Jordan

With government week over, I knew there was one more country we had to do while Allison was visiting: Jordan. Her husband is currently deployed there, so I thought it would be nice to do while she was here. 

Jordan is kind of 'the place to be' if we're talking Middle East. By comparison, there's not much in way of hostility between Christians and Muslims. It's the most secure country, although it's advisable to avoid the areas boarding Syria and Iraq. 

As another plus a lot of Jordanians speak English (although the official language is Arabic). 

Jordan has also had plenty to see. Our places of note included the Amman Citadel, one of the world's oldest continually inhabited places. It was occupied over the years by some of the great civilizations like the Romans, the Babylonians, and the Persians. One of the greatest archaeological finds here was the Temple of Hercules. 

You could also visit one of the youngest oceans on Earth, the Red Sea (lookout for the bearded scorpionfish though- our book had a picture of it, and it looks terrifying). 

But our landmark for Jordan was obvious: Petra, Jordan's most visited tourist attraction. Known around the world as the 'Rose City', it's a 2000 year old city that was half built, half carved into rock. Apparently there was a huge earthquake in 700 AD which covered Petra. It remained 'lost' until Europeans uncovered in it 1812. 

Oh, and you could also visit the Dead Sea. We had talked about the salty sea during Israel Day, but visiting on the Jordan side seems safer. 

The boys made their Jordan postcards, and since it was our 50th country, Allison was here to vote on collections too! 

Calib liked Jordan's Desert Patrol, who police the deserts on camels. 

Peyton drew a giant falafel because in 2012, 10 Jordanian chefs set the new world record by creating the largest falafel ever made. It weighed 176 pounds and was split 600 ways to consume it! 

Hayden made a lot of rose colors for the 'Rose City' of Petra. 

Since Nate is actually in Jordan, we asked him what we should eat for our dinner. He said he had eaten the best hummus of his life in Amman. We decided to make our own, and it was amazing. I could have eaten it with a spoon. I'll probably never buy store bought hummus again. But somehow I doubt they use canned chickpeas for it in Jordan, so I'm sure it's even more amazing there.  

He also said we had to have Mansaf. It's the national dish of Jordan, and it was already on my info sheet when he suggested it. I guess it's usually served with lamb, but Allison isn't a red meat fan and lamb is expensive, so we made it with chicken. I was a little worried about this one. Nate said it was awesome, but what he was eating was made by people who know what their doing as far as Mansaf. And until a few weeks ago, my chef, Asa, had never heard of it. 

We used this recipe for Chicken  Mansaf, and this recipe for the Jordanian Hummus. We also had Jordanian Fattoush, and some citrus (in the form of more clementines from Sprouts, they've been on sale!) 

Nate said to set it up family style, and make sure everyone ate with their hands, and you have to listen to him, he's serving our country overseas, it's the least we can do. (Well, ok, maybe some of us didn't eat with our hands the whole time, but we tried!) 

We also all thought it was appropriate to have Allison pick the color, and color in Jordan. 

50 down, 143 to go! 

Next Up: Botswana