Arabesque: The Falling Down Drunk Baker

Actually, I didn't fall down, but I did fail to make a photographic record of the Middle Eastern banquet -- all cooked from Claudia Roden's Arabesque -- that I served at our first Office party. You can see it sloppily arrayed on the table there, but when I checked my camera this afternoon, I discovered, to my horror, that in my merry inebriation I took no decent pictures of: 

-hummus (delicious, the usual)

-baba ghanouj (delicious, the usual) 

-stuffed grape leaves (more delicious than the Trader Joe's usual. Not difficult to make.)

-Moroccan potato and olive salad (EXTRA delicious, unusual)

-bstilla (delicious -- but called for chicken thighs which I can barely look at, let alone eat.)

-Lebanese rose pancakes (EXTRA delicious! Very unusual. These are tiny yeasted pastries that you dip in orange water syrup then top with creme fraiche and rose petal jam. I ate fifty of these. Sadly, not an exaggeration.)

I did manage to photograph the guests, dressed up as characters from The Office. In the photo above, from left to right, we have Dwight, Angela, Toby, Kelly, and Michael. I was a middle-aged Pam. We ate a lot and watched the first episode of Season Five.

Then I staggered to bed, woke up at 4 a.m., and wanted to die.

Share this post