daily life

Discovering our Tunisian roof

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

One of the first things I noticed when we moved to Tunisia was that the houses don’t have roofs! Or at least they look like they don’t.

This was a bit startling after having lived in Ireland, where the most obvious feature on a typical house might be its tall, peaked roof, designed to let the copious rain roll off easily.

Even in Italy, where the rain is less abundant and the roof angles are correspondingly less acute, at least all the houses obviously have them.

Here in Tunisia, there are a few places like Luke Skywalker’s house, which really are roofless.… Read more

More Cool Recipes for Hot Days

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

One of my favorite hot weather dishes is hummus. I first became addicted to hummus in Syria, where it was served as an appetizer at every restaurant. In fact, I used to blame hummus for the twenty pounds I gained during my four month study abroad there, but I’ve since admitted that the more likely offender was the copious quantities of baklava I devoured during our lengthy bus rides.

Hummus is one of those felicitously simple combinations that sounds weird (garbanzo beans + tahini [sesame seed paste] + garlic + lemon juice + blender) but is actually delicious. It also has just the right overtones of hip, exotic, and healthy to end up in the salad bar at La Jolla Whole Foods in six different permutations (red pepper, roasted garlic, green herb, etc.).… Read more

Blogging About Blogging

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

An expat blogger friend of mine remarked the other day that she’s still not sure blogging from America isn’t pretentious. I’d have to agree. In fact, I’d expand it to say that blogging from anywhere is fairly pretentious. I mean, who am I to think that my journal would make interesting reading for acquaintances, or even friends? Let alone strangers!

The blogs that stick to one topic, like recipes, fashion, or politics, make more sense. They’re kind of like books published in serial form. That’s normal. Even Dickens made it big publishing serially. But what about those of us like me, who are more or less publishing our memoirs as they happen?… Read more

Summertime and the cookin’ is easy

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Tunisia is pretty hot in the summer. Not as hot as some places, like Death Valley or Arizona or the Arabian desert, but hot enough to want to go to the beach every day. Which fortunately, we can. In fact, remember that one time I blogged about Rambo? I saw him today at the beach, and he was tickled pink that someone had told him they read about him on my blog. So if my blog doesn’t bring me fame, at least it brings fame to Rambo. Which is almost as good, right?

Along with helping us not miss a day at the beach, the warm weather gives me a serious disinclination to make some of the heartier standbys from my cooking repertoire; things like vegetarian baked beans or Jamie Oliver’s beef stew, or slow-cooked Moroccan tagine.… Read more

Long Distance Grandparenting 2.0

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Shortly after we moved overseas, we started using google chat (and sometimes Skype) to video chat with the grandparents. At first, it was a little weird and awkward. Video chat is somewhere in between talking on the phone (which can be difficult for toddlers to conceptualize and enjoy) and being there in person. Sometimes it’s hard to think of good conversation topics. But they eventually got the hang of it, and soon they were taking advantage of the video component by showing drawings and special toys to the grandmas, singing them songs, or even playing games like peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek after they figured out exactly where the webcam was located.… Read more

On Being American

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I believe this is my fifth Independence Day outside the United States. I always miss the fireworks when I’m away. And even though I haven’t lived at home in years and years, I still remember fondly the 4th of July breakfast my church always hosted early on Independence Day morning. We would raise the flag, sing the National Anthem, listen to some inspirational speeches (they seemed kind of long when you were a kid and hadn’t had breakfast yet), and then eat pancakes! One year I came home from college for the summer and was asked to give one of those speeches.… Read more

Mormons Online

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

My church’s website, lds.org, recently got a makeover. At first, I had a hard time finding things, but I pretty much have navigation down after a couple of months with the new site. And I must admit that it does look very nice now. Since we live in Tunisia, where there is no organized unit of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), and most of our books are still in storage, I use the website quite a lot. And it occurred to me that some of the things I do there might be useful even to people who aren’t driven to lds.org… Read more

Let the Chickens Stay

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Have I told you how much I love our landlord? We have lived in a lot of different places since we were married, and had some pretty interesting experiences with landlords. So I know how to appreciate a good one. Ours is a doctor, who (for us at least) does house calls. He fixed Tony up with the proper medications after an unfortunate run-in with a hammam foot fungus. He doesn’t tell us to turn off the lights or take short showers, despite the fact that our utilities are included in the rent. He doesn’t try to give me lessons in cleaning.… Read more

Four Birthdays, Four Different Countries

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Four years ago today, my little man was born.

Here he is, newly born in Vancouver, Washington. Fortunately for me, four years later he’s still as snuggly as a newborn. He also still enjoys twirling my hair in his fingers, which he used to do when he was nursing (I’m told that my little brother Jesse did this until he was seven). I guess I still think of him as my baby, since he’s the closest thing I’ve got. But I’m forced to admit that at four years old, he is growing up. These past few years have been quite adventurous for our family.… Read more

Even Laundry is Better in Tunisia

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I am not the most awesome housekeeper in the world. (Just ask my cleaning lady.) But I have laundry down. My mother taught me when I was six years old.

It is true that at college I disregarded her advice about color sorting on occasion, and ended up with grey clothes like Claudia and Jamie when they ran away to the Metropolitan Museum in From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I was always chronically behind, which I am sorry to say continued (and even multiplied) after I was married. Then I decided to use cloth diapers when Axa was born.… Read more