HEARTC♡RE

Hello everyone!

As I mentioned previously, I am doing a summer internship for my host parents. If you follow regularly, actually not even, you probably know that my host dad is a chef. Sometime last year in November I wrote a post on my host dad's week at the Shangri La here in Oman as a guest chef at one of their five star restaurants. Before that in September, I was in Milan for my host dad's appearance as a chef for the Etihad Pavillion. They have also had a lot of success as both a home based catering company and as prominent wedding cake creators.

Point is, this is really just the beginning of my host parent's journey into the culinary world. It's been a long, winding road, but things are quickly coming together for the opening of their new restaurant, Al Loomie! 🎉

It's an amazing feeling to have been able to be there last year when the ball really started rolling. Now, being back and actually being physically a part of the process to their dreams is three levels above that.

And I am in the process in two different ways. . . . writing (eh) and tasting (yay). For last few I have been tasting while they have been perfecting the recipes and menu. This week, we had a test run so they could get more familiarized with the pace of things and perfect their timing for prep, cooking, plating, and serving. And guess who was one of the guest guinea pigs. C'est moi. 🐝

Al Loomie is Omani fine dining with set five or seven course menus.  For our tasting we were served a five course meal that was perfect for seafood lovers.


Signature Prawns


Silqah Soup


Goat Cheese Profiteroles


Chef Salim's Baploo Risotto


Symphony of Luqaimat


Overall it was such a wonderful experience. As I mentioned before, it's so surreal being part of these critical steps. Surreal and delicious. They agree that they have some things to improve, as there will always be, but they are already up there and it's so exciting. I'm not a professional food critic (note I said professional 😜) so won't grandstand and waste your time. In the meantime, enjoy the photos as much as I have enjoyed the food. 😊

Thanks Al Loomie 😉

After Ramadan is over, Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr, also called Feast of Breaking the Fast, an important religious holiday. Eid is a single day during which Muslims are not permitted to fast since it celebrates the conclusion of the 29 or 30 days of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the entire month of Ramadan.

🌵 Hoy empieza la celebración de Eid. En estos dias se festeja el fin del mes de Ramadan. Por tres dias las familias se juntan para convivir y celebrar.

In Oman, they have this meat they grill on skewers called Mishkak or Mishakeek (plural). The vendors will just set up camp on the side of the road or in a cluster with other vendors. It is literally so good, I can eat like 7 skewers at a time. LOL!. Two pictures below, you'll see what they look like. Simply wrapped in aluminum foil and if it's your taste, a splash of salsa. You can also have it with bread, like a taco. . . :P. It is like meat, little ball of fat, meat, little ball of fat, meat. . . . . after a while I just couldn't pass the little fat through my mouth (mostly after I found out that my suspicions were correct). But, as my host dad said, the fat is the best part! LOL.

🌵  * En Oman, venden carne en el estilo "shish kabob", aqui los llaman Mishakeek. Normalmente, los vendedores hacen su puesto en la calle junto con otros tres o cuatros que venden lo mismo. La verdad que estan tan ricos, yo sola me puedo comer como seis o siete (obvio, no?). La segunda foto debajo de aqui, es como los sirven. En aluminio, y si usted prefiere con un poco de salsa. Lo bueno es que aqui si tienen sabor para lo picante. La primera vez que los probe, como que sentia que tenian mucha grasita. PUES sale que si les hechan bolitas de grasita. Entonces es carne, grasita, carne, grasita. Al ultimo le quitaba la grasita por que nada mas pensar en que me la estaba comiendo a proposito. . .. no me sentia bien. Pero bueno, creo que la grasita es lo que le da buen sabor 😜


Myself, Mackenzie (N's new au pair), and travel bff, Yuri.

On another note, slightly related to mishakeek, I've thought that Muscat was just an expensive city compared to Atlanta. Food, drinks, etc, were a little pricey and I didn't know how people did it. LOL. Well it turns out, and I find out this time around, that my host parents just have nice taste 😂.

For example, at the restaurant they are regulars at, you will have one shisha (hookah), a Turkish coffee, a (pretty legit) chicken burger, and a soft drink and your total will be 18 OMR that translates to 46 USD. I do the conversions but on my life I thought this was so normal/average. We've made new friends and they took us to a more . .. I don't want to say sketchy, but definitely, 100% not the same quality in terms  of "ambience" and "decor". That's beside the point because . . . one shisha, three soft drinks, three falafel freaking footlongs and I think a water bottle totaled 4 OMR aka 10 USD. BTW one shisha at Cafe Istanbul in Kennesaw is 20 USD. The place where you can find these prices look like in the picture below. The high priced restaurant is in a tourist-y, popular area of Muscat so it's "justified", although I told my host parents I was boycotting that place. LOL. But I may not, only because they have an 8 OMR minimum per person and I may get away with purchasing nothing, thus sticking it to the man. Plus there is a lot of eye candy .. haha.


🌵  *Hablando de otra cosa. Durante mucho tiempo pense que la vida aqui en Muscat era muy cara. Comida, ropa, el entretenimiento, todo, era muy cara y no sabia como la gente lo hacia. Pues (otra vez) sale, que a mi familia anfitriona (?? no se si es correcto pero la familia con la que vivi el año pasado) nada mas tiene buen gusto. . . .haha.

Por ejemplo, en el restaurante en cual ellos frecuentan, uno puedo ordenar una hamburgesa de pollo, una coca, una agua, y una shisha, el total fueran 870 Pesos Mexicanos (:O). En otro restaurante en donde nos llevo un amigo cuesta todo mucho menos. Ahi, una shisha, tres sandwiches de falafel (de tamaño del footlong de subway) tres cocas, y una agua nos costo 4 OMR o 185 pesos. De 870 a 185, hay mucha diferencia! Obviamente esta mejor el otro restaurante en ambiente y calidad,  y esta en un lugar turistico y muy popular, pero para lo k vamos: estar sentados y platicar por unas horas sale mejor la segunda opción (y no tenemos el dinero para gastar 870 pesos la noche). Le dije a mi familia de aqui que no vuelvo al restaurante caro, pero a lo mejor de vez en cuando. Ah, y pura agua Italiana de botella grande. Por que??? Pero bueno, como dije no regreso. (tal vez de vez en cuando jeje)





till next time
hasta luego

Melissa 💖

I CAN NOT believe we have been here for two weeks! It feels like we have been here a short time, but also like we've been away from home for quite a while now. So which one is it right?

We definitely settled into our new home right away and y'all know I like to pretend that I know Muscat like the back of my hand. Thankfully, we have not felt cooped up or like there's nothing to do. So thanks to Ahmed for picking us up and driving us everywhere more than he should, & y'all know my awesome host parents. Last Friday, they invited us with them to spend the day at the Shangri La (I have a post from my week long stay there in Nov of last yr I believe). We spent it at the pool, beach, lazy river, had dinner and relaxed a bit at a hookah lounge.





I don't know if I mentioned or not, but I'm not just having an extended vacation. I am doing a summer internship with my host parents' company working on a big project that they have going on. It's all really exciting and will be here when this portion (beginning) of the projected will be completed. I'm just creating, editing, and reviewing contracts, manuals, agreements and the like (and probably with a side of whatever is needed 😉). It's slick always been my dream to be the girl who brings the lattes and croissant to the boss but I think I just watched to many movies.


On Monday (06/20) it was the holiday of Qaranqasho. It celebrates the mid point of Ramadan. It's a children's holiday as they dress up in bright traditional Omani attire and go door to door, knocking, and collecting candy. We went to Ahmed's, same friend mentioned above, where we had a lovely iftar, received so many goodies, and went around the neighborhood watching all the kids qaranqashoing (did I just make this up) and singing songs and a firework here and there. It was all really nice, and we finished the evening at the Shangri La, where they had their own festivities.

As I mentioned before, we are in Muscat during Ramadan. Ramadan is the Holy Month for Muslims. It's a month for growing closer to God and to remind themselves of the poor and less fortunate through fasting. They will fast from sun up (Sehur) to sun down (Iftar). Sehur is a little before 4am, at this time they wake up and eat what they will to last the day. When it is time for Iftar, they wait till that certain time and break their fast. Yuri and I saw the (not) funniest thing the other day. We decided to go to the mall about half an hour before Iftar would begin. Non Muslims can eat during the day but not in public. Anyways, the food court restaurants begin to sell their food a bit before Iftar. Half the people in the food court are already sitting down with their plates in front of them. So you just see them staring at their food. . .  looking at their watch. . . looking at their food.... . .looking at the watch. . .. . looking at each other. . . .looking at their food. . . and then chowing down. 😊😄


We had our first iftar meal (we didn't fast, but maybe I will one of these days) at my host mom's home and pictured above is Shebar. It is a wheat soup/cereal that is special for Ramadan. Our host mom served it with cilantro and chiles. I think she mentioned that Omani's don't regularly add these. (If you look at top left you can see N's plate, apparently he is into plain pasta)


The sweet dough dumplings you see above on the left are Luqaimat. They are also special for Ramadan. We had a conversation about sweet tooths and dessert and although I do enjoy sweets I don't think I am all that big on them. One was good, but I don't think that I could gorge myself. 😅 Pictured are also samosas, kachori, and rice.



(I love those noodles) You can also see our dates, they usually have three 😋  with laban, which is a yogurty drink I am not the biggest fan of. 😳


here we are (I am looking shabby 😪)
till next time,
Melissa