Where the shops have a name

Tags

Farmers' market, fresh, Living in the Middle East, shopping, trust

One of the things I love about living in this part of the world is that I buy my bread at the bakery and my vegetables at the market.

Shops have different names and they sell different products. No more sterile shopping in a well lit supermarket aisle, pushing a huge trolley into somebody else’s huge trolley like in some manic game of bumper cars. No bored cashier with a badge at the end of the chain waiting to make my plastic wrapped prize click.

That baker is a charmer. He smiles widely every time I go in and claims his day has just got massively better for seeing me. One time I walked in while the staff were having lunch and they all insisted I join.

The guys in the market sing above their shiny, fragrant, fresh produce. You buy your tomatoes in a whirl of song, laughter, energetic entreaties and colour.

One day I went to the corner shop and didn’t have any change. The owner went out to change my banknote leaving me alone in his shop. Another customer walked in, took a packet of cigarettes from the shelf and left the money on the counter.

Where the shops have many names trust is just one of them.

Happy Valen-denial?

Tags

celebration, Cheey, Dating, irrelevant, love, Valentine's

So the big pink V has visited the building 4 times today.

1. Its first appearance was early in the morning. Interesting piece in the paper about how the price of flowers goes up 12-fold today. And how most people think V day is an alien, imported, irrelevant, inappropriate celebration. Most restaurants are flooded with bookings.

2. Then I read a few blogs – grand total of 3 out of 4 entries on the subject.

Long story short – V day is an irrelevant, commercial, nauseatingly pink exercise, who needs it, love is or should be celebrated every day bla bla.

3. At the gym all the machines had pink ribbons and the trainers were wearing red. At the end I even got a small present, which is either a very small grater or a very big nail file, I can’t decide.

4. Then a guy who sits behind a small folding desk in the street asking people if they need a passport application wished me a very energetic “Happy Valentine, sir!”

So now that I have joined the long line of people who write about how the pink V is so not worth writing about, may I wish you all a happy irrelevant V day and may your graters (or files) carry all the joy and chocolate they can take.

The eternal beauty of falafel

Tags

Cheap food, falafel, Middle Eastern food, street food, Vegetarian

I fear that my post yesterday didn’t do justice to the all time street genius of all Middle East food: falafel.

It is quick, it is cheap, it is delicious. And it is everywhere.

Falafel is a deep fried ball made from ground chickpeas (I remember the first time I ever had one and couldn’t for the life of me decide what it was).

Believed to have originated in the Coptic community of Egypt as a replacement for meat during Lent, its glorious career as king of versatile street food has since expanded all over the Middle East and beyond.

Guys like my friend in this picture have the special gift.

His hands move at mind blowing speed  as more and more golden-green balls of culinary joy make their way into the world.

Just like these ones, which landed on my table last night and were gratefully chomped away.

(More about that beautiful centre piece- a tahini kofta) in a future post. 

Middle Eastern Mezze – my ultimate top 5

Tags

Arabic food, food, Hummus, Mezze, Middle East, Mutabal, Starters

One of the joys of living in the Middle East is unlimited access to mezze.

Mezze are starters which, in this part of the world, are as as varied and colourful as they are incredibly tasty.

They make your mouth water, your heart leap with joy and any main course pale into insignificance.

And (with considerable difficulty in choosing and no ranking order) here is my top 5:

1. Hummus with meat- nothing beats a place of fresh hummus with juicy pieces of charcoal grilled beef on top. Heaven.

2. Shanklish- aged cheese with finely chopped tomatoes, onion and olive oil. Sharp and delicious.   

3. Mutabal- roasted aubergine salad. Great all time starter.

4. Makdus – pickled baby aubergines, stuffed with walnuts and sun dried peppers. Unreal.

5. Kibbeh – beef meatballs, fried or roasted. Hearty.

There is much more out there, of course.

But these five have a special place in my heart (and have featured so prominently in my menu of late that the 6 of us practically live together in joyous harmony and ignored caloric counts).

Making friends

Tags

food, friendship, kindness of strangers, life

It was a chilly February morning and we had just got off the bus in a small mountain town.

It was Friday, a day most people spend indoors with their families so the streets were dead.

My friend and I started our journey through the town maze, fleetingly eyed by the occasional young boy coming back from the grocer’s or a shop keeper smoking his cigarette in front of the shops.

We passed a bakery and, as I instantly fainted with longing for a big fresh loaf, had to continue our journey with massive flaps of fresh bread in tow.

After an hour of going up and down winding little streets lined with old Ottoman architecture we decided to stop for a cup of coffee.

Small place, 2 or 3 tables, just us and the owner.We ordered coffee and he disappeared behind the bar. Minutes later he emerged with coffee, water and a bowl of fresh hummus: “You have bread. You need something to go with it.”

Our quick snack finished, we made to leave. No amount of begging swayed him.

We were not to pay, we were guests in his city and his shop and that’s how things were going to stay.

To this day, that was the best hummus with bread I’ve ever tasted.