Teppanyaki?

Being over here (KSA) it's easy at times to see a favorite food or food style and get excited thinking, awesome, this will be just like home. I KNOW I like this. Only to find out, they are calling it the same thing, but it is NOT the same thing.

Take Teppanyaki. I hear this and I think deliciouse Japenese food, fried rice, chicken, moist delicious veggies in soy sauce and garlic butter.

Last night this is what I ordered when we went to dinner at the dining hall. Dining hall - think cafeteria on camp. Not our favorite, but on a night when neither one of us feels like cooking and the boys need to get out, it's an easy choice.

The Dining hall has theme nights, (pretty decieving given my first paragraph about the food here). Mexican night, Indian night, and low and behold Teppannyaki night.

So I ordered the Teppannyaki chicken. THIS is what I got... Chicken breasts, cabbage, zucchini, carrots (all still a bit crunchy) on a fajitta hot plate soaked in soy sauce that was added right before he handed it to me, not cooked with. I was dissappointed.

While standing in line another mom told me last week she ordered fajitta's from the dining hall and it was served on a stale hot dog bun, was mostly undercooked onion and a few pieces of chicken. We both laughed and I made a note, NOT to order that either.

Another side note about eating out here. Napkins, or the lack of napkins. Instead they use kleenex/tissues as napkins. (See photo above.) Here are the "napkins" on our dining table. Also, thin cheapy tissues/kleenex are not a good source to wipe wet, sticky hands. Makes more mess than it's worth. I carry around wipes in my purse for dinner. Just like I carry around tissues for the restrooms here as well, because there usually isn't any of that either. Just a hose. It's the American in me that prefers not to drip dry.

One last little photo from last night. Here's a quick view of the dining hall tables section. Carter was making laps around the tables and since he had so much energy to burn and had been in the house ALL afternoon, we let him!

Another random thought. Today I was browsing the Target online weekly add. I am SO excited to walk the isles of Target. Cold Coke Icee in one hand, soft pretzel in the other. Less than three weeks. I am seriously considering making a construction paper link chain with a countdown to home. Can't WAIT!!!

Hugs, A