Roommates Mediterranean Food Reaction

Here is the long awaited video of my roommates trying the Mediterranean food. Their reactions are priceless. Enjoy!

Visiting Syria Myself

I have alway wondered what it would be like to take those pictures that I have of my family visiting Syria, and go there myself. Could I possibly find those landmarks that my aunt and uncle took pictures of? Obviously the men in the pictures would be extremely old or passed, but the buildings might still be there, right?

Being the tech-savy nation that we are, I googled it. The first thing that caught my eye was the sentence that Syria is not how the U.S. wants us to believe it is. It is not a terrorist populated nation. Syria has some of the most friendly citizens that visitors form a friendship with. I think that it would be amazing to go there and see a huge olive tree and old hotels. Check out this site:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/syria

My Family's From Where?

My mom's side of the family is 100% Syrian. Here grandparents came here from Syria. I stumbled across these pictures unfortunately when I was helping my family clean out my great uncle's houses when they passed away. I wish that I could have asked them about these pictures while they were still here.

Some of these pictures are from my Uncle Art and Aunt Nettie's visit to Syria and Jerusalem.

My Uncle Art is the man sitting on the right in a barber shop in Homa, Syria. I think that its so interesting to see how the men are very comfortable posing for the camera and smiling.

That is a picture of an actual olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemene. It's huge!

Uncle Art, called Afif in Syrian, is standing at the foot of steps in Boalbak, Lebanon.

The last picture is of the head waiter at the Ambassador Hotel in Jerusalem. I honestly thought that he was a priest of some sort when I first saw it.

Pictures From The Past

I found a bunch of old photographs from my grandfather's side of the family. These three pictures were taken during a trip to the mid east in 1961.




This picture was taken in 1961 in Jerusalem. It is of an army drill.





This is during a parade in Homs, Syria in 1961.






This is also taken during the parade. I believe it is a traditional dance being performed.

Ephesus - Food Review

I went to one of the Mediterranean restaurants on my google map and I must say that it was phenomenal. Ephesus, on Fourth Street, has a wide variety of Turkish style foods including grape leaves, baklava, humus, and Babaganoush. The grape leaves were perfectly cooked and the humus was scrumptious. The warm pita bread served with the humus added to the wonderful texture. The highlight of the meal was definitely the baklava. It was sweet and flakey.

I would recommend trying Ephesus to everyone. And for those who don't like trying new things, Ephesus has many other items on the menu including pizza.

www.ephesuspizza.com

Baklava

Baklava is soooo good. This is by far my favorite, non-cholocate dessert. It's flakey and melts in your mouth. TRY THIS!

½ cup butter, melted
1 package (16 ounce) phyllo dough, thawed
¾ cup unsalted pistachio nuts, finely chopped
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons juice from lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan.
In a bowl, combine pistachio nuts and butter. Take eight sheets of phyllo dough and layer them in the pan, spreading each sheet with melted butter. Spread about half of the nut mixture over the phyllo dough and cover with a buttered sheet of phyllo dough.

Layer five more sheets of phyllo dough, buttering each sheet. Add remaining nut mixture and layer with remaining sheets of phyllo dough, buttering each sheet.

Using a knife, cut the baklava into 1 ½” diamonds.

Bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown. About 30 minutes before Baklava is finished, combine sugar, honey, cinnamon, and lemon juice for glaze in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, making sure that the sugar is completely dissolved. Reduce heat and allow the mixture to simmer for five minutes. When Baklava is finished cooking, drizzle syrup over top and let cool.

Weird Holiday Traditions

Since the holidays are coming up faster than we would like, I was thinking about all of my family traditions. Although many of these have nothing to do with "Mediterranean Style," this is a look into my crazy family.

Thanksgiving is at my house every year. Now my house is not very big, but we have 12 people sitting at a very long table in my living room. Since it would take way to long to pass the buns around the table, we just scream "who wants a bun?" and chuck them to whoever says "I do." We take Thanksgiving football to the next level. Everyone has learned to catch my dads fast ball!

Christmas Eve is pretty standard. The table is full of seafood and pierogies. It's Christmas day that the fun tradition starts. My aunt has "The Twelve Days of Christmas" glasses. After many glasses of wine and a full stomach, we take our glass in front of us and prepare ourselves for the musical number. We must take our turn at getting stuck with the first day (no one wants it). My dad ALWAYS gets the fifth day and it is the highlight of the song.

Family weddings

It's safe to say that at every family wedding on my moms side we have some sort of Syrian food. The last three weddings had enough grape leaves to feed an army! My polish uncle had his plate stacked to the ceiling with them.

I am under strict orders to give my family ample "warning" of my wedding day. Their going to need that much time to make the endless supply of grape leaves. Who needs a caterer when you have family?

Fun experiment

THE BRAVE SOULS

I'm going to have some of the most common Mediterranean food there is tomorrow for dinner and film my willing and loving roommates reactions to the food. I can just imagine my very diverse roomies reactions. So stay tuned for the uploaded video. It should be a hoot.

Mediterranean Cruise Anyone?

With winter quickly approaching, I was day dreaming about the warmth of the sun and the beautiful site of white sanded beaches. Then I thought, "Hey why not look at cruises in the Mediterranean?"

I would love to start in Athens, Greece surrounded by four majestic mountains. The many sites of ancient Greece, and the many restaurants and museums fill me with a sense of history and pleasure. Just thinking about the architectural masterpieces like Acropolis and Parthenon make me want to jump on that ship tomorrow. Then there's the food that will keep me wanting more.

The next stop will be Cairo, Egypt. I have this fascination with the pyramids and how they are built. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the World for gosh sakes. How amazing would it be to walk through the local markets with the shops and vendors. It is such a diverse culture that I don't want to miss.

Then I'll stop in Italy, Spain, Jordan and Turkey, just to name a few. I want to indulged in the rich and exotic cultures that each country offers.

Let's explore these wonderous cultures together. Anyone visit any of these countries? Share!

New Mediterranean Restaurant

A new Mediterranean restaurant, Jasmine, is opening in Scott Township. Jasmine offers many of the traditional dishes such as bulgar wheat, grape leaves, lamb, and Baklava.

In addition to great food, they offer live entertainment. Disc Jockey TweAK features Arabic, Tech and Contemporary American Music, and belly dancers.

It's exciting to see another Mediterranean restaurant open in the Pittsburgh area. They are only open for dinner and the prices seem very reasonable. Give it a try.

Jasmine Mediterranean Restaurant
1928 Cochran Road
Scott Township, Pa 15220
412-344-1001
www.jasminepittsburgh.com

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