Remember that potatoes, in the grand scheme of things, have not been around ~ except in South America ~ since the year dot. But something that has and is particular to North Africa, the Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East is CousCous and its' bigger brother, Maftoul, which is often called Palestinian CousCous.
Maftoul grains are much bigger than CousCous but it is cooked it the same way, with salted water, and it is very easy to digest.
Zooming back to earlier this afternoon.. are you strapped in? Zoooom! And now we are out on the Brompton Road catching the first bus that comes along. Come "aboard" a 74 double-decker and trundle down with us to the North End Road.
No money in the pocket, so she blew Karen a kiss and said to Joe "save me some carrots, fennel, mushrooms and a few pomegranates, I'm off to the bank" and she and her trusty.. aka Wicker Wheelie rolled off up the street.
Having plundered the 'hole-in-the-wall'.. aka an ATM - she chewed the Easter Fat with Margie, blew a soppy kiss to her Fishmonger, which he caught with his hands and pressed to his chest ~ don't you love it when people enter into the spirit of having fun ~ and she then joined the big, snakey line at the butchers.
Where she purchased some minted lamb chops, absolutely her favourite way to eat lamb, a couple of pork loin chops and a pack of duck breasts for the freezer. "Goodbye and happy Easter everyone", she called out and crossed over the road to UR Supermarket, her favourite middle-eastern food shop.
Two pots of hummus, green cardoman seeds, nutmegs, a box of both maftoul and couscous, a smile and a nod to their butcher, a packet of barberries and a bottle of pomegranate syrup. But what is this? Oh.. Lookie-lookie.. WHAT have we got here? Why, they're just what she was thinking about late last night.. A small tray of pure white eggs!
For truly beautiful Easter eggs take quite a long time to make, you have to pierce both ends, blow them, wash them out very carefully, dry, decorate, dry and varnish them which all takes time and so she'll make these for next year and put them in the bar cupboard.. and put a note on the shelf to remind herself that they're up there!
Smiley boss handed her a still hot falafel and said "Happy Easter Miss", she is one of the very few non middle-eastern customers they have and she buys things from them every week and has done every week since they opened, several years has added up. Nice people, beautifull run and well stocked shop.
Out on the street and back down to Karen, who said "Give me an Easter hug" and as they hugged, much to the amazement of the line and a 28 bus driver, Joe called out "she's got a surprise for you, happy Easter doll".. "a surprise for me, what is it", she asked and was told, "they're a bit bashed so we can't sell 'em, but RedBum and you'll love 'em, it's a box of pommies"..
"Pommies.. a box of pomegranates! You've got a whole box of them for us wow. The Easter Bunny has sure come up trumps this year" and then told Karen about her idea of pomegranate nougat.
Who shook her head and said "No, that'll be too hard, it would be like toffee, make it with fresh pomegrate juice, pistachio nuts and gelatine, I know what you're talking about, we had it last year in Istanbul, with gelatin and juice, it's soft and you retain the bright red".. and by golly, she's right!
Now.. 'tis for sure that Messrs Sainsbury, Waitrose or any other supermarket would not take as good care of their customers as these small shops and stalls can and do. BIG Pomegranates are over a £ in these stores and she put sixteen into old WW AND was given falafel to eat.
Our late lunch was superb. Two large minted chops with spicy maftoul and some green beans.. plus a whole pomegranate. Yes, I ate a bit of everything and as we ate it..
She thought and discussed these thoughts with me, that how very lucky we are to be living in a safe enviroment, with clean running water in our pipes that flows at the turn of a tap, that we have electricity at the flick of a switch and that we have the freedom to openly follow our chosen religion.
For there are millions of people who have none of these things and who do not live in a safe place. It is a very sombre thought and very sadly, some of these people are not even living in another land but are right here in the UK, it makes one think, does it not?
I'm off to Beak an apple or two, to chase an almond and sit on her head whilst she reads a new book, for she came home via the Library and has lots of books for the holiday.
GeeGee Parrot.
April 4th, 2015.
Maftoul grains are much bigger than CousCous but it is cooked it the same way, with salted water, and it is very easy to digest.
Zooming back to earlier this afternoon.. are you strapped in? Zoooom! And now we are out on the Brompton Road catching the first bus that comes along. Come "aboard" a 74 double-decker and trundle down with us to the North End Road.
No money in the pocket, so she blew Karen a kiss and said to Joe "save me some carrots, fennel, mushrooms and a few pomegranates, I'm off to the bank" and she and her trusty.. aka Wicker Wheelie rolled off up the street.
Having plundered the 'hole-in-the-wall'.. aka an ATM - she chewed the Easter Fat with Margie, blew a soppy kiss to her Fishmonger, which he caught with his hands and pressed to his chest ~ don't you love it when people enter into the spirit of having fun ~ and she then joined the big, snakey line at the butchers.
Where she purchased some minted lamb chops, absolutely her favourite way to eat lamb, a couple of pork loin chops and a pack of duck breasts for the freezer. "Goodbye and happy Easter everyone", she called out and crossed over the road to UR Supermarket, her favourite middle-eastern food shop.
Two pots of hummus, green cardoman seeds, nutmegs, a box of both maftoul and couscous, a smile and a nod to their butcher, a packet of barberries and a bottle of pomegranate syrup. But what is this? Oh.. Lookie-lookie.. WHAT have we got here? Why, they're just what she was thinking about late last night.. A small tray of pure white eggs!
For truly beautiful Easter eggs take quite a long time to make, you have to pierce both ends, blow them, wash them out very carefully, dry, decorate, dry and varnish them which all takes time and so she'll make these for next year and put them in the bar cupboard.. and put a note on the shelf to remind herself that they're up there!
Smiley boss handed her a still hot falafel and said "Happy Easter Miss", she is one of the very few non middle-eastern customers they have and she buys things from them every week and has done every week since they opened, several years has added up. Nice people, beautifull run and well stocked shop.
Out on the street and back down to Karen, who said "Give me an Easter hug" and as they hugged, much to the amazement of the line and a 28 bus driver, Joe called out "she's got a surprise for you, happy Easter doll".. "a surprise for me, what is it", she asked and was told, "they're a bit bashed so we can't sell 'em, but RedBum and you'll love 'em, it's a box of pommies"..
"Pommies.. a box of pomegranates! You've got a whole box of them for us wow. The Easter Bunny has sure come up trumps this year" and then told Karen about her idea of pomegranate nougat.
Who shook her head and said "No, that'll be too hard, it would be like toffee, make it with fresh pomegrate juice, pistachio nuts and gelatine, I know what you're talking about, we had it last year in Istanbul, with gelatin and juice, it's soft and you retain the bright red".. and by golly, she's right!
Now.. 'tis for sure that Messrs Sainsbury, Waitrose or any other supermarket would not take as good care of their customers as these small shops and stalls can and do. BIG Pomegranates are over a £ in these stores and she put sixteen into old WW AND was given falafel to eat.
Our late lunch was superb. Two large minted chops with spicy maftoul and some green beans.. plus a whole pomegranate. Yes, I ate a bit of everything and as we ate it..
She thought and discussed these thoughts with me, that how very lucky we are to be living in a safe enviroment, with clean running water in our pipes that flows at the turn of a tap, that we have electricity at the flick of a switch and that we have the freedom to openly follow our chosen religion.
For there are millions of people who have none of these things and who do not live in a safe place. It is a very sombre thought and very sadly, some of these people are not even living in another land but are right here in the UK, it makes one think, does it not?
I'm off to Beak an apple or two, to chase an almond and sit on her head whilst she reads a new book, for she came home via the Library and has lots of books for the holiday.
GeeGee Parrot.
April 4th, 2015.
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