Oh, boy, I can see that glitter in mama’s eyes—she’s getting into her middle eastern cooking phase (that is, as soon as she gets out of her Indian curry, chutney phase, which is right now because I see something turmeric-yellow simmering on the stove) and just whipped up what you see below with a little of the fresh mint in her garden pots thrown in (along with sesame paste, sesame oil, lemon and garlic).
Even I love hummus, but she leaves out the garlic for me and I just plaster a little bit of that stuff on a cracker and oh, boy, am I happy. When she gets to the stuffed grape leaves, I’ll help with the onion chopping and if she wants to put that little bowl of ground lamb, pine nuts, raisins and mint over here next to me, I’ll take care of it… Mama says she got into middle eastern cooking when she was in her twenties because of friends she had met in college who were from the middle east and who later suggested she go to a great old restaurant in Los Angeles called Kabakians (now defunct), which offered a little of everything served by wonderful elderly waiters who shuffled around the dining room taking their own time to get to your table. Ah, I wish I had been there because I love going out to eat, too.
I just don’t want to sit next to those DOGGIES that mama sat next to in Paris and who ordered the SAME THING as mama’s entrée!!! Well, I never…
Now, back to basics: do you think mama can find any grape leaves around here, HAHA?
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