Yallah Middle East 2.0

[Bosco 1]

Halal here is actually cheaper than the grocery store, unless the store is having a good sale - even then, the halal price is about the same. The butcher also tends to knock even more of the price since we buy in large quantities. It is crazy but the man gives me a much better price when I go in alone than if I go in with my husband.

The only real issue is that it isn't as convenient - the store is farther and you have to remember to defrost in advance, otherwise we are eating lentils for dinner Eating out is another limitation.

Rebecca

[cbd2cai 0]

yes, I think I am lucky to be living near a few ME groceries where I can get halal meat. I already bought some frozen halal sausages because of the sausage and pepper dish that Ahmed prepared. But I have told him he might be living on frozen Kofta and fried potatoes for awhile if he doesn't want to eat what I will fix!!! Oh, a tuna sandwiches! LOL, he won't eat any fish other than canned tuna . . . imagine that!! So I am stocking up on tuna since I spotted some on sale.

I hope that I can get him to expand his food choices since I like so many other foods: Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Indian . . . certainly, he can find something that he likes. I did find good Indian food at the Mena House in Giza, Cairo (Indian owned and operated hotel), but Ahmed says Chinese food in Cairo is bad . . . because Egyptians are cooking it, LOL!! So I didn't have the pleasure of trying any Chinese food there. But I have to admit that even here in the States, there are probably Mexicans working the kitchens behind the scenes . . so Chinese might not be cooking, but I think if the sauces are prepared using a good recipe then that should be OK.

The hardest thing for me to think about giving up . . . pork! I love my Chinese food with pork! and once in awhile I like to have bacon sandwiches . . . of course, now you can get turkey bacon!

So many things to adapt to for me AND Ahmed!!

Catherine

[UmmSqueakster 54]

We don't do zabiha As long as we say bismillah before we eat the meat, DH thinks everything is fine. Our ME grocers's zabiha meat is more expensive then the local supermarket usually. For some reason, they have 99 cent/pound chicken breasts every few weeks that are hard to say no to. Plus, we eat a TON of fish, which doesn't have to be slaughtered in a particular way. I'm telling you ladies (and gents if any males are reading this), brush a little olive oil on some tilapia, rub in some spices, cook for 8 min and you've got a tasty low fat, healthy bit o protien.

Hopefully when my husband gets a job we'll go zabiha. Right now we usually just get bashamell mix, foul and tahini from there.

The hardest thing for me to think about giving up . . . pork! I love my Chinese food with pork! and once in awhile I like to have bacon sandwiches . . . of course, now you can get turkey bacon!

You can also get turkey pepperoni, turkey sausage, and my favorite - turkey ham! The only thing one has to watch out for is what kind of casings sausages are put in. I used to get the Jenni-O brats, but the last time they were on sale, I read the package and found that they were cased in pork As a native Wisconsinite, the two things one cannot live without are beer and brats. I thought I had my brat problem solved, but alas, I'm again on the hunt to find brats that aren't made with pork *sigh*

Edited April 3, 2006 by rahma

[kerewin21 2]

The hardest thing for me to think about giving up . . . pork! I love my Chinese food with pork! and once in awhile I like to have bacon sandwiches . . . of course, now you can get turkey bacon!

Since I was brought up Jewish we never really ate pork; we didn't keep totally kosher, it's just culturally we never ate it.

For Maj he's been in heaven with food because there's so much variety here, and he gets more meat here than he did there (at his house, the whole family would be picking at one scrawny chicken, while here he gets a whole huge chicken breast if he wants). He's definitely going to miss that when he goes home to visit!

I was so worried he wouldn't like the ethnic foods I like, but he loves all of them so far (Thai, Indian, Mexican, Chinese). That's a part of the transition that's been easier than I expected for us. Of course, I will always be compared to his mother in terms of my cooking; his mom's a fabulous cook. There are some things I just can't compete with!

I'm glad Maj hasn't insisted on halal meat, there are several places around here you can get it because where we live there are a lot of people from India but it's so much easier to just go to the supermarket.

[amal 4]

I miss pork terribly!!! He told me that since I am not Muslim that I can still eat pork but he will always ask me not to due to the health reasons. I say.. sure back when prophet Mohammed (pbuh) was prophecizing (is that a word??..u know what i mean) pigs were nasty creatures that ate everything....but now (here) they are kept on clean farms and fed healthy foods so I say they're not as "un-healthy" as they used to be. My argument doesn't hold up coz he just calmly asks me if I can at least try to not eat it. How can I say no to that? I pass by the pork section and drool every time but luckily I've been able to pass it up. I have found the best all beef hot dogs and all beef bologna so that's a plus!! Now if I can find suitable beef sausage I'll be happy. (turkey might be ok but i've tried turkey bacon and it just doesn't match up for me)

amal

[AInfante-Saraireh 0]

I was brought up in the Jewish household also. But now that I am older, I care less what my family thinks of my life. It's my life. I converted to Christianity years, years, and years ago. Anyway, when my father was alive, I remember him despising my first husband because he was Christian and Italian/Mexican/French. Nice combo, ehh? That's why we are divorced today! LOL

I know we need family as well as we need our friends and our love. I wouldn't pay attention to the family part, because in the end, they either get a grip or they don't. Most of the time, they come around. The ones who don't, well they would have found another excuse to argue or not speak to you anyway.

Andrea

[kerewin21 2]

I know we need family as well as we need our friends and our love. I wouldn't pay attention to the family part, because in the end, they either get a grip or they don't. Most of the time, they come around. The ones who don't, well they would have found another excuse to argue or not speak to you anyway.

Well said.

[honeyblonde 0]

Abdel started out saying he would eat anything - food is food. Then he added - I'm from Africa, so I'm supposed to be happy just to eat, right? Now he's developed definite tastes and requests certain things, like brussels sprouts. He was like a kid in a candy store when I put them in the grocery buggy last night.

[kerewin21 2]

Abdel started out saying he would eat anything - food is food. Then he added - I'm from Africa, so I'm supposed to be happy just to eat, right? Now he's developed definite tastes and requests certain things, like brussels sprouts. He was like a kid in a candy store when I put them in the grocery buggy last night.

OMG, Abdel is so precious! He requests brussels sprouts?!?!? Isn't that the legendary food that kids are supposed to HATE?!

[cbd2cai 0]

Abdel started out saying he would eat anything - food is food. Then he added - I'm from Africa, so I'm supposed to be happy just to eat, right? Now he's developed definite tastes and requests certain things, like brussels sprouts. He was like a kid in a candy store when I put them in the grocery buggy last night.

OMG, Abdel is so precious! He requests brussels sprouts?!?!? Isn't that the legendary food that kids are supposed to HATE?!

I know . . . hard to believe that he would eat brussel sprouts . . . cause hardly anyone I know does!!!

Another thing that I tried in Egypt and LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEED . . . . MAHSHI!! I hade the kind made from Cabbage on my first trip to Cairo, then my friend here made the kind with Zucchini . . . YUMMMMM!!! When I told Ahmed how much I liked those . . . he says "I don't like it except with grape leaves" . . . OK, so now we are back to the good old Dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves) that I always get when I go eat "Greek", LOL!!! I think I'll pull out my Greek cookbook next and make him moussaka when he gets here . . . I didn't see it while I was in Egypt, but he actually knows what it is. BUT, he doesn't like lamb either and I love to make it with ground lamb!!! Grrrrrr, like I said before . . . that man is going to be eating lots of kofta and fries with salad!!!

Catherine

[crazyinEgypt 0]

OH I LOVE Mashee!!!! First time I ate it I was in the bathroom for the rest of the day! I have learned to take it easy when eating it now.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

Oh goodness, I had a disaster the one time I tried to make mashi. My husband's friend's wife is a recent immigrant from Egypt so she volunteered to teach me how to make mashi. Everything was going fine until we started to boil them. Mine fell apart and hers stayed nice and neatly rolled. Unfortunatly, the turned out to taste not so hot. Apparently, one should use jasmine rice, not basmati and boil it in some kind of broth, not water. Bleck. Haven't attempted it since.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Rahma... did you try putting a plate on top to weigh it down while cooking ? That helped keep mine together, as I am far from an expert cabbage leaf roller Also I learned that it's important not to "over-stuff"... a little dab'll do ya !

Mahmoud and I use regular long grain rice... but it comes out tasting fine. We don't cook it before mixing it into the stuffing.... we just soak it in water for about half an hour first.

Catherine... I use ground turkey instead of lamb (I won't eat lamb or beef, or pork either.... a lingering aversion left over from my vegetarian days.) I found that turkey works pretty well, but I use a lot of extra spice to compensate because it's rather mild-tasting.... sometimes I mix the plain turkey with a spicy turkey sausage. We got bharat at the local Palestinian grocery, or you can mix up your own.

I have not tried making it with zucchini yet, but I bet it would be excellent. We use the kousa (calabaza squash) because that's the one Mahmoud's mother uses.... it's very similar to zucchini but has a little squattier shape (so it's easier to stuff !) Calabaza is readily available here in South Texas (as it's commonly used in Mexican cuisine) but I don't know if you have it there.

According to my husband, they have a special tool in Palestine for hollowing out the squash. I HAVE to get one of these soon (before my arm falls off.) Hopefully one will arrive in the next care package from the West Bank What do y'all do with all those squash cores ? I just make a squash casserole.

Mahmoud loves the kousa with laban, but I prefer the tomato sauce.... so we have to make 2 batches at once (usually around 20-25 kousa.) He will eat it NON-STOP at every meal (and for snacks) until it's ALL gone.

I plan to to try American country-style stuffed green peppers on him sometime soon and see what he thinks of that.

-MK

[honeyblonde 0]

Wow, you ladies go to so much work! I'm sortof a lazy cook compared to you. I just dump meat in the crock pot, drown it in herbs, spices and seasonings I pour straight from the bottle, add in some chopped up veggies, and pour on some broth. Or, I do the same in a pot on the stove, then when the veggies are tender, add in water and rice and cover until the rice is done. I don't know how you have so much time to prepare such elaborate dishes! Your husbands are so lucky.

Tonight when I got home, Abdel told me he ate 6 habanero peppers with tuna for lunch! He loves the pouches of tuna, but I didn't expect him to eat so many peppers! I had them in a jar of vinegar in the fridge so they wouldn't go bad.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Wow, you ladies go to so much work! I'm sortof a lazy cook compared to you. I just dump meat in the crock pot, drown it in herbs, spices and seasonings I pour straight from the bottle, add in some chopped up veggies, and pour on some broth. Or, I do the same in a pot on the stove, then when the veggies are tender, add in water and rice and cover until the rice is done. I don't know how you have so much time to prepare such elaborate dishes! Your husbands are so lucky.

Tonight when I got home, Abdel told me he ate 6 habanero peppers with tuna for lunch! He loves the pouches of tuna, but I didn't expect him to eat so many peppers! I had them in a jar of vinegar in the fridge so they wouldn't go bad.

Oh my crockpot gets plenty of time in the spotlight, too ! I make the elaborate stuff on the weekend when I have more time... after work, it's usually meals I can turn around fast. Tonight we ate shakshuka (fried eggs and tomatoes... with olives and bread and hummus on the side of course.)

God.... 6 habaneros RAW in one sitting ???!!! I like a few cooked into Jamaican food, but SIX RAW ???!!! Que honcho !!! I am not worthy...

-MK