akla falastiiniyye

For my last night in Cork, I prepared a Palestinian meal for some friends.

I bought olives (zeitoun) and stuffed vine leaves (dawali) from the English Market, and pita bread from good old Tesco.

Though I am not much of a cook, I managed to prepare tabouleh, Gaza salad, and salata labna. My friend John contributed, without doubt, the tastiest hummus I've eaten outside of Gaza.

Not pictured is the ma'luba I cooked, which looked nothing like this, mainly due to my terrible awareness of basic physics. The pot being too deep and the dish being too small meant that the food spilled out all over the table, much to everyone's amusement. It still tasted delicious, though, and I only caused one small fire while cooking it. I was quite proud!

After dinner, we had Arabic coffee with cardamom, tea with dried sage, and Turkish delight. We sat around the table until almost five in the morning, joined for a few hours by my Mum, talking and enjoying each other's company. A perfect last night at home.