happy new year! started off with traditional 'amah and blessings

okay, i know it is well past january 1 and i am finally posting my new year's post!

so you can see how behind i have been! the good news is i am catching up! finally today downloaded the photos of the new year's 'amah i made and enjoyed to bless and bring in the new year...which got off to an incredibly hectic start.

in the pacific northwest, where it snowed this morning, it is still cold enough to cook and eat some comfort food: in my culture this is 'amah...whole wheat berries simmered with anise seed until tender.

served warm with golden raisins, walnuts from my walnut tree, and agave syrup to sweeten it. the simple recipe can be found in alice's kitchen: traditional lebanese cooking on page 207.

now that i've broken the ice and posted in 2011, the way is open for more! stay tuned and keep in touch!

a warm welcome to all the new followers!

blessings to you and yours in the new year! and as mama would say, happy cooking!

happy new year! amah brings good luck!

happy new year! amah is the lebanese traditional food for ringing in the new year. this hot porridge of whole wheat berries simmered with anise seeds for a couple of hours until tender tastes best when sweetened with sugar or my preferred much healthier agave syrup, sprinkled with walnuts from my tree—harvested this year thanks to my precious squirrel-chasing yorkie-mix, baba ghannouj!—and raisins—these, extra-plump. this cereal is also created to celebrate the birth of a new baby. very auspicious, indeed!

i love this photo—eye of baba—taken before his recent hair cut, speaking of auspicious!

we spent the new year's weekend with dear friend jacquie and her two big sweet golden retrievers in seattle and cooked up a storm—this comfort food for breakfast, mjaddrah for dinner, and baked tilmeh b'zaatar for breakfast the next day, as requested by my friend. she knows how much i love to cook, and it was great fun and yummy! and the big doggies played beautifully with my little seven-pound baba, who preferred to chase and bark at the twice-his-size giant grey cat, toby!

the brazil/lebanese food connection

besides the homemade lebanese food, we ate some excellent vegetarian asian food at teapot vegetarian house  and some fabulous brazilian coffee nearby at a bakery/cafe called kitanda. it was no surprise to find lebanese sfeeha in their display case, as the early lebanese immigrants to brazil including my grandmother dalal's brothers and sisters took their famous savory pastries with them. these have now become a brazilian staple, along with baked kibbe balls, also in the bakery display case, made with ground beef instead of lamb—another lebanese quintessential food!

our last dining out was at an amazing suburban/urban food court with a fabulous big band performing for eaters, listeners, and dancers. it was a depression-happy group with a huge array of ethnic foods from which to choose that is family-friendly, reasonably priced and very up-beat and high energy. the place was happily full and lively with great shops like half price books a few steps away and many languages being spoken. check out crossroads mall—a great model for urban/suburban renewal! my friend jacquie pointed out they even have a public library there to reach many who would not normally go! and there's a weekly farmer's market.