Give Me Liberty or Give Me Kara3een!
Seriously, how can people (read: men) eat that stuff? Whenever my father describes how “in the olden days” he used to eat sheep’s tongue and/or head, my face contorts and I end up sitting there with tense shoulders.
Once, my family dug up a hole (isn’t that a lovely way to start a sentence) in our chalet’s garden and plopped a sheep in there for ‘mandi.’ We still have photographs of that dreadful event. I remember my father’s friends’ beaming faces and the poor sheep being hauled out of the hole. When the burnt animal was brought inside, I could not stand the smell. I bolted out the front door like a madwoman along with my serving of salad and white rice which, by the way, is a delightful combination.
Now, I hate to be judgmental but I will always dislike that kind of meat. I enjoy a good steak, escalope and veal, but when you drop a slice of machboos style sheep/lamb in my plate along with el sha7am eli yitdandal oo yitra6ra6 jidam wayhi…I’m sorry! I cannot!
MP3's...
Blind Melon - No Rain 'love this song
The Postal Service - Iron & Wine :)
José González - Heartbeats :))
Eagle Eye Cherry - Are You Still Having Fun?
at 8:06 AM
37 Comments
ur missing out on a lot!
i liked the way u described the whole hole thing (7ilwa whole hole) it was hilarious! I could see the glee on ur father and friends faces :P
i've never seen it being cooked or stayed close by, so I would know about the smell, but i'll belive u :)
this post makes me saliva run
I can't believe I used to eat that stuff =x
When I was little, I don't now.
just to clarify
when i said ur missing out on a lot
i meant the mendy
not the kara3een
i wont be able to identify kara3een on a table :)
WoHooo! Someone who shares my dislike for some of our traditional gastronomic customs which are cherished by those who ... I don’t know ... the whole thing invokes images from Tarzan movies or tales from the Arabian Nights! Now I love a good barbecue with all the greasy smoke and the obligatory sand and insects, but what is mandi? Something that harks back to the prehistoric ages when mankind first tamed fire? The concoction smells like burnt plastic or rubber or maybe even Dr. Jeckylls lab X-< If I wanted that experience I’d rather have a hot dog at the car races.
Oh, did I mention this cuisine - if we can call it that - is not unique to our region. We can trace this practice of preparing lamb to the Samaritans, a minority ethnic group that still thrives within Judaism. Members of the group share many similarities with the Arab culture of region, including speaking Arabic along with Hebrew. In many ways, the Samaritans faith and religious practices are different from those observed by the mainstream Jewish people; one such difference is celebrating Passover with banquets with lambs served, you guessed it ... as mandi. BTW, the name is famous for the "good samaritan" parable in the Bible: a man was attacked and left for dead, a Rabbi and another man passed him by without bothering to offer him any help until a Samaritan offers the good dead. A jewish friend told me that the crooner Neil Sedaka - for those of you who are old enough to remember him - is actually a Samaritan. While I know he traces his lineage to oriental roots, I haven’t been able to verify this claim.
heh, i sold the domain blindmelon.com to blind melon after i won a court case against them lol
yummmmy some good tongue with lemon and garlic, yasalaaaaam.
Yet i won't be able to eat it if it didn't come on a decorated plate and sliced :P
Eeeek!
yazeed: *cringes* Well, good for you. This is the only type of food I am picky about. Other than that, I'm pretty much open to trying new things no matter how strange they look like (with the exception of dogs, turtles, snakes, etc. boiled, steamd, or grilled in Southeast Asia).
will: Heh, that's a first! Kids are usually picky about what they eat and THEN they become more tolerant of other options :) Why and when did you stop?
q80_demon: EXACTLY! I think I don't like the smell (read: stench) because the meat is just MEAT. It's not "emtabal" (I miss riyash :/)
And that's a good chunk of info :) As soon as you mentioned Samaritan, I immediately though of Good Samaritan. I didn't know that story behind it though :))
mark: Haha! Neat! I cheered when I heard it playing in the movie "Sideways" :) I loved that movie :))
judy: I don't care if it's served on a silver platter. I'd rather eat human flesh.
DR: Eeekain!
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Mendi = Hawaiian Imu Pit; And everybody loves a Luau.
i tooootally agree with you woman !!
Smilla 3aleech
"I'm pretty much open to trying new things no matter how strange they look like."
Erzulie:
Allow me to suggest haggis. Em, EMMM! The true breakfast of champions. Love it, love it, L-O-V-E IT!!! (I’m not joking ;-)
Erzulie,
Not to mention the poor sheep's face and eyes looking at them before they gulp him up. Yuck.
I think that there's gross food in every culture, but to me China and japan are the worst, saw a documentary the other day on what they eat (what don't they eat, that's the question).
Allah Yzeed Ini3ma.
familiar: You should've seen my face when I was reading your imagery-filled comment :P~ No, no, cannot, cannot...
K: Imagine hauling a pig out of the ground. That by itself is a crime.
drlost: I totally agree with me man! :P
error: I will call you mandi from now on.
q80_demon: We are no longer friends.
Hazolat: I saw a YouTube of crap eaten in Japan (I'm chewing gum as I'm writing this and I'm having a hard time chewing because I remember the images)...I was disgusted. Basically, they boil/steam/WHATEVER animals' weeners :/
I had the pleasure of experiencing the acclaimed 'Mandi' first-hand in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. It looked wierd burying food like that, but it was AMAZING! I introduced this dish to some of my friends, and they still remember those days.
Erzulie:
People visit Scotland for many reasons including the people, the landscapes, the potent potables, the cuisine, Jenners, the tartan kilts (?), and to appreciate the legacy of James Clark Maxwell.
I usually go there for a combination of the above (in fact I earn my living from the last one) and the food ain’t bad after all. Allow me to recommend an ultra sweet Scottish treat: have you tried a deep fried Mars bar?
(Again: I’m not joking – if I were I’d recommend a deep-fried Snickers bar ;-)
thats what happens when
liberalism becomes appealing
you lose taste of things in your own culture, even though they might seem like small things.
besides in the olden days when mr oil was not around people could not afford to throw away anything, thus such dishes were made for that purpose..
peace
aggressor: Cool! I wonder how it's done in Saudi...
q80demon: I'm in the land where fried food has become a religion. But you know, that sounds yummy...fried Mars bar...I'm not big on fried foods but I have tried some 'interesting' dishes...
q8iblogger: First of all, this was meant to be a light & fun post. Now, you’ve become the party pooper by your attempt to tie my likes and dislikes with my supposed liberalist leanings and whatnot. I don’t like mandi or kara3een, but I do love my imawash, machboos, margooga, yireesh, and a good chunk of rahash.
Second, please do not assume things about me and what I value just because you’ve read one or a couple of my posts. “Ena ba3th il ‘6ane ithm,” isn’t that right bro? Peace out.
hmm I can't do brain matter and tongue and stuff.. but i've tried Mendi and it was pretty good.. I like K's view on it ;P
Erzulie:
check it out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_fried_Mars_Bar
and yes, I did try it and it is something ... different: I wouldn’t say its yummy, but it isn’t yucky either.
BTW; the Scots claim they have the worlds best dentists, possibly because they have *terrible teeth* :-Z It is claimed this is due to the sugary local food specialties that include the various jams, rocks, soor plooms, ... , coupled with the soft water (which has a very low mineral content).
digma: Hear that K? :P~~
Yeah well, I guess il nas athwaq. I'm good with other foods but my taste buds and olfactory system don't like those two dishes :/
q80demon: I'm wondering if you're part Scottish! The Mars thing looks interesting...And I love jams! Scotland sounds interesting...'only fear is that I won't be able to understand them, accent & all :P
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Visiting Scotland is a joy, and you needn’t worry about the heavy accents – that is just wicked misinformation spewed by the Brits. Incidentally, next year the union between Scotland and England will be 300 years old; already some in Scotland are loudly suggesting it is time to end this political partnership.
Oh, and when I visit I don’t have to worry about saying "Macbeth" - rather than the "Scottish play" – too often!
(This should be clear to classical actors and fans of the Blackadder series :-D )
"...with el sha7am eli yitdandal oo yitra6ra6 jidam wayhi..."
EEEwwwwwwwwww!
I never realized how onomatopoeic those words are till I read your description :) hahahaha!
q80demon: Wow you really know your "Scottish" info. And Macbeth is my favorite Shakespearean play; the prophecies, blood's symbolism...I was really into it when I was reading it, so much that I reread it a couple times to get the "Aha! I see the connection!" moment :P
Raine: Hehe, well you know, sometimes saying things in Arabic is much more...animated? :P I just hate it when I eat a good slice of meat before I bite the fatty part *eugh* That's why I stopped eating machboos style la7am :/ I like marag la7am though :))
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"Macbeth is my favorite Shakespearean play"
Aahhhhh! Hot potato, off his drawers, pluck to make amends. Aaahh!
Always call it the "Scottish play" – not Macbeth … Aahhhh! Hot potato … etc
We fried our brains watching this stuff :-D
But lets go back to peculiar edibles. What was the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
Once I found some frozen hamburgers in a freezer – they must’ve been years old, dating back to ayyam el-‘3oo6. I just went ahead and prepared them; that was during my school days and so far I'm fine.
A dear friend of mine who refrains from eating mushrooms always reminds me that chefs advise against washing fungi, instead using a brush to clean them. He doesn’t forget to remind me that mushrooms are cultivated in a bed of … you know ...
familiar stranger: Queen is rahash! Tuna sandwich? Pish! No no...I wish I was a pole so I can live on rahash forever...num num :)~~
q80demon: *laughs* :))
I think the strangest thing I ate was alligator. It was at a Brazilian restaurant but it was really good.
Of course, student life sometimes makes you eat whatever's around. When I'm on the verge of "Brokedom," I eat the scraps of preserved foods in my kitchen. Combinations include Basmati rice with a side of canned tuna OR with ready-made-packet soup. Don't judge me! :P~
And this is the second time you refer to your so-called old age! How old are you really are (instead of how old do you really feel)!
I sometimes feel/act like an eight year old. Other times, I'm nearing 60 years of age.
Shush! Not so loud, you don’t want someone to jump ahead and start preaching about 7alal and 7aram edibles :-/ Once in Texas we went to a restaurant that served HUGE steaks (each one was like 5 pounds) and for those who finish the steak and vegetables, potatoes, … in one hour, the meal was free. Anyway, they served crunchy bits of snakes skin as an appetizer. You wonna hear about the Mongolian restaurant incident that involved horse milk … I think not.
I’m old enough to remember the days when we had to walk to the TV to change the channel, computers had no mice, Japanese cars were ridiculed and Kuwaiti football was actually interesting to watch. But I’m always young at heart.
Oh, and you think 60 is old!!! Aargh, look at "Sir" Sean Connery
Nice!
q80demon: Oh I didn't know it's 7aram. But it was gooooood :P~~
Horse milk? :/ That sounds...euwy.
And that's not that old :P~
Equalizer: What is! The list of unedible edibles? :P~
"that's not that old :P~"
Oh yeah?! OK, did I mention the TV was B/W, and changing the channel also meant re-orienting the antenna to another country? And the first computer I owned had 16K of RAM; that’s K for kilobyte, so my current MacPro has a million times the amount of RAM the Apple 2 used to have?? Or that I remember when Japanese cars were refered to as cheap and nasty??? And finally, I have seen the legends of Kuwaiti football play LIVE???? And did I say we had no schools, but rather we went to Mu6awa3 who taught nothing but Quran and basic reading skills????? And the first time we were told meat and food were available in tin cans, people started to shout: "Garribat is-Sa3ah ya bu_Sale7"?????
BTW, somewhere I read that the only meat tastier than the flesh of the swine is … human flesh. I don’t know who said that, probably Hannibal "the cannibal" Lecture. Maybe its because both animals are omnivores :-P
q80demon: Hmm...well you know what they say, 40's are the new 30's :P~~
And that human flesh bit reminded me of movie "Alive." I'm sure you've seen it :/
"Such Great Heights" by Iron & Wine, who did a cover of the original Postal Service song. :) Listen to the John Tejada remix of the PS version. Fun stuff. :)
I love "Heartbeats" - what a beautiful song.
Kleio: That's on my Ipod! And yes it is a lovely song :))
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