akla! akla!

since i've been here i've been treated to middle eastern dishes on a daily basis. treated is putting it mildly. even after a second helping i'm routinely instructed 'akla! akla!' (eat! eat!). the food is always fresh (the family here doesn't even have a microwave) and flavorful. even after six weeks here i don't think i've had any dish more than twice. here are some of the highlights..

• stuffed kusa. the best translation for kusa would be cucumber, though they're smaller and tastier than any cucumber i've ever had at home. the veggies are hollowed out and filled with rice and spiced ground meat and cooked in a tomato sauce
• dawali. this is a variation on turkish dolma, but smaller and presumably more time-consuming. one of the few dishes i've helped in preparing, dawali requires a full day (at least) to make. ahab, the uncle, told me it was the 'stupidest middle eastern dish' because it takes hours to make and just seconds to eat. it's true enough - each one requires a pinch of rice and meat inside a tightly wrapped grape leaf. it's a tedious process and one that's generally carried out by all the women sitting with trays in front of the tv. but once they're cooked (usually along with the kusa) and served with yogurt no one's complaining. partially because their mouths are all too full.
• molokhia. an egyptian soup consisting principally of spinach (or something very much like spinach). i have to say this dish is not my favorite. perhaps because on wikipedia it was described as 'mucilaginous' (i had to look it up but it's basically what it sounds like - mucus-y), a characterization i would have to agree with.
• maftool. this dishes it one of my favorite. described to me as 'pure palestinian', it's a dish that's made in great quantities and served at big family affairs. the maftool itself is made of cracked wheat, dampened and rolled with flour to make little balls - something like couscous but bigger. usually it's served with chicken, onion and chick peas but i could eat a plate full all by itself. i was told the name means 'twisted' first because of how they make the pearls and then because of how your stomach feels after you eat them. i admit i was pretty full after that second helping.
• labnah. is an interesting mix between cheese and yogurt. as i understand it, labnah is yogurt that has been strained of its whey and usually left in olive oil for days at a time. the result is balls or chunks of something that has the consistency of cheese but tastes like (mediterranean-style) yogurt
• knafeh. this one has to be one of my favorites. just the mention of the name is enough to make me salivate. a traditional palestinian pastry, it's prepared by heating pastry dough and covering it with butter and oil, then spreading on (Nabulshi, from Nablus) cheese and topping that with a sugary syrup and crushed pistachios. basically all of that just means gooey, greasy deliciousness. for a real treat, you can go to arafat or habibeh (the two most famous knafeh shops) that are always packed - even late into the night
• honey cake. another sweet that's made its way here is honey cake. the name might make it sound like the sweetness would be overpowering but in reality it's just the right blend of cake, honey, almond and pistachios. delightful.
• musakhan. when we had this meal i was told not to eat anything all day. after lunch (usually served around 3) i was glad i had listened. this meal is a feast in itself. huge trays come out stacked with taboon (palestinian) bread slathered with fried onions and roasted chickens baked with onions, pine nuts, and all kinds of spices. normally (like most dishes) accompanied with yogurt and eaten with your hands, it makes for a messy, filling meal.
• mansaf. i would be remiss (or worse) if i didn't mention the national dish of jordan. because there are so many foreigners (palestinians mostly) who've settled in jordan the delicacies come from all over. but mansaf is totally jordanian and any jordanian will proudly claim it as the national dish. it consists of lamb cooked for hours in fermented yogurt and served with rice. you'll inevitably be asked if you ate it with your hands or utensils so you might as well just get messy and dig right in.

these are the big dishes that i can recall. but even the simplest dishes are so flavorful that i could eat them over and over. fried zucchini with yogurt, rice and lentils (mjaddrah), stewed tomatoes and garlic with bread, coriander seeds and garlic in olive oil, rice and pine nuts, potatoes and eggs, green beans or okra in a tomato sauce, soup with yellow lentils and lemon. and the list goes on..

then of course there are the snacks, what you might have for 'dinner' (a light meal eaten later, around 9 or 10). one of my favorites is za'atar, a mix of dried spices (oregano, basil, thyme.. who knows what else) served with olive oil and used for dipping. then there's nablus, a salty cheese offset by bread or watermelon. any variety of fresh fruits, homemade pickles.. ah, just thinking of all this makes me sad to leave.

of course i'll try to recreate these dishes when i go home, but somehow i know that they won't taste quite the same coming from my kitchen.

bedouing

in my time here in amman so far i've been lucky enough to enjoy great food and wonderful company on a regular basis. but some of the most memorable moments have been on our little excursions outside the city.

the first of these was to wadi rum, the famous desert where lawrence of arabia traveled (and where the subsequent movie was filmed). i attempted to watch part of the movie (in just 26 parts on youtube) beforehand, but after seeing enough of the landscape to be sufficiently impressed, i gave up grappling with the slow internet. our drive in was largely uneventful, though our bus ride was punctuated by our driver's attempts at forced interaction (we were asked to introduce ourselves with a joke or song).

four hours and several gas stations later, we arrived in the desert. and, wouldn't you know, it was HOT. we were asked to wait in the shade while lunch was prepared and though we were technically in the shade, in covered pavilions resting on cushions, there was no breeze to speak of and cooling off seemed like a rather indistinct possibility. that said, i didn't let the heat stop me from flat-out sprinting when i saw that someone had (ingeniously) brought an american football. after two touchdowns we realized it was just too hot to play and, mercifully, lunch was ready anyway.

the lunch was rather unremarkable. mostly everyone was thirsty. but these bedouins are clever. all the costs of the camp and our stay were included in the price.. except drinks. we were shelling out half JDs left and right for precious bottles of slightly chilled water. what a racket.

after claiming our temporary dwellings (i opted for the house-o'-sticks over the tent. i mean, have you ever slept in a stick house??) we were taken out for the requisite jeep ride through the dunes. i'm not sure why these are consistently referred to as jeep rides, since we were all piled into the back of pickup trucks. no matter, being in the open air was much better. we held on to the sides of the truck as we were flung and jostled about, picking up speed as we took each turn and cruising down the dunes themselves. we were let out at various strategic points to run, jump and roll down the dunes, have some tea, or buy a keffiyah. the only casualties (apart from the guy who got sick after running up a sand dune) were several cameras, unfortunately including mine. (side note: turned out to be a software problem that just happened to coincide with lots of wind and sand and some beautiful landscapes).

back at the camp we were left to our devices, which for most of us meant either trying to stay cool or climbing up some rocks to see the sunset. the sunset wasn’t particularly spectacular (they aren’t usually here; an absence of clouds tends to have that effect) but after the sun went behind the farthest cliff we managed to find some camels for a quick ride back down the hill.

as it grew darker and we waited for dinner, people started to gather around the circle in the center of the camp. music started up, first just debka (a traditional dance involving holding hands and sticking a foot out intermittently, which frankly i find rather dull), then gearing up to some faster paced arabic music (read: bellydancing). we had great fun dancing and dancing and hardly noticed when dinner was finally ready, around 9. after another forgettable meal we headed out past the lights of the camp to watch the stars. they were as numerous as you might imagine in the middle of the desert. lying on the sand i saw no fewer than five shooting stars. we made the most of our night there, staying up until the sky started brightening, and then catching a few winks before breakfast the next morning.

white wedding, manic monday

so last night i was lucky enough to attend a jordanian wedding, which i'll attempt to capture here for the sake of posterity.

i didn't find out myself i was going to said wedding until about 20 minutes before we left. the girls had been shopping for weeks, trying to find the right dresses and shoes. since there was no mention of it to me, i assumed i wouldn't be joining them. i barely had time to wash my hair and throw on the only thing i had that was halfway decent (covering the knees). i was told it was just a "typical" wedding so i thought perhaps it wouldn't be too different. well, i was a little off.

we arrived in zarqa, a town just north of amman, where our first stop was the groom's house. guests were gathered outside, along with the palestinian band (all playing the drums). the mother of the groom held a large silver tray with the groom's clothes over her head and as the band began to play people gathered around, dancing, clapping and passing the tray among them. one of the elderly guests had a handgun that he fired into the air, a practice that's now illegal (since, you know, it's recklessly dangerous) but still happens pretty often.

eventually we made it upstairs to the apartment where the festivities continued. all the furniture was pushed aside to make room for the guests and the band that all crowded in for more dancing around the groom (who, at this point, was in an undershirt). eventually the beat subsided and trays of soda were brought around to be offered to the guests. during this interlude, i presume, the groom got dressed in his finery (a fancy suit) and the next set of singing and dancing began as he was getting his hair done (blowdryer and all) in the middle of the room.

after about 30 minutes of this the guests went to their cars where we all drove to the next destinations. from time to time around the city you'll hear these caravans of cars honking, people shouting and air horns. well, that was us. our next stop was another house - perhaps the mother's? where the guests gathered out front and a different (syrian) band joined us. the beat and dancing were similar; even more clapping and gathering around the groom. then the swordplay began. two men came out with swords and shields, and soon it was just a blur of fabric and clashing metal.

at this point it was back to the car again, this time to pick up the bride. here i should mention that at first i had thought perhaps the bride was already among the crowd at the first stop. at first i thought she might be the woman all in red and gold with about a pound of makeup on her face. as it turns out, this is pretty standard wedding attire. the best way i can describe it like a mask at carnevale - exquisitely painted but still a little over the top. the elaborate bunches of fabric that make up the hijab only add to the carnevale effect. other fashion novelties: lots of kids with mullets, some choice unibrows, and little girls with crazy beehives and elaborate sequined dresses that make them look like the bride of frankenstein at a beauty pageant. so anyway, we finally picked up the bride. as you've probably guessed by now, this process consisted of guests singing, clapping, and dancing their way down to (eventually) retrieve the bride. oddly enough her attire (and the groom's) were probably the most westernized aspect of the affair. she wore a typical (typical for us) white wedding dress, complete with lots of crinoline and adorned with enough sequins and sparkles to match her glittering tiara. she was surrounded by several women who were quite dolled up themselves (venetian mask-style). we rounded them up, covered them with confetti, and were on our way.

the next, and final, stop was the reception hall. as you can imagine the guests crowded around the couple, dancing and clapping along to the beat of the drums. the guests filtered in to the hall, complete with the covered chairs a dance floor and a throne-cum-sofa for the happy couple (they did look genuinely happy, too, which i wasn't entirely expecting given the fact that they were cousins). the videographer, who had been recording the entire proceedings, had the recording being simultaneously broadcast on several screens throughout the room. as you can imagine, there was much celebration when the bride and groom entered. they made their way to the dance floor where they danced, alone at first, but then joined by several couples. on the way they exchanged rings, which i suppose represented the actual ceremony itself.

the first song we heard after entering was lil john's 'shots' (charming little ditty), which i imagine was breaking with tradition somewhat. luckily this music gave way to a steady stream of traditional, and newer, arabic music that was much better for dancing. as the lights dimmed the colored lights and disco ball lit up the dance floor and smoke flooded in from the fog machine. this was just as well, as it masked the smoke coming from the cigars and cigarettes of all the men (including the groom). the dancing was interrupted only for the 'cake show', where a cake (presumably ceremonial, since the cake we ate looked quite different) with two-foot sparklers was rolled out, which the bride and groom cut with a large sword. and the dancing continued. i discovered arabic dancing is basically a combination of swiveling hips and graceful hand gestures, which luckily wasn't too hard to pick up. there was also quite a bit of rhythmic clapping and joining hands in circles. it was lots of fun and thoroughly exhausting.

and all on a monday night!