There's Nothing Sweeter Than Salt

                                                                                                      This is the beautiful city of Al Salt.  It is just about a half hour outside of Amman.   We were invited to Iftar by our friend Omar and his sweet wife Miah.  The countryside was a sight for sore eyes.  The rolling hills were covered with grapes and olive tree farms.  It was much quieter than the city we are used to and oh so peaceful. 

Miah fed us gourmet Jordanian food.  There were about 4 main courses!  We started with 2 different kinds of soups: a pureed veggie soup which was to die for, and a yogurt lamb something or other, which wasn't quite a beg for seconds soup.  Then there was a yummy cucumber, tomato, feta salad.  Next was fried eggplant with tomato sauce, yogurt, ground beef, and some kind of fried chips on top.  I think this was my favorite!  Following the eggplant was rice (but of course not just plain ole rice, somehow she made it delicious) with a tomato base sauce with lamb, spices and I don't even know what else.  The lamb fell apart it was so tender and zaaki (yummy in arabic)  Then we followed all this up with a super tender, perfectly marinated steak.  All along the way they continued to give us seconds of everything.  Needless to say we were stuffed and happy!  But that wasn't all.... after dinner was cleaned up, Omar snatched a few clusters of grapes from above.  The porch was filled with succulent, green grapes.  It was magical.

 We like to pretend we have a nice camera and that we can be artsy with it. 

Maih taught me how to make Qatiyif.  We called them Ramadan pancakes before we knew what they were.      They are like a very spongy pancake and you fill them with sweet cheese or walnuts and cinnamon.  Then, of course, how do you make anything delicious... fry them in grease and coat them with syrup (which is just sugar and water).   Bon Appetite!