Hot Stuff

What are you doiing in Iraq? Did I miss something? I don't think hot tea will help you cool off, but it does help keep you hydrated and the boiling makes the water potable. Recent studies show that tea & coffee are not dehydrating, even though they are diuretics, as long as you keep drinking.

Although we don't make it to 47 here, we do often get over 40, with low humidity. I find that the first hot spell of summer does dull my appetite, but it returns as aI acclimate. I'd say your biggest thing is going to be anything watery--fruit, fruit, fruit. Yogurt is almost always safe although milk is highly debatable unless you get it at a PX or something.

Do you have access to refrigeration on a regular basis?

...on hot days in Thailand the road venders sell these salty fruit smoothie drinks...sorts like a gatorade slurpie...

The 'beekeeper' in Iraq ?? You working with 'drones' or something ...?

Iced tea is better than hot tea for cooling down. Lemonade even if it is warm is good for the body.

plain yoghurt on which you sprinkle s&p. I you can get hold of cucumbers or such you can add to it. or eat separately.

I take up an ice cream diet in hot India, for breakfast, lunch and dinner, average 4 times a day. And in between I eat the odd thing like Gosht, Biriyani, Pulao, butter chicken, Parantka, Naan and all.

Fruit juice is very good too as something for between meal.

To drink, I'm sure there must be tamarhindi (sweet tamarind drink) somewhere in the near vicinity, and you can go to juice stalls and get them to fill up some old water bottles full of various juices... Ayran (salty yoghurt drink)?

For food, watermelon kept in the freezer... or possibly gazpacho? Labaneh on bread with some makdus (stuffed aubergines) and fresh tomatoes is delicious, and very quick and easy. I noticed a lot of rocket being used (rucola/aragula) in Jordan so you might find some of that in the market, so add some vegetables and you have a salad (use lemon and olive oil dressing because the quality of vinegar in the ME is not good enough for dressing)... Buy lots of cheese at the market and some eggs, so you can make all sorts of simple dishes. I presume you will also find the ubiquitous aubergines, peppers and tomatoes, so you can also make a ratatouille and eat that as a cold salad dish...

That's enough for now i hope, if you need anymore ideas, make some local friends and get invited to their houses for dinner so that you can see what they eat in the heat!

if you can eat lukewarm food (not too warm not too cold) and spicy dishes will help you cope with the heat too!

Thanks for the ideas. In a nutshell, I am here in Iraqi Kurdistan to teach beekeeping to locals. I have a few things already set up, and tomorrow I will visit my first apiary (bee farm). It is rather late in the season in many respects but I hope to be able to teach enough workshops, troubleshoot enough issues, and provide enough assistance to make it a worthwhile summer jaunt. I will be working with both established and beginning beekeepers.

Mlle Froggie and others, I am somewhat limited in my movements so far as making friends with locals and going to their homes. I have, in fact, an extensive list of local contacts provided by my students back in the States, who come from the very city where I currently find myself. Also, as you know it is quite easy to make friends quickly in this region. However, security concerns disallow me from venturing out on my own. It is not so much that I am nervous or worried about going to the house of the brother of a friend; it is that I am not permitted to go off unattended. By being attended I mean, in my particular case, a convoy of three armored cars, with more than half a dozen heavily armed men, doting over me. So, even a simple trip to the market is an ordeal, and one certainly does not blend when flanked by these gun-toting fellows. It is a mixed blessing. On the one hand it is nice to have so much protection; on the other, it certainly draws attention. Without them, with my new scraggly beard and my dark features, I had thought I could amble about the marketplace and not be overly conspicuous. It seems will not have the chance to test that theory.

Nutrax, I do have access to a fridge for now, but I will be moving from place to place fairly often. At least for the next three days, however, I will have a fridge (and Internet). I have full access to bases including the PX, but I am not always near a base in any case. Hey, that rhymed.

They provide meals but as stated in the OP I have kitchen access as well, and the meals they provide are clearly catered to foreign gastronomic sensibilities, whereas I would like to get some local flare, and keep cool at the same time (and not with imported beer, as some of my cohorts try to do).