In My Kitchen April/May
April was a busy month with part of it spent in Jordan. Spring in Jordan is a wonderful time of the year when the air is cool, gentle sun and most places you look at are carpeted with a beautiful green. As soon as we arrived, my good friend Lara told me of a picnic they are arranging forty minutes outside Amman in Madaba. On our little picnic I met a fellow food blogger from Chef Sally Jane– Image of Sally on the barbecue below, cooking her meats. She just moved to Amman and you can visit and see her own view/perspective and experiences of Jordan. One of the heighlights of our Picnic is the Syrian Sheperd we met. The children loved his flock of Sheep.
Another rewarding accomplishment in April was my first published article in Food E Mag. I will post here all my future articles for this wonderful e publication.
Even though our trip was a short one we still managed to do lots and cook more than we do in Dubai as we get more people stopping by to eat. Below are images of the organic market on Fridays in Wild Jordan Cafe. It is a fun gathering for the children. We get our organic eggs and vegetables from the north mountains of Ajloun. I cooked a few things that week like Magda’s Greek Rivani cake. We also got to buy strained goat yoghurt. We roll them into balls, dry them in the fridge and preserve them in olive oil. Labneh balls are a daily staple for us. We smudge it on morning toast or spread inside sandwiches.
Then we cooked few extra things like Greek Vegetable Briam, my grand mother’s Circassian Gash Bitt which I will post about later. Both vegetarian dishes and both delicious. The Gash Bitt is basically lentils cooked into a paste then garnished with hot chilli pepper oil. Very warming and spicy, suitable in the winter months. There were also wild rice stuffed peppers with potatos and foul medames and tuna salad with sausages for dinner one night. Deserts were the fruit crunch and banoffee pie.
We visited a newly opened Palestinian Embroidery Museum in Jordan called Tiraz- it was fascinating to learn about the stitches women wove into their dresses to mark the different stages of their lives. Each village and town had its own distinctive design, colors and textures.
Finally few items in my kitchen this month are three, each 3 kg Valrhona chocolates from my supplier in Jordan. These go into all sorts of deserts and in particular the chocolate scotch bars from Celia’s recipe. Even since my grand mother past away I’ve wanted to take/keep some of her kitchen items so finally gathered the courage to go into her home and take them.
And last but not least I leave you with some images from walking around Amman on a friday morning. If you are wondering about other kitchens around the world please visit Celia’s.
Comments
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Jennifer from Milk and Honey
May 6, 2015
Oh boy. I’m blown away by your post and photos. Just lovely.
chefsallyjane
May 7, 2015
Captures the foodie culture of Amman so well! Thank you for mentioning me and I hope you’re back this way soon so we can share some foodie adventures. Can’t wait to read more!
Glenda
May 7, 2015
Hi Lara, Sounds and looks like you had a great time. I am so glad you decided to take some of your grand mother’s kitchen things. I am sure you will cherish them.
Fiona Ryan (@TIFFINbitesized)
May 8, 2015
Well I can’t believe it myself but I’ve actually been to Madaba! Stayed a couple of nights and met Mr Sawahla – Julia Sawahla’s Uncle (Saffy from Ab Fab) as he plied us with tea and we bought quantities of embroidered items that we did not need. xxx
Ps: I love the look of that simple cake with the coconut on top. Very appealing.
Kavey
May 9, 2015
We had an enjoyable holiday in Jordan many years ago, must be 12-13 years ago now. It was an organised tour so we didn’t get to see much of rural or suburban Jordan, and the food was not the best examples. I’d love to go back on a food-focused visit!
kitchenbutterfly
May 9, 2015
How gorgeoussssss your photos are. And what joy to see S. Especially love the photos of hands at the table xxx
Joanne T Ferguson
May 11, 2015
What a gorgeous post that brightened my day and Jordan is on my bucket list to experience!
Thank you for this month’s IMK view too!
chocolates1974
May 11, 2015
Thank you for stopping by Joanne and for your lovely comment.
missfoodfairy
May 17, 2015
Lots of yummy dishes you’ve made Lara. I know where I’ll be staying if I ever make it to Jordan 😉
Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial
May 29, 2015
How completely wonderful! I love seeing the sheep and the outdoor cooking and the labne balls and those magnificent embroideries! And lucky you – Valrhona chocolate is prohibitively expensive here! I’m sure the butterscotch bars have never been better! 🙂 xxx