zareefeh * زريفة

The launch of Artists Around Grandma's Table work-group

2011-05-29T23:16:00.000+03:00

For the record: Artists Around Grandma's Table had their/our first meeting on May 22nd 2011 between 6:00 and 8:30 at 18 Reasons on Guerrero St, San Francisco.

Present around the table were Amanda, Lena, Betsy, Olivia, Marsh and myself (missing Deirdre and Neha), and we, but of course, met around
a lot of food:

sticks of cherry tomatoes, mozzarella ball-itos, spinach leaf
arugula salad
goat cheese herb spread
lentil salad
labaneh balls
zaatar mix and olive oil
black honey and tahini mix
and fresh bread of course--did i miss anything?
and chocolate chip cookies (including caramelised ginger, pepper, nuts and bacon fat--am i right?)
naturally there was wine.
and a flowing river of conversation.

We will meet again on Monday June the 6th 2011 and see how each one of us imagines the illustration of our conversations in their art practice.

I often think about my grandmothers: sometimes in relation to my relationship with my own mother, sometimes in regards to a dish, a smell, a piece of clothing and sometimes because the conversation invites the thought.

I had two very different grandmothers, one, my maternal, was born in Damascus an ancient city with a rich cuisine, my paternal was born and had died in the same small village (well, when she died, the village had become an extension of the nearby city), cooking was very much a practical means to feeding--although often beyond yummy.

My maternal grandmother, when we met every Friday at 2:00 pm sharp around her amazing gastronomic beautiful table, would say: "i made all this in ten minutes." We all thought of Ranjani and knew who really did all the picking, chopping, washing, sieving, broiling, boiling, frying--you get the picture. Yeas later, my grandmother saved all her energy for the trip from the couch to the dining table; Ranjani, who had been living with her for 20 years, did not need her in the kitchen anymore and she often included a Sri Lankan dish made especially for my vegetarian sister. My paternal grandmother, after we finished a meal would pile all the left overs into one dish for later. She made very little fuss over food, even the most elaborate of dishes, and she always had the best yogurt to scoop up in fresh bread with a glass of mint tea, a standard snack upon arrival to her house.

salute to you grandmothers whatever you are cooking right now, wherever you are.

I am going to make something to eat for this event, what?
oh this is so exciting!

tragic manageesh

2011-04-29T23:10:00.000+03:00

i decided to make manageesh bil-zaatar (thyme pizza) and failed. miserably. i mixed in whole wheat flour with water, 1 spoon of vegetable oil, and baking soda, and then flattened the dough into circles and added the thyme mixed with olive oil on top and baked them. just did not taste good. dry and boring and flat. so, maybe yeast dough is essential for thyme pizza baladi style. i will try again though. i am not a natural baker, not like my sister, i know that. i will try again.

Salads

2011-01-09T09:28:00.002+02:00

this is to document those two salads so i do not forget them.
note: fresh and seasonal ingredients have the best flavours. generally use clean and dry ingredients.

First. lettuce and cabbage salad with other good things

ingredients: blue cheese, lettuce, fresh green cabbage, walnuts, rocca leaves, white radish sauce, fresh lemon, olive oil, salt
1. slice the green cabbage and lettuce finely. i like structured chopping, so lettuce thinly width-wise, and the cabbage thinly along with the leave from top to bottom.
2. slice the pear very thinly lengthwise and marinate in lemon juice, salt and the white radish sauce for ten to 15 minutes and mix again
3. mix the greens (lettuce, cabbage and rocca) in a large salad bowl
4. add the pears, corasely crushed walnuts and the blue cheese in small cubes
5. add the olive oil and mix well

Second. Salad of greens and mushroom

ingredients: fresh green lettuce (romaine lettuce), a couple of types of mushrooms (shitake and something else), mixed greens (the more the merrier), soy sauce, rice vinegar, seasame oil, labaneh (http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Labaneh), mustard, wasabi paste
1. slice the mushrooms and stir-mix them in a hot pan with a little bit of soy sauce, when soft add the green leaves and immediately turn off the heat and cover for 5 minutes so the green leaves go a little soft but are uncooked. when done move to a large plate to cool.
2. slice the lettuce thinly width-wise and place in a large salad bowl
3. mix well: one small spoon of labaneh with one small spoon of mustard and a quarter spoon of wasabi, add a few drops of the sesame oil and some rice vinegar, and a little soy sauce
4. add the mushrooms and greens to the lettuce, add in the sauce and mix.

ENJOY!

Folsom Street Fair BDSM and street food

2010-09-27T08:53:00.001+03:00

we spent a chunk of the day at the folsom street fair in san francisco today http://folsomstreetfair.org/ and that was definitely in many ways a new experience for me. this is a fair celebrating leather and S/M practices so there was a lot of leather and self expression and mostly men at varying degrees of nudity. in many ways exciting, overwhelmingly normalising, and provoking (intellectually and otherwise).

at the end we had a little bite, i ate a grilled chicken skewer walking through hundreds of thousands of participating spectators and came home slept for a number of hours and woke up again and had food. food that makes everything okay. at a full stomach one wonders, what was that? caged, controlled, self expression of choice (deviance)? wild wild. there were live acts of eating (consumption of objects other than food). wild. wild. good.

such events make you realise how "normal" you are. to get hassled for a little but of deviance compared to this, boring.

i imagine that to achieve absolute freedom, liberation of body and soul, or to get closer to that, myself, i have to surrender to a person or two, tie me up face down to a standing cross, naked, and spank me in front of hundreds of thousands of participating spectators. sheesh, that would be amazing. not sexual, i do not think, but i imagine, liberating. maybe next year. if i had the guts. total liberation is scary!

food is safe.
san francisco is amazing.
BDSM, maybe next time.

taking care of me+ahi+salmon

2010-09-20T22:44:00.000+03:00

i was thinking yesterday, stretching horizontally under the sky on the green grass of dolores park, soft sun, chilly breeze, almost drizzling and music, dogs, lovers, kids, food, books: life! i was thinking that i want to take care of myself. never rush a shower anymore, brush my teeth at leisure, go do yoga, get my hair cut and when it needs a new hair cut go get that too, find a lotion for my face, buy a new pair of tennis shoes and wax. this is only for starters, whatever more my body wants.

that is what lying on a public park grass on a sunday does to a woman. then i bought a large ahi tuna steak from hawaii (from whole foods) on 24th st. and grilled that plain (nothing added at all), then served rare on a bed of soy sauce. not bad at all.

the other day i grilled a slice of salmon in the oven. marinated in soy and rice vinegar in a medium heat oven for 15 minutes with a cucumber salad. the cucumber, thinly sliced, was marinated in rice vinegar, sesame oil, sprinkles of paprika and when served a small sprinkle of salt.

sometimes simplicity is just yum.

food moments in san francisco

2010-09-07T07:55:00.005+03:00

so, i am now in san francisco (i will repeat this until it is normal for me), the city of food and i have so far eaten worth a month of morning pastries, midday snacks, lunches and dinners and everything in between.

here are a few memorable food moments (I repeat a few, not all at all):

a prosciutto sandwich you eat strolling on valencia at the italian grocery on corner of valencia and 22nd streets called lucca ravioli: http://www.luccaravioli.com/index.html

a $14 steak (one slice of steak) bought from the coolest butcher i have ever seen, grilled at home. from avedanos: http://www.avedanos.com/

although i did not actually eat anything (not the right moment then but will return), doing the tourist thing of eating crab or chowder soup from the side walk stands in the area of the fisherman's wharf seems like fun: http://www.yelp.com/biz/fishermans-wharf-chowder-and-crab-sidewalk-stands-san-francisco

eating at slanted door on our first trip to the pier in the ferry building down town, we found this vietnamese restaurant by chance and had no idea how popular it was, we were lucky to find a table and it was outside and the meal included mussels, a calamari stir fry and dumplings accompanied by a fine glass of white wine: http://slanteddoor.com/index.html

walking into the grocery shops in japan town.

walking into the indian shop on valencia street. immediate need to eat grilled paneer.

the best things happen at home sometimes. pizza 'ala shalfa'uneh by o. a cheddar cheese sandwich with blue cheese sprinkles, some green onion and slices of tomato, salt and flakes of pepper on toast in the oven. delicious!

fried eggs with potatoes and coriander--perfect. again by chef o. a lunch snack at home on labour day.

i am now looking for cooking classes in the city. might start with a knife skill class at the culinary salon with joe the chef: www.theculinarysalon.com

now, i am hungry again.

discovering San Francisco pumpkin

2010-09-07T07:06:00.000+03:00

so, i am in san francisco now. everyone told me about the food here. it is always fun to go into good grocery shops and buy vegetables and fruits, cheeses, bread, bagels and, oh so much more, my favourite sort of shopping. a lot is all organic in san francisco and so on, i am not sure how i feel about organic still, maybe when i finally get the healthy-living-bug, deeply infesting san francisco, i will appreciate this more. but the tomatoes sure taste good.

there is a collection of vegetables and fruits alien to me, i know some of them and some totally not, but have not cooked with any or not really. there are many cuisines thriving in the city with a focus on, but not only, mexican and chinese and japanese (and their varieties) so a lot of related produce too.

one thing i noticed is that there are many types of squashy pumpkin-y vegetables available in any grocery/supermarket and i tried a few. i am only used to a couple of sorts back home, but here, they come in many shapes and colours, sizes too.

one quick dish i made and i found successful involved butternut squash. these dramatically pear shaped and are yellowish, as you can see, but get bright orange when cooked, they taste sweet and feel mushy.

i peeled it (difficult with a normal knife but i am sure there are special gadgets out there, please feel free to offer me advice), then took out all the seeds, then sliced it really thin and long (imagine cutting the vegetable in half length wise, then slicing it across the width of it from bottom to top). in a large pan, i put some olive oil and waited till it got hot, put in the squash slices with salt and allowed them to cook for some time on each side, flipping them over again and again until mostly tender. then i added crushed ginger and garlic, and finely chopped chilies, stirred. after they seem cooked i add some fresh chopped cilantro (coriander), stirred for a couple of minutes, then i turned off the heat and squeezed some lemons on them.

they are good hot or room temperature. enjoy.

z from sf.

food in the air

2010-07-23T10:41:00.001+03:00

food has a different meaning when you are traveling for long distances on a plane. i suggest: 1. the pretense that one is in a normal setting like being in a restaurant with a couple of hundred strangers, 2. to pass the time, and 3. to be thankful for the food on the surface of the earth.

their website says: "Royal Jordanian is one of the few airlines that offer its Economy Class passengers three meal options to choose from (beef, fish or poultry) on any flight of over two hours duration.^"(the picture is not %100 true to reality, especially not my hair colour) i chose chicken, better than expectations and the meal killed an hour off the 13 hour flight across the atlantic.

Bon appetit y bon voyage!

makmoura from eidoun

2010-05-29T21:36:00.004+03:00

makmoura is a very personal dish for me. it is about my grandmother in a small village up north of jordan. and now my aunt makes it. it is big and festive. my grandmother woke up as early as 2.00 am to start cooking it, for it took hours and hours in the oven after all the onion chopping and meant and/or chicken cooking and dough preparing.

so my aunt and sita made it for us this time with me present to watch and understand and possibly one day cook.

1. the onions: finely chop a lot of onions and cook with a lot of olive oil, some salt, 7 spice mix and add cumin and cinnamon. cook until soft but not totally. keep to cool to avoid burning fingers.

2. the game, a mix of meat and chicken seems to be the standard
boil the chicken first for five minutes and take away the fat in
the water.

in a deep pan heat some oil with a bit of onion then add the meat (spice with salt, 7-spice mix, cumin, cinnamon, sumac, bay leaves and some curry leave) and cook for a few minutes before adding in the chicken and cook until 85% done.

3. mix white flour (1 third) and brown flour (2 thirds) with salt, sesame seeds, black seeds (قزحة) then start adding water until it is a fine thick dough, soft enough to spread with hands, use olive oil to avoid dough sticking on hands.

start the layering in a deep oven pan, first two layers of thin dough flats. then spread onion mix on each layer using fingers, add some of the chicken/meat stock from the meat pan. then add the pieces of meat and chicken, say 2-4 pieces each layer. and so on until the pan is full and you end with a thick layer of dough. cover with foil and place in medium heat oven and leave for 3 hours. to check if done, taste the top layer of dough if done (still soft and all) then all layers are done.

flip upside down on a big pan and serve to a huge crowd. the bigger the merrier. you may want to have some yogurt with it, or a yogurt drink. delightful.

traditional alternative: place layer after layer of dough and in the center place all the meat/chicken and wrap dough around it, like a ball with the meat as center. it used to be cooked in taboun oven and covered all over with heat.

recipe chain email

2010-04-28T16:03:00.002+03:00

someone i know, an artist, two actually sent me an email which seemed like one of those: "send this to 20 people you love or a bus will hit you next week." but they requested recipes: a quick and easy dish one likes. so i sent in my lentils and tomato dish (i think it was included in an earlier post). so, eventually, i got back many recipes and here are some:

dish by sonja linke:

one avocado
olive oil
juice from one lemon
pepper
cumin
flaxseed
nutmeg

squeeze the avocado, add olive and lemon juice, mix with pepper, cumin,
flaxseed and nutmeg. put on bread. for breakfast or as a appetizer between
meals.

if you like it more consisten you can add dices of onion and tomatoes.

Lentils and Rice by alma khasawnih:

This is not Mujadara, but inspired by Bangladeshi food

Ingredients:

1. One medium size onion (white or red)

2. Three or four garlic cloves (depending on how much garlic you like)

3. One small dried hot red pepper (if you like hot-spicy food). This

can be substituted with fresh hot green peppers; if you use this

option, then you have to sauté them with the lentils and rice, before

you add the water

4. Cumin (to taste)

5. Clover

6. Black pepper

7. Salt

8. Turmeric (small tea spoon)

9. One cup of red lentils (عدس مجروش)

10. Third cup rice (any type)

11. Olive oil

12. Hot water (liter)

How to make:

1. cut the onions and garlic into small square pieces

2. put the olive oil (enough to fill the bottom of the pot with a thin

layer of it). Let it heat

3. put the onion and garlic into the pot with the oil. Fry it until

slightly golden

4. put the rice in and sauté it for a couple of minutes

5. put the lentils in sauté it together for another 3 or 4 minutes

6. add all the spices in and the red pepper

7. put the water on top and reduce the heat to as little as possible

8. cook until all ingredients are well cooked. check the pot after 15

minutes in case you need to add water (make sure the thing does not

dry.

the end product is like a stew of lentils and a little rice.

You can either eat the stew alone or with rice.

If you have questions just ask me.

mashed potatoes with Tuna and sour cream by ghassan omair

INGREDIENTS:

500g fresh new potatoes
200g tuna in water, drained and flaked
300 fresh mushrooms
4 spring onions, chopped
4 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp chopped chives
Freshly ground black pepper

how to make:

. Cook the potatoes in boiling water for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain and leave to cool for 5 minutes.

. Gently break up the potatoes with a fork (but do not mash).

. Place in a bowl and add the tuna, spring onions, mushrooms and green beans. Toss gently and serve on a plate

. Mix the sour cream and chives and serve on top of the bashed potatoes. Season with freshly ground black pepper.

TORTILLA DE PATATAS (SPANISH OMELET) by Eva Carballeira

1 cup olive oil
four large potatoes (peel and cut into small pieces about 2mm thick)
salt to taste
one large onion, thinly sliced
six eggs.

Heat the oil in a 9-inch skillet, add potato pieces and onion. Cook slowly, medium flame. DO NOT FRY!! Turn occasionally until potatoes are tender, but NOT brown. They must be loose, not "in a cake".

Beat eggs in a large bowl with a fork. Salt to taste. Drain potatoes. Add potatoes to beaten eggs, pressing them so that eggs cover them completely. Let sit for 15 minutes. Heat 1 tea spoon of the oil in a large skillet. Add potato-egg mixture, spreading quickly. Lower the heat to medium-high. Shake pan to prevent sticking. When potatoes start to brown, put a plate on top of the skillet and flip to cook other side. Brown on the other side. Can flip two or three times for better cooking.

HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!!

Fattet Baitinjan by Ayah younis

Eggplants

Pita bread

Yogurt

Pine nuts

Tomato

Tomato paste

Pomegranate molasses

Parsley

Fresh garlic

Salt

- Cut the pita bread into squares and deep fry them (till they become crisp, watch out they get burnt easily)

- Cut the eggplants into cubes and deep fry them

- Cut the tomato and cook with eggplants along with tomato paste and one table spoon of pomegranate molasses (season with salt)

- Mix the yogurt with the mashed garlic along with some salt

- Fry the pine nuts

- Put the fried pita bread in a dish, on the top put the eggplants cooked with tomato and cover them with the yogurt. Sparkle the pine nuts and parsley on the top

(I love this dish)

change of mind

2010-03-31T15:15:00.000+03:00

so basically, after some research, the reality is that everyone's back hurts, tall and short fat and thin. my friend samah suggested age and i am inclined to agree alongside other reasons such as lack of proper exercise and general activity, hours way too long on office chair and lap top and odd behaviours. it feels too early to start to complain about bodily pains, but c'est la vie and it is quicker these days anyways. but i will exercise i will i will.

boring

2010-03-28T20:09:00.000+03:00

just when i am finally sure that i cannot put another bite of something sweet in my mouth, i start again. uffttt... i am bored with chocolates and ice creams and intensely sweet this or that KHALAS!!! i want to stop but i cannot, however, i will. tomorrow is a new day: i am taking a break.

today i was sweeping the terrace, a hit and run job, when oopppss!!! my back went electric and i had to lie down on the cold concrete for twenty minute before i got up to get dressed and go get a life. every time i feel this pain which incapacitates me to a certain degree i decide to go to a major specialist and get myself a strong back (and strong abbs) but when the pain is gone i am happy to do some swimming and postpone yoga and kick boxing and weight lifting to another day, everyday. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.. do i really have to lose the weight? and if i do, how on earth will i keep the goddamn lost weight lost? dilemma. dilemma. dilemma.

i hate talking like a fat woman with back pain, but, right now, lying on the couch, calculating every move, that is exactly what i am. BORING!

chocolate

2010-03-20T11:41:00.001+02:00

i just found a large half eaten bar of chocolate, the large bar they sell in airports with hazelnuts and raisins, hidden on top of a cupboard way in the back, it is almost covered in dust now but that did not stop me from sampling it while wondering who hid it there and why?

chocolate makes one behave in the weirdest ways. the only remotely erotic scenes in saudi controlled tv channels are those of the galaxy chocolate adds, the woman practically faints in orgasmic bliss while shy first date kisses are cut out of PG 13 films.

i caught myself once hiding in a public bathroom to eat a chocolate bar i had kept in my pocket for hours. sometimes i buy two bars and not one from a shop because i feel shy to be caught practicing the secret habit of eating chocolate on my own so i want to pretend to be taking one for a friend too, i end up eating both of course- i cannot help myself. when we were children, my sister knows better now, i ate my chocolate faster than my sister did and always ended up threatening the last piece off of her. sometimes i take chocolate gifts hoping the gift-ees would share it after dinner. my mother would sneak in the small hours of the night into our bedroom to search the closet for chocolate gifts we got earlier. no, it is not a family thing, i have a friend who drives in the middle of the night responding to an undeniable chocolate craving and the list is long.

i do not know why nor what this means, but chocolate encourages strange habits and off behaviour: uncontrolled urges, beastial cravings, nasty not-over-my-dead-body-would-i-share-my-chocolate, manner lost, face smeared-all in the love of chocolate.

wow.
yum.
yes.
yes.
oh, yes!

here, enjoy: http://tinyurl.com/yjfbv6o

knafeh, not everyone gets it.

2010-03-18T23:42:00.000+02:00

i am hoping you know what i am talking about here, the tragic disappointment when someone does not absolutely adore the food you suggested as the most delicious ever. today, for example, i absolutely insisted to take a group of 6 people down to habiba knafeh after a big lunch (first mistake) to try the best dessert ever created by man (some argue a nabulsi man)-probably woman anyway: knafeh. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanafeh

so, imagine this, for 6 adults i ordered 2 half-portions (several just would not even fu**king try it) and we only ate 1.3 of the total and threw away a perfectly nice juicy honey drenched the 0.7 piece. shame. shame. i am almost broken hearted. but... knafeh is still the best thing ever no matter what others think. okay?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJveDsblvNY

group eating

2010-03-13T09:07:00.000+02:00

something happens, a friend visiting, a party, whims and desires gone loose and an unending eating escapade starts. wishes coming true for breakfast, lunches for double the number of eaters disappear, small cakes and chocolates decorate the day and plans for chinese dinners. soon everyone is describing similar physio-biological experiences, appropriate and mostly not.

it is a little mass hysteria, peer pressure, power in numbers, and if everyone else is doing it why not me.

and it is fun, every once in a while.

cat

2010-03-11T00:25:00.002+02:00

so now there is a cat in my life. she is around 6 months old and absolutely cute, moreover she loves food!! she is مفجوعة obsessed with food, demands it, and she takes care of the dish washing. the only difference between me and her at this point, basically, is that she does a lot of exercise, she is all over the place, including the keyboard right now. she jumps and runs and attacks ghosts.

coffee addict-who? me?

2010-03-08T08:58:00.000+02:00

i realised one day that it did not take much for me to feel like i was choking and angry and anxious and start to itch if one thing in the morning was not working out perfectly to the way i absolutely want it or imagin it. and i decided it was the coffee that i drink which is causing all that. so i stopped it, for the first few days i slept and i already do 8-9 hours every night so i added 4-5 on top of these, then i thought i will have some coffee but later in the day like noon time, as long as i lose my dependency and need and have the choice and control the habit. Gradually, as any coffee drinker reading this can imagine, i went back to my wake-up-excited-to-have-my-cup -of-coffee routine. i love my coffee in the morning i do i do i do.

brunch proposal

2010-03-06T16:37:00.003+02:00

i love brunches, they offer the things i like the most like breads and pastries and cheeses and fruits and preparing them is fun too, you have enough time in the morning to prepare, enough later to clean up, they potentially have the right amount of caffeine and alcohol consumption and a relaxed level of energy. so what can you offer for on a brunch?

today's brunch menu was:
4 types of cheese (the braided white cheese, halloum, blue cheese and brie)
dried labaneh (similar to the chèvre cheese) with sesame seeds and olive oil
a board of cold cuts that included slices of italian mortadella, salami and grilled turkey.
a bowl of grilled red bell peppers with balsamic vinegar and olive oil
vegetable omelette in the oven (check previous post for details)
the dried thyme (za3tar) and olive oil twin small bowls
black and green olives
mixed pickles
minute bowls of mustard, pickled chilies, green chilies, hot sauce and capers
sliced tomatoes and cucumbers
several sorts of fresh bread

and for dessert
a large bowl of fruit salad (strawberries, bananas, pears, red and yellow apples, kiwi, dried figs and raisins)-sprinkle with some walnuts
and milk curd with honey and date slices قشطة بالعسل
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curd

good sunny weather and eating outdoors- a plus.
enjoy!

today's omelette recipe

2010-03-06T16:03:00.005+02:00

this is a recipe for an omelette in the oven which is suitable for a group of people since it would be difficult to make one in a pan for a group larger than 4-i find.

10 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
some chili flakes
some fresh dill leaves
3 zucchinis-sliced in thin slices along the width of the whole zucchini
some mushrooms-thinly sliced
a tomato-sliced in thin circles
some sun dried tomatoes-chopped
a large spoon of capers

prepare the vegetables a couple of hours before it is time to put the omelette in the oven. separately cook each in a pan: put a little bit of olive oil in a pan, heat it, keep the fire high, and then layer the zucchini on each side until softly cooked and a little brown. the same applies for the mushrooms and the tomatoes. leave on the side, a little tilted so they drain whatever water is left in them.

when the vegetables are cool, take away any water that drained out, then put them in a glass tray in layers.

mix the eggs with the flour and milk in a bowl until homogeneous, add salt, pepper and red chili flakes to taste.

put the egg mix on top of the vegetables, ad the sun dried tomatoes, the dill and some capers. put in the oven at 180 degrees celsius (350f)for 50 minute or when dry. bring out and leave for ten minutes before serving.

a little sprinkle of freshly ground pepper when serving would be a nice touch.

sa7tain

eating, drinking and smoking

2010-03-06T08:22:00.003+02:00

there are things that happen in life that allow me to formulate philosophies of my own. i have a tendency to philosophy, i even applied to philosophy school a long time ago, but anyway, presently practicing it without license. one day my good friend hanan said that her guru smokes, not much, and says something like: as long as you enjoy the smoking, do it, but if it comes with bad feeling, i.e. guilt, shame, fear, whatever, then the smoking is bad and should stop. i understand that. i was reading a novel, a sort of murder suspense taking place near dublin called Likeness by Tana French and a one of the characters tells another across the table something like: are you tense or something? i see that you are smoking more than usual (like 40 instead of 30 cigarettes), you should always remember to enjoy your vices. i understand.

so basically, say smoking is a bad habit, in the sense that it kills you and all, but so fucking what, right? we do hundreds of things that hurt us (including driving in Amman) but the thing is here is to make sure that one is enjoying every single cigarette, to take the time and the attention necessary to enjoy this smoke, to make up for the bad that it comes with, not to take in any un-accounted for bad, these stupid smokes that one just does not notice, enjoyment or pleasure may balance out that bad. (smoking is bad and it kills you, i am not arguing that).

and this applies, especially for me, when it comes to food. food is so good and so pleasurable and basically a good, rather necessary, habit, however, many of us have bad eating habits, i like sweets a bit too much, sugar is bad, i know it, i even feel it sometimes and often when i consume it (over consume it) the act is paired with a shitty feeling of failure to take control over my life and dizziness. but i am thinking i should keep those bites where i feel really happy taking in delicious forms of sugar and completely throw out the window those episodes of unhappy sugar eating.

it is my vice and i love it and will take care of it and (((try to exercise)))).

what if god was not afraid?

2010-02-10T00:03:00.003+02:00

why is god so afraid? why is god afraid of secularism and music and alcohol and fun and atheists and gays and women and love and sex and pork? if god is really so great and big and amazing and beyond human comprehension why would he be so afraid and fragile and defensive and insecure? or are we the ones who are so afraid? what brought this up? zareefeh just watched Agora and zareefeh got a little scared. zareefeh likes afternoon beer and associates good food with the love of life and free love, she is worried that classifies today as anti god, will she be killed? check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agora_%28film%29

no desire to cook

2010-02-07T07:30:00.003+02:00

so what do you do when you go through a no-desire-to-cook phase? even making a salad is too much work. thank the 4th earl of sandwich for the sandwich, sure, but you need more. cearals for breakfast and dinner, fried and boiled eggs, hummous, foul and falafel. unless one plans to live off fast food and restaurant dinning, this is a good time to buy fruits and vegetables that are easy to eat, all fruit is easy to eat so add to the group some tomatoes, cucumbers, fennel, lettuce, is kit kat a vegetable?

what happens? sometimes one is plain lazy or bored or just does not care for the smell of garlic and onions on hot oil... day in day out and sometimes twice or thrice a day "what to eat?" and this makes me think "how do the women do it?" all those wives and mothers, sometimes sisters too cooking their lives away feeding the nations EVERY DAY!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.... i would pull my hair. not only is cooking time and energy consuming but to come up with new things or dishes that every one likes or making sure no one gets bored or everyone feels satisfied and work around allergies, syndromes, traumas and plain brattiness AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA .... i could pull my hair.

and kids often complain or go into "i want fries" fits... i could slap them. i would slap them. and husbands often chew away, fill the belly, stare at the telly, burp a grand finale and flip over, without even noticing that they just went through what took hours of shopping, washing, chopping, washing, cooking, washing and more washing to put in front of their take for granted gluttonous non-appreciating inflating karsh. i would shoot them.

every day, day in day out, at least once a day, for decades and decades
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... i would most definitely pull my hair.

all this pleasure in cooking and coming up with new recipes burned out in the duty and the killer routine, such a shame. not to mention, that like every other activtiy or job in the world, some do not even like to cook... AAAAAAAAAA i could kill myself.

salute to all those patient, creative, persistent and generous cooks responsible for feeding families.

from zareefeh, who cooks when she feels like it and otherwise lives and feeds cheese sandwiches.

snow-one of the things we are afraid of

2010-02-04T17:33:00.005+02:00

snow-some of the things we are afraid is inspired by the fear i feel from the quasi snowing condition we have. although sweet really, barely threatening, however, only once or twice a year and for a few hours that i am simply not prepared. so i am "theoretically" cold and wet and scared and i actually fell down in front of the super market, slipped on the icy pavement landed right smack on my ass with plastic bags full of survival necessities such as kit kat and milk and chips and some more.

so there has been some snow flakes falling, i saw it, it is true. the rumours have been spreading for some time now that this weekend is arriving with snow (it is aout time anyway). and it is. already a couple of centimeters thick in the highest points of amman and promising some more. everyone has filled their tanks with liquid gas, those who can, others have stored whatever source they use for heat and bought kilos of bread to make sure they have enough to eat. mama is home, my sister is home, my father ordered every member of his family back home with the earliest flakes. the city is quiet. initially excited because there is a chance for the day off today, however, a bummer, tomorrow is friday and off anyway. maybe more snow next week? time off work, please please.

http://www.google.jo/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=snow+in+amman&meta=&btnG=Google+Search

so, i am just stating here in this occasion that i feel that we, the people of this region, are extra afraid, more afraid than the average person or peoples. i wonder about the reasons but meanwhile i will list some of the many tings we are afraid of: the night, people, strangers, others, the change, going out after a bath, the cold, the rain, the wind, the dark, the dogs, the police, the king, the loss of the king, wild animals, insects, pork, and difference.

i, for one, rather than say, i do not like being wet in the cold i would say i am afraid of the cold. or i would ask a friend are you scared of work rather than are you worried about work.

meanwhile, what are the most popular foods to store when there is a chance of snow? first and fore most bread, then chocolates, chips, cookies,kastana (chest nut) and pomelo (ani brought us two pomelos, we have one left).

activity number one when it snows is kankining (kankaneh is a verb of coziness) for a solid 24 hours, 36 at most. there was a snow or two in history where people stayed home in some areas for four or five days. to achieve this it is important to be equipped with a hot water bottle, socks, and as many pirated DVDs as possible, series are better than films but those will do too.

so, i will start dexter 3 probably this evening.

zareefeh el khawefeh

jet lag peculiarities

2010-01-31T23:43:00.005+02:00

stuffed zucchini and rolled grape vine (warak ou kusa ma7shi) is fine for lunch, but how about it when lunch is around 1.30 am? i just came back to amman from the end of the world, four months away, a 36 hour trip from a 12 hour zone difference. it turns out jet lag is more than sleep screw ups, it includes a stomach ache, stool matters, dizzy head, flu symptoms, and bizarre eating routines.

i got up from bed with squeaking stomach sounds in dire need for toasted halloum sandwiches which i gulped it down in front of the tv watching boston legal. now that i have boston legal in my system and i am up at odd hours of the night i want to sue the government for not committing to (what more or less means) "all citizens are equal regardless of gender and other things" this country promised to see women and men as equal in front of the law but it does not deliver. for starters jordan does not give women the right to pass on their citizenship to their children. i have a problem with this descripency.

i am going to talk to a feminist activist i know and a lawyer and see.

zareefeh min amman

silencing the word silencing the mind

2010-01-20T08:07:00.002+02:00

sometimes i feel that there is no hope for a better life for someone like me in my home town, amman. it is the city where i was born, grew up, went to school, where i work, the city witness to my love, where most of my friends live and my family too. why? because i am a secular woman who likes to enjoy life and needs some space to breath. because i like to walk to the grocery store and the vegetable market free from harassment, i want to sit down on a bench in a public square with my friends and not feel watched, because i want to drink a cold pint of beer without feeling like a thief, i want to have a nice talk with my best friend without being cut off by loud screaming bad quality speakers several times everyday, i want to eat in public even in ramadan, i like to voice my opinion about matters including the king and god, i want to as the walki talki person in civilian clothes why he is asking me random personal questions in the middle of a random street, zareefeh likes food, yes, and freedom too. freedom is not bits and pieces of eid cookies a government offers its people at random like treats, there is no conditioned freedom, i need to speak.... at this point, i need to scream. if i cannot speak my mind, i will lose my mind. if one is not allowed to say the thought, the thought will just not happen anymore, the brain will go dead. i feel that very soon, we as a people (not excluding our rulers or police or mosque sheikhs) will be brain dead. what brought all this up? this:
http://www.7iber.com/2010/01/websites-and-the-publication-law/#disqus_thread
http://www.black-iris.com/

humita

2010-01-15T22:25:00.002+02:00

the humita was a disaster. (if you have no idea what this is about, kindly refer to the previous post)

details: at the end i decided to make my own dish inspired from the humita. so in a pan with some hot oil i stirred in a chopped onion, rushed garlic, tomato, so red bell peppers, and some pumpkin. in parallel i added hot water to the grits and mixed it in with 2 eggs and cottage cheese and added to the soft pumpkin mix and cooked for a long time adding salt as desired. it tasted good but i needed more, i wanted it to look exciting, since i did not do the corn husk thing. i decided to shape them into hamburger like discs and cook them on hot oil but it turned out they do not hold, they do taste nice fried but do not look so nice. we ate the humita wannabe recipe concoction, but it did not do it. will have to try again. later.

traumatised z.

eating disorder

2010-01-08T23:26:00.005+02:00

do we all suffer from one form of eating disorder or another? a love hate multi layered complex relationship with one of the most popular, rather basic, direly necessary acts: eating. what is your eating disorder?

never eating in public, eating too fast for anyone to see or you to count, eating too slow, a must smoke a cigarette right when everyone sat for dinner, chocolate bars swallowed down like a fix in the car after shopping, sneaking snacks in the dark in front of the fridge, if eaten directly from the pot it does not count, a sense of repulsion from food, or people who eat, or the act of eating, obsessions obsessions....

but, then if this is such a daily act, necessary for survival, us equipped with taste buds and cravings, why is the act of eating so complicated? sure, not for all of you out there, but for many, for most of the people i can think of.

if there was no weight issue. say, hypothetically--i know it is hard, there was no such thing as fat or thin, as skinny or heavy, there was no value attached to body form, would eating be such an issue?

of course, i cannot answer this question, with weight being such an issue after all. but i am thinking a lot of the stress over eating would be elevated. so i imagine.

now, hoping to end on a more manageable note, i will tell you a story: on a far away island, i was looking for semolina (farina) to make hareeseh as a dessert for christams, however, i could not find the main ingredient so i substituted it with grits, which did not really work that well to be honest. however, i just thought i am going to use the grits instead of the corn in the dish called humita which i ate only once in argentina in tilcara and loved it. in general it is a dish made of hard corn cooked together with pumpkin, onions, goat cheese, and sugar and served inside the leaves of the corn ears (those have a name but do not know what it is). yummy yum yum.

humita: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humita

grits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grits

will keep you posted.
z.

lentils, so much potential

2010-01-05T06:35:00.003+02:00

hello! and happy new year!

i have been thinking that a lot of people cook lentils and in hundreds of forms, so why do we limit ourselves (our region-jordan and neighbours) to lentil soup? do not get me wrong, lentil soup is amazing, wow, some lemon juice, a lot of cumin, some toasted bread, some raw onions, some green chillies, heavenly. however, lentils offer so much more. i mean in a country that is not exactly rich, with such cheap (relatively) lentils and vegetables, we need to have incorporate lentils into our daily cooking more seriously and with all the protein it offers, we do not need the meat so much (do not panic!).

after i have eaten several dishes made using lentils and i really enjoyed them i decided to venture into using lentils to invent some new dishes, inspired by the indian cuisine, vegan cooking and khadija.
so, today i made lentils with tomatoes
i sort of mixed the essence of lentil soup with gallayet bandoura (tomato in the pan-a popular dish), how does it work?
in one pan, heat some olive oil, cook some chopped garlic cloves and then add chopped tomatoes (medium size) and cook while moving around every once in a while.
wash some orange lentils (cracked lentils) until the water is relatively clear, place in a pan (a deep one) soak in water and add cumin and salt. cook until half cooked then add the relatively cooked tomatoes, stir and cook until the lentils are fully cooked soft. add fresh parsley leaves and mix in.

serve hot but i have a feeling it would be good at room temperature too.

for more on lentils, check:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentil
for one recipe to make lentil soup, check:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px6bx3bOcJA

(and by the way the cumin helps reduce or push out the bloating caused by lentils-- good luck!)

sa7a w 3afyeh.

salad سلطة

2010-01-03T23:12:00.004+02:00

you know how some people would say: have some salad, it is good for you.
this gets on my nerves so bad. i do not like eating something solely because it is good for me. i want it to be yummy. when it comes to salad, fine, the fact that it is healthy is a bonus, but in essence: eat some salad, it is delicious.

i like to eat salad everyday, the day i go without it i miss it, which means i need to be creative to make new salads all the time. salads are a mix and match of a pool of ingredients, a subtle change every time makes a new one.

yesterday i made one that i liked:
spinach salad:
wash and dry fresh spinach leaves (it would be good to chose nice leaves). in butter, sautee some onions until brown, and fry some pine nuts, when they cool down, mix into the spinach leaves. in a small bowl make the dressing: lemon juice, olive oil, salt, hot green chilies, coriander leaves and mix into the salad.

another one i make which is a quickie:
lettuce salad:
chop green lettuce leaves (known as romaine lettuce) wash well and dry
chop green onions and mix into the lettuce
the dressing: olive oil, lemon juice and salt.

always, unfailingly refreshing and yummy.
you can always add some rocca (arugula, rocket) leaves, or parsley or tomatoes, etc.

do you think that salad come from the arabic سَلطة and if it does do you think there is any relation to the word سُلطة meaning authority? same root?? interesting.

also check a cool film by the title salata balady سلطة بلدي http://salatabaladi.blogspot.com/

za7tain.

happy new year

2010-01-01T23:59:00.003+02:00

new year resolution?

i do not know. meanwhile, i want to try new foods. i want to enjoy everything i eat. i love my body. i will add some exercise.

happy 2010 everyone
every where

zareefeh.

yalanjee 2

2009-12-26T05:09:00.004+02:00

aloha!

this blog post continues the story of cooking yalanjee which started in the previous post, so, collectively olita and i sat down and for the first time in our lives and حفرنا scooped out the interiors of one dozen aubergines (to be honest, i have a remote memory of doing this with either my mother, grandmother, aunt or stranger a long time ago, maybe one or two... hazy), stuffed them and arranged them alongside one large stuffed tomato in a pan. the pan was first prepared with one layer of potatoes and another of onion rings at the bottom, we three quarters submerged the contents in water, added some all spice and cardamoms and set it on.

we turned off the fire under the large pan after it has been boiling for over an hour; when the rice looked fully cooked and the aubergine all soft and almost melting, it was time to test the result. it turned out okay but not so much yalanjee, not auntie laila's yalanjee nor my taita's. which was okay, after all we were on a far away island making do with whatever ingredients we had. soon all 12 aubergines disappeared, always a good sign.

would i ever cook yalanjee without the presence of pomegranate syrup (dibs rumman) or mint leaves ... never. BUT yes, i will stuff aubergines with all sorts of things. start with rice and you have endless possibilities and flavours, whatever vegetables that seem to work together, some chick peas (olita's friend's mother always added chick peas), tofu/soy, celery and tomatoes, cilantro and garlic. add soy sauce and rice vinegar, or chicken broth, or tomato sauce... endless.

i have not told you this yet, but i have utmost respect for aubergines. they are just perfect. the fullest vegetable there is. it is a school of its own. they are amazing and you can trust them with any dish- rich flavour guaranteed.

oh! a question that sort of suggested itself was: what happens to interiors of the aubergines when cooking stuffed aubergines?? the stuffed zucchini is always served with a delicious side dish of lub el kussa (zucchini interiors) cooked with olive oil and salt spiced up with garlic and dried mint leaves. however, it seems the aubergine interior is discarded, why? is it too bitter? i thought i would try.

i cooked the aubergine interiors in a pan with heated olive oil and two cloves of garlic, a sprinkle of salt too, when soft and cooked, i transferred them into a bowl and mixed in some tahini and yogurt with a squeeze of lemon and it is just as nice as any mutabbal (baba ghannouj).

(secret: i tried to make hareeseh (popular dessert) using corn grit (instead of semolina since i could not find any) and failed miserably. thank you dana for the recipe though and i will try it again in the future for sure). since you are so curious: hareeseh: mix semolina (or farina) with yogurt and butter, flatten on try that is laced with tahini, decorate with almond haves or pine nuts, and bake for half an hour in 180 degrees Celsius. meanwhile make some sugar syrup (atter) by adding 1.5 cup of sugar to one cup of water in a pan, when boiled squeeze two drops of lemon, cook for a minute or two. turn off and add a small spoon of orange blossom. when the haresseh is backed and all golden (either cool down and soak in hot sugar syrup or soak in cold sugar syrup when hot). serve at room temperature.

if you know what happens to the aubergine interiors, please tell me.
also, if you know the missing ingredients from my taita's yalanjee recipe, kindly inform me (check previous blog post)

salamat,
zareefeh.

12 ingredients in yalanjee

2009-12-23T09:27:00.005+02:00

my taita (grandmother) made the best yalanjee there ever was and i remember she said it requires 12 ingredients to make it. towards the end of her life, this juicy succulent sweet/sour dish of vegetable-stuffed aubergines, zucchini and rolled grape vines shifted a little from the original damascene flavour to one inclined to the sri lankan, as she was spending less and less time in the kitchen giving more autonomy to the sri lankan house keeper of 20 years.

i will try to remember taita's 12 ingredients:
1. rice
2. fresh tomatoes
3. olive oil
4. pomegranate syrup دبس رمان.
5. salt
6. ground pepper
7. fresh parsley
8. fresh green chilies
9. aubergines (zucchini or grape vine leaves--not sure this ingredient counts among the 12)
10. ..... (maybe all spice)?
11. ..... (maybe lemon juice)?
12. oh i remember! and mint leaves

on a far away island, i decided to try and make a dish of aubergine yalanjee (i have not seen the zucchini as we know it and rolling grape vine leaves requires a degree of mastery i do not have). i started making the yalanjee today (will continue tomorrow) modified according to what i found available in the fridge and on this island faraway from yalanjee land. i would have been able to finish it today and serve it cold tomorrow if we did not go and see Amreeka, the feature film by cherien dabis. in the film, a woman who has been in the usa for 15 years takes her just-arrived-immigrant sister to an arabic food store in their american city as an outing to fight the homesickness they feel. later they cook magloubet zahra translated as upside down cauliflower.

while i feel no homesickness whatsoever, on the contrary i feel sick from home or home sickened, i still like to experiment and cook some of the food from home, especially for a curious audience.

my modified yalanjee goes as follows:
mix washed white rice (about 2 glass fulls), small dices carrots (just a little) and green zucchini (one medium size), chopped parsley (a handfull), green onions (4-5), crushed garlic (4), + black pepper, salt, nutmeg, and olive oil.

i will continue tomorrow with digging into the 12 medium size aubergines (حفر الباذنجان): with a special sort of knife you create long wholes along the length of the aubergine by scooping out the contents of it while maintaining the shell intact (the challenge here is keeping a thin shell of the aubergine intact). stuff the aubergine with the rice and vegetable mix.

cover the bottom of the pan with slices of potatoes and some onion rings too for extra flavour.

place the aubergines in order in a pan, add water just till the tip of the aubergines so they are covered, add more salt and spice (some cardamom seeds, all spice...), some garlic cloves and white vinegar and lemon juice. traditionally, the dish is sour because of the pomegranate syrup but need to be replaced here because i could not find any in regular store, i think replacing it with some tamarind juice or paste could work too.

place some tomato rings within the aubergines for further sour taste.

press under a china plate and cook. when cooked, turn off the heat. use the remaining sauce, which will be full of flavour, alongside the dish.

although rich and popular, this dish is considered a side dish or starter. serve cold.

i will tell you the results and maybe show you some pictures tomorrow.

salamat,
zareefeh

msakhan مسخّن

2009-12-18T11:22:00.006+02:00

before i talk about how i cooked my first msakhan today, let us get the elephant out of the room: is msakhan a palestinian or a jordanian dish? i say it is from tallouzah. for more on this serious regional conflict matter, kindly refer to history of the nationalist cuisine, by Sykes-Picot publishers.

so, i cooked my first msakhan today and the ironic thing is, i cooked it on a far away island where papaya and passion fruit grow on the side of roads and very few know what sumac is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumac

basically my girlfriend and i wanted to offer our hosts a taste of our cuisine. a bomb of a dish (as it is expected of us to act a wee bit terroristy any way).

however, i had "natives" to compare my experiment with their mother's tradition and they say it qualifies. and i am happy.

recipe:

* i made reference to mimicooks.com, a video on youtube for advice on how to make this traditional dish, it is in both arabic and english. Thank you Mimi. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0mAHQhKHk4

2 chickens cut into large pieces. wash with salt and vinegar. marinate in some olive oil, pepper, salt and vinegar. boil in water with an onion cut into four pieces, a couple of garlic cloves, salt and pepper, some nutmeg, a few cardamom heads cracked, and half a cup of white vinegar. take chicken out, lay on oven tray, sprinkle a dash of sumac on top and some olive oil, place in oven to give them a nice tan.

in parallel, chop (into small pieces) a lot of onions and i mean at least a kilo. place in a pan with a lot of olive oil (a glass full) and the chicken stock from boiling the chicken, salt, and all spice and a lot of sumac (4-5 table spoon fulls). cook until seriously tender, maybe an hour.

bread. the bread needs to be like the taboun (check image, taken from ikbis.com) or flat bread, somewhat thick and oven backed sort, or whatever similar that is available. soak the loaves in the cooked onions. then lay on oven tray and lay the chicken on top, put in oven for a nice golden effect.

bring out and sprinkle with some fried almonds and pine nuts.

as a side dish, yogurt or yogurt cucumber salad (yogurt, garlic and chopped cucumber) accompanies this dish. to tone down the acute onion effect. and as auntie laila says: when msakhan wear a jacket.

a cup of tea with mint leaves after will make it perfect. maybe a small slice of knafeh. drooling.

image of msakhan is courtesy http://blog.sweetestmemories.com/pix/msakhan1.jpg

sa7tain,
zareefeh

control

2009-12-17T09:59:00.004+02:00

the problem is, i cannot seem to stop eating. i eat and then i want more. why? where is this endless desire coming from. the process should be simple, hungry, eat, full, stop. span of many hours (work, read, watch tv, shop, run around, socialise, etc.) then again, hungry, eat, full, stop and so on. sometimes i feel a serious craving for a cheese sandwich right after a lunch of grilled chicken breast, salad and grilled vegetable. there are days when i have breakfast three times and then lunch and dinner. something is wrong. what is it?

of course i have my own theories:
1. a childhood diet too early caused a life time of fear that food will be taken away
2. a fear that tomorrow brings in a diet so there is a need to store up
3. a hole in the stomach (emotional or physical)
4. addiction to the sugar, caught in a vicious cycle, blood levels up and down
5. a need to chew and swallow: freud?

i am not sure. this is out of control.

i have tried to convince myself that i can eat anything i want, to suggest to my psyche that there is no need to be afraid, food will always be available. i believe diets do not work, so even if i decide to act upon my desire to loose weight i have to find an alternative way to elimination of food. there are days when i just cannot stop.

do you know what i am talking about? i am sure some of you have a similar issue (do you call it a problem?)? what is your theory? and what do you do about it?

i gotta go, i need to scoop some yogurt and eat some fruit (it has been ten minutes since dinner),

looking forward to hearing from you out there,

your truly,
zareefeh

guri guri

2009-12-15T09:21:00.006+02:00

Aloha!

our sense of taste is often influenced by the situations, conditions and associations. one of my famous theories for example is: a bigger sandwich tastes better that a small one. it is also known that most people find their mother's version of any particular dish the best "my mother's mfarrakeh (friend potatoes and minced meat) is the best." and beer on the beach on a hot day is like no other beer.

today, on a shopping hopping trip, we stopped for a quick break to get some guri guri (what's with the hawaiians repeating the words?), what is guri guri? check:
http://onokinegrindz.typepad.com/ono_kine_grindz/2005/02/emguri_guriem.html

so this sort of ice-cream is a local treat and it was fun to eat. i asked for one pineapple scoop (an easy choice between pineapple or strawberry) a refreshing mix of frozen fruits and fruit shake, rather familiar, but specifically guri guri. goodie goodie.

flavours are very much affected by the memories associated with them. i could not wait to taste rukab ice cream in ramallah when i went to visit in 1993, my friends told me so much about it, "better than any of the 32 baskin robbins flavours," they promised. it came in four options: brown, yellow, pink and white, the ice cream stretches far when scooped out from the container, the man pressed it on a cone with his thumb, it was good, but certainly glorified by a collective memory of childhood hot summer days (it was yummy girls, really).

is kit kat the best chocolate ever, or my grandmother's fig jam, is it like no other jam ever ever? probably not. but no jam comes with her brown hands, and those secret moments when she placed a sweet honeyed fig right from the jar.

oreo cookies with special topping, salmon sashimi adventures, manageesh from alwatanyeh bakery (pizza like cheese pastry), hareerah (hot milk with semolina and sugar), ruz b-foul (rice with green flava beans), ka3ik el 3eed (holiday bread), warak 3inab (rolled grape vine leaves) with meat castaletta and a dash of ghee, hamburgers and french fries, tea with lots of sugar and fresh mint leaves... some of my favourite food items, these are childhood friends playing in the afternoon, sisters watching television, teenage best friends sleeping over, long weekends with the lover watching television, aunts wiping bleeding knees, mothers making winter evenings warm, grandmothers transforming fantasies into reality, grandfathers playing cards, these foods are spiced with memories and mixed with longing, made delicious with reminders of happiness and symbolic of pleasures.

i have a strong craving for ruz b-foul (rice with fresh flava beans) a dish made of rice mixed with fresh green flava beans and minced meat sprinkled with fried almonds and/or pine nuts, popular in my region. my grandmother cooked it (with serious kitchen-staff support), she called those who did not like this dish majadeeb (fools) and it was not a dish for kids, it sort of had an adult flavour to it, so my sister and i remained majadeeb for a while, i think my sister is still one until this day (she became a vegetarian before acquiring a taste for it). the point is, i would really like a dish full of it, with some yogurt on the side and a tomato salad. secretly, i feel, if i am eating it, tasting exactly as it did on a friday lunch at 2 sharp, the sun seeping through the windows, my grandmother will come back to life, and i promise to eat real slow.

Flava beans are: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63508199@N00/2719612646/
the closest i could find to the ruz b-foul dish is (in arabic): http://www.qassimy.com/lesson/lesson-4803-1.html
(in english): http://www.arabicnews.com/recipes/FoolmaaRizz.html

sa7tain,
zareefeh

my body my buddy

2009-12-12T23:41:00.009+02:00

this is it. khalas. i want to be best friends with my body from now on. i am in my thirties and these are the best days of my life and my body is my body is my body and i love it.

what happened?
i went to the nude beach. i have been wanting to sun bathe those cheeks for years and years. and finally made it and it was the best day of my life. a fat girl in her thirties stretching out happy on the hot sand, running against the strong ocean waves (you can imagine the shaking and the wobbling) freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... smack face down under a wave.

there were people around, mostly in the buff, old and young, muscular and god knows what, and, i felt beautiful. everything exposed, all the dark blotches, the stretch marks, the hair, the pimples, the cellulite (everyone has cellulite, i swear i saw some across Steffi Graf's thighs), all of it bare and out there.

yesterday i was lying on the most prefect beach i have ever seen (the one where you keep your swim suit on), across from stunning ocean waters watching a 13 year old girl playing and running, and i thought "i never ran so freely in my life." not when i was a kid and not now. i grew up in a society that does not allow it, it does not tell you not to run so much as it clips your wings, you do not know how to run so freely so unconsciously so light. and add to it the weight of an over weight child, forget it.

my body will never be prettier or younger or lighter, and you know what: i love it and i am going to stop complaining and when i look into the mirror i will see it on a nude beach in the sun and wind blows against it, with it, through it and i feel good. this calls for a celebration: a bottle of cold local beer and blue corn chips.

how is this bog post on food? it is about weight and the body and the overweight. Conclusion: love the body, love the weight and love the food. eat and be merry.

salamat steffi,
zareefeh.

stomach ache

2009-12-11T08:41:00.006+02:00

hello,

despite the fact that my stomach aches i ate throughout the day. i often confuse pain or discomfort in my stomach with hunger pangs. i had breakfast and lunch -- twice and now i will have dinner. very few things in life are more fun than eating, and often things are more fun if joined with the activity of eating (eating while watching a film, while cooking, while sun bathing, and an extra bite here and there, oh so much fun). my solutions to dealing with this pain are (while you consume whatever you were planning to in the first place):
1. consume things that are soft for the stomach like yogurt
2. drink sage tea
3. watch films while you eat, it kind of feels like you did not eat, so the pain is there although you did not eat.
4. close that mouth.

i was biting through a toasted feta on brown toast with fresh tomatoes sandwich while reading that we have a new prime minister. we often get new prime ministers and just as soon as they form a cabinet and start to work, they change again. is that a problem? i do not know. it is good to try new cuisines, at the same time learning the intricacies of one cuisine and perfecting it has its good points too. however, whatever, what's a new chef? (the recipes are all the same), our government is one big fast-food kitchen, dependable, very few surprises, kills your curiosity and is really bad for your health. You will know the kitchen if you've been there. in a patriarchal monopoly of a country, is there real space for good food?

i realised today that i have been trying to make the perfect tomato sauce for the past five years; every time i try something different. oraib once told me "errmm, sorry i do not mean to interfere, but take the lid off the tomato pan, you want the vapor out." today, i cooked the sauce in a presto cooker (pressure cooker) and kept the lid on and the sauce was more saucy but just as intense. it works that way too, oraib, okay. it is a simple sauce this one: a little bit of olive oil, a couple of cloves of garlic, chopped tomatoes, salt and sugar and cook for as long as you can wait--simple, true but endless variations. note, i add fresh crushed garlic and chopped cilantro to the pasta when cooked.

i am now on Maui (one of the islands of Hawaii) visiting, so i am living in a grandmother's house with some of her stuff still here, including her dentures. i used her presto cooker today, silver and heavy. my grandmother (a.k.a. taita) had a green pressure cooker and as Ghalib's grandmother warned him, mine did too, to stay away from the presto at the moment she opens it, it could burst and kill you. this whole tomato sauce in the presto today brought back delicious memories, and made us wonder where did the pressure cooker go?

hello taita,
zareefeh

my life's obsession: food

2009-12-09T21:48:00.004+02:00

i think i finally figured it out, what i want my blog for: this is a blog about food. a food blog.

i am excited.

i confess here that my obsession with food is starting to grow and extend to my art work, writing and general conversation and i have accordingly with the aid of my manager decided to direct this obsessive energy into something other than calorie count. rather than be consumed by my passion for food, consume food with passion... (is this a hot sentence or what?)

after i just dipped a chocolate chip cookie from a box into my coffee and ate it, i am ready to blog my first post. there is so much i would like to talk about here such as food recipes, food relations, love of food, art projects, i am hungry now.

basically i spend most waking hours thinking of food, making it, eating it, complaining of the pain caused by it. i have a sweet tooth which i am trying to break, fighting to stop, aiming to control, hoping to ignore and i seriously love chocolates, ice creams and potato chips. (i know it is salty but i love it too).

however, i also enjoy salads, fresh vegetables, meat, chicken, sea food, fruits (fresh and dry), coffee, tea, cereals, nuts and water and trying new things. very often, nothing competes with a hot halloumi sandwich in arabic bread (ola would add tomatoes to that).

i think japanese food (the little i know in restaurants, never been to japan) is superior as if the cuisine evolved further than the rest. i love arabic food in restaurants and homes, but italian is my most fun to have always ready to consume food.

the basic theory i have (having gone on diets, lost and gained weight, cooked and ate, life time struggle with calories, many of you know what i am talking about) is eat and enjoy life.

how? eat everything but the truth is, there is no way around some serious control, especially after you hit your thirties (maybe before, too late now), you have to know your food, what is good what is bad and why, what is too much and what is you-can-eat-as-much-as-you-want.

how about a small recipe for this post:
bamyeh bilzeit (okra in oil):
what's okra? check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okra
fresh okra (cut off the pointed tips, do not cut too deep into the actual flesh of the okra) say half a kilo
4-6 tomatoes (chop into small pieces, the smaller the faster)
6 garlic cloves
one onion (optional)
olive oil
salt
sugar
fresh green chili (amount, depending on how hot they and you are)
1 lemon

heat a little bit of oil in a large pan (little = 1 table spoon or 2)
add all the okra and sprinkle some salt and a small dash of sugar (my grandmother said sugar keeps the green colour nice)
keep moving as the okra cooks
meanwhile, heat a little olive oil in a separate pan, add 4 of the garlic cloves and the chopped onion and some salt (never too much salt) and if you are into the hot stuff, add the chilies here. move around until soft.
add the tomatoes stir and reduce heat
when okra is soft, tomatoes are cooked add one to the other and cook more (arabic food is always extra cooked)

when okra starts to burst and is soft, turn off heat, add 2 crushed garlic cloves and mix. maybe served hot or cold with rice or bread. next time for variation (delicious) add cilantro with the crushed garlic at the end. according to my grandmother, serve cold with bread and fresh onions and more green chilies. when placed in serving plate, squeeze half the lemon juice on top and use the other half for decoration.

bye for now.

Hello World!

2008-11-08T18:19:00.001+02:00

it is early evening here in Amman, Jordan and this is officially my blog.