Sumac and Za'atar

You may recall an earlier blog entry in which I had said no two days are ever the same in Dubai. Well, yesterday was no exception. The evening's events evolved into an unprepared for, fast and challenging drive to Medcare Hospital. To support a friend whose daughter had fallen down a flight of stairs on a chair with wheels! What was she thinking? Well kids will be kids and of course a race around the house on a chair with wheels is just exhilirating fun, unless of course there are stairs nearby and then it just becomes a recipe for disaster. Thank God - all is well and there has been no need for further alarm.

At 10pm after an ordeal which had lasted almost 4 hours we were famished. We decided to visit our favourite bakery which just happened to be in the neighbourhood. A wonderfully popular Lebanese outfit which does the most incredible and most mouth watering manakeesh (flat bread with toppings) the universe ever invented. The place was busy, understandably but even at 10pm, there were queues to the door. We were amazed. My request was for the cheese with za'atar manakeesh whilst my better half chose manakeesh with just zaa'atar. The za'atar is fresh and beautiful. If you have not experienced the wonderful za'atar it is generally a mixture of herbs (usually thyme), sesame seeds, sumac and salt. The sumac is a berry which is dried and then ground. It has an astringent flavour and is used as a souring agent.

We ploughed through our manakeeshes in no time and stomachs satisfied, started the engine and slowly drove home. I couldn't help wondering what Dubai would have in store for us tomorrow!