Fresh food people

As a child, one of my favourite pastimes when visiting my grandparents in Pakistan was shopping. Of course, I loved shopping for the obvious 'girly' reasons - new clothes, new shoes, new jewellery... but apart from that, I loved to go grocery shopping too. Being used to mundane supermarket shopping in Australia, my five senses were utilized to their full potential in the markets of Karachi. At the utility store, my grandmother would buy all her spices, pulses and grains in bulk and speak to me about their different qualities and uses. And, at the markets, I would listen to my grandfather explain the difference between the dozen varieties of mangoes that were on offer (I have already written at length about my family's fascination with mangoes). We would smell our way through the market stalls before we decided on that one, premium, aromatic crate.

But, my market experiences weren't all good. Buying meat was one kind of shopping that I did my best to avoid. In those days, chickens would be slaughtered at roadside stalls and the task of selecting one chicken, to be plucked, skinned and beheaded right before my very eyes would render me almost unconscious. It would get worse when the chopped chicken would be handed over in a bag, still warm from its final heart beat. The very process revolted me. I could not touch that night's chicken biryani let alone any meat for weeks afterwards.

Those childhood memories have been flooding back to me these days. Whilst I usually shop for produce at the supermarket in Bahrain, when it's a pleasant 25oC outside, I cannot resist getting out and about to the various roadside fruit and vegetable stalls around our neighbourhood. Most of the fruit and veg stalls stock run of the mill varieties of carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes and apples but then they also have exotic vegetables in stock, some of which I don't even recognise let alone know how to cook.

And then there is the fisherman's stall that takes me back to those quease-inducing meat shopping days. M is a fan of fish, but only if it is fresh (me, not so much). He is convinced that this stall is as fresh as we can get (and even I have to admit that it's good). The fisherman turns up at the same spot every day with his many catches of the day, stored in a row of Eskies. Once you make a selection from a variety of local fish, you stand and wait whilst the fish is cleaned/gutted/de-boned/filleted to your liking. The stall is by no means hygienic looking and when you hand your cash over and wait for your change, you're not sure you really want it as the shopkeeper passes you a fishy five hundred fils note. You then bring the fish home and hope that cooking it at a high temperature will eradicate any possibility of food poisoning. I can happily report that there haven't been any issues to date.

Below, the fish filleter doing his thing:

Below, a basket of crabs at the fish stall.

   

My other island home

When we were about to leave Melbourne last year to move to Bahrain, and when I started telling people about the move, a lot of our Aussie friends didn't know where Bahrain was (I don't blame them, though I am relatively familiar with the geography of the Middle East, I had to find Bahrain on the map before heading here myself!). My usual response was - it's an island and it's not too far from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (because most people have heard of Emirates the airline and a lay over in Dubai is not uncommon). The funny thing is, I still get lots of friends back home asking me "So how's Dubai?" As I said, Dubai is something familiar, a place that most people know of (even if they haven't visited it) for its grandiosity, its excess and its label as the Las Vegas of the Middle East.

Bahrain could well be described as Dubai's sleepy cousin (the ever so slightly less ostentatious one). It's relatively quiet and has a population of around 1 million - this includes the huge number of expat workers both blue collar and professional who live and work here. But, what Bahrain lacks in numbers it obviously makes up for in determination. According to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, Bahrain has the fastest growing economy in the Arab world and, that in 2008 Bahrain was named the world’s fastest growing financial centre by the City of London’s Global Finanical Centres Index (info courtesy of Wikipedia). Impressive right? The problem is that when you're living here, it doesn't feel like 'this is where it's at' and frankly doesn't seem all that sophisticated. The majority of shopping centres are slightly dull - the best on offer are Seef Mall and City Centre. My world changed when the City Centre opened its doors late last year... Not quite Chaddy, but it will do for now. There are a few indoor play centres for kids which are of a passable standard but the outdoor parks are pretty drab (not that we can use them in the current heat of 40+ degrees celsius during the day - winter is fairly cool though and that's when you can venture outdoors on day-time excursions). Sometimes, it feels like there isn't a lot to do. In this heat, you feel like you don't have too many options and there's only so many times my daughter and I can watch all the Wiggles DVDs we brought from Australia. So at around 5pm - when the sun's about to call it a day and the heat is not as harsh, we usually head out for a play in our yard with the other children in our compound, go visit a friend or jump in the pool.

You would think that living on an Island we would be surrounded by pristine, blue water and sandy beaches. Although 'Bahrain' in Arabic means "two seas" you struggle to find a strip of beach over here, especially one that you don't have to pay for. At one of the five star hotels you can pay about 25 Bahraini Dinars per head (just under $AD80) to enjoy a man-made beach strip. There are a few locations that you can enjoy the beach - for free, but these locations are fairly rough in their appearance and they have not been developed for picnicing plus there's not really a swimming culture. When you do catch an odd glimpse of the water, it is quite beautiful in colour - a gorgeous shade of aqua.