Everyone has to read Hamzeh's post before mine.He reminded me of a certain misfortunate incident that happened to me in Doha,Qatar.I was going to visit my friend who lived 5 mintes away.You can tour most of Doha in ten minutes,and the traffic isn't that bad either in the morning,so in general,you don't need to take short cuts.Taxi drivers there tend to do that all the time though.And they tend to off-road ,in their beaten up cars, no matter what.So,I took a cab and asked him to go to dowar el cinema I believe it was called.The smells started to leap on me.They were mixed smells that I can not describe,bodily smells,food smells,aged smells,smells that have accumilated through hygiene -free months,skin that hasn't seen soap or shampoo,maybe even water.The cab driver decided he'd take a short cut over bumpy pieces of land filled with gravel and stone.Back then,six years ago,proper roads weren't that proper, other than the famous corniche road,but at last they were asphalted.But our driver chose to off-road.I was something like four months pregnant and I am one of these women who have morning sicknes all day long,all through my pregnancy.I throw up all the way to the delivery room,without needing an excuse.So the smells and the off-roading took their toll on me and I felt a burst of liquids getting ready to explode out of mouth.I searched my purse for a bag but didn't find anything.I always had one for such emergencies,but not that day,not even tissues.I scanned my options in my mind:I could open the window and throw up outsideI tried and it was stuck 15 centimeters from the top so I couldn't.I could use my purse,but it was a present from Paris,I could use my jacket's pocket,but no way I was going to ruin a perfectly good jacket like that.Of course,I could have asked him to stop if the gush of liquids wasn't already filling up my mouth and if my cheeks weren't already ballooning on both sides.One more bump and another gush came flowing out of my mouth that I had no other option than tilt my head to the side and do it on the car seat.I threw up soo bad I could have chocked.The seat was soaked.The smell was awful.I was breathing loud gasping for air,and the guy did not hear ,smell or see anything.

AT ALL.I was feeling a bit guilty about this ,but it was his smell and his road choice that triggered this unhappy incident afterall.I had one of those individually wrapped scented towels in my purse,I used it to wipe my hands and mouth,then cover the proof.We arrived at the roundabout,

paid the guy the fee,left an extra 10 rials on the back seat for him to clean up the car,if he ever did notice something was wrong,and ran all the way up to my friend's house fearing I might be caught.Would you blame me for that?

It was the first warm friday of the year.Spring is already in the air.The hills are green and the soil red,poppy flowers are already in bloom,street side vendors have their vegetables stacked up in high piles so attractively,carrots,radishes,cauliflower and tomatoes.A festival of colors along the way .We all know how dear Jordan's spring is. If you've ever lived in Jordan,you know this won't last for long.The heat will suddenly increase and grass will be yellow and brown before you've had the chance to enjoy it.We went on a short trip to Madaba,and it was splendid.Everyone was yearning for the sun , the airport road was filled with picnickers,their hubbly bubblies and their barbeques.I was reluctant to tag the kids along since we were going on a not-so-close family visit ,but I was glad we did.Stopping at a traffic light,there was a camel carried around in a pick up truck ,right next to us.This is the closest that my two-year-old son got to a live cattle animal,and he just loved it,with the camel's big eyes gazing at him and his mouth chewing right and left.Sheep grazing in the fields,and if anyone knows how soon this grass will dry,it's them.Donkeys basting in the sun,enjoying a lazy friday that doesn't come too often ,and even pigs(in the relatives farm)playing around in the mud.It was nature at its rowest,and I loved how the kids enjoyed it.I wish we have a proper zoo in Jordan,where you can take the kids and enjoy your day,without having a poor quality tape recorder screaming out George wassoof's songs at its loudest ,and without the cheap entertainment park rides close by,singing poorly recorded chinese songs to the same tune, over and over again,but that's a whole new post.Well,it was a very enjoyable trip.The realtive's hospitality was overwhelming,their love genuine and true,even my kids felt it,I can tell because they were really at ease,and they actually allowed me to sit with the grown-ups while they played with the older kids most of the time .We went back to Amman,bought a lovey yellow cauliflower(zahra baladieh)that I made into a magloobeh for today's lunch,and will make a big effort to enjoy all the upcoming sunny weekends in trips around Jordan.I wanted to urge everyone to go out and enjoy the spring,but,I just looked outside and it is now raining!Well,maybe next weekend!

People,if you don't like lentils,don't read.This post is dedicated to their praise.

To start with,Lentils are very nutritious,one cooked cup provides the body with around 700 calories,11o grams of carbs,among which 50 is fiber,50 grams of protein and around 12 grams of fat. And they can be really really tasty,especially in winter.

Some of my favorites:

-Everyone knows mjaddara,and its cousin the egyptian Koshari,both made with the dark lentils,uncracked and unpeeled ones,cooked with rice, and pasta for koshari.
-Shorabet 3adas.The plain lentils soup flavored with lemon cumin and sumaq garnished with crunchy onions fried in olive oil,made with the cracked peeled 3adas majroosh.
-The other shorabet 3adas,known to some as roshtaieh,cooked with the dark 3adas boilt together with sile' (a kind of leafy green vegetable which may be called chard,not sure),lemon juice,salt pepper onions and some pieces of any kind of small pasta.Has to be really boilt till the starch in the ingredients thickens it a bit.Used to hate it as a child,now I 'm in love with it.
-The third shorabet 3adas,which is called either shoraba 7amda or rashoof.Made by boiling the dark 3adas with some rice and sauteed onions in jameed sauce,with the addition of some pure jordanian ghee(samneh balgawi).Very hearty dish,fulfilling and tasty.I came to know this dish only a few years ago from my inlaws who are pure jordanians ,now it's a very popular dish at my place .Though I usually make it from leftover mansaf next day ,where I dump the rest of the rice with some boilt lentils in the leftover jameed , add the onions and consider it a meal rather than start it from scratch.
-7abbet rommaneh,which I don't know how to make,neither my mom or mother in law,but it is really good,dark 3adas cooked with eggplants,garlic and lemon.Amazing.
-7arra' osba3o,literally translated as (burner of his finger)also don't know how exactly they make it but absolutely love it.It has dark lentils with pieces of dough in it,and some extra fried dough on top garnished with garlic and coriander,flavored with lemon and olive oil.
-The french consider it an exotic salad ingredient,and if anyone knows about food it's them.

So there you go.Make some 3adas and enjoy!

Any more lentil recipes?please share!

في عيد فالنتاين

حاولت أن أكتب عن عينيكِ يا حبيبتي

قصيدة ً جديدةْ

ما كُتبتْ يوما بتاريخ الأدب

حُرُوفها من الذهب

زُنَّارُها من الذهب

سِروالها من الذهب

وعندما فرِغتُ من كتابتي

جاء رجالُ من لدى أبي لَهَبْ

فاعتقلُوا القصيدهْ

وأغلقوا بالشمعِ والرصاص

عُلبة البريد