it almost made me cry

I am proud to announce the existence of a movie from Jordan made for a
global audience (that is my own definition of the movie). I have not
seen it, but the preview to the movie almost made me cry. I can't
imagine what the movie will be like.

Check out the preview/info: Captain Abu Raed.

I saw this around the time of Eid, the Islamic holiday. I spoke with my family in Jordan, and while nothing exciting was going on, I started to realize that the life I had there, the one I associate with Jordan, no longer exists. It is not that I am absent from it and can go back for a little taste of it if I buy a plane ticket for the right season- it is dead.

My mother's family used to get together for Eid on the first day (from what I remember) of the holiday (it's a 3-day holiday). We used to all (except for those with grudges or against whom grudges were held)get together at my grandmother's house. She and/or my aunt (as my grandmother got older, it was mostly my aunt- who lived with her) would prepare a big stuffed lamb. The day before, my uncle would buy it, and there would be a lot of shuffling of things in the fridge as space was made for it, gathering of pans, measuring of oven widths, etc. My aunt (I remember this more clearly) would chop up a lot of onions, and almost knead spices (and I think lemon or vinegar) into the onions- allspice, black pepper, salt, etc. Then the lamb was cleaned, rubbed all over with the onion-spices, and left in the fridge to marinate.

Of course, all sorts of other things were prepared on the side-delicious grape leaves and stuffed mini-zucchinis over a bed of lamb ribs- nobody made those better than my aunt. And salads and maybe mnukhiyah (the green sauce, as my nieces call it). And when the food was put on the table, my uncle would cut and serve the meat. And there were plates of yoghurt and pickles and olives scattered around the table.
The table too full of food to fit our plates comfortably, but we would manage. The kids delegated to eat elsewhere- in the informal living room (for the little ones) or near the dining table in the formal living room (for those of us who were older).

The afternoon would be spent eating- after lunch came tea, then fruits, then coffee and desserts. The desserts hold a special place in my memory- the pastries filled with pistachios or walnuts, sprinkled with powdered sugar, or with dates. And the Eid chocolates, waiting for guests in the crystal covered bowl, that we would take
right before we left.

Even though we had seen the entire family on the first day, we would later that day or the next day make the rounds to each of the families' houses for a short visit, where we would get tea and those pastries again (and you could compare and choose whose were the best)and then coffee and chocolates before you left.

Now, my family gets together on the second day (the first day the families go to their other side). They meet in (one of) my deceased aunt's house, and the lamb is purchased already prepared. It's not the same. It'll never be the same.

So, I felt homesick for the home I left, which no longer exists because the people do not reside there and because that life has, as with everything eventually, died.

It was those memories, together with scenes of Amman, together with the anticipated Eid dinner at the home of a family friend (for them, that life has not yet died), that made me homesick. And even if I probably could not get to the neighborhood in which the film is set, the seemingly endless hills of Amman, they spoke my language and they reminded me of home.

organic milk

Can anyone explain to me why organic milk lasts about a billion times longer than regular milk? It's amazing. I had one container of organic milk, bought about 2 months ago (scary, maybe) and one container of regular milk (well, in reality it is lactaid, but I've seen this numerous times with regular milk), bought about a month ago (also, maybe scary).

Lactaid bad, organic milk good.

Inexplicable...

lapel pins

I love Obama, but a double flag pin??

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=20281881

Since when is Israel the official second half of the US of A?

Does this not bother anyone here?

Since we're on the subject of politics, a couple of points from last night's VP debates:
- I thought Biden did a great job when he used the word "maverick", he did not skirt around it, he took it on and showed how ridiculous it was. If they want to pretend McCain's a cowboy, well, I guess they need to see how absurd it is to hear others call him a cowboy.
- Palin tried to pull out her aces, using the "I'm from a cozy little state" and "I'm down with the people" and all of those little trick that seem to work on the American public. And Biden was right there with her- talking about his family, but not in the same tone. And from what I saw on tv today, when his voice cracked yesterday when he talked mentioned his late wife and child, the Palin audience boo-ed him. Didn't anyone teach them maners? Respect your opponent, have some integrity, all of that?
- I love the fact checking that Biden did. Palin wasn't in a position to do that- she doesn't know enough of the history. But Biden could call her on each of the mistakes- and could point out that for the very same thing she was accusing Obama of having voted badly on, McCain had voted the same way. She didn't finish her homework- she only looked up the encyclopedia entry on Obama!

farewell, olsson's

When I met Olsson's, I fell in love. I was loyal, dedicated to buying books from what I believed was one of the three stores of this local chain. Yes, there were jokes- I supported the local, independent bookstore, which was becoming a local giant with more like 8 or 9 stores. But still- a local DC chain. And I was smitten- I shifted my affections to now loving a successful, growing, local bookstore.

Well, the store in Georgetown closed, then the one in Bethesda closed. And I have to admit- I began to roam- B&N and Amazon became more attractive, more convenient.

I visited the Chinatown store when it closed, not long ago. The only stores left were those in Virginia. When I flew out of National, I would go visit the Olsson's there- but I didn't go to Virginia often. We drifted apart.

And then the final notice- Olsson's is closing for good.

So it ends.