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I know I haven't been able to post anything about my recent trip to Israel yet but appropriately, I figured I'd start with the food. Wow was it good! I was in Jericho, which is on the West Bank and almost exclusively Palestinian. I fell in love with the people, the culture, and of course, the food. Ever since we got home, I've been on a middle eastern kick, making all kinds of dishes that have names I can't pronounce and spices I've never heard of. One of my favorites was a dish called m'sakhan. It was my favorite partly because it was served on my birthday over there, partly because it had an ingredient in it that I truly had never tasted before in my life (sumac, yum!), and partly because it came atop crispy fried bread. It was truly amazing. So I had to re-create it. I assure you did not do justice to what I had over there but it was still pretty stinkin good. I took of a picture of it over there and then a picture of mine. I'm trying to decide if I should post them both or just the one from over there. It would be a good laugh to see them both side by side. (Think "Pinterest fail" pictures.)


Anyways, I've found that searching for middle eastern recipes is a little difficult. First, I don't even know where to start. Everything I had was delicious but I couldn't recall the name of anything. I don't speak a word of Arabic. Wait, let me take that back. I learned how to say "thank you" and "kisses" while I was there. (We were working with adorable little kiddos, hence the "kisses.") Second, Arabic to English seems a little random. For example, the dish I mentioned above I have seen spelled m'sukan, m'sakan, musakhan, etc, etc. Google searching has not yielded great returns. Lastly, I don't know if you know this but Americans tend to be a little...how to I say this lightly....misinformed about the Arabic people. That is a blog post in and of itself for another day but suffice it to say that I haven't yet met too many Americans as infatuated with Arabic culture as I am. But don't worry, I'm working on changing that.


Tonight was searching again, in vain, for a recipe called maklobeh (or mahklobeh, makloubeh, etc) and I stumbled upon a blog that made me salivate. It is called Chef in Disguise and it is beautifully written by a Jordanian woman named Sawsan. If you get a chance and have interest in checking out a mew food culture, go spend some time on her blog. You won't be disappointed, both from the food aspect and the glimpse into a culture that we rarely (if ever) get to experience over here. Enjoy.