Thursday, March 29, 2007


the other day my mother came home from work looking really annoyed, she came into the kitchen muttering something and sighing now and then.

i was observing her for a few minutes thinking to myself 'she must have had a really bad time at work'.

so i went up to her and asked 'mama, you ok? whats wrong' in a really ''i care about you'' type of voice.

she replies: ' (sighs) I'm annoyed'

me: 'why? whats happened?'

mama: 'well, one of the teachers at lunch, sat down and came out with toast'

at this point i started thinking i wonder where this is going, i had the urge to laugh but chose not to.

me: 'toast?'

mama: 'yep toast, which is fine, but what really got to me was that she takes out this container full of couscous and piles the couscous on top of the toast then takes another toast and puts it on top of the couscous, she made a couscous sandwich!!!'

me: 'loooooooooooooool, that's why your annoyed?'

mama: white african, have you ever heard of a couscous sandwich?'

me: to be honest no'

mama: 'exactly, why do people take a perfectly good dish and abuse it by making it into a sandwich?????'

me: 'did you say anything?'

mama: 'yes, of course, i told her how offensive it was to my national dish'

me: 'mama!!! you said that?'

mama: 'yes, and even one of the teachers turned around and said i had a point it was like putting potatoes with pasta'

me: 'potatoes with pasta? whats wrong with that? we always have potatoes with pasta'

mama: 'well according to this teacher its a forbidden rule, so she totally understood me, couscous with toast???? what next couscous with milk, like cereal?'

me: 'well she likes it'

mama: 'its not about whether she likes it, couscous with busla (onions) with vegetables not toast, ruining a perfectly amazing dish like that, whats the world come to'

and that was the mystery behind her annoyance, to which she made us a beautiful couscous dish that weekend to illustrate her point of how perfect this dish is lol.

i guess she has a point, it depends what your used to, but people like to experiment with dishes all the time, all you need to do is walk to your local supermarket and you will find all sorts of wonderful mixtures that the older generation would frown upon.

i remember one time my grandmother came to visit us when i was around 12-13 years of age for the first time, and she was constantly asking me to cook and learn how to cook and to be honest at that age all i could do was cornflakes and toast, these 2 culinary dishes where my proudest creations, i eventually taught myself how to boil and fry an egg thank you to food technology, but at that time i was not interested and i would argue with my grand mother all the time regarding this issue, and i remember one time she asked me what i would do if my husband asked me to cook him a certain dish like bazeen (Libyan national dish) to which i replied i would go to the supermarket and get him a ready made meal or a DIY meal.

she really laughed allot that night i think because she never took my answer seriously and also because she was kinda hoping i would forget about it also the fact that she never would have thought that most dishes can be obtained from your local supermarket (baseen is yet to be manufactured but people i am working on it, asda, tesco here i come).

some dishes should not be experimented with in my opinion, the classics should not be touched, but saying that there seriously isn't anything wrong with mixing potatoes with pasta is there?????

21 comments:

lostkitty said...

lol - ew! couscous sandwich!

Some things should never be messed wtih, like biryani, and other foods can stand a little experimentation.... thats how peanut butter and jam sandwiches were discovered; and how yummy are they!

Anglo-Libyan said...

that is the first time I hear about koskso abuse!!

As far as I know Libyans in the west of Libya mix vegetables and potato with pasta and it can be quite nice, I love toast but with Koskso! thats a bit weird.

Good on your Mum, she is proud of our heritage and wants to keep it that way :o)

Brave Heart said...

in school time, guys were bring pasta sandwiches and rice sandwiches, i swear it's true.

please keep ASDA,tesco away from bazeen, there are doing well know no need to destroy them

Anglo-Libyan said...

hahhahahaaahahaha @ brave heat :o)

lostkitty said...

i agree, keep asda and tesco far far away!
(they have destroyed enough food stuffs!)

lostkitty said...

wats the weirdest food combo u'v ever seen?

Anglo-Libyan said...

lostkitty
I think brave heart is actually concerened about ASDA & Tesco
you see BAZEEN is a Libyan dish that is nice but can be destructive :o)
once I lived with an English family that knew a Libyan family and had a Bazeen dinner there, the English lady could not remember the name of the dish but she described it to me as "a dish that looked like CEMENT" it does look like cement and really needs a strong stomach to deal with it but it really is a delicious dish.

Tamanna said...

Pasta and potatoes are ok - nice even. like a tuna nicoise salad has potato in it.

i want to try your mum's couscous. tell me where to go.

Brave Heart said...

BTW, i never eat bazeen it's very rare dish in east of libya, one time my friend invite me to his brother's wedding, bazeen was the food which they provide, to be honest i look to it from all sides up,down from every where but i dont know how i can start eating, finally i decided to just eat a peace of meat, all the old men were laughing at me that day.

white african said...

kitty could you imagine biryani with banans?

and your right peanut butter and jam mmmmmmmm.

anglo she really is proud of her countires dishes bless, i love teh cement story and i will dexcribe it like this in the future, i adore bazeen, best thing since sliced bread.

brave bazeen is delciios but i can only eat it on my won i cant share from a gas3a (dish) with other people, to many horror stories for my likeing.

fudge how you doing sis, next time your around and we have cooked couscous i will let you know inshallah.

dont ever buy that fake couscous stuff that they sell in supermarkets it really doesnt do the dish any justice

Brave Heart said...

u know gas3a as well WA, u every day prove to me u r more Libyan than i thought.

most of people fight hardly to get the most big peace of meat on the gas3a, believe me if u see them u will think there is a famine problem in libya.

white african said...

brave some people cant wait to get home from work to eat meat, its a big thing.

rememeber that in libyan culture its considered rude to bring out a gas3a with small sized meat, it has to be BIG

lostkitty said...

OMG! a dish thats described as concrete and looks like it too!!!
Not sounding very tempting so far... (thanx for the link anglolibyan)

And Whitey - lets not even THINK about contamination biryani with anything, not a THING - it is precious, it is sacrosanct ( or however that is spelt?)

Brave Heart said...

WA: very nic blog about how Libyan adore meat take a look
http://benghazigirl.blogspot.com/

white african said...

kiit do not be decieved by looks, its all in the taste.

biryani with bananans biryani with bananas

thanks brave for th elink, i will look at it inshallah :)

lostkitty said...

What did I tell u about biryani - u shudnt talk about it so glibly (it shud never be wrecked!) - bad things happen to those who r mean to biryani!

mani said...

salam

Couscous in a sandwich??.. what is the world coming to?

English culture is the only culture I know that is sandwhich culture.. with all other cultural foods as simply a filling !!! :D.. hmm.. maybe they should demote curry as the national dish of England (and its not even english lol) and promote sandwiches to take its place.. that'd be wise I think..

salam

a_akak said...

I will add my voice to the rest...... Keep coucous out of Asda and the rest and long live BAZEEEEN

Now Pray With Me:
(Ya Rab may we have BAZEEN at least once a week, and COUSCASY matreen a week, Ya Rab guide us to the place where AMBAKBAKA is found with abundance and RUZ is never cooked again.................. AMEEEEN)

white african said...

oooooh kitty im shaking in my boots lol, biryani with banans girl try it and let me know.

mani so true, i love sandwiches but i will put my foot down to certain ones, rice, pasta , couscous should be kept away from bread.

akak looooooool,

i say a big ameen to that dua, may we never run out of imgata3 either

Lady_K said...

dont ask lost kitty, ask the 'malis they eat banana's with everything including, curry, pasta, and i mean everything!

whats a gas3a? how do u pronounce it? you have to make this cement thing called bazeen for me, is it a filling, a sauce, a proper dish?

we have pasta with potatoes and veggies......its good..

white african said...

lol at wild kat, gas3a is a the plate that the food comes in.

cement thing, i so cant make it, maybe one day, teh day that i do i will be sure to invite you