February 3rd, 2012
Breakfast is my favourite meal and I love eating it out when I am travelling, even when I am in London. When I lived in Paris, near the Trocadéro, I walked every morning to the place to have a grand crème and a croissant or tartine, normally at one of the cafés lining the place unless I wanted a little elegance, in which case I would go to Carette. When I am in Beirut, I go to el-Soussi for fatteh at least once and I alternate between different bakeries for manaqish. And of course, I go to Amal Bohsali for k’nafeh. And when I am in America (which was the case until yesterday) I make sure to try different places for pancakes, and I always go to Brown Sugar Kitchen for waffles. Theirs are the best. Really!
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Tags: apple butter, apple syrup, bacon, bette's diner, bisuits, breakfast, brown sugar kitchen, cafe creme, carette, el-soussi, k'nafeh, niman ranch, oakland, pancakes, trocadero, waffles
Posted in Restaurant Reviews, breakfast, meals, restaurants, travel | No Comments »
January 30th, 2012
I am coming to the end of my stay in the Bay Area which has been quite wonderful. Lots of marvellous friends to see, delicious meals, fabulous scenery and the opportunity to give a talk at Omnivore Books about the new edition of Offal, the Fifth Quarter which I really enjoyed. Great shop, great owners and great audience!
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Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
January 23rd, 2012
The Bay Area is one of my favourite places to eat out. There are so many good restaurants, it’s rare to have a bad meal. At worst, the meal will not be exciting but it will still be good. At least, this is my experience but I do have the right friends there who know the scene very well! And the other day, my friend Roberta took me to Cosecha, a fun Mexican cafe/restaurant situated in what seems like a covered coutrtyard with fun food shops all around. Like a mini market place. Everything was freshly made there from the corn chips (that were admittedly a little too salty) and guacamole to the delicious looking tarts and biscuits.
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Tags: corn chips, cosecha, guacamole, mexican food, mexican restaurants, mole, new way of socializing during meals, oakland, pork belly, tacos, tortas
Posted in Restaurant Reviews, Uncategorized, national cuisines, restaurants, travel | 3 Comments »
January 16th, 2012
I am now far away from my Italian paradise but I still think back to those marvellous days by the sea in the middle of winter, staying with lovely friends in the most beautiful house eating delicious food prepared lovingly by Bea, their charming cook who this time showed me how to make pasta and biscotti. Her first batch of biscotti in the picture above was the classic version with almonds but when she was preparing the second batch, I asked if she could use pine nuts. Not what she would have used normally but they are my favourite nut and Bea didn’t mind changing her recipe slightly.
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Tags: bea, biscotti, making biscuits, vin santo
Posted in baking, national cuisines, sweets, travel | 7 Comments »
January 7th, 2012
Here is a perfect example of why I hated belly dancing when I was young. She is fat and vulgar, and if not quite obscene then definitely indecent. Hind Rostom was a huge star in her days although it was more for her acting than her belly dancing. She was the Egyptian version of Rita Hayworth as you can see in this clip where both the song and her dancing are remarkably similar to Put the Blame on Mame in Gilda. I still hate her belly dancing but the clip is amusing. I love the belly dance chorus, and the gaudy colours. A jolly way to wish you all a Happy New Year!
Tags: belly dancing, egyptian cinema, gilda, hind rostom, put the blame on mame, rita hayworth
Posted in belly dance | 1 Comment »
January 5th, 2012
There aren’t many restaurants that I love to return to again and again but La Stalla near Assisi is one of them. For one, I love the drive to get there, through spectacular countryside with stunning views of Assisi. Then, there is the torta sul testo, an Umbrian flat bread from the province of Perugia which they still bake over a wood fire — it is a little like piadina but thicker and possibly drier.
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Tags: assisi, la stalla, monte subasio, torta sul testo, woodfire burning oven & grill
Posted in restaurants, travel | 12 Comments »
January 4th, 2012
Also known as kaki or Sharon fruit, and one of my favourite winter fruit. It is in full season now and as it happens, I am staying with a great friend who has a tree laden with them. So, every morning I go down in my dressing gown and slippers to eat a few picked straight off the tree. It reminds me of my childhood Syrian summers when we stayed with my aunt whose house was surrounded by jujube, pomegranate and fig trees to name but a few. One thing I learned this morning as I was reading through the wikipedia entry for persimmons is that the species of trees bearing the fruit belongs to the ebony wood family, another favourite — I once wanted to do my kitchen in solid ebony until a friend who was in the wood business told me that the trees are endangered! Fortunately, persimmons are not and those on my friend’s tree are fuyu whereas most of the ones I used to eat in Lebanon are Hachiya which are very precious when dried.
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Tags: dried persimmons, hachiya, kaki, persimmons, sharon fruit, urasawa
Posted in beautiful food, fruit, seasonal, travel | 10 Comments »
January 2nd, 2012
I once had a lover who had the most marvellous kitchen in which he had a dedicated pastry table (he was a fabulous cook). At the time, I thought a pastry table was a waste of space but I was wrong. Yesterday, I spent my first morning of the new year with Bea, watching her make pasta and biscotti (post coming up) and I decided that I will be making my own pasta from now on, on my very own pastry table because there is nothing better really than home-made pasta!
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Tags: bea, home-made pasta, pappardelle al sugo di cinghiale, pasta fatta in casa, pasta machine, quadrucci, taglaitelle
Posted in great cooks, kitchen equipment, national cuisines, pasta, travel | 6 Comments »
