ذكريات لذيذة

The other night I decided to put some effort into my dinner. I searched the kitchen for some food I could work with. I looked on my shelf only to find the usual; cheese, pita bread, and Hindo Mie (the Arab equivalent of top ramen, but better). After rummaging through Annie’s food and leftover items from the program, I had found my inspiration for my meal.

These last couple months I have been working at a women’s center. During my time there, some of the girls would cook food for me. I was also invited to eat with them in their living quarters on a few occasions. It was always random and a surprise. In order to show my appreciation, I always ate whatever they gave me quickly and praised them for how delicious is was. This of course was not hard to do, as everything they made was delicious. On one occasion, the girls made a huge dinner and invited me to come.  I watched as each girl prepared their assigned dish.  One girl made a salad that is to this day, the best I have ever had. She cut up peppers, cucumbers, martabela meat, and tabouleh lettuce into fine pieces. She then fried pieces of pita bread to make croutons. She mixed all of these together and added corn and spices. It was amazing. I especially loved the croutons. Another girl’s favorite food was cheese. She’s a girl after my own heart because I love cheese as well. She cut big blocks of a type of very salty cheese here in Jordan and put them into a bowl of water, in order to soak up most of the salt. After that, she coated them in flour and fried them till they were golden brown. Another girl made rice. It was very simple. Boiled, drained and added with butter and spices. A fourth girl added fruit powered juice to water and added ice, which I would consider a delicacy here.

These were the kinds of meals that the girls would bring down to me and what I tried to recreate last night. I boiled and drained rice and then added some chicken and garlic spices. I drained some salty cheese, covered them in flour, and fried them, along with pieces of pita bread. And I finished the meal off with fruit powdered juice. I decide to eat my meal outside, as iftar had already begun. I moved our table to the very edge of the balcony in order to see all I could of our amazing view. I listened and watched fireworks and gunshots throughout the old city. I reminisced of my time at the center as I enjoyed my Khadeeja croutons, Noura cheese, Bassima rice, and Yusara juice.