantine and early Muslim civilizations have been found. Most of the site remains unexcavated. This UNESCO World Heritage Site includes excavations of a military garrison and several churches.

Most important of the finds to date is the mosaic floor of the Church of St Stephen, made in 785 CE. This is well after the establishment of Islam in the Middle East. It is the largest and most perfectly preserved mosaic floor in Jordan and it remains in its original place. The central panel consists of hunting and fishing scenes and another panel illustrates the most important cities of the region, including Kastron Mefaa, Philadelphia (Amman), Madaba, Esbounta (Hesban), Belemounta (Ma’in), Areopolis (Rabba), Charac Moaba (el-Kerak), Jerusalem, Nablus, Caesarea and Gaza. The decorative frame is particularly outstanding. Unfortunately much of the center of the mosaic was destroyed during the iconoclastic period, during which “graven images” were forbidden as idolatrous.

The floor was signed by six masters of the mosaic: Staurachios from Esbus, Euremios, Elias, Constantinus, Germanus and Abdela. The floor overlays the damaged floor of the earlier (587 CE) Church of Bishop Sergius. Four other churches have thus far been excavated at Umm ar-Rasas.

The most notable ruins located inside the walls are two churches built into the east wall: Church of the Rivers and Church of the Palm Tree. Both are named for their mosaics and date to the 6^th century. The churches are accompanied by several arched rooms and a courtyard with wells and basins.

Two square towers north of the city were probably used by Stylite hermits who once flourished in the Middle East. These hermits spent many years living ascetically atop a pillar and often attracted many followers below. St Simeon Stylites, the best known of these hermits, still has a church named for him that survives in Syria. St Simeon climbed on a pillar in Syria in 432 and remained there until his death 37 years later. UNESCO notes that these two towers are “probably theonly remains of the practice” extant today. The towers are solid except for a small room at the top.

Visitor's Center

Church of Bishop Sergius

Church of St Paul

Church of St Stephen

Portion of mosaic floor at Church of St Stephen

Portion of mosaic floor at Church of St Stephen depicting Jerusalem

Portion of mosaic floor at Church of St Stephen depicting Madaba

Portion of mosaic floor at Church of St Stephen

Stylite Hermit's Tower

03 January 2011

Visitors

Thanks to all of you who have visited my blog. It's so nice to know that my words are not being lost in the ether. People from all round the planet are discovering me. Look who has visited so far:

United States 576
Jordan 193
Australia 33
Canada 10
Germany 8
United Kingdom 4
Russia 3
Argentina 2
Spain 2
Croatia 2
Israel 2
Belgium 1

For a total of 836 visitors as of a few minutes ago. I see now that number is up even more. Thanks again, all of you!

You are always welcome here!

02 January 2011

2011; A New Year and a Old Treasure

I’m fed up to here with the cold, so we decided to drive down to Aqaba to spend New Year’s Eve and Day. It was a gorgeous trip! We had rain on the way down, but it was moving north to Amman (thank God!!) and by the time we arrived the rain was finished and the magnificent blue sky was populated with puffy white clouds. It was the kind of day that made me so happy to be alive in this place at this time! We watched as the sun peeked over the mountains before deciding to come out for the day to light the mountains across the Red Sea in Egypt. There was a brisk, warm breeze carrying the smells of falafel and foul being cooked, bbq fires burning and the ever present fragrance of horse manure…

First stop was the souq. We wandered amongst the stalls giving hope to the hawkers and then dashing it to bits on the pavement when we left empty-handed. The last stop was a gallery selling housewares where we bought half dozen nice wine glasses to use at midnight to bring in the new year with mimosas.

Today (New Year Day) Osama and Ayoub went out on the fishing boat for a few hours whilst Zeek and I wandered through the ruins of al ‘Aqaba Castle. The castle is still under excavation, but we saw a great deal of it. Parts have been restored, but all in all it’s rather a sad relic. It’s apparent from the empty vodka bottles that for a few it’s a place to drink in secret. There are still so many artifacts lying about on the ground when they should be catalogued and put inside the little museum we toured. The one thing I saw, though that really frosted me most was a sewer pipe run through this ancient castle! I’m astonished that the city powers thought no more of an ancient historical treasure than to break through its ramparts and turn their sewage through it! What were they thinking??

al ‘Aqaba Castle was built in the early 15^th century as shown in the inscription just inside the main entrance. It was renovated in 1587 CE during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Murad ibn Selim Khan and again in 1628 CE. It was inhabited throughout the Ottoman period. The castle was partially destroyed by the shelling of British ships during the First World War. Following the victory of the Great Arab Revolt in 1917 the Hashemite coat of arms was hoisted above the entrance under the direction of Prince Faisal ibn al-Hussein.

The museum is housed in the historical residence of Sharif Hussein bin Ali, the leader of the Great Arab Revolt and great grandfather of Abdullah II, the present King of Jordan. He lived here for six years after the war.

Inside the museum are important pieces from the Islamic site of Ayla (Aqaba) with items that date to the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid periods. It represents the Islamic periods from mid-7^th to beginning 12^th century CE. Also on exhibit are foreign pottery and coins left by ancient traders.

I wish for all of you a very Happy, healthy and promising New Year!