Oh Mandy

Al Rawsha
Hubbly Bubbly
Sweet tea
Funny stories
Memories
Will you remember this night?

(this is all I can remember from the silly poem I wrote in Atieh’s notebook as a memento of our dinner)

I want to thank three of my students who treated me to a delicious dinner tonight.
(No, I didn’t smoke any shisha)

There was way too much to choose from on the menu and I was really perplexed for a while. I thought maybe I’d get kabsa, then I thought maybe moussaka, but then they told me about Mandy. It’s smoked rice?….mmmm….that sounds interesting, I’ll take that.

It was really delicious and I’d definitely order it again.

I couldn’t get away without a bit of baklava and several cups of tea. (the basboussa was disappointing, not as good as my friend Ummo’s).

Emad, the short verse you sung was beautiful.
Marwan, as usual your storytelling was amusing.

Ati, tell your friend that the joke I wanted to play on my daughter went really well.
I showed her the “stones”. She asked me if they were real and I said “yeah, see look!” Then I put one in my mouth and bit on it with the intention of showing her how hard it was. Once she accepted that it was a rock, I then proceeded to chew and swallow. You should have seen the look on her face! It was hilarious to observe. Mission accomplished. Thanks for the great prop. Iranian’s sure are creative when it comes to making sweets.

I went from assorted biscuits for breakfast to creamy seafood pasta and chicken meatballs for lunch to lox and cream cheese for afternoon snack. I don’t know how, but I managed to make room for Mandy Lamb and dessert.

As I struggle to keep my eyes open long enough to post this, I must say it has been a delicious day


Thank you to http://www.awhiffoflemongrass.com for posting the only photo I could find that truly looks like the delicious Mandy I ate.