Foodie Friday: Mooyah

I have a confession to make.  I have a slight obsession with Mooyah Burgers.  Luckily, my boys are equally obsessed.

Mooyah Oman

Mooyah is a burger and fries restaurant similar in style to Five Guys.  They specialize in fresh meat and fries.  They also offer shakes.  Mooyah was started in Texas (where I'm from though I've never been to one in Texas), and has spread to Canada and the Middle East.  There is a free trade agreement that makes it easier for US companies to set up here in Oman.  Great news for us US expats that miss certain foods from home!

Sama al Wasil desert camp

I heard about desert camps when we moved to Oman, and I knew that I wanted to try one at some point.  The first weekend of Easter Break seemed like an opportune time.  We had no plans to leave Oman, so a staycation of sorts was a perfect fit.  I was a bit worried it would be hot, but we lucked out with beautiful weather.  It actually rained both nights of our stay and we had cloud cover most of our full day in the desert.

The camp as seen from the top of the dune.

Sama al Wasil is a desert camp located near Wasil, Oman.  It is in the middle of the Sharqiyah Sands. We booked this hotel via booking.com.  Sama al Wasil prides itself on being eco-friendly.

Foodie Friday: Casper & Gambini's

There is a restaurant in Avenues mall called Casper & Gambini's.  They serve the best chicken sandwich I have ever eaten.  I even took it off the bun the second time to be good and low carb, and it was still fantastic!

They have a website, but as I'm writing this, it seems to be down.  But you can check out their Facebook page for pictures, offers, menu (in Arabic), and a link to their website.

Let's talk yummy.  They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, though we have only gone for dinner.  They serve a wide variety of food:  breakfast, sushi, soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches, pizzas, and desserts to name a few.  When we went as a family, J ordered the "Mickey and Minnie pizzas" off the children's menu.  E ordered nachos off the appetizers.  Stephen and I both ordered burgers.  Actually, we both ordered burgers the second time we went, too.  But I did that mostly because I wanted to go back to get the Chicken Mozzarella burger that I had been dreaming about.

The Mickey and Minnie pizzas that have no differentiation between which one is Mickey and which is Minnie. 

Wadi Bani Khalid

We started our Easter Break heading out into the desert with a stop at Wadi Bani Khalid.  Wadi Bani Khalid is a wonderful wadi here in Oman that is around a 3 hour drive from Muscat.  The beginning part is easily accessible, and the farther back parts are still accessible with just a little bit of scrambling.

I believe this was the first pool.  It is a wide open space.

Millennium Resort in Mussanah

Over Easter Break, one of the places we visited was the Millennium Resort in Mussanah.  Mussanah, Oman is about 1.5 hours northwest of us along the coast.  We stayed there for 3 nights in lovely relaxation, food, and fun.

This resort was recommended to us by a man Stephen does work for at PDO.  Then a friend of mine was looking into staying there with her family over the Easter Break.  She found a great deal, so we decided that we had to check it out.  She utilized a resident deal and an Entertainer App discount.  I don't have the app as you have to pay for it, and I am incredibly cheap.  Plus, she called for deals, and calling is well outside of my comfort zone.  The deal we did use is found on their website.  It was an all-inclusive option that required us to stay for a minimum of 3 nights.

Foodie Friday: Asmahan

There is a delicious little restaurant here in MQ that I've come to realize most people do not know about.  The restaurant is Asmahan, and it is a shame that more people don't know about it.  Asmahan serves a variety of food with the focus being Arabic cuisine.

People will make reference to "the restaurant by al Fair."  This is Asmahan.  It is in MQ, my little corner of Muscat.  It is tucked back near al Fair and the mosque.  It is situated on a little triangle of land near the Tanzanian Embassy.  In true Oman fashion, they don't have a website, but they do have a Facebook page.

The outside entrance gives you a hint to the colorful and quirky interior.  They have unique, caged lights hanging from the ceiling.  They have walls of keys, candles, and Omani doors.  They have a wall dedicated to framed old movie posters.  And they have some large portraits that I do hope are painted by local artists.  They have the cutest chairs.  I would love to acquire 4 to take back to the States.

Beach Camping at Bandar Khairan

The first weekend of April, our family took a last minute trip to Bandar Khairan to camp for the night.  It was probably one weekend too late for camping.  It was hot hiking in and worse packing up and heading out.  But the night was full of wonderful memories.

It all started with our plan to camp Friday night being upended by remember that I had to attend a baptism class for J that night.  So toward the end of eating dinner on Wednesday night (no school for Prophet's Ascension), we said, "Why not just go now?"  Thirty minutes later, the car was packed, and we were out the door.  We had our tent, our pillows, our sleeping bags, a couple flashlights, books, some playing cards, swim gear, change of clothes, and a bag of water and snacks.  The advantage of leaving after dinner was that we didn't have to worry about cooking dinner.  Breakfast the next morning was going to be an assortment of breads and fruit.  Easy peasy.

My boys were ready to camp!

Zoodle Spaghetti

As I've mentioned before, I've gone low carb.  I'm not always great at following my own rules on that, but I'm always good when I cook dinner for my family.  It probably has something to do with the amount of time I can devote to planning.  Impulse is not my friend.

Today I will outline the stupid easy meal of zoodle "spaghetti".  Let's face it, spaghetti is an easy meal.  I'm not trying to complicate things here, so this is still easy.  Feel free to ignore my sauce "recipe" below and use your own.

Yum!  Zoodle "spaghetti" with a side of steamed broccoli

Foodie Friday: 3rd Street Donuts

When we first moved here, I had no idea where to get donuts.  Actually, I didn't look.  Donuts aren't a normal part of our lives, but my boys do love them.  I have since seen them at the local grocery stores, but they honestly don't look that good to me.

3rd Street Donuts in Seeb

Enter 3rd Street Donuts, a donut shop from Los Angeles, California, USA now here in Oman.  You can see some of their products on Instagram or Facebook.  Apparently, they have their LA location and their Oman location.  Period.  The end.  Score one for the Free Trade Agreement, an Omani who studied in LA, and his love for these donuts.  

Culture Shock 3.0

I've accumulated a few pictures of Oman oddities and highlights and cultural preferences.  Just some things you wouldn't necessarily see in the States.

First up, a broom.  What?  You don't see a broom?  I bet you thought that was just a dried up palm branch.  Here, you will see workers clearing sidewalks with the below broom.  It appears to work fairly well.

A palm branch that could be used as a broom for sweeping sidewalks.

Muttrah

I've decided that I will spell the town of Muttrah this way (as opposed to Mutrah or Matrah or any other iteration).  The problem being that vowels are fluid and imprecise in Arabic and translating from Arabic sounds to our alphabet letters is subjective.  I believe that the "a/u" sound at the beginning of the word is a bit muddled and is probably closest to the "u" in the word "mutt", meaning that I will spell Muttrah with two t's.

Anyways, Muttrah is a great place to visit when you are in Muscat.  It is an older area and where the port is located.  If you were to travel by boat to visit us, then you would dock here.  In Muttrah, there is the old souq, a produce and fish market, many mosques, forts, and a nearby hike.  It is a popular place to take visitors to get a "middle east feel."  It should, however, be avoided when cruise ships are in port.  It can just get a little congested then.

Foodie Friday: Kung Fu

I am part of the Admin Leadership Team for Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) here in Oman.  One Sunday, our team met up at Kung Fu for a hot pot lunch.  Yum!

Our Admin Team at Kung Fu (missing Angela).

I had never been to Kung Fu before.  I hadn't even heard about it or hot pot, but I was excited to try.  It was good that I went with pros that knew what to order.  Kung Fu is located inside Fun Zone in Qurum.  It is a small location, and their Facebook page is obviously not very active.  

Ruwi Bike Trail

In the mountains above Ruwi (or maybe Wadi Kabir to be more precise), there is a paved walking path.  It is beautiful, paver, wide path.  There is a paved parking lot for using this walking path.  There is no paved road to the parking lot.  In fact, to get to the parking lot, you will need a high clearance 4 wheel drive vehicle and steel nerves.

Panoramic view from the top

Our fearless hiking leader found it because there are mountain biking trails up in this area.  Her family enjoys going mountain biking.  Meanwhile, neither of my boys has shown enough interest in biking long enough to learn to ride without training wheels.  Back to the trails... She said that her husband has only encountered other bikers up there once when there was apparently some sort of competition going on.  You can see these bike paths off the paved path as they are dirt trails.