Hello Dear Friends, I wish it was like any other year at this time, where I would be sharing multiple recipes gearing up for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sadly this has been probably the worst month in my family’s and my life. To watch hopelessly the carnage on the other side of the world has been…… Continue reading Some Silver Linings In a Dark World…
Tag: lebanese food
The Ultimate Grilled Pita Sandwich- Arayes!
Let me give you a visual of one of my camping trips from childhood in Blue Lake, California. Imagine a large campground next to the lake. The sky is a deep blue, pink, and crimson red at sunset. My father fires up the grill, then retreats to a lawn chair, tabla in hand playing some…… Continue reading The Ultimate Grilled Pita Sandwich- Arayes!
My Family Favorite: Kousa Mahshi- Stuffed Squash
If you come from an Arab family in the Levant, whether Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, or Jordanian, you know the smell of Kousa Mahshi when it envelops the kitchen. That unmistakable smell of fresh summer squash stuffed with seasoned rice and lamb and boiled in an aromatic broth even permeates the front door. The scent invites…… Continue reading My Family Favorite: Kousa Mahshi- Stuffed Squash
Why I Never Complained about Eating Green Beans
There is a subset of society that truly loathes green beans, and I can understand why. Whether their exposure to mushy tasteless green beans came from a can, or they bit into tough and stringy beans the consistency of hay, I truly feel their pain. But you can enjoy this vegetable without an ounce of…… Continue reading Why I Never Complained about Eating Green Beans
Halawet El Jibn: An Iconic Syrian Dessert for My Baba’s Bday!
It all began in the 1870s with a sweets vendor in Hama Syria. The patriarch of the Salloura family figured out a way to make sweet cheese pancakes rolled around sweet cream, called Halawet El Jibn, which in Arabic means “sweetness of the cheese.” The cheese rolls were scented with rose or orange blossom, then doused…… Continue reading Halawet El Jibn: An Iconic Syrian Dessert for My Baba’s Bday!
My Childhood Fav! Arab Style Cauliflower Fritters
With a wide variety of vegetable “nuggets” proliferating in supermarkets, I can’t help but think of the old school, traditional cauliflower fritters of my childhood. These fritters are the Palestinian version of vegetable nuggets, made by hand lovingly by my great Auntie Bahia. The Arabic term for these fritters is “Em Shaat.” While this makes…… Continue reading My Childhood Fav! Arab Style Cauliflower Fritters
4 Cool Things I Had To Try in Paris Before Leaving…
Hope you are all enjoying the beginning of summer! I just released part two of my travelog in Paris, and this time I wanted to include experiences that are most definitely off the beaten path. I loathe being in a swarm of tourists with a checkbox of places everyone else is flocking to at the…… Continue reading 4 Cool Things I Had To Try in Paris Before Leaving…
The Decadent Arab Food Vlog from Dearborn Michigan!
Happy New Year Friends! How have you all been? It has been an extra chilly winter here in California so I have been making a different soup every week, using whatever seasonal produce I can find from the farmer’s market. For those of you that live in California, I will be on NBC’s California Live…… Continue reading The Decadent Arab Food Vlog from Dearborn Michigan!
A Food Oasis and Staycation Getaway: The Middle Eastern Market
As many people have scaled back their travel plans this summer and staycations become the norm, ethnic food markets provide an oasis of adventure and tastes without the need to travel to other countries. Middle Eastern markets in particular offer a kaleidoscope of foodstuffs from Qatar, Lebanon and Bahrain to Morocco, Palestine and Egypt and…… Continue reading A Food Oasis and Staycation Getaway: The Middle Eastern Market
Lebanese Ready Made Food Goes Mainstream
Hi Feast in the Middle East Family! In my last blog I discussed the proliferation of Arab delicacies in Trader Joes, from kibbeh to kunafe. In this blog, I want to focus on how smaller niche companies like Cortas are bringing ready made Arab food into the mainstream. I want to preface that this isn’t…… Continue reading Lebanese Ready Made Food Goes Mainstream