I'll never have an eating disorder here...

Let me apologize now for what is likely to be a post loaded with typos. The problem is that I am lying on my bed with my laptop balanced on my bulging belly making it difficult for me to tap the keys with any degree of accuracy. I have just come back from dinner at a friend’s house where her mother made a deeeee-licious meal. True to Palestinian hospitality, they stuffed me like a Koosa Mahshi. This, by the way, is exactly what we had for dinner.

I am a huge fan of Thai food. I love Mexican food. I consider Chinese a real treat. But if you want the best home cooked food on the planet, Palestine is the place to be. Koosa Mahshi is probably my favorite dish. The first time I had it was with a friend of a friend from Nablus. After one bite, I thought to myself that if I lived here permanently, I would need to invest in some elastic waist pants. Not exactly a Weight Watchers approved dish. Of course, that isn’t going to stop me from trying to make it myself.

Koosa Mahshi is stuffed zucchini. It is stuffed with rice, ground beef and what I can only guess is a little bit of heaven and then poached in the oven. Then it is simmered in a sauce made of dried goat yogurt. I know I tasted cardamom, but I’m not sure if it was in the stuffing or the sauce. My friend’s mother also made some amazing lamb and salad. The meal was topped off with a cup of sweet Arabic coffee which will no doubt have me staring at the ceiling well into the wee hours of the morning. Ah…it is all worth it though.

Eric, Here's Your Damn Post...

Yes, I KNOW June 10th was my last post. My dear friend has sent me several emails with the last post in the email body. Alright, already! I fell down the rabbit hole, OK?

Actually, I have been in "Arabic Bootcamp" at Hebrew University. They offer an intensive Literary Arabic course and I figured I could continue being a human being while taking it. I figured wrong. It was truly the most brutal course of my academic career...and I'm the kind of gal who sets the bar pretty high to begin with. The course was 5 1/2 hours a day, 5 days a week, PLUS there was 5 hours of homework a night. Brutal. I'm still suffering from some post-traumatic stress from the experience so I will refrain from expressing any opinions about the program until my head is clearer.

I realize I have missed some really important events while I've been away. I have been scribbling notes on scraps of paper so I could get back to the house to write a post about events as they came up. Alas, I was a slave to this course. I'll try to do better in the future.