Tamatim

Or...tomato! All summer, we've had access to lots of tomatoes. They're starting to dwindle, but I'm still buying them while they're looking good. The only problem is that Ira is not a fan of uncooked tomatoes. Even if I saute them, I think they're still not mushy enough for him. So in an effort to make both of us happy, I bought about 10 romas the other day with the intention of roasting them. It's something I've always wanted to try. After doing some research online on my favorite food blogs, I came up with a plan. Today I prepped the firm red wonders and threw them in the oven. You can see the before and after pictures above. I haven't decided if I'm going to turn them into a sauce, or a soup. I'll let you know...

Roasted Tomatoes

about a dozen (or less) small tomatoes sliced lengthwise

olive oil

6 or 7 cloves of garlic

herbs of your choice (I used basil, but marjoram or oregano would be lovely)

salt and pepper

Grease the pan or shallow baking dish with some olive oil. After slicing the tomatoes, place them skin side down on the pan. Nestle the garlic in between the tomatoes and spread the herbs on top. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. You can blend and add stock to make soup, or toss together with pasta, or something else even more exciting!

Harvest

When I think of harvest images of pumpkins, apples, and gourds come to mind. We can find those things here, but they are mostly imported and just not the same. What we DO have are dates. Brown ones, red ones, and yellow ones. And they're EVERYWHERE. All over the market. So, being a "eat with the season" kind of girl, I bought them up. But now what? You can only have so many date snacks. So, I came up with an idea today. It's not new, lots of people have stuffed dates before, but I think that this recipe is pretty good. Ira agrees...I haven't specified quantity because sometimes the goat cheese comes in small packages. Improvise, people! I think they would be great little party treats, we're just snacking on them...

Dates stuffed with goat cheese and almonds

Slice dates lengthwise and remove pits (if necessary). Spoon a half teaspoon of goat cheese in each date. Place one almond on top. Refrigerate after assembling. Oh, and try not to eat them all beofre serving.

Up late...again...

I have never in my life had a hard time falling asleep. I can sleep anywhere, anytime. In college, I bought a special watch with an alarm so I could sleep between classes, in public! I didn't care. I have always been able to nod off as soon as my head hit the pillow, or my book bag, whatever the case may be. Now of course I've had the occasional too-late-espresso or first-day-at-a-new-job nerves that have kept me up, but something about Egypt...I just can't get to sleep before 2 or 3 am no matter how hard I try. I very rarely drink caffeine anymore, I exercise, the bed is increasingly comfortable (thanks to some purchases at & Co.) but I just can't sleep! We live on a fairly quiet street, but you can still hear strange noises like dogs barking at weird hours and airplanes (lots of flights land late at night here) not to mention the honking horns and occasional yelling. And although I've gotten used to the call to prayer throughout the day it never fails to jolt me from sleep. I should probably start going to bed earlier, but I don't get home from teaching yoga until after 9:00 and we try to have some semblance of a dinner and hang out for a little bit. Not to mention it's a good time to chat with friends and family in the States. So what's a girl to do??? No seriously, I'm asking. If ANYONE has an advice, please, I'd love to hear it. The silver lining in all of this? I won't have any trouble staying up to watch OBAMA make his victory speech a week from now!! The rest of the week will be a disaster, but that's ok, I'll lose sleep so my grandkids can have a good story.

Food

I promised some recipes a few days ago, so here it goes. The first one has been the staple snack in the Dworkin household for a few weeks now. The last time we went to Carrefour (Egyptian wal-mart, as you may recall), I bought some popcorn kernels. I could see the skepticism on Ira's face. "What are you going to do with those?" he was thinking. That night I made my first attempt at the spicy popcorn to which we are now addicted. It was pretty good, a little burnt and I overshot the spices a little bit. I made it again a few nights later and this time it was a little too salty. The night of my birthday party (or the morning after my birthday party, depending on how you look at it) I made some for the lingering guests. It was very popular. The next time Amanda came over for knitting night, I made some for her, and the Ira and I had some last night while we watched "Burn After Reading". It's so simple and it tastes so good, it really makes me wonder why we ever made popcorn in the microwave...
Cajun Popcorn
first, you need a medium sized pot with a tight fitting lid
about 3 tbs. olive oil
about 1/2 cup kernels
1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
salt
coat the bottom of the pan with the oil. Sprinkle the Old Bay on top. Dump the kernels in the pan. Over med-high heat, let them do their thing! It only takes about 3 or 4 minutes. I shake the pan every minute or so to make sure they're all getting a turn. You can experiment with different spices and herbs. This just happens to be the one that we like the best. After you hear the popping slow down, take it off the heat and place in a big bowl, salt to taste. However, a good movie or some bad reality TV are required to make this recipe taste its best.
And speaking of TV, one of good things about Egyptian TV is, well, European TV. I love watching all the British fashion shows and the BBC news, of course. But the cooking shows are by far the best. I know that the food network in the states has both Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver, but over here they each have like 5 shows. So the other day I was watching Nigella and she was making something with glass noodles (rice noodles or vermicelli) and shrimp. I thought to myself "I know I can find both glass noodles AND shrimp at the market!" So off I went. Not only did I find those two ingredients, but I found basil for the first time. I bought two bunches because I couldn't resist. Cleaning the prawns was a huge (and smelly) pain, but the resulting meal was delicious, and there was a enough for leftovers which almost never happens around here. While at the market, there weren't any veggies that looked exciting to me, you could add some snap peas or green beans and I'm sure it would be great.
Super Fragrant Noodles with Shrimp
one package vermicelli noodles
1 lb. shrimp (preferably fresh)
big handful chopped basil
big handful chopped cilantro
for the sauce:
1 tbs. minced garlic
1 tbs. minced ginger
2 tbs. minced scallions
2 tbs. peanut butter
1/2 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup sesame oil (plus a little more to saute the shrimp)
one sliced chili pepper for garnish
Because you have a few things going at once here, I would make the sauce first. Place the garlic, ginger, scallions, peanut butter, soy sauce, and oil in a bowl and whisk together. This is the ratio that tasted good to me, but you can adjust it if you need to. Set the sauce aside. Next, boil the water for the noodles. While that's heating up, clean the shrimp (or have the dude at the store do it, which is what I should have done!) Saute with the sesame oil over medium heat until pink. Remove from the heat. Once the water has come to a boil, turn off the heat and drop in the noodles. Only leave them in for a minute or two and then drain. Toss together the shrimp, noodles, basil, and cilantro. Place in bowls and top with sauce and chili peppers. It's also good cold the next day!

I missed you, too

Ok, I know have been the WORST blogger ever! I was extremely frustrated with not being able to post pictures. It was making me not want to be on the site at all! Ira and I disagree on this, but I think this crazy thing that he downloaded is to blame. Now, let me first say that I love him for downloading this thing that will make watching movies and tv shows easier, he's awesome. The resulting slowness and inability to upload pictures to my blog and to Facebook, not so awesome. Now, like I said, we disagree about whether this downloaded thing is to blame, but I just think it's too much of a coincidence that everything went wonky as soon as he did it. Ok, now that the annoying stuff is out of the way...the birthday was lovely. We went on a felluca ride down the Nile. The party a few days later was a lot of fun. Of course, I wouldn't be honest if I didn't say how MUCH I missed my family and friends. It was sad at times to think about you guys, but all and all it was really nice. And I love Ira so much for making it special. Yoga is going well. My classes are getting bigger each week and I think my students are really catching on and learning the series. In other news...I got my ticket to come home!! I'll be back on December 11th, I'm very excited and it's just around the corner. Plans are already being made! I have to say though, ever since we bought the ticket, the days have been dragging. Figures. I've been making some fun dinners lately, so I'm going to post some recipes later today or tomorrow. I hope Fall is treating everyone well!

"Post" Birthday

My birthday was on Monday and while it may be tempting for me to go on and on about how much my life has changed in a year, blah, blah, I will spare all of you. Ira gave me a lovely Egyptian birthday complete with a champagne cruise down the Nile. While we were on the magical ride, he gave me all of the cards that everyone had sent from the states. I tearfully read all of them (I know there are some that haven't arrived yet, and I'll be just as excited to read those!) and here are some highlights...
"Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them, but you always know they're there!", "You need to find a Stallions-esque place to go wild dancing", "Scribble, Scribble, Scribble" (that was little Stuart), "You live your life so fully and everyone around you gets to enjoy!", "May flowers always bloom in your garden"
So now we're just getting the flat (and our livers) ready for the party tomorrow night! I have a new dress and there's a fridge full of beer and 2 bottles of Turkish gin. A recipe for disaster, or the best party ever?? You'll have to wait til Friday to find out...

These are a few...

...of my favorite things. I was inspired to make a list of "Things I like" by my old college pal, Nicole. Her blog puts mine to shame, and in one of her latest posts she said that when she's feeling grumpy or "squinky" as I like to call it, she makes a list of the things she likes and that sort of sets her straight. I'm not feeling particularly squinky these days, but I DO have a birthday coming up in a few and I don't think it would hurt to jot down some of the things that make me want to turn 31 with a little grace and humor. Feel free to follow suit! What do you like???
yarn, smooth wooden knitting needles, when Ira laughs so hard that he doesn't make any sound but his whole body shakes, when Lauren and I laugh and then look at each other and laugh again because our laughs are the same, getting so deep in a yoga posture that I could stay there all day, watching one of my students get so deep in a yoga posture they could stay there all day, champagne, fresh basil, pedicures, One Good Woman, Phillies games, LuLu Mae, cupcakes, New York City when it's cold, my goofy embroidered Ugg boots, New England when it's hot, the beds at the Waldorf Astoria, Istanbul, quilts, when Heather sends me blogs I might like, Christmas movies, sparkly things, the way books smell both old and new, little dresses, dancing, Domani Star pasta, Domani Star anything, movie theater popcorn and a disgustingly syrupy coke slushie, putting my feet up, Kate Spade, the woods, campfire, crunchy snow, cold cheeks, clean sheets, when Ira does the dishes (which he always does), entertaining, reading, writing, cooking, tea, coffee, when Laurie and I plan craft projects, talking on the phone with my mom, dancing with my dad, endless shopping/eating trips with Kelly, Carmel apples, mac and cheese (homemade and from a box, for different reasons), driving north, putting the ipod on shuffle and all of my favorite songs come on right in a row, concerts with my friends, knitting/beer drinking night with Amanda, talking to little Stuart on Skype, when my little brother tells me he loves school, over sized wine glasses, over sized coffee mugs, the perfect pillow, the way I feel after being on the beach all day, the promise of a garden, jeans, And Co., Maadi House pool, red wine, thinking about our wedding day, our wedding pictures, Ira's friends, a girl who can sing, Obama on a roll, crying at a movie preview and knowing that Heather probably cried when she saw it even though she hates crying in public, Doylestown, taking the train, the way a yarn store smells, walking past stores in Maadi and wondering when I'll go inside, tea on the ferry in Turkey, when I sort of understand the Arabic on TV, watching Friends with Arabic subtitles, every single thing about Kauai, Ira in a suit, rain, Friday New York Times, my ceramic measuring spoons, flea markets, poolside with Lauren, organic facials, spicy candles, pictures of my grandparents, Cafe Fresco, Gaya, a nice big bag, the kittens in front of our building, the trees in Maadi with the pink flowers, the trees in Maadi with the orange flowers, jammie bottoms, clean feet, a new journal, sleeping in, waking up early to travel somewhere, playing cards, Dimitri Martin, finding long lost friends on facebook, Tina Fey, the perfect yoga playlist, fruit, farms, carnivals, muffin tops...