It’s true we are in September but Summer is not over yet!
I don’t have a “Back to School” alert to bring on the Summertime Sadness, yet the sadness is looming around. Yet nothing beats a good dose of nature, booze, and ice cream.
I am getting some dozes of booze, but not enough nature for this Summer to last me through the winter time. So bring in more booze and the ice cream! Continue reading “Salted Caramel No-Churn Ice Cream”
Every time I approach my writing device with the intention of writing about something I try to hide in real life, or have trouble talking about, I get second thoughts. I feel like I’m exposing too much in a place where I shouldn’t. But then again, this is my platform where I share my creations, my cooking, my writings, my photography, my emotions. Every time I hold myself back, I remember the words of Neil Gaiman,
The moment that you feel that just possibly you’re walking down the street naked exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself, that’s the moment you may be starting to get it right
Continue reading “Caramel Biscuit Pancakes and my Emotional Stability Caliber”
With every passing week, more days are added to the time we spent in our mountain lair. Tucked in tents or a tiny room each night, side by side, laughing till we sleep, laughing the moment we open our eyes, this group has built strong ties. It’s no longer just about being out in nature with random strangers, it’s about being with these once-strangers folks and sharing our time wherever we were.
Over the past 3 months, we went for at least 8 camping/picnic trips together. We shared tents, beds, blankets, food, drinks, stories, laughs, and emotions. Whenever one of us is away due to other commitments or travels, their absence is always felt. Each one has his unique place to fill. Every night under the star studded sky, which for almost one week per month is lit by a magnificent full moon, we share food we cooked by the fire with a few drinks in hand and jugs of laughs pouring all over us and extraordinary humor that sometimes it’s just inside jokes no one outside the group would understand. On some nights, the metal swing and the floor is our locale with a breathtakingly panoramic view of the mountains across, the nearby hills, and the few lit houses and street lamps of the neighboring villages. As the case with The Little Prince, we await the sunset to feast upon the colors of dusk. But unlike him, we get to have only one sunset pet day.
Sunset announces the need for fire. Or in case we were preparing for the next day’s Autumn Secret event, sunset is an announcement that we need to relocate our work space to where electricity is available. We throw ourselves into Jean and Hanan’s home, the land owners which we were occupying for the past couple of months, who welcomed us as their children, into their house, and their land as well. We feel their love, for us and for what we’re doing, and their passion for what they do, for the land and the carefully planted varieties the generous lands can produce at such altitude.
Seasons changed. The land looks different. The once green climbing bush has turned red before shedding its leaves exposing the view. Some fruit trees gave their last treasures while others just started. During the first trips up there, Hanan entrusted me and granted me full access to the herbs, greens, and bushes to pick whatever we needed for our daily use. Jean showed me the summer apple tree, the figs, the nectarines, the apricots, the strawberry bushes, the vines, and the rest of the land. As Autumn unfolded, the tomatoes started to give their last pearls and giving center stage to apples. From the Golden Delicious, to the Red, all preparing for the widely adored Granny Smith. The appealing green color, its crispy bite, and its tangy zing is what makes me love this apple. Fresh or baked.
The land is generous. The land owners grow to this philosophy. The more you are generous to the land, the more it gives you. The land owners grow to be like their lands. There was never a time when Jean and Hanan let us leave without offering a meal or at least ask us to pick whatever we need and take home. I took home loads of apples; fresh spotless ones for biting into, and bumped ones for cooking. Mom and I spent hours, separately, cleaning, peeling, and chopping apples. We made apple pies and crumbles, and we froze loads of them for later use.
On one night, I took out my long forgotten skills, put on my apron, and made a lattice apple pie and a large dish of apple crumble for a sweets night in at on of our friend’s place. I love my pie, but the crumble was a MASSIVE CROWD PLEASER. It was gone!
NOTE: new photos have been taken in 2021 and updated in 2026
Today, I’m sharing 2 recipes in one post. I copied these recipes off The Hangout restaurant’s menu for you to try and replicate them at home. This is part of a new collaboration between Cookin5m2 and serVme where I will be sharing me experience with the chef, not my review because I don’t find myself qualified enough to dictate your taste buds, then share recipes on this recipe dedicated blog.
I got a date with Chef Salah, the chef at The Hangout, (all thanks to the sponsors serVme) one Tuesday night and I went with full enthusiasm to meet the chef and learn new recipes. Chef Salah was really nice, and we got to talk before and after our recipe session. Continue reading “Pan-fried Halloumi and Mushrooms, and Gigantic Pain Perdu Copycat Recipes From The Hangout with serVme”
Christmas is getting nearer. The hectic life on the street, the bright decorations and ornaments, the songs in malls and shops (God, I hate those) and the jolly people all around!
Continue reading “Salted Caramel and Chocolate Fudge and Christmas Rant”