A family holiday and a choking scare...

A beautiful lunch spread at one of my favourites

My not so little family is a lovely, loud and rowdy bunch. These are the people I live for. But that still doesn't change the fact that they can be quite a handful - especially on a holiday. Everyone wants to go somewhere else, is late to a scheduled event, or is in the mood for seafood when the others are feeling carnivorous. It's not easy marching through a holiday with a two-dozen member family... Yet, it truly is priceless. These are the good times, those moments where memories are built and kept. Where my son swims with his grandfather, and gets spoiled by his grandmothers with tons of ice cream when I'm not looking his way. So yes, I do realize how precious these moments are and so I can tear for the smallest thing I observe. Like a big hug between my son and my dad for example. It's quite silly to some maybe, but I've accepted that I have become much more emotional with age, and there is nothing I can do about it.

My big fat Syrian- German family with Lebanese, Spanish & Greek in-laws 

So even more of a scare when a few days ago, my son Phares almost choked on a piece of apple. I really wanted to share what happened, because thank God I took a first aid course in Dubai (thank you Lea). The whole family panicked and I remembered somewhat what I was told during the course. 

I kept kind of calm (surprising for an emotional sack like me) but deep down inside I was dying, so scared that this stupid, little piece of apple would not come out of my little man's mouth. Just writing about it now is giving me goose bumps. The whole episode only lasted a few minutes, but the outcome could have been so different, so please make sure you watch your little ones when they eat. And take a first aid course, if you can.

I will explain a little more in detail what happened that evening. I was sitting in the TV room with Phares, my husband Phiras, my brother Aref and my parents in law. Phares was eating an apple, and all of a sudden he went red, and then more red. I quickly realized a piece of apple got stuck in his throat. During the course they said not try to get the piece out of the child's mouth, as you can push it in deeper, but my first reaction was to do exactly that. When it didn't come out, I started hitting Phares between his shoulder blades with the bottom part of my palm (as instructed in the course, this part and maybe the most important part I remembered). I hit quite hard, but hamdellah, after just a few blows he spit the piece of apple out. Hamdellah. 

He cried a little out of fear, but then was all giggly and we could all breathe once again. Everyone who was there was shocked for a few minutes, and thankful that it ended well. 

What a scare. I can only advise everyone to take a course on how to assist in such situations. Parents or not, you never know, you may be able to save a dangerous situation. I will look for the company's name and post it here shortly but you can easily google first aid course and find someone who offers it in your city.

My little mouse who is as excited about food as I am. Bless him habibi.

I really felt the need to share this experience as I know many mommies read this blog, and as mentioned, even if you are not, it can only help to be aware of what to do. 

Now on to a more pleasant subject :)

Having all my loved ones around is making me get into the kitchen and BBQ quite often these days. Braised octopus, beautifully grilled Carabineros, a bunch of different Spanish scampi, hearty salads, clams in gorgeous sauces and more. Food, food and more glorious food is part of our every day and I love every minutes of it.

My ultimate. The Carabinero (the head is the best part!)

Braising Octopus for dinner... Divine!

I'm sharing a few snapshots, of what has been cooking in my Spanish kitchen. I will follow these up with recipes when I get the chance. But right now Phiras and my dad are literally giving me a hard time being on the laptop, "D we are on holiday, leave that alone". And you know what, they are right. I can blog as much as I want when I come back to Dubai in a few weeks...

So I will leave you with a glimpse of our holiday. And hope you are all enjoying the summer, wherever you are.

Much love,

D xx