The panini bar and the pimp chair

Today entailed another trip to the palace to eat at the Tigris Café, or affectionately dubbed “the panini bar”. The jist of the café is that you pick your bread or tortilla, fill it with whichever lunch meat, veggies, spices and condiments you choose, and then grill it on the panini grill. Accompanying the meal is the abundance of fruit choices and Middle Eastern Lay’s chips. I have to admit- it is one great place to eat- and even better that I have occasional access to go there. The dining area at the Tigris Café is one of the typical huge palace rooms. Gray and white marble floor and walls, intricate tile mosaics, gold and brass doors, detailed painted ceiling, and crystal chandelier. This isn’t your typical dining hall, yet no one seems awestruck by the splendor. This is just another day in downtown Baghdad.

This afternoon I found the closest laundry facility, which lucky for me, is a 2 minute walk. The fact that I can do my own laundry and not have to turn it in to a company to wash it for me is fantastic. No 3 day wait, no counting out my underwear to an Iraqi contract worker, and (the best part) is that I can use dryer sheets and soap. Excellent.

Ann and I have a patio attached to our bedroom that has a few chairs on it. I decided to try and clean up one of the chairs to use it in my room. Clean up entailed me basically beating the heck out of it with a broom, wiping it down with Clorox wipes, and saturating the fabric with Fabreeze. It took me an hour, but the sand-covered, dusty, sun-faded gray chair on the patio turned into a beautiful purple tufted high-back arm chair with gold painted wooden trim. Back in the states I wouldn’t have paid 3 dollars for it, but here I thought that I struck the lottery. The purple pimp chair is now a lovely addition to my living space.