Saturday.....

[dan4behr]

It's a beautiful, crisp and slightly warm day here in NC. Nice...

We went to the Middle Eastern market in Raleigh to buy ingredients for Brian to make a sweet cookie treat called sambusik.

With the nuts and rose-water syrup going on, the place smells like heaven. Less heavenly is Brian grousing that no one, himself included, can cook Lebanese cuisine

Comments

[uneasytruce]

If you ever get a chance, be sure to try a big glass jar of pickled (ripe) tomatoes from Bulgaria. These are out of this world; usually they have a pepper or two to flavor the entire batch. A few pickled tomatoes on a cold plate with a shiny, cold, golden smoked trout or cold smoked mackerel? Heaven.

If you ever get a chance, be sure to pass when you see a big glass jar of pickled gherkins (cucumbers) from Bulgaria. Inevitably these are sad, soggy ersatz vegetables--though it may just be that they're tragically old by the time they reach our shores and shelves. I've tried every brand of Bulgarian pickled cucumber I could get my hands on, searching for an exception. Alas, there was none.

Please do post your reaction to this cheese, once ewe trite.

[dan4behr]

Just tried it!

We have some very definite opinions. Don't want to hear?
I'll put then under a cut!

Ewe....
omgz...
*hilarity once I got it*

[dan4behr]

Thanks for the other recommendations!

[tilia_tomentosa]

LOL we pickle our own gherkins at home, but I don't know if they would be to your taste.

[dan4behr]

I'd have to look and see if the pickled items described are available at this particular store. I know they have grape leaves, okra and some other things known in Middle Eastern cuisine. This store is a Middle Eastern market and the owners are Syrian, I believe.
The wikipedia entry above explained quite a bit to me as to why a Bulgarian product was available in a Middle Eastern market. It seems Lebanese and Syrians import quite a bit of this cheese as a topping for their bread. And when broiled for a bit on a bit of toast, it was indeed quite delicious.