And the girls are back! Yes! Not just us mistresses but the other four women out there. Painting towns red with their husbands, children and well embraced Menopause! For those of you confused, I'm talking about the none other than Carrie Bradshaw, ahem, I mean MRS. Carrie Preston, Miranda Hobbes, Charlotte York-Goldenblatt and most importantly Samantha Jones! They have finally come back into our fashion-whore lives!! Razzles and Dazzles were all around town with girls in their pearls pouring in to the theaters with their girlfriends to see how these girls live it up in this sequel! So of course, we had our share of hoopla and joined in the shenanigans! I decided to host a pre-movie dinner at my place with home-cooked and from scratch middle eastern food in lieu of the movie being filmed in the middle east. Even though it claims to be in Abu Dhabi, those of us who grew up in Abu Dhabi or live there now know that it's not actually in the city. So before I'm tempted to give a full blown out movie review on this food blog, which by the way I will do on my own blog, I would like to share with you what we girls dined ourselves to prior to the movie!
Kicking off the Memorial Day weekend early, we started off with some appetizers with Fresh Hummus, TJ's Tabbouleh and the oh so special Mhammara which were served with Olive Crackers that you can get from the grocery store and Ridge Cut Salt and Pepper Kettle Cooked Chips. A tip for serving hummus, regardless if you store buy your hummus or u make it from scratch, always stir in some olive oil into the hummus right when you serve, which just kicks up the flavors and in minutes it will be devoured and all gone! As mentioned earlier in previous blog posts, Parsley is the most underestimated herb, so those who love it are in herb/salad/figure-friendly appetizer heaven when eating Tabbouleh! It's light, fresh and oh so yummy!!! Seriously, I think I could probably have umpteen amounts of Tabbouleh! Which is a good thing because it's soo healthy! Anyway, so a little about Mhammara, which those of you who've watched the movie was the red dip Carrie and Aidan shared, during their "dinner catch-up" aka date -- ok mums the word...no more revelations. It is a Syrian roasted red pepper dip that is tangy yet sweet and to tell you the truth, sinfully good for those who love "tangy yet sweet" foods! LOL The main ingredients that include in this dip is that it has a pomegranate molasses which gives it the tartness taste. Although my balsamic vinegar version turned out pretty good, its the molasses that makes it what it is! If you ever get a chance to go to Syria or to a Syrian restaurant/grocery store, get it and you will not regret! Though I will admit the Mhammara that's at the Khalyustan in NYC isn't all that great! Well at least not for my taste buds! It's a shame because it is a great store nonetheless!
As the feasting on the Appetizers continued, time was going against our will so we had to move on to dinner which for your viewing pleasure is as follows. Merguez-spiced ground lamb with dried plum. Chicken with a Roasted Red Pepper and Caper sauce. A medley of Sautéed Mustard Greens, Brussel Sprouts, and Orange Red Peppers with Light Lemon Pepper and Garlic Seasonings. A mixed Baby Arugula Salad with Apples, Celery, Walnuts and Tomatoes over a Sherry Vinaigrette.
Even as being the chef of night, I must say everything was scrumptious! But no meal is complete without dessert. And being a Middle Eastern food night, I went to my local Arabic Sweet house
on Atlantic Avenue (Brooklyn, NY) and managed to get my ultimate vice, Knafeh!!! There is nothing like it especially when made fresh and has come right out of the oven! Crispy vermicelli over melted Arabic sweet cheese topped with a touch syrup! Heaven. I'm salivating as I write it. I wish I had some left overs from that! As a mistress, I still haven't developed the courage to make it yet and once i do, the experience will be shared of course but until then run and get it!
The thing I like about middle eastern food is that all though what I wrote about sounds quite calorific, it's not! I literally used little no oil and even after eating lots of it you don't feel heavy; You're full but not heavy.
Anyways I hope you enjoyed the pictures from our dinner and soon enough i will post the recipes! Until then
Enjoy Cooking and Eating!
lots of Love!
Mistress D!
P.S. - We were all soo consumed that after finishing off the dessert, we realized we forgot to take a picture of it. So the photo credit of the Knafeh goes to halaskitchen.com
