Tales from our hotel stay (Part 1)

The waiting is almost over

Image from the Fraser Suites Hotel website.

We have 14 days to go before we fly out, God willing. We rented the hotel suite for 60 days and wham! They’re almost over. It was a novel experience, being thrown into a smaller place, but we both feel that it has helped us transition to life in a van, full time. Did we like it? Yes! Every moment. Well, not quite every moment... 😆 Now and then it was ‘jy in jou klein hoekie, en ek in myne!’ (For those who can’t understand Afrikaans, it means ‘you in your small corner, and I in mine.’) At opposite ends of the room. 😅

Did we miss our house, our home? Well, no, I don’t think either of us did. At one point Andries (AJ) missed his tools and 'garage' when our son's car broke down. He ended up fixing it right there where it was parked, using the meagre tools he had at his disposal in the car. 🥴 He had sore muscles for 3 days, and I didn't think I'd get his clothes clean. Because I couldn't drive to find a special stain-busting product, I used a household scrubbing agent. They were old shorts, but they came out stain free. 😄 And it was radiator rust! In the end, the car had to go to the workshop anyway, as more items needed replacing. But hubby had his few hours of bliss!

I had found that the quiet (empty) house had a depressing effect on me, so I was pleased to move on. No more battles with ants too ... I had started to see ants in my sleep. No ant remedy worked on Qatar’s black ants! They’re armoured to the hilt. It's been great having a tiny kitchen to clean; to not have to run upstairs 10 times a day; to not have multiple rooms to clean; to not have stray cats to deal with, marking their territory on my front door. Nevertheless, the last four years of our stay in Doha in that lovely house were a joy and a tremendous privilege, for which we will always be thankful. We had four different abodes in the last 20 years, due to various circumstances, but the last will be remembered with fondness for many reasons.

Food tales

The kitchenette in the hotel boasts an all-in-one oven/microwave. We scratched our heads over the dials and settings until we accidentally discovered that if you press the ‘go’ button, it microwaves for 30 secs. It needed some tweaking to use as a conventional oven and I’ve only managed to master this in the last few weeks of our stay. 😅 At one point I managed to trip the works. Luckily there is 24/7 maintenance. Consequently, I never tried the grill. I had visions of the fire brigade lifting me out of the 12^th-floor window! Nope, no grilling.

One weekend we felt like something sweet. I had brought a few kitchen utensils to the hotel, not knowing what might be in the drawer. But I did not have the ones needed for baking. We really felt like lemon meringue pie. (You just don’t get it in this city.) So, I jumped in with old-school methods to make a biscuit crumb base and the lemon custard filling. When it came to making the meringue topping, I knew we were in for a workout, using a hand whisk only. We took turns ... doubling up with laughter. The ‘hubby-whisk’ won, though! He managed to get the egg white to the meringue stage. 

Cooking in a small space is a challenge. Only having 2 of everything is tricky to work with. And my trusty Bauer pan from home didn’t fit on the tiny stovetop. I’m a huge fan of one-pan meals, but the odd time I needed to use it alongside a saucepan needed careful planning. A valuable lesson learned – get a smaller (deeper?) pan for the van. 🙂 But we managed to notch up a few wholesome meals. 

         

We were introduced to pink pineapple too ... quite the surprise event.

During this period I’ve also tried to get my head around social media’s do’s and don’ts. Tried to figure out how YouTube works since we’ll have a vanning channel plus a side-channel aimed at ‘Cooking in a Van’. YouTube can be monetised in Australia, and we’re hoping that within a year it might start funding fuel for the tank. So, one morning I took the plunge and recorded a video while making fried rice for lunch. I heard about Canva’s video editing tool, and went ahead and gave it a try ... this is my first video. 🤣🤦‍ Lol. Lots of improvement is needed! I was holding the phone with one hand and doing everything with the other.

While in the hotel I discovered this delicious recipe for a hot drink that is also loaded with health benefits. Since most of our followers have winter right now, here it is:

Spiced hot chocolate

For each cup you’ll need:

• 1 cup of your favourite milk, i.e. dairy, oat, soy, almond, etc.
• 1 level tsp of cocoa powder (mixed into a tiny bit of hot water to dissolve it)

Warm these two ingredients in a pot or in the microwave to your desired temp. (I like it really hot.)

Then add:

• 1 tsp of raw honey
• A generous dash of cinnamon
• A conservative dash of nutmeg, ginger and turmeric
• A dash (as you prefer) of cardamom powder

Stir and enjoy!  Taken at night it’s a powerful antioxidant while you sleep and also helps you sleep like a babe.  (Recipe adapted from wellnourished.com.au)

 Afternoon walks

When we moved over to the hotel, we looked forward to afternoon walks on the Corniche. Well, much to our disappointment, we could not even reach the Corniche at first, although it's just over the road! Construction! Construction! Construction! Aaaargh! It's never-ending and the closer the World Cup gets the more the mess in the city. How they will finish it all before mid-November defies all logic. 

                             Taken near the hotel on one of our walks.

After a week we found a way to cross the road and we began our walks in the Museum (MIA) Park opposite the hotel. 

Some afternoons we walked across the road to the Box Port for a cup of Karak and a Nutella paratha roll at the Tea Time franchise. THIS I must teach myself to make in the van – we are not quite sure how we will survive without Karak and Nutella roll! 😄

Image: from crazymasalafood.com

 

Another route we took was past the Qatar Museum. The most amazing building, designed to resemble a desert rose. 

But, wherever you walk you negotiate a path through rubble. 

Yes, I hear you – it is a privilege to walk in safety. For the last 20+ years this was  something that, as South Africans, was never far from our minds.

🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

Waiting ...

... is never easy, is it? We currently feel as if we’re in a waiting room where we aren’t being called for our turn. But time is passing. Soon we’ll hit the tar running.

I’ll be subjecting you to Part 2 soon. Blogging keeps me from being gnawed by nerves for a large part of the day. 😆

Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you a happy day.

Cheers. 🌼