Lebanese Olive Salad, and Our Town

I’ve noticed, as I’m sure you have, that olive bars in the supermarket are as typical now as the salad bar once was. The IGA here in Harbor Springs has a great little olive bar that I perused closely the other night. It was a Friday evening, not many people out getting groceries up here…

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Fried Cauliflower, and this time last year

Fried cauliflower with tahini sauce

I’m thinking a lot about culinary school this week, because it was exactly one year ago that I entered the professional program at Tante Marie’s Cooking School in San Francisco. I had just left my job of many years in Chicago and felt the exhilaration of starting something new, and hard won. The house I…

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Lebanese Tomato Salad. Let juice run down your chin.

There’s no simpler, more beloved salad than Lebanese tomato salad. Tomatoes inspired my writing from the start, and that would explain why it made the cover of my cookbook! Use ripe summer tomatoes, of course, and fresh and dried mint to make this a perfect salad. In winter, I still go for it using little…

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Tabbouleh Salad (Tabouli)

Tabbouleh salad with fresh herbs and bulgur

SaveThis Lebanese tabbouleh salad recipe (also called tabouli or tabooli) is a fresh herb salad with a simple lemon vinaigrette. Get this salad right by using just a little bulgur wheat; the main ingredient here is fresh herbs! This traditional Lebanese Tabbouleh Salad recipe is both healthy and packed with flavor. My authentic Lebanese recipe is…

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Pickled Turnips, and an introduction to Aunt Hilda

One of the first recipes posted here, Lebanese turnip pickles, or lift, are always on the table as a piquant addition to Lebanese breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Lebanese turnip pickles are very simple to make and can be adjusted to suit your taste–spicy, garlicky, or not! The Abood sisters, my aunts, had talents. Helen sang…

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Porch time: Strawberry Rose Lemonade (Part II)

This post and story about Strawberry Rose Lemonade was the first on my blog years ago! Click here for Part 1. Thank you to my special assistant John. Enjoy! If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this life, it’s that for every joy there is a sorrow. The Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran’s “On Joy and…

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