Wacky Import

Now that my luggage from the Lebanon trip is all emptied, I was able to sit back and assess what was my wackiest import.

Here it is - a bottle of vinegar.

"Why would you carry vinegar all the way from Lebanon?" you ask.

Well, here are five reasons:

First, it is a special grapes vinegar that is made by the owners of the store I bought it from.

Second, it has a unique taste and smell that opens the appetite and you can use on salads on its own.

Third, if you think reason number too is too sharp for your taste, combining it with peppers and olive oil makes for the best and healthiest dressing one can have.

Fourth, this will motivate me to pick up apple vinegar (which is different than apple cider) on the next trip.

Fifth, it gives me something to write about!

Now you see why I will carry vinegar all the way from Lebanon (wish I can carry olive oil, but those airport security types....).

 

Pupusas

While many think Duffin's Donuts is all about donuts, think again.

It is a 24 hours of a variety of food from different ethnic backgrounds.

Today's choice was a take out of a Salvadorian flavour - pupusas

Pupusas are cornmeal tortillas, hand made and stuffed with beans, cheeses and/or pork.

They take 10 minutes to have the order ready, but it is worth the wait.

Doughy and heavy, a home made taste that's worth a try.

At $2.50 a piece, I had one of each filling - the one with beans and pork is definitely the best.

Served with home made coleslaw and South American sauce to go with it.

A great sunny day take-out lunch.

Duffin's Donuts

1391 East 41st

Vancouver, BC

604-325-5544

Baby Memories

Those beautiful, colourful Swedish made plates were my childhood plates, kept impeccably well by mom.

Mom's idea was to pass on for catsess' feeding, but I have other plans for them.

Tuesdays are 2X Tuesdays at Domino's pizza (Buy one Medium Pizza and get the other one free).

Plates are out of my luggage. It is 2X Tuesdays at Domino's. Time to reunite those plates with children food.

So much fun matching a Pizza to plate colour.

 
More fun was eating from them in my pjs on my lap.

The fun I could have with those plates....thank you mom.

 

Guess & Win A Lebanese Feast

I am back from Lebanon with all sorts of food inspirations (See Eating in Lebanon). So I am offering you readers a chance for one of you to win a Lebanese Feast for 2 at somerville kitchen. You will be able to design your own menu too!

The first person who emails me the correct identification of the above two dessert snacks is the winner. Please email to somervillekitchenwindow@gmail.com

Contest open to all. If you are an out-of-towner, you can win and claim your dinner when in town next. Good luck all - just be the first to correctly identify both of the snacks on the plate and you are the winner - somervillekitchenwindow@gmail.com
 

Are You A Noodle or Rice Person?

A great article in the Journal Science talks about how Northern and Southern Chinese have different personalities as a result of what they eat.

Northern Chinese are noodle eating while the Southern Chinese are rice eating. And it seems that what you eat can affect your personality.

According to the study, northerners are more individualistic, show more “analytic thought” and divorce more frequently. By contrast, rice-eating southerners show more hallmarks traditionally associated with East Asian culture, such as more “holistic thought” and less divorces.

Cultivating rice, the authors say, is a lot harder. Rice seedlings require careful tending and many hours of labour as well as reliance on irrigation systems that require neighbourly cooperation. 

As the authors write, for southerners growing rice, “strict self-reliance might have meant starvation.”

Growing wheat, by contrast, the north’s staple grain, is much simpler. One Chinese farming guide from the 1600s quoted in the study advised aspiring farmers that “if one is short of labor power, it is best to grow wheat.”

So, do a personality test or review your eating habit and let's see if you are a noodle or rice person.

 

Plane Food Competition

I traveled four international airlines in the past 4 weeks. I had a meal on every one of them. I ran my own plane food competition among those four airlines. Here are the results.

Best of 4 Airlines Food

Middle East Airlines had by far the best quality food. 

A breakfast herb omelette that tasted like eggs, not a weird mix; was nicely browned, not a mush. It felt like it was just made and served with a potato croquette dipped in sesame seed.

Bonus a Lebanese cheese platter with mini pita breads.

 
Runner Up of 4 Airlines Food

Not bad chicken.

It was a bit mushy, but there was some taste to it.

And you could even taste the actual chicken among all the salt.

Not bad Air Canada.

Almost Worst of 4 Airlines Food

Lufthansa had its very uncomfortable seats with the worse leg room going against its rating; yet, I don't think this food would have made it past the other two.

When I unwrapped the platter, it looked almost home-made. 

But in reality, it was beef cooked in sodium. I am glad my blood pressure did not explode the plane after this meal.

Worst of 4 Airlines Food

I thought I will be safe with the vegetarian option.

Some sort of carb (maybe a bio-genetic mixture of rice and pasta) cooked in something industrialized white ingredient. 

Major blah

I should have just grabbed one of my mother's left over platters from the fridge instead.

A Day At Home

A day at home in Lebanon starts with a trip to the bakery and buying Manakeesh.

Those are how the real Manakeesh look like - large in size, bubbly and crunchy.

I can have those for breakfast every day and am so glad to have this bakery within a 2 minute walk from the house.

Those are made with zaa'tar. Manakeesh can also be made with cheese but those are very boring looking. 

Some bakeries do half zaa'tar and half cheese. Now that will be a feast.

Someone drops by home made falafel - each piece the same size as the other, you'd think they were made by a machine.

A falafel sandwich was in order. 

Open up the pita bread, spread it with tahini. 

Split the falafel into two and lay them over the tahini. 

Cover with tomatoes and pickles, wrap up the pita and lunch is served.

But this was only a snack.

The main meal was a broad beans stew.

Those beans are fresh, not dried. Cooked with tomato sauce, meat, garlic and cilantro.

Eaten over rice and vermicelli and lots of lemon juice.

And that's a day at home in Lebanon. Thank you mom and dad for a wonderful trip.