member of the human race

yesterday i had a treat in the form of food, something i haven't had in a long time, now some of you may not be impressed, some of you may be disgusted, but all i can say is that it was sooooooooooo delicious.

a family friend invited me and mum over to hers to eat 3isban (stuffed intestines), we got there for the afternoon around 4, i wasn't going to go because i was still bruised up from the other days fall, but the word 3isban soon changed my mind.
when we got t our cousins house we found the table full of kusbar and ma3danoos (coriander and i always forget the other ones name)

it was a field of green and there was soooooo much to chop, so on we got with the chopping, chop chop chop, kosbar and ma3danoos are a vital ingredient in all Libyan dishes, it just wouldn't be the same with out it, it gives food that extra kick, i personally cant tell the difference and when i go shopping for my mother i always have to take a sample with me to be able to tell the difference.

i have to confess i didn't actually chop anything, i watched though and observed so that's something at least, and i did entertain them with my stories while they where chopping so that's a good contribution isn't it?

whilst my mum was chopping the green stuff my cousin was chopping the meat into little cubes, she was in-charge of the red stuff, i have to say the only time i eat liver is in this case other wise i don't go anywhere near liver, not my favourite to be honest,

as a child i would always pick out the liver from the rooz bil khalta (mixed rice) so by the end of the meal there would be a small pyramid of liver.

after a while another family friend joined us and seriously within seconds of entering the kitchen she was chopping something, wow they move fast, I'm thinking of entering certain ladies into the Guinness records for the fastest time it takes to join in the ritual of kitchen life, fascinating stuff.

she started of with chopping spring onions, a vital ingredient in this delicacy, i love spring onions, it's enough to just look at them, they look like stretched out anorexic onions, and they are powerful on the taste buds.

and then came the regular onions and every one began to cry as onions have that affect on people, i remember there was a Kleenex advert when i was growing up as a child where a European mother was chopping up onions and crying her eyes out when all of a sudden her little boy came running up to her with a box of tissues, how cute, i always remember that advert whenever i see some one chopping onions, i didn't hand out any tissues though.
the chopped onions where added ontop of the green stuff but then more green stuff was being chopped, something called shibit (dilweed) pretty cool stuff, again it adds flavour apparently, so cool how every thing works together in a blend of different flavours to make one dish.

i was getting really peckish and it was really difficult not to pick out things and eat them although at this point there really wasn't anything to pick out, it was all green stuff and i don't eat raw meat, but things changed after the tomatoes came out, now that's something i can eat especially with salt and lemons niceeeeeee.

after every couple of chops of tomatoes my fingers would find there way to a lonely tomato and would disappear into the pits of my stomach, come onnnnnn i was hungry, it was torture seeing all that food being chopped up.

as a kid i didn't particularly like tomatoes, they where bearable but that about it, but after growing up i find myself loving tomatoes, isn't it strange how that happens, you hate something for a long time then you find yourself actually liking it instead, we humans are weird.

so after eating nearly all the tomatoes, it was time to mix all the chopped up stuff together as well as adding spices which the dish would not taste the same with out, spices like filfil 7amar (red chilli), ibzar (that yellow stuff that stains your fingers), filfil ak7al (pepper), salt obviously, mixed spices, ni3na3 (mint), 7abag (basil).

also vital ingredients like rice (not cooked) as well as tomato puree (a Libyans best friend). and then began the mixing, it's important that it's mixed well so that there is an even distribution of flavours, our friend did a very good job of mixing while i took pictures, can i just say that they did find me strange in taking pictures, they didn't understand the fascination that i had, but then by the end of the evening the kept pointing things out to me and telling me to take a picture of it lol.

then came the part where they stuff the intestines, all 25 of them, that's alot, now they are washed extremely well with all sorts of stuff and soaked in lemons and scrubbed extremely well and washed again extremely well until your left with skinny long strings, that become fat long things after the stuffing, then there put into a pot of hot water that flavoured with more spices and tomato puree. ok ok so it doesn't look to appetizing but trust me the taste is amazing, there like sausages but 100 times better.

they are left to cook for an hour, i was starving and i was cold, so i wrapped myself in my cardigan and fell asleep on the gi3dal al 3arbeeyah (Arabic seating) for an hour all that hard work had tired me out lol.

when i woke up the food was ready and the men where getting grumpy because they where starving and my cousin shouted out 'mafee 7ad sayam rah (theres no one fasting by the way) cheek, it wasn't like we where playing or anything, but because the men where hungry every thing went to fast forwards, the speed of light could be witnessed in this small kitchen on Sunday evening, wow those ladies can move fast.

the end result was rice with 3isban mmmmmmmm.

i swear i was so hungry by the time i had sat down to eat, and it tasted sooo good, but then i got full pretty fast and i was so upset because i wanted to eat more but i couldnt sob sob sob.

i have never been put of the fact that they are intestines, to me they are delicious, and i invite you all to try it out.

can i just say that the me didnt finish there gas3a, tut tut tut, they should have finished evey last morsel especially because they where complaining. who knows when the next time will be when i eat 3isban again.

sa7a sa7a white african :@D