Syria

Last Sunday, Michael offered to make homemade flatbread if we cooked a Syrian meal. Even though I have some great restaurants to recommend below, of course I am also willing to cook! To go with the flatbread:

· Michael made a roasted pepper dip: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/258803/muhammara-roasted-pepper-walnut-spread/

· Sheryl made a vegetable stew (it was good even without the lamb): https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/73138/tabakh-roho-syrian-lamb-and-vegetable-stew/

· I made a Syrian nut cake: https://www.internationalcuisine.com/syrian-nut-cake/

Everything was delicious and we had a good time together.

There are so many Syrian restaurants in California that I’m just going to recommend one each for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. For breakfast, I went to Mal Al Sham in El Cajon with Vonnett and Kevin. I had Tahina Fool Mdamas (fava beans with tomato, parsley, lemon, garlic, olive oil, tahina, and yogurt. Vonnett ordered makhlama, a skillet of ground beef with tomato, parsley, onion, and soft cooked eggs. Kevin ordered the chicken shawarma and breakfast manakeesh, which is pizza with choices of three options out of four, cheese, muhammara, zaatar, and lahm bi ajeen. The bread and the manakeesh dough is made fresh there and is super soft. The chicken shawarma had a beautiful parsley salad underneath, and we finished with the delicious rice pudding with pistachios.

For lunch, Karina and I went to Damasco Mediterranean Cuisine in Yuciapa. We shared the falafel plate and the beef schwarma plate. Both also had cabbage salad, pickled turnips, pickles, hummous, pita bread and three sauces - blended peppers, garlic, and tahini. The beef schwarma also had a roasted tomato and rice. Since it was our first time, they also gave us a sampler for while we were waiting. This was during the COVID shutdown, so Karina and I took everything to a nearby park and ate at a picnic table while catching up.

For dinner, I recommend Aleppo's Kitchen in Anaheim. It’s hard to find, on the backside of a strip mall, but worth taking the time to look. They have all the well-known middle eastern appetizers, hummus, tabouli, falafel, and lebne, so I tried two new ones for me. Shingleesh is a combination of tomatoes, peppers, onions, feta, and spices. Fried Aleppo kibbeh is minced beef, onions, and nuts rolled into a kibbeh shell that looks like a cigar. I have no idea how they make it so symmetrical. Both of these appetizers are delicious and filling, so I skipped the kebabs, shawarma, and other entrees and went straight to dessert. I chose qatayef because, again, I’ve never had it before. I chose the crème filling for the two sweet dumplings. They look more like empanadas than dumplings and they are fried to a crunch. They also have a syrup poured over them and are covered in ground pistachios- very middle eastern!

For dessert, try Le Mirage Pastries in Anaheim and specifically ask for the special Syrian ice cream, shavings of chewy ice cream with rose water and pistachio. I thought it was very good and unusual. Allan got a fruit tart, which had a sesame seed crust lined with chocolate. Andrea got cream filled baklava. Matt got pineapple jalapeño gelato. Everything was interesting and delicious.

The book I read for Syria was The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri which I picked up from the San Bernardino County Library. If you want to hear the author speak, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEvb27PcwSM

Syrian authors whose work can be found at the Los Angeles County Library include Ghadda Samman, Rafik Schami, and Khaled Khalifa. To find links to Syrian work online, check here: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2014-10/the-liberated-voice-three-writers-from-syria/

The movies I watched about Syrians were The Swimmers on Netflix and Peace by Chocolate found here: https://tubitv.com/movies/690101/peace-by-chocolate

For music, I enjoyed:

· The Dabke dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPK5Doy3vwY

· Malek Jandali playing an arrangement of the oldest music available from history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AKedKrxoLI

· A concert of traditional music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK-lQTrdbe0

Something unusual I found is a video about a room that has been moved into an art museum. The Damascas Room shows a luxurious space from 1707 in Syria: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-islam/chronological-periods-islamic/islamic-art-late-period/v/the-damascus-room-at-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art

There are clear warnings against going to Syria. Even when Allan’s family drove through when he was a child, people were scared of speaking to them because they knew they were being watched. If you did go, however, you might see these places: https://www.rockyroadtravel.com/top-6-tourist-attractions-of-syria/

I wish for a time where people can travel to the beautiful and meaningful places in Syria. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in Syria and throughout the world.

Photo credit: JOE Planas https://unsplash.com/photos/Ra8TBB7DZm8