Eating in Persia

Where to eat? that was the question..Cunningham, Ashmawy and I took the trip by Metro from Sunnyland to Newcastle in order to taste the flavours of Lebanon. We reached the restaurant and walked in, the smell from the kitchen was heavenly, I don't know what spice it was, but it was tantalizing, the kind of smell I want to smell forever (okay...maybe not forever, but you get the point) The problem was the the Lebanese restaurant was booked out, it was a small place, and it was packed full! We were told we had to wait 45 mins in order to get a seat...we couldn't wait that long, we were absolutely famished. Ashmawy decided to speak to the Maitre'D in Arabic..we thought we might get special treatment by culturally aligning ourselves with him: That didn't work!
We didn't have the patience to wait 45 mins, so we decided to look elsewhere, we passed by a Spanish restaurant with absolutely no one inside. Passed an Italian, but the last time we three dined together it was Italian, moreover we had an apetite for the flavours of the Middle East.
The closest thing we saw was Greek! Not the Middle East, but still found in the Bible so it counts as 'one of them' We entered without properly looking at the food prices....we were shown our seats and were about to sit down before William (who had his characteristic worried look on his face) quipped 'Guys, we gotta go', but how? It would be slightly embarrasing to just up and leave when confronted with the menu! So we came up with a story, we said we had to go fetch more friends, so we'd be back in a bit. And off we went.
There it was, a diamond in the rough! 'Ali Baba' restaurant (forgive the rather childish name) serving the finest Persian dishes (Persian is Iranian for those that don't know). We went inside, the ambience was lush, I loved it, we loved it, we sat.
The waiter had bragged about the size of the dishes, challenging us as to whether we could finish it. The starters were huge, well at least William's and mine were (we ordered Koofteh..lamb meatballs) Ashmawy had stuffed Vine Leaves..and he wasn't stuffed (bad pun, but it had to be done)
My main course was a meal called 'Ghormeh Sabzi'...absolutely amazing! leek, parsley, spinach and coriander. This mixture is cooked with kidney beans, green onions, chives, dried limes, and lamb meat. It is then served with Basmati rice. I thoroughly enjoyed it!..I'll definately be going back
The price was right as well!


Ali Baba Restaurant
7-9 Bigg Market
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1UN

God's Greatest Creation

I was pondering upon the question, What is God's greatest creation. Now, I know each of his creations from the mundane mushroom to the wondrous whale are all marvellous, and of course us humans, made in HIS own image. However which of his creation affects us humans in the most positive way? is it the mountains, the trees, the rivers, is it man's so called best friend: the dog, or man's so called 'other' best friend: the horse, what creature, mobile or immobile, living or non-living gives immearsurable pleasure to humans. I thought, I pondered, and I wondered, and I came up with the answer: THE CHICKEN!
Yes, the chicken, or domesticated fowl, fondly known to zoologists as 'gallus gallus' no other animal was universally accepted as edible. Not the cow, oh No, for the Hindu will not eat it, not the humble Boar, No Sir, for the Jew will not touch it. Could it be the Stupid Sheep, which features prominently in the three main faiths, well it's distribution is limited. What animal is the universal code for food, what animal can be found from Cape Town to Cairo, from San Francisco to Ulan Bator, it is the noble Chicken.
Accepted worldwide, known to the Germans as Huhn, to the French as poulet, the Spanish call it Pollo, so do the Italians, known in Zulu as inkuku, the chicken has been putting smiles on people's faces for centuries. Eaten at Christmas, New Year, Birthdays, Marriages, the chicken graces every occassion with its tender succulent flesh (depending on cooking technique)
The chicken also provides man with the famous EGG, the EGG has grown each and every one of us up. Found on school Nutrition charts under Protein. The egg is found in cakes, biscuits, chin-chin, Scotch eggs (obviously)...the egg has been pivotal to human survival!
The chicken, the great chicken, in it's different shapes and sizes, breeds and varieties, with it's famous crow, that even Jesus had to remark about. The chicken, we are eternally indebted to God for Him providing us with this bird, this flightless food factory. Imagine a world without chicken.....what would be be eating?....Turkey, and you know how ugly they are.

The Chicken: God's Greatest Creation