recipes
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The Golden Harvest in Post Production

The olives are still too green for oil. But if they want them for table olives, they’ll do okay. Continue reading
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Nut Cases in Jordan
In the Red Sea port of Aqaba, you can relive the romance of Lawrence of Arabia’s adventures on and off film. You’ll discover the CIA-esque intrigue of being able to see Israel/Palestine, Egypt and Saudi Arabia from the same spot. Indeed, it is a grand opportunity to take in a vista of all of the Continue reading
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The Green Food Season
The Levant is among the many places across the world where spring means baby lambs, tree blossoms and the new buds that will produce precious bounty in a two or three months. It’s also the green food season—when winter’s Swiss chard, dandelion greens, endive, escarole and so many other leaves recognized for being wiltable in Continue reading
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Poetic Pomegranates
Nothing like a Rumi poem about pomegranates to sum up what is hip in literature and food circles today. Both these Middle Eastern imports—Rumi and pomegranates– have gone from near obscurity to near cliché levels in Western cultural hotspots over the past few years. Yet another reason for the pomegranate to laugh in Rumi’s poem. Continue reading
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Just Peachy in Jordan
In Jordan, my mother’s garden has a peach tree that doesn’t stop giving at this time of the year. She hands out bags of peaches to neighbors and relatives and anyone who passes by on the street. She makes peach jam with whatever peaches she can save, and still she mourns the peaches that fall Continue reading
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Recipe From The Night Counter: Kibbeh
For all special occasions, Fatima prides herself on the kibbeh she makes. That makes her like many women in the Middle East who have mastered the art of this rather complex food. In my family, like so many extended families, no party is ever complete without a platter of my Aunt Suad’s kibbeh, which is Continue reading
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LAUNDRY DAY FOOD FROM THE NIGHT COUNTER: MAJADERA
In The Night Counter, Amir promises his grandmother Fatima that for dinner he is not eating quiche, or gay pie, as he explains it to her, but rather majadera, a food with a whole lot less glamour to it than quiche and a whole lot more gas. But dress it down or dress it up, Continue reading
