As you may know, we made plenty of olives this year – green and black – from our beloved Suri olive tree. But making oil was not on the agenda. Until Balkees pointed out that, to leave the massive amount of olives on our one other tree, of the Barnea variety, would be … Read More »
galilee foods
My Cup of Tea
In our ongoing conversation about the foods of the Galilee, my close friend Balkees Abu Rabieh and I recently had a particularly enlightening chat about tea. Her mother-in-law, Balkees told me, meticulously picks the various herbs that grow in the garden outside her house – sage, zaatar, zuta (white savory), louisa (lemon verbena), chamomile – even rose … Read More »
A Time to Fast, a Time to Feast
The month of Ramadan, that started this year on August 1st, has passed the halfway mark. For observant Muslims, this means less than two more weeks of the daily fast – that extends from the pre-sunrise meal through dinner at sundown. Lately, I’ve been waking up at 4 AM with the sound of the Muezzin’s … Read More »
Kareh-ah: Another waterless wonder
For lack of a better name, I call these “bottle squash”. Their name in Arabic is “kareh-ah”, where the last syllable is pronounced as if you just received a gentle blow to the stomach. They are a summer vegetable that is commonly found in Arab produce markets here. Until I started spending time in the … Read More »