Dalia's Kitchen: d on holiday

A special project and a gorgeous Beef Tajine...

Image by Sukaina Rajabali from my cookbook
"Food, Love and Life from Dalia's Kitchen"

I have a very soft spot for projects by and for women. Especially in the Middle East. So today I will be sharing a beautiful journey I embarked on.

A little while ago I was asked to take part in a culinary travel show with three other ladies. This groundbreaking journey, after all it is not every day that four women, an Emirati, a Saudi, a Jordanian and myself, travel to four different countries to discover different cultures and people through their cuisines. It truly is a first series of it's kind, especially in this part of the world.

This original journey was created by Maggi Arabia, who have made a wonderful effort to create an original web series which will be airing on Maggi Arabia's Youtube channel starting April 13th.

I have also made some dear friends on this journey. Ladies, it was a pleasure to travel and discover with you. I was once again reminded that no matter where we are from, we all have something in common; the love for food, the love for life and the love for family.

The Arab world has so much to offer.. From tradition to recipes, to the love for family and the tolerance towards everyone's differences, one thing so often misrepresented in today's media. We have caught so much of that in this lovely series, which involves discovery, a lot of beautiful food, a little drama, and some good old fun that women have when they travel together. I do not want to give away too much, but we came across some extraordinary women. Very different from each other, each with their own story, but all so very inspiring. And I am honoured to have met them, and I myself came back inspired and proud to be a woman from this part of the world.

I have also added the link to my Maggie Diaries profile video as an intro to the series. Make sure to watch the other profiles too so you can get to know the other ladies and the teaser to the show which starts tomorrow.

And last but not least, I had quite a few tajines on our trip, so I thought it would be appropriate to share the Beef Tajine recipe from my cookbook. It's truly a divine dish and adored by my loved ones. The combination of savoury and sweet, the tender meet… Yum!

Much love from my kitchen,

D xx

A gorgeous Christmas Turkey, a divine Sweet Potato Crumble and a Happy Holiday from Dubai xx

A family holiday and a choking scare...

A beautiful lunch spread at one of my favourites

My not so little family is a lovely, loud and rowdy bunch. These are the people I live for. But that still doesn't change the fact that they can be quite a handful - especially on a holiday. Everyone wants to go somewhere else, is late to a scheduled event, or is in the mood for seafood when the others are feeling carnivorous. It's not easy marching through a holiday with a two-dozen member family... Yet, it truly is priceless. These are the good times, those moments where memories are built and kept. Where my son swims with his grandfather, and gets spoiled by his grandmothers with tons of ice cream when I'm not looking his way. So yes, I do realize how precious these moments are and so I can tear for the smallest thing I observe. Like a big hug between my son and my dad for example. It's quite silly to some maybe, but I've accepted that I have become much more emotional with age, and there is nothing I can do about it.

My big fat Syrian- German family with Lebanese, Spanish & Greek in-laws

So even more of a scare when a few days ago, my son Phares almost choked on a piece of apple. I really wanted to share what happened, because thank God I took a first aid course in Dubai (thank you Lea). The whole family panicked and I remembered somewhat what I was told during the course.

I kept kind of calm (surprising for an emotional sack like me) but deep down inside I was dying, so scared that this stupid, little piece of apple would not come out of my little man's mouth. Just writing about it now is giving me goose bumps. The whole episode only lasted a few minutes, but the outcome could have been so different, so please make sure you watch your little ones when they eat. And take a first aid course, if you can.

I will explain a little more in detail what happened that evening. I was sitting in the TV room with Phares, my husband Phiras, my brother Aref and my parents in law. Phares was eating an apple, and all of a sudden he went red, and then more red. I quickly realized a piece of apple got stuck in his throat. During the course they said not try to get the piece out of the child's mouth, as you can push it in deeper, but my first reaction was to do exactly that. When it didn't come out, I started hitting Phares between his shoulder blades with the bottom part of my palm (as instructed in the course, this part and maybe the most important part I remembered). I hit quite hard, but hamdellah, after just a few blows he spit the piece of apple out. Hamdellah.

He cried a little out of fear, but then was all giggly and we could all breathe once again. Everyone who was there was shocked for a few minutes, and thankful that it ended well.

What a scare. I can only advise everyone to take a course on how to assist in such situations. Parents or not, you never know, you may be able to save a dangerous situation. I will look for the company's name and post it here shortly but you can easily google first aid course and find someone who offers it in your city.

My little mouse who is as excited about food as I am. Bless him habibi.

I really felt the need to share this experience as I know many mommies read this blog, and as mentioned, even if you are not, it can only help to be aware of what to do.

Now on to a more pleasant subject :)

Having all my loved ones around is making me get into the kitchen and BBQ quite often these days. Braised octopus, beautifully grilled Carabineros, a bunch of different Spanish scampi, hearty salads, clams in gorgeous sauces and more. Food, food and more glorious food is part of our every day and I love every minutes of it.

My ultimate. The Carabinero (the head is the best part!)

Braising Octopus for dinner... Divine!

I'm sharing a few snapshots, of what has been cooking in my Spanish kitchen. I will follow these up with recipes when I get the chance. But right now Phiras and my dad are literally giving me a hard time being on the laptop, "D we are on holiday, leave that alone". And you know what, they are right. I can blog as much as I want when I come back to Dubai in a few weeks...

So I will leave you with a glimpse of our holiday. And hope you are all enjoying the summer, wherever you are.

Much love,

D xx

Older Posts

A special project and a gorgeous Beef Tajine...

A gorgeous Christmas Turkey, a divine Sweet Potato Crumble and a Happy Holiday from Dubai xx

A family holiday and a choking scare...

Popular Posts

ads

Labels

recent posts