Potluck

Tonight the faculty had a potluck that I put together. It went well and the dishes we great. Risotto, cakes, sweet potatoes, samosas...I made a chocolate cake that was likened to charcoal. I had broken the very thin cake into smaller pieces and they were one of the first things gone so take that whoever called it charcoal.

It's called the "Melt-In-Your-Mouth Chocolate Cake" and I found the recipe on Chocolate & Zucchini.

markets in Yemen

fish:

and fruit:

HJ's Two

Nancy, Lindsey and I had an awesome dinner tonight at HJ's. Our main purpose was to organize our long weekend trip to Syria, but that didn't really work out so we just enjoyed our food.

Makdous Fatteh (below) - roasted eggplant that's for some reason a little crunchy. It's hot and warm and yummy.

Hummus be snowbar - The staple hummus that we get every time. Never disappoints. It has pine nuts as a garnish with loads of olive oil on top.

Stuffed Mushrooms - self-explanatory. A set of 4 small mushrooms stuffed with cheese.

Musabbahat Jdoudna (below) - A salad dish with chick peas and vegetables. This is the second time I've had it and it's very yummy. Very filling though!

Um Ali (below) - a mixture of bread, raisins, and various nuts. It's very soft, filling, and yummy.

eating healthy isn't expensive (eating meat is)

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/healthy-foods-for-under-1/

sardines in their natural habitat (Socotra, Yemen)

eating fish ethically

i added these links to my other blog, but they certainly warrant notice on here.

yes, the fishing industry as a whole isn't sustainable, but follow the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch program and make better choices (they even make it easy for iPhone users.)

but don't eat reef fish and especially not salmon from Alaska

goat in Yemen

YUCK.

pop's words: "it tasted like it smelled."

and what was worse was that there were goats walking all around our campsite. too bad one of them lost their little brother that day.

yummy food photography

http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2009/02/04/photoshoot/

http://steamykitchen.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/Slideshows//Gios_Pizza/index.html

fondue fondue fondue

i still remember the best fondue i've ever had - brussels, belgium in 5th grade (a LONG time ago.)

this summer i'll make some fondue using these tips

mine's not on there only cause i don't have a kitchen

obviously.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/the-best-blogs-for-foodies/

and awesome pictures. i want to make the big pancake! and then have the cannelloni for snacktime.

Batata (finally!)

Lonely Planet writes of this joint, "do one thing and do it good." I've wanted to visit Batata, on Jebel Amman, for quite some time now and Nancy and I finally went! Batata means potatoes in Arabic, and this restaurant only serves what I would imagine to be the most common product made from potato - french fries! Along with your serving you can choose several innovative sauces. The seven sauces were honey mustard, garlic, oregano, rose chili, and black olive. We ordered the last three to accompany our serving of family fries flavored like falafel (barely.) Our total bill was 3JD: 1.80 for the fries, 0.10 for each sauce, and 0.90 for two bottles of water.

Next to the counter, which was too high for the chairs we were on, was a huge bean bag. Graffiti colors the walls and the waiter plays fun music from his computer.

I've decided to open a business modeled around Batata with founding locations in DC and NYC. It'll be open from 2pm until 4am, have music, beer on tap, and lots of bean bags. Let me know if you want in!

How good do those fries look!!!

It was great and I'll definitely go back again after a long day of walking.

nick kristof wants reform

his recent mini-piece on the selection of vilsack as sec of agriculture and the need for a "Secretary of Food"

his reasoning here

Haret Jdoudna

Tonight Nancy and I went to Haret Jdoudna (meaning "My Grandfather's Place/Neighboorhood), a great restaurant in Madaba. I've been on several different occasions, but each time is as good or better than the last. In the large home that houses the restaurant are also a few craft stores. They have sweet outdoor seating on the various terraces when the weather's nice.

even though i told myself to bring my camera, and i did, i was stupid and was kindly greeted by a "no memory card" when i turned on the camera. damn.

This meal we had hommus be snowbar (with pine nuts), kishkeh (cheese with walnuts), makdous (picked eggplant), and musakarat sandouka (fried potato with egg), all for only 5JD/7$.

The hommus was great as always, and certainly enough for two people. This is one of the more interesting types of hommus they have, and definitely one of the more filling (it seems to be thicker.) Kishkeh is not my favorite dish as it's simply too heavy to pair with other foods, however it is a nice palette cleanser midmeal. Makdous is delicious - who knew pickled eggplant could be so good! It has sundried tomato as a topper along with olive oil.

Musakarat sandouka is amazing. It transported me to my Singapore days - it looks and tastes just like a dish found at a hawker center. It's completely unhealthy, but in this case, the fact that it's so freakin good won't sway me. It's essentially scrambled eggs with fried potato cubes (breakfast next summer, yessssss)

The service is quick and friendly, and the wait staff's English is generally much better than anywhere else I've been. Tourist groups come here often, and it was surprising this time to not see someone from school.

next time I go I'll get different dishes...IT'S SO NICE NOT HAVING TO SPLIT THE BILL EVENLY BETWEEN 6 PEOPLE WHEN I SHOULD ONLY PAY HALF OF WHAT THE OTHERS OWE...a little vindictive, yes, but someone still owes me 14JD/21$ from the last time we went. damn meat eaters spend so much more money.

(you'll notice I posted this on my other blog - it's a little weird to deformalize this one after writing the other review...i'll work on that problem)

Ninth Annual Weblog Awards

Check out the various blogs. Some of them are really cool.

I voted for (in order, from left to right) Google Reader, Three Ring Circus, Tokyo Times, Scarlett Lion Uganda, Iceland Weather Report, A Canuck in Cancun, Cheaty Monkey, Secret Agent Momma, PostSecret, Smitten Kitchen, Fashionista, Without Baggage, One Sweet Song, Gawker, Best Week Ever, Awful Announcing (couldn't care less about this category), Politico, The Daily WTF (same here), Cute Overload (TreeHugger is good too), Reliquisce, Fail Blog, Dooce, One Sentence, 8Asians, Passive Aggressive Notes, Design*Sponge, Chickens in the Road, Cake Wrecks, Andrew Sullivan, The Huffington Post.

http://2009.bloggies.com/
Go vote!