Saved the best entry for last! Finally, you guys get to see the source of the sandwich that has been hogging my front page. During my visit to Cincinnati, my mother and I stayed with my uncle, his wife, and my grandma. The great thing about this, other than the unconditional love, the company, and me being basically spoiled rotten, is the fact that my uncle himself, is a foodie just like me, okay maybe he’s a bit more than me…… Anyways, on probably the second day or third day we were all gathered together at my other uncle’s house celebrating Eid with a barbecue. On that same day, he and a cousin of mine, Lein, were raving about this place known as Findlay market, which had great food. So, we set a date, and my uncle, 3 of my cousins, and I were going to have a food venture in Findlay Market.

• Starbucks: First thing in the morning, my uncle and mom wanted to take my Grandma out for a walk to get her muscles moving, so we decided a family trip to a super market in Cincinnati called Kroger, would do the job. Luckily for me, they had a Starbucks within the store. It was not the greatest, I ordered a Mango Dragon-fruit refresher, a usual of mine. It was extremely light pink, and did not hold the perfect pink to light purple color ratio it usually holds, and I was not sure if that was because I ordered a venti sized. I was a bit disappointed, but drank it either way. I also got a cookie, that was fine.
• Crab Salad: The second dish, that I had inserted into my stomach was this crab salad that my uncle loves to get from Kroger. Apparently, according to some research that I had conducted, crab salad is also know as a Crab Louis (Louie) salad, or the King Of Salads, either way, this salad had originated in the western region of the U.S. I myself, am not a massive seafood fan, but my uncle was so excited about this salad, that I just had to try it. It was okay, once again I am not a fan of seafood, so my answer may be different than one who absolutely adores seafood and crabs.
• Pho Lang Thang: This place was the star of the show, and why this date was even set. This restaurant apparently had the best Banh Mi in all of Cincinnati. To say that I was skeptical about coming to this place would be an understatement, personally I am not really upon to new cuisines, I enjoy remaining in my comfort zone, but I put my hope in the hands of my uncle, and trusted him. And I was right to do so, we got the BÁNH MÌ GÀ NƯỚNG which is the sandwich filled with chicken. Man, this sandwich is a great food fusion, a combination, of the three S’s: savory, sweet, and spicy, with every new bite. It really was a great sandwich! The interesting difference between culture also showed when I had conducted some research, apparently people in Vietnam would have these sandwiches for breakfast or as a midday meal, I find that surprising because chicken is not usually something that people in the middle east would have for breakfast!
• Areti’s Gyro: Since we split three sandwiches among 5 people, we still had a little bit of room left in our stomach, so we headed to the next destination that had the best Gyros in all of Cincinnati according to my uncle. We had a beef Gyro and it reminded alot of the Shawerma except the few differences here and there like the fact that they used Tziki sauce instead of garlic sauce, and the form of the sandwich.

As you can see, it was one heck of a day.

Here’s a dish, that unfortunately I did not eat, but felt that it was to amazing to deprive you guys from it. On the 14th of February, also known as the day of looooove, valentines day, my Uncle prepared a perfect meal for his wife, and daughter. This meal took him only 15 minutes to make, yet I was told it was phenomenal. To him the most important part, in perfecting this dish was the choice of meat. He chose fillet mignon for this dish, and the reason behind that is because of the fat that is marbled into the meat, hence making the meat very flavorful and juicy, when cooked medium-well. In his opinion, if the steak was perfectly cooked, then there is no need to add any additional spices to the meat other than the occasional salt and pepper.

Ingredients:

• Filet mignon (The most preferred kind for this recipe)
• Salt
• Pepper

Preparation:

• Place the steak on a paper towel, and begin to tap it.
• Salt and pepper the steak to taste.
• Heat up the grill to about 425 degrees F.

Cooking:

• Put the steak on the grill (Do not move it for at least three minutes).
• After 3 minutes, move it around (DO NOT FLIP) in order to get the diamond shape.
• After 4 minutes in addition the three minutes, you flip it on the other side.
• and the repeat the same exact steps for the other side to get the diamond shape.
• When it is fully cooked, get a small piece of butter (around a tsp) and allow it to melt on it. To give it’s glossy look
• Let the steak rest for 5 minutes on a plate, before cutting it, in order to maintain its juiciness.

This dish can be accompanied by anything, my personal favorite side dish with steak would be potatoes, fried, mashed, or roasted I don’t care I love them either way. But as you can see in the pictures below, he paired the steak with some mushrooms, and macaroni and cheese.

These last three weeks of summer have been a great escape from reality to say the least. I decided to join my mom and visit her side of the family in Cincinnati Ohio, before having to go back to university. To say that I actually enjoyed my time during this trip would be an understatement, spending time with family that I do not get to see very often, hearing stories about my uncles back when they were in school and the trouble they would get themselves into, and the long car rides with my cousins to the mall, as we blasted off different sorts of music, it really was a breather to say the least. This dessert was made by aunt, on the day that we went over and had some lunch, it is basically a Semolina cake with cream in the middle. According to some research I conducted, the word Semolina, is derived from the Italian word semolino which basically means grits or a paste for some kind of soup, and this word was derived from the Latin simala which basically means the finest flour which is similar to the Greek semidalis which also means the finest flour. I find, the different cultures behind the word Semolina very interesting, especially because this cake recipe is actually from an Egyptian origin!

Ingredients for the cake:

• 1 cup of fine semolina
• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup of fine dry coconut
• 1 cup of plain yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp spoon of vanilla extract
• 1 tsp spoon of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp spoon of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil or any kind of oil you find

Ingredients for the filling:

• 2 cups of milk
• 4 tbsp of corn starch
• 2 tbsp of sugar
• Rose water/ orange blossom water

Preparations For the cake:

• Mix all of the ingredients well with each other.

Preparations for the Filling:

• Add all of the ingredients together in a pot, and put the stove on medium heat.
• When the mixture begins to boil at the slightest, you add the rose water and turn off the heat.
• Preheat the oven at 355 degrees F
• Grease the baking pan with any kind of shortening.

Cooking:

• Once the oven is preheated, pour half of the cake mixture into the baking pan, and bake it for 10 minutes.
• Pour the filling on top of the bottom half of the cake.
• Pour the other half of the cake mixture on top of the filling.
• Place it back into the oven in the middle rack for another 10 minutes.

This dish can be eaten for breakfast, as a snack, or as a dessert, cold or hot, it is delicious either way. It can be topped with some syrup, and pistachios.

Did someone say chocolate?! Here’s a simple dish that you can make if you are planning on having a lazy day at home, hence the name. There are a lot of names for this dish, some parts of Europe such as; Portugal, and Italy call it Chocolate Salami, not exactly the most appetizing name for it. Other countries such as the Middle East apparently call it Sukseh, some call it Chocolate Biscuit cake, but my favorite one of all is Lazy cake. The reason why this cake is called lazy cake, is because it requires very little effort and work, the hardest thing would either be getting the energy to get the ingredients from the grocery store if you do not already have them, or waiting for the dish to be ready to devour. A fun fact about this dish is that according to some websites, this dish is considered to be one of the many desserts that Prince William, loves, as a matter of fact it was his grooms cake!

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 4 egg whites
• 3 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 packs tea biscuit

Preparation: There’s not much that you need to do in terms of preparation when it comes to this dessert, and that;s why I think it is so simple. The only thing that needs to be done is to break biscuits into fourths.

Cooking:

• Mix the butter and sugar together very well.
• Add the egg whites one at a time, until well combined.
• Add cocoa powder to the mixture, until well combined.
• place the broken biscuits into a big bowl.
• Pour the chocolate mixture over the biscuits and mix them together.
• Once the chocolate and biscuits are mixed well together, you can form the dish into any shape you want.
• Wrap parchment paper around the dish, and place into the freezer for 2-3 hours.

This dish is perfect for breakfast or as a late light snack, you do not feel the heaviness of chocolate whatsoever, it is every light, airy, and delicious.

Here’s to another meatless Monday! This dish is a simple dish consisting of cooked lentils with rice, that originates from the Levant which is a large area in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean also known as بلاد الشام. Personally, this is not my most favorite dish, but it is an easy one, that does not require a lot of effort. Apparently according to my mom, the poor people who do not have enough money to buy meat, would resort to this meal as an alternative to provide them with the same nutrients as meat.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of brown lentils
• 2 cups of Egyptian Rice/short grain rice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp of vegetable oil.

Preparation:

• Soak the rice for around 20 minutes.
• Rinse the lentils under cold water.

Cooking:

• Place the lentils in a pot, add around two cups of cold water, let it boil on high heat.
• Once the lentils are boiled, you cover them and let it simmer on medium low heat for 20 minutes until half cooked.
• Add the vegetable oil, salt, and cumin to the lentils.
• Drain the rice and add it to the lentils.
• Add boiled water, if needed to cover the ingredients. Cover and let it cook on low heat for another 10 minutes.
• Stir the pot, and then turn off the heat and cover it once again and let the dish sit on the stove for a while.

Like I said earlier in the introduction, this isn’t exactly my most favorite meal, and the reason behind that is because if it were to be eaten alone without any sides, then it is quite bland. There are a lot of sides that accompany this dish, and none of them are meat! You can have a side of plain yogurt that goes along with this dish as you can see in the photo below, you can have a side salad of diced tomatoes, onions that is sprinkled with salt and olive oil. Or you can top the dish with a kind of tomato sauce, fried onions, and elbow pasta, this is when the dish becomes Egyptian مجدرة, which is also known as Kushari.

Here’s a dish, where you can easily find the ingredients in your own pantry. This dish is perfect for a lazy day, very simple, and very yummy. This dish is a personal favorite of mine, whenever my mom does not know what to make for lunch, this meal is the first thing that I suggest, because I just love potatoes. It’s basically scrambled eggs mixed with fried potatoes. In Lebanon, this dish is called Mfarakeh which is something that I did not until now, all my life my family and I called this dish by what it is, Eggs and Potatoes, of course we called it by it’s Arabic name.

Ingredients:

• Eggs
• Potatoes
• Vegetable Oil
• Salt
• Black Pepper

Preparation:

• Peel the potatoes (This step is optional, some prefer to have it with the skin on).
• Cut the potatoes into cubes
• Rinse the potatoes under water to get rid of the starch.
• Dry the potatoes with a paper towel.
• Whisk the eggs.

Cooking:

• The first thing to do is pour some vegetable oil into the frying pan on high heat and let it sit.
• Then you add the potatoes, continuously stirring them when you hear a sizzling sound on medium heat until cooked.
• Once the potatoes are cooked and tender, you pour the whisked eggs over the potatoes and stir constantly until it is cooked.

This dish can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner as well, which is great! Although certain people prefer not to have this for breakfast because of the fried potatoes, I absolutely love it. It goes great along with a side of warm Arabic pita bread, and a cup of hot tea.