I woke up one day recently and realized that I had turned into my mother. Staring at a 50lb box of apples, scratching my head as to what to do with them. I clearly remember our kitchen as a child being covered with boxes of fruits at the end of the season, and seeing my mother chop, peel and preserve …
Date and Cashew Tart with a Sweet Tahini and Sesame Seed Top Crust
Over the Labor Day weekend, I took the kids to visit my family in the D.C. area. I have a love-hate relationship with big cities. I was so apprehensive about the traffic and being stuck in the car with two toddlers, but luckily that worked out well and our timing was perfect. On the love side, I just get giddy …
Sweet Blinis (Atayef) Stuffed with Walnuts and Pistachios
Sophie (my daughter) is getting the last of her chewing teeth and it hasn’t been quiet around here. She seems to not have any pain tolerance, and she has turned into an insomniac. I wonder why previous generations don’t share the details, trials and tribulations of raising children (just so that we’re prepared psychologically). I don’t remember anyone telling me …
Fragrant Halwa with Nuts and Raisins or Mahdawiye
Sometimes, a particular dish can be so memorable that it sticks with you for a long long time. I had this dessert one time when I was around seven or eight years old. We were spending the summer in Lebanon. During the cool summer nights in the mountains, cousins and relatives get together and spend hours talking, laughing and joking …
Minty Mango Coconut Gelato and a Mango Chocolate Soufflé
Summer is not kidding around. It’s incredibly hot around here and I find myself daydreaming about long gone days spent at the beaches of Limassol (Cyprus), enjoying the Mediterranean breeze, hanging out with friends all day long, then going home to clean up and heading right back out for a night of food – souvlakis and cola floats!! (wow! Makes …
Lebanese Fruit Cocktail with Fragrant Avocado and Mango Purées and Ashta
It doesn’t get any more “Summery” than this dessert. A very classic Lebanese concoction found at every street corner café in Beirut, blending local and regional fruits into a fresh and healthy dessert that you can really sink your teeth into. It’s an absolute favorite in our house, even for the kids. It was around 10:30 in the evening the …
Yogurt and Grape Molasse Gelato
I have been thinking about this gelato for such a long time, and finally last week, I had the chance to experiment with the yogurt base before adding the molasses. After a couple of tries, I think I got to a really tasty, creamy gelato that highlights the special flavor of the grape molasses. This is a jar of molasses …
Quinoa Pudding
The ultimate comfort food has to be Rice Pudding – warm, sweet, and fragrant with orange blossom water. However, in the last few weeks, I have been obsessing about this variation made with Quinoa. I’ve had it many different ways, for breakfast, for lunch and dinner, even as a snack in between. My husband is perplexed about this obsession, “Are …
Strawberries in Full Bloom: A Mousse and Lemonade
We’ve been waiting for three years to take our son for strawberry picking. Well he was just too young, he would have just uprooted the whole strawberry farm. Now that he’s a “big boy” as he calls himself, he had such a wonderful time, picking, eating and eating and some picking. We came home with about 30 pounds of juicy, …
Spiced Rice Pudding
A popular dessert reserved only for the occasion of a birth of a child, and Christmas. Well, I don’t to play by the rules, so I make it whenever because it’s very tasty, and because I love any excuse to have more nuts, and because my daughter loves it too (she’s now 18 months). Inevitably anyone that walks in and …