Lebanese food with Friends

We heard that Lakis and Argy had arrived safely which was good news and a photograph of them enjoying breakfast outside with their boys confirmed that the weather was good.  We hope they have a fabulous week and that Argy enjoys extended birthday celebrations.

I spent the day cooking - we had asked Malcolm and Louise to come and have a meal with us this evening if they were happy to share it with our sniffles.  They said that they weren't bothered by our colds but we felt out of courtesy we needed to warn them.  They return to the UK on Wednesday so we were leaving them to have their last night tomorrow to themselves as they had clearly wanted this week to be one of downtime and recharging batteries.

It had been a lovely day but when we got the house ready for visitors John thought it would be funny to put the fire on (a YouTube video) but it does make the room look really cosy!!!

I had decided to cook Lebanese for a change.  We were having a couple of dips including my legendary Muhammarah, followed by an halloumi, mint and pomegranate salad then shakshuka (baked eggs) and finally batata harra (spiced roasted potatoes) and Lebanese flatbreads with spiced beef (lahm-bi-ajeen) all topped off with a Lebanese rice pudding (riz bi haleeb).  Only thing I couldn't get was some edible dried rose petals which was a shame.

What I like about Lebanese food is not only that it tastes amazing but it looks good too because it is full of colour.  In the picture is the halloumi salad.  The halloumi has been cooked in honey so it takes on a lovely colour and the salad is dotted with splashes of colour from the pomegranate and pistachios.

Lou and Malc arrived around 6.30 and we had a lovely evening.  It was nice to catch up our colds has made sure we had not seen them and left them to enjoy their break.

They seemed to enjoy the food - Lou seemed very taken by the Muhammarah - I must have found an excellent recipe because everyone loves it!

We retired to the conservatory to finish of the evening.  Despite arriving when the weather was absolutely appalling they have been lucky and had bright sunny and warm days.  The evenings are beginning to feel a lot cooler and our houses don't generally stay warm but the conservatory was lovely.

I will try and catch them tomorrow so I can say goodbye because they will leave on Thursday when I am down with Mum.  By then Jane and John will have arrived and will be staying in Emba for their annual holiday here - I can't begin to remember just how many years they have been doing that but it is many!  Hopefully they will have good weather too because they like to walk.  I seem to think that our friend Laura will be going home on the same flight as them too.