How to be a Good Syrian Daughter (Part 1)

Roll Grape Leaves

Step 1 - Mix ground lamb (raw) with rice (uncooked) and spices.
Step 2 - Rinse and gently unpack grape leaves.
Step 3 - Lay out a single leaf on kitchen table.
Step 4 - Take a small amount of lamb and rice mixture-about 1/2 tsp-and push it out to a long thin piece (think playdough snake).


Step 5 - Place lamb and rice at base of leaf.
Step 6 - Roll leaf once from bottom.
Step 7 - Fold in sides of leaves.
Step 8 - Continue rolling leaf tightly. (End product should be the size of a woman's pinky or ring finger.)
Step 9 - Repeat steps 3-8 until all leaves are rolled. Pack rolled grape leaves in a pressure cooker.
Step 10 - Cook for approximately 7 minutes with water and lemon juice.
Step 11 - Eat most wonderful food on earth.

Christmas Traditions

Can I just say . . .

Brunswick Stew on Christmas Eve - mmmmmmmm.
Ham and pecan pie on Christmas - mmmmmmm.
Pork tenderloin on Boxing Day - mmmmmmm. (Ok, Boxing Day is really tomorrow, but I'm anticipating the goodness.)

I'm glad there are twelve days of Christmas, because we get to keep on celebrating.

I didn't get a partridge in a pear tree today, but maybe tomorrow I'll get two turtledoves.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Done for the Semester!

Done for the semester - woohoo!

Headed home on December 20. Christmas in Columbia. I fear no Boxing Day for the second year in a row. Jacksonville post-Christmas, pre-New Years for Situ's 80th birthday/family portrait extravaganza where we will all look fat in khakis and white shirts. New Years in ???? Hopefully hanging out with friends somewhere on January 5.

Those are the plans. I'll keep you updated.

It's Christmas time in Oxford

It's Christmas time in Oxford. Actually, it's been Christmas time for some time now. The city decorated the main street in town (Lamar) before Thanksgiving and a full week before Thanksgiving at that.

It's Christmas time in Oxford, not any other holiday. No Hannukah (there's not even a synagogue in town). No Kwanzaa, season's greetings, or happy holidays. It's Christmas. After working for Tulane where there were little to no decorations during the holiday season, it's weird to be in a place Christmas celebrations are so obvious and blatant. Don't get me wrong, I like Christmas decorations. They're pretty and they make me think it's more wintery than the 70 degree weather suggests. I just wonder what the Christmas decorations do to the people who don't celebrate the holiday. What do the people in Oxford who aren't Christian (what there are people who aren't Christians in Oxford? amazing, I know) or (gasp) are atheist think of the Christmas tree found on every other corner?

What does the prevalence of Christianity in the South mean to a town like Oxford? It means that come hell or high water there will be Christmas decorations on the square and the University of Mississippi will unapologetically decorate for the holiday without a second thought. Really, I'm not against the decorations. I just wish that a place so concerned with its image of exclusion might want to rethink its practice of blatantly doing so.