Commissary Highlights Bulletin for May 26, 1978 - Aseptic Domo milk products from Holland, all about ghee (make your own!) and homemade cookies...sort of!  We dare you!

Commissary Highlights Bulletin for May 6, 1978 - Rigorous food safety testing, frozen Kuwaiti milk, produce ladies (there were produce ladies?), and a Mother's Day reminder.

Psst!  Seriously.  Mother's Day is this Sunday!    

  

 

Commissary Highlights Bulletin - April 15, 1978 - Ice chitties, Spring plants, and, yes, all commissaries are created equal! 

Spring cleaning turned up a fun, long-forgotten item, a bound copy of "Commissary Highlights, 1978-1985." As we are not all contemporaries, you may or may not remember seeing these sheets, published approximately semi-monthly, at the commissary or laying around your mother's kitchen. The forward to this compilation explains it quite well:

"Aramco has provided food for their employees through a Commissary system in one form or another since the Company was founded. The great expansion in the 70's brought a massive increase of personnel who placed great demands on the Commissary system.  To better serve these customers, both old and new, a number of new services  were created within the Commissary system. One of these was the introduction of the Commissary Highlights Bulletin. This book is the complete collection of the Commissary Highlights Bulletins from the first printing in February, 1978." - Marilyn Townsend

Flipping through the pages offers a revealing look at our Aramco oil compound society of that era. In addition to recipes and advice on how to use newly-stocked commissary items, the bulletins also contain information about shortages, holiday gift items, shopper Q&A's, rules and regulations, children's craft ideas, and the occasional admonishment for bad shopping behaviors. The pages make it clear this was an international society, but there are wonderful, "only at Aramco" or "only in Saudi Arabia" bits and pieces sprinkled throughout that are sure to make you smile or at least give a nostalgic nod. Where else would you read an appeal from your local grocery store to bring in your hallalas because they were almost out? Or a recipe for "Camel Fricassee with Lemon?" Or ice chitty instructions?

For grins and giggles, we will begin reproducing these online. You can enjoy them as a trip down memory lane or as an armchair anthropologist, studying the shopping trials and tribulations and the eating habits of the Aramco communities, circa 1978-1985.

Commissary Highlights Bulletin - February 25, 1978 - The introductory bulletin.

Commissary Highlights Bulletin - March 11, 1978 - Aramco hydroponic veggies and Dutch amaryllis.

Commissary Highlights Bulletin - March 20, 1978 - Frozen Kuwaiti and aseptic milk from Holland. Yum?

Enjoy and perhaps even "bon appetit!"

The "Roads of Arabia" exhibit at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts closed earlier this month.  We hope many of you were able to see it.  It was truly an incredible collection of artifacts!  We would have loved to have had more detailed maps of where some of the artifacts were found, particularly those pieces labeled "Dhahran!" Allow at least 3 hours to take it all in.

Has it really been 10 years already?!  A decade since we last hosted the reunion at the epicenter of Bratdom? We are pleased to announce that our 15th biennial reunion, May 21-25, 2015, will be returning to Houston, TX! Houston is easy to get to, has lots to offer activity-wise, and, best of all, is home to a ton of Brats and annuitants. The last reunion hosted in Houston (2005) was one of our largest. We expect this one to be a big draw as well.

The 15th in '15 will be hosted by an '80s kind of crew, chaired by Staci Husted-Hosford (DH'84). Sandra Acuna-Klein (DH'86), Laura Bissell-Comtois (DH'83),  Diana Cameron-Keller (DH'84), Liz Germani (RT'84), Carol Goff-Hlavaty (DH'82), Del Husted (DH'82), and Susan Husted-Cowles (Parent) round out the rest of the committee. Shukran for volunteering your time and energy to transform Memorial Day weekend 2015 into the best Brat party on the planet!

Get started now on your holiday shopping for those special Brat friends and family on your list. We have some great new items in the online suq that will be sure to put a smile on someone's face: Aramco Brat (in English and Arabic) coffee mugs, new lapel pins, reunion t-shirts, ghutra print hats and Tucson 2013 logo pitchers!

Planning a Brat party or large family get-together? We have the perfect party favor: ghutra hat party packs! Order in quantities of 10 or the variety 12-pack (4 visors, 4 baseball caps, 4 fisherman hats). Best. Party favor. Ever.

Please order soon to ensure delivery before Christmas!  Happy shopping!