Other Homes

When I was a child, I was allways dreaming of sneaking in other homes.. Being in other lives without being seen.

Other homes smell others.

I still have this temptation whenever I see a curtain flying out of a window. I want to be a part of that wind and blow in.

Once upon a time there was a home in Muharraq town. They called it the house of of Shaikh Isa. He lived there with all the servants and his family.

Because at this very once upon a time there were no air conditioners, the house had a wind tower that let the hot blow out and the cool breeze blow in.

Whether they had happy or anxious nights in their rooms, noone can tell anymore.. since the wind tower blew out the smell of the home long ago

but the beautiful stone and wood carvings remained..

As for the house of Umm A where lives the children and grandchildren together, it was visited happily on a beatiful afternoon in Hammad town.

Do they have happy nights and days in there? The warm smiles talk..

Guests are more than welcome, offered great food, chai and yelwo coffee (arabian coffee boiled with cardamom) served in small, delicate mirra cups without handles.

and when the guests are finished with the warm chat, the generous food and drinks, according to the tradition comes a tray of fragrances. All the newest fashion fancy ones(mine had Escada, J'adore etc..) and the old traditional arabic essence oil that will be left to the table.

Where at the end comes buhur(the incensory) in which willl be added Udd, that the guest is kindly asked to turn inside outside her cloths and all around the hair.

This way.. although others homes smell others.. the outsider will happily smell "others" after the visit.

As if happily belonging to the house..

As if .. accepted.
As if.. there were.. no others.

Tayyiba & Mejruha

This is what bahraini friends called me: tayyiba (which means kind as I am told).

We met them here, in this passage in Al Ali mall where we took as a good shelter in around 43 degrees celcius outside.

A banker and a businessman they were, both in the traditional white dresses and their traditional scarf. We had a nice chat sitting in a cafe nearby. This is when I understood how proud bahrainies are of their traditional clothes.

In he evening, I entered a class at the university of Bahrain. On he English Language board I saw this and it was sweet suprise as if describing my stay in Bahrain.

My second word today has been Mejruha, from my Fairouz song. Means "heartbroken".

Umm Ali

This is Umm Ali (meaning Mother of Ali), which is the Egyptian Bread Pudding that I tasted in Al Abraaj (meaning towers (burc is 1 tower al abraaz is the plural form for burc)

Recipe here

Sorry for the picture but I was more for eating than documenting it. Creamy sweet flavor of Ummmmmm Ali mmmm..
So after having Umm Ali, we tried to fix a date to go to see Umm A..

The Welcoming Strangers..And Your Own Land

In the loving touch of strangers..

..you see your future as a white paper with a fresh smell, enlightened, as perfect as your dreams and yet not drawn, empty. Light as a piece of fresh paper.
The way I felt in my new friend A's car.
And yet..
I miss laying down under the dining table with my cats in my flat.
All these days, at the moments where I was in the room here to update the blog, I had a company of a bahraini ant to whom I am very attached now. He is more than a pet. He comes and goes as if lost its way like a part of me. I am sure I will miss him when I will be back.

Somethings Never Change

Likeknitting in 37 degrees Celcius..

I like this word HUBB by the way. It is pronounced just like its meaning(to love).. You inhale quickly and suddenly. You take it to your lungs.

When I was taking the photos the door was open since there was something viciously wrong with the airconditioner. But then came this beautiful air of chello through the corridor, from probably a neighbour's tv. When you can not cry anymore, chello is allways able to take this weight on your chest, carries it through the melody.. That is the good company of chello.

Can you hear it there?

Leaving it Behind - A Recipe

This is my new friend M, talking on the phone with his bird love over our dinner on the terrace.
Love makes him smile and loose her casual face expression in this giant smile.
That was a nice chat where we listened back to Fairouz, a legend in the middle east, a beautiful bird singing sadness, the big eye make up she wears in my childhood
He gave me in a way the recipe of leaving it behind, a love, a job, a city, a life. And asked me for the recipe of Kisir(turkish tabouleh) instead. I wish I could put a photo to the recipe but he already finished his kisir in his plate in the photo. Here we go for the tabouleh recipe:
1,5 cup of fine boulgour(crashed wheat)
1 cup boiling water
3 heaped tablespoon of tomato paste
2 tablespoon of chilly paste
1,5 tablespoon of pomegrenate sauce(optional)
olive oil(as much as you want)
lemon juice(as much as you want)
2 teaspoon of cumin
1teaspoon of chilli powder
4 scallions
3 cucumbers
2 large tomates
2 handful of minth leaves
5 leaves of lettuce
salt/pepper

Kisir is a good idea to prepare for a crowd and very easy to prepare since you can taste it and change the quantities according to your own taste.
Finely chop scallions, lettuce, minth leaves and chop the remaining vegetables(I like cucmbers and tomatoes chopped in bigger sizes). Take boulgour in a casserole and add the water, close the lid (know that this dry ingredient will become 3 times bigger when left with some boiling water, so choose your casserole size accordingly). Leave for 10 mn. Open the lid and add the olive oil, lemonjuice, tomato and chilli paste, keep stirring and add the spices. Add the minth leaves. then the remaining vegetables.

Does anyone have a good recipe for leaving it behind? Your hopes along with your dreams..
I couldn't find it in my way, no recipes but just crawling and waiting.

There was this retired war pilot I met in Costa Cafe. Seing my tears, he gave me me his own one: "Don't look at your shoes, look forward. You are looking at your shoes now. Look forward and see what happens. When I was going to the war, up there there was no one. Leave it to Allah." How sharp he is in life could be seen in his eyes.

I allways wanted to be more than a knife in life. That may be the reason, what makes me crawl.

But you see.. Everybody has at least one recipe in life. Some share.

Spicy East

This is Latifah asking me my name in arabic. I liked her way. We just met 2 minutes before this poto was taken

And I liked the lady at the veryright side of the photo, she gigled and helped me with the dress.