Annual Trek to the Motherland

Wara Ainab (Grape Leaves with rice and meat in the middle)

It’s so hot, that even the beach doesn’t bring relief. We hang around the house, trying to find the coolest spot. There’s a little breeze coming in from the east. That’s a good thing, because apart from some air movement, wind from the east is dry wind, as opposed to the humid western wind. The side effect of dry winds is of course forest fires, which have begun in the mountains.

Abou Youssef & Aunt
Rolling up the grape leaves

Cooking for an army, although we're a small family

What about those brand new fire-fighting helicopters we just bought at $8 million a piece? Ah, well, the crew hasn’t finished training yet. You’d think you buy these things when it is cold and wet, and train the crew, so that they’re operational when the forest fire season starts. Not. Well, that ministry is not run by women, so it’s not a surprise.

It is raining in Holland, I see (from my sidebar). I'm looking foreward to some rain.

In the pan

I’m packing my bags, and eat my last meal tonight, as I am off on the annual trek to the motherland. We’re eating Wara Ainab tonight (stuffed grape leaves). You think I am cooking? My cooking skills are so notoriously bad, that hubbie employed the services of Abou Youssef some years ago, enabling the family to survive on other things than take-out. Abou Youssef works in a hotel kitchen, and is an excellent cook. But ever since the old aunt moved in, Abou Youssef has been reduced to peeling potatoes, cutting cucumbers and rolling up grape leaves. She is an infinitely better cook than Abu Youssef, but I think he’s taken a liking to the aunt, and so he does it with pleasure. He thinks in hotel quantities though, and in general cooks for 10 rather than our small family.

Hungry? How to make Wara Ainab? I don't know. But here might be some help.

Thank you everyone for all your kind comments: I will be back end of August. I hope you all will have a peaceful summer.