Three flight delays and 24 hours later than expected, we have finally returned to our Hillside home, exhausted and with the first head colds of this winter season. Fortunately, before we left for this past 25 days of travel, I had the foresight to make a big batch of chicken noodle soup and leave it in the freezer.
I did not take a single picture of food or kitchen while we were traveling; it was a strange trip in that our time was spent primarily with other foreigners and without much exposure to the local foods. We were in two countries very different from each other, but partly because of our very gracious hosts and partly because the last half of our trip was during ‘Eid al-Adha (the Feast of the Sacrifice celebrated by Muslims, a holiday period lasting well over a week in the country where we were) we did not even eat much in restaurants, other than several shwarma (I have no idea how to spell that in English) sandwiches.
So, hopefully cooking, writing and photographing will resume in the next few days.
The AmerArab Life 
English: shwarma or shawarma. I spell it ‘delicious’ 🙂
I like shwarma a lot myself, although it depends on how they’re made…different countries have slight variations that can make or break a good shwarma for me. Mayonnaise and too much grease are generally the deal breakers, but I’ve had some really delicious ones made with hummus. There’s an “Iraqi” shwarma restaurant here in Hillside that uses a different kind of bread than the normal thing flat bread, and I think their shwarma are the best I’ve ever had.
sounds good! looking forward to it!
I’m pretty sure it is indeed ‘shwarma’. They have that at a Lebanese restaurant here. They also something called pumpkin kibee, which is fantastic. (Note, when I tried to spell-check kibee, it changed it to kibitzer. Hmm.)
Oh, pumpkin kibee (which I think is usually spelled kibbeh) sounds absolutely divine. I love kibbeh and have been wanting to try and make some myself ever since I got my food processor, although I’ve only done it once (to laughable effects) with a neighbor. (Note: kibbeh doesn’t make it through spell-check either…so much for transliteration!)
Welcome back!
Can`t wait for some good recipes
Yes, now I just have to get back in the swing of cooking again! Nearly a month without planning meals has thoroughly spoiled me.
you’re back!! yay…can’t wait to hear more. 🙂
Hi there…the trip was great. I think you need to start saving up your money to come visit us after we move 🙂 Picturesque scenes abounding in the (hopefully) new home!