Gardening: Planting a Bloomin’ Flower Box

Planting Flower Boxes

Ryan and I have a small balcony off the back of our third-floor apartment. Since the view of the garage isn’t that great, I decided to beautify the balcony with flower boxes. Naturally, I want to plant blossoms that attract bees and butterflies, but which will also last all summer. Native plants too, if I can swing it. And I’ll […]

Balcony Mint Garden

Dontello and I have a good-sized balcony that becomes another room for our small apartment in the summer months. We have a barbecue and a white plastic patio set and regularly use the balcony to entertain. I was really excited to have plants when we first moved in, after having lived in a windowless cabin on […]

Happy Hour: Saudi Champagne

Happy Hour: Saudi Champagne

Saudi champagne was served as a special beverage at restaurants or home parties where we grew up. Saudi Arabia is a country where alcohol is haram, or forbidden. As kids, of course, we didn’t care about the lack of alcohol; we just thought Saudi champagne was a great treat at ma’asalama (goodbye) parties or when we occasionally […]

Zesty Mint Virgin Cocktail

I’ve lived both in England and at sea, two infamous places for excessive drinking. Let’s just say that I learned to comply with the local customs. These days, my bestie is pregnant and I’ve had to become more creative with my virgin cocktails. Although she’s probably happiest with a non-alcoholic beer, I’ll try this zesty […]

Mint Iced Tea with Pansies

When Meinhilde and I were nine and ten years old respectively, we moved to Saudi Arabia. Riyadh, our new home in the middle of the desert, had two temperatures: hot and hotter. As a couple of Canadian kids, we weren’t accustomed to hydrating ourselves very often. In Saudi we learned to drink a ton of water. […]