The First Week

[ya falaha! 0]

I wouldn't do mouloukhia in a crock pot, if you over cook it it becomes brown and nasty. Chicken takes no time to cook and the mouloukhia should only be simmered not boiled until heated through. If you boil it too rapidly it's bitter and turns brown.

[irahaymeh 0]

I agree with WOM. We did basically everything she mentioned. We also have a couple of Arab food stores; one is run by a family from Yemen, the other one a husband and wife from Jordan. Then we have the Jerusalem Bakery run by Lebanese. So of course, my husband wanted to shop exclusively at these stores. So we shopped together for olives, pita bread from the bakery (he does not like the flat bread here), tea, Arab coffee, and halal meats of course. If meat is not purchased from the halal stores, he won't eat it so now I shop there exclusively.

And, the first day all he wanted to do was eat, shower, then slept all day and through the night.

Take it slow and easy and enjoy your reunion.

[chaishai 1]

Does your hubby like the pita that they make in the US as much as at home? My husband does not and he just informed me tonight that he wants to build one of these in the backyard this weekend

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10948116@N08/2108948091/

Finally! Someone else wants to make a taboun too! I think i said I wanted to do this in the exercise thread. Anyway. YHow does he plan to construct one? We have clay soil here but not clay-ey enough.

Julianna

I will send you pics when he makes one and let you know how he did it.

In the meantime would you tell me where I can buy discount orchids online? Thanks!

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Does your hubby like the pita that they make in the US as much as at home? My husband does not and he just informed me tonight that he wants to build one of these in the backyard this weekend

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10948116@N08/2108948091/

Wow that's a niiiice taboun !! (Hope my husband doesn't get a wild hair to build THAT he's already got our backyard looking like the West Bank with all his stones and terraces )

Most of the tabouns I've seen are sitting right on the ground (at least the ones for home use):

And I've seen some extremely simple ones that just had a circle of stones for the fire and a piece of sheet metal placed over the top (I have a pic of one like that somewhere, but I can't find it right now.)

My scanner isn't working, or I'd post a pic I took inside one of the bakeries in Ramallah -- they had a cool conveyor belt thing that brought the hot pieces of pita down from the oven to where they would cool just a bit and then be bagged up for sale.

But yes, my husband likes the pita bread here just fine. Of course I'm not talking about the packaged stuff from the grocery store (blecchhhh that's absolutely horrible *gag*.) We buy our khubiz fresh-baked at the local Arab market. It's owned by Palestinians, and they make it like "back home," so it's what he's used to -- it's almost as good as his mom makes (and hers is *excellent*.)

Mahmoud prefers the thicker, fluffier pitas, but my favorite is the real thin one they call shrak.

Edited March 15, 2008 by wife_of_mahmoud

[Nasturtium 500]

Julianna

I will send you pics when he makes one and let you know how he did it.

In the meantime would you tell me where I can buy discount orchids online? Thanks!

Great!

Depends on what you want. I thought you said you weren't that into growing them? Which would mean you'd already want them blooming size? The cheaper the orchid, the smaller it is. So I would probably say you're better off with local chain stores like Home Depot, lowes, and Walmart for orchids because of the price versus blooming size... but if you want some great ones for growing then i can definately reccomend a few places. Mine are all blooming now.

[Nasturtium 500]

Mahmoud prefers the thicker, fluffier pitas, but my favorite is the real thin one they call shrak.

Ammar likes the thin ones and I like the thicker ones. he said in their village they had a giant taboun they gave away (it was mobile). Anyway, they would toss the dough like pizza then stick it to the insides of the taboun and it would puff up and fall when done onto the waiting spatula. They also put a stone slab inside theirs to cook some kind of "potted" meal while it was going on.

Personally, I'm in love with this cobb oven:

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2005/09/...ishing-touches/

[chaishai 1]

Does your hubby like the pita that they make in the US as much as at home? My husband does not and he just informed me tonight that he wants to build one of these in the backyard this weekend

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10948116@N08/2108948091/

Wow that's a niiiice taboun !! (Hope my husband doesn't get a wild hair to build THAT he's already got our backyard looking like the West Bank with all his stones and terraces )

Most of the tabouns I've seen are sitting right on the ground (at least the ones for home use):

And I've seen some extremely simple ones that just had a circle of stones for the fire and a piece of sheet metal placed over the top (I have a pic of one like that somewhere, but I can't find it right now.)

My scanner isn't working, or I'd post a pic I took inside one of the bakeries in Ramallah -- they had a cool conveyor belt thing that brought the hot pieces of pita down from the oven to where they would cool just a bit and then be bagged up for sale.

But yes, my husband likes the pita bread here just fine. Of course I'm not talking about the packaged stuff from the grocery store (blecchhhh that's absolutely horrible *gag*.) We buy our khubiz fresh-baked at the local Arab market. It's owned by Palestinians, and they make it like "back home," so it's what he's used to -- it's almost as good as his mom makes (and hers is *excellent*.)

Mahmoud prefers the thicker, fluffier pitas, but my favorite is the real thin one they call shrak.

He actually didnt show me the picture I looked it up, I have NO idea what he has in his head for what this will look like. Fortunately we have nooks and crannies in our backyard that he could put it somewhere out of sight but knowing him he will make it the piece de resistance in the middle of the yard so i will have to watch him while he plans this and do damage control. My husband does not like the flat pitas you get at arab stores here AT all. There is a palestinian restaurant here and a few israeli falafel/shwarma places where they make the big puffy fluffy ones and that is what he likes. He doesnt like to keep buying them there though so wants to make them himself. He also wants to make a larger bread that seems more like indian bread to me that israelis call "laffa" maybe thats the arabic word for it i dont know. anyway it is delicious and i will be excited to have bread like that often im just nervous about what will be built!

[chaishai 1]

Julianna

I will send you pics when he makes one and let you know how he did it.

In the meantime would you tell me where I can buy discount orchids online? Thanks!

Great!

Depends on what you want. I thought you said you weren't that into growing them? Which would mean you'd already want them blooming size? The cheaper the orchid, the smaller it is. So I would probably say you're better off with local chain stores like Home Depot, lowes, and Walmart for orchids because of the price versus blooming size... but if you want some great ones for growing then i can definately reccomend a few places. Mine are all blooming now.

i actually would be interested in growing them now. i wasnt interested in growing ANYTHING back when i was growing my son in my belly lol.... so if you can give me advice on growing from scratch that would be great. in the meantime i went ot wholefoods and they had all kinds of varieties for $12.99 which was kind of expensive but they were gorgeous. so if you can find me lots of exotic stuff i can GROW myself cheaper that would be so wonderful thanks julianna!!!!

[Nasturtium 500]

i actually would be interested in growing them now. i wasnt interested in growing ANYTHING back when i was growing my son in my belly lol.... so if you can give me advice on growing from scratch that would be great. in the meantime i went ot wholefoods and they had all kinds of varieties for $12.99 which was kind of expensive but they were gorgeous. so if you can find me lots of exotic stuff i can GROW myself cheaper that would be so wonderful thanks julianna!!!!

I got several of my good species orchids and such from this place:

http://www.oakhillgardens.com/htm/econ_seedlingspecials.htm

The above link goes to the economy section (where I would reccomend the cattleya group), and you can look around. phals are usually really easy for most people as are catts. Depends on what kind of temps and lighting you have.

[hollyw 0]

I'll have to find some place that has good pita bread 'cause the stuff at our stop n shop isn't even comparable to what he's used to in Egypt. There is a sub shop that bakes their own daily so maybe I"ll ask if I could buy a big bag of those.

I'm not sure what the pita's like in Egypt, but my fav in the boston area is the greek pocketless pita they have at Costco (it's chewy pita). I get that and a big thing of Hannah's Hommus (also my fav hommus) and toast the pita in the toaster oven when I get home. Yummm...