MY OWN PHOTOS: Today

My husband is absolutely the most adorably quotable Omani I know [besides Kh---who was and will always be the opposite end of that spectrum]. My husband attempts to brighten up my day with a surprise gift of a perfume set.  He puts a large and brightly coloured gift box in my hands and says, as I perceive the pink bottles inside, "Don't use it on your skin." Which tells me it cost 5 OMR or less, LOL. He quickly rushes to amend that with the following classic: "If you don't like it we can use it as a bathroom spray". Really? Can we? [BTW, isn't the Bedouin-burqa pinkie ring just so adorable??? I LOVE IT!].

It's not his fault though. I am notoriously hard to shop for and I often change my tastes, and I hate, hate, hate surprises. I believe it is an Arabic saying that "the person who hates surprises has hardened their heart" that causes my husband to relentlessly attempt to push me to like surprises by... surprising me often. Which I dislike almost as much as I dislike rain. My husband complains that the only surprise I have ever smiled happily about was if he brings me icecream.

I do believe there is some truth to that proverb though. People who hate surprises have usually faced a lot of unpredictability and disappointment in their lives so they'll tend towards what they understand and can plan for, and harden their hearts to other possibilities. Not so for me, my husband decrees, saying I shall sample the world. So we sampled a safe favorite of mine, a simple starter of sambusas from the Zanzibari restaurant in Al Hail, Seeb.

 My husband ordered "spharr" juice for .200 baiza (which is clearly far too experimental for me) but I loved my sambusa with the chilli and coconut dipping sauces. So cheap! And sooooooooooooooo good. I also love the mendazi, drinking milk straight out of the coconut with a straw, and little potatoe ball things... and mishakeek... but we were only getting a small snack, being all... unpredictable like that, LOL.

The restaurant was mentioned on our blog before, and this is what it looks like in the day time [pictured below] . It's open at night for sure and they have a lunch special but it always seems to be closed at the time I want to eat lunch. Food is great, women's washroom is bad, family area décor is also blah, but you can sit outside, and they do take-away. Every time I go here I think, if I had spare time I'd decorate for them free of charge, because it such a shame to not have a nice atmosphere to go with the food that I safely love.

Zanzibari Restaurant in Al Hail, Seeb, on a sunnier day before lunchtime

Back at home, we made our own mishakeek for dinner. Due to the fried snack, something a little healthier was required for the side. If I liked to cook [I don't---I'd rather be a person demining a minefield than a professional cook/chef] I'd totally imagine myself opening an Omani/Zanzibar style fusion restaurant in Mutrah or Qurum. Anyways.... that's all for today.