cooking

One of the tricky parts of living here is that when you are home, you miss it here and when you are here, you miss it at home.
There are a few Dubai foodstuffs I hate leaving and try to take as much as I can home with me (without arousing the attention of customs at JFK).

1. Hummus from the Eat and Drink Restaurant. They used to have a more obviously terrifying website. You can't bring hummus with you on a plane, looks too much like plastique, I guess. I'll be making my own and craving this one all summer.

2. Garlic sauce. I still don't know, with any precision, WHAT garlic sauce actually is, but without it, roast lamb is boring.

3. Thai curry paste. There are so many different ones available here. Generally delicious and fire-y. The ones they sell at home taste so lame by comparison.

4. Halloumi cheese. Cheese made just for frying. 'Nuff said.

5. Arabic bread. Lately we've been eating a lot of the whole wheat khubz from Modern Bakery. Rustic but soft with a nutty flavor, I think its my favorite kind.
Here's a cool video of how its made.

6. Dates.You can get the regular sunshine brand American dates and all but I will miss the sweet and creamy ones for baking, thicker hulled ones for stuffing, and the snappy chewy ones for eating.

7. Galanga, Curry leaves, Indian Pumpkins, Ash Melons, Molokhia- all the produce wackiness you can get here for no money too!

8.  Yogurt. American yoghurt tastes terrible.

9. Russian Honey Cake. I love this cake. I cant even buy it because I am helpless before it gleaming in the fridge. Ugh. I will literally eat nothing else if we have some in the house.

10. Sri Lankan Food. All kinds. Spicy hot dogs with cactus, curry potato salad, crispy chicken with masala spice.