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Abeer Najjar

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Mocktails of 2015

  • by Abeer Najjar
  • Posted on January 1, 2016January 17, 2017

I created, tested, and made a few mocktails in 2015. Actually, a lot. (Shoutout to…

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  • Food

Homemade Chai Tea

  • by Abeer Najjar
  • Posted on November 3, 2014January 17, 2017

If you’ve ever been to Chicago, you know the weather can be a little…confused. The plus side-you…

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Instagram

a labneh haiku:
ANNOUNCEMENT: I’m excited to finally share that I’ll be a special contributor to the new Whole30 cookbook, “Cooking Whole30.” This book was revised to reflect Whole30’s current DEI, representation and accessibility values. But I won’t focus on explaining the background to this project or all the details on what you can expect. Melissa and the Whole30 team did a great job doing that on their website and social.
“May this year show you that joy and dreams realized are not cancelled.”
Some unexpected difficulty hit my family a few weeks back and while we’ve all been feeling stressed, amongst the chaos and uncertainty, there has been an opportunity for us to love on each other more than usual.
“I took flavor inspiration from the well-loved combination of watermelon and cheese of my cultural background, those summer nights of fruit and salty snacks of my childhood, and presented it in the way I’ve enjoyed Caprese salad. Rather than keeping the cheese raw, I prepared it as my mother often did for Sunday brunch-shallow fried in olive oil, giving it a light crispy exterior and slightly melted interior that squeaks when you chew it. The addition of fresh basil, pomegranate molasses, and almonds add in extra layers of flavor and texture. As summer departs, this recipe honors the fruit and herbs of the season before we bid her adieu.”
I’ve been busier and days off don’t come as often as they used to. Which I’m absolutely grateful for in many ways, but it makes those free days on my calendar so much more special. And while some days I plan all the errands I need to get done before the time flies, some days everything can wait and I take it slow. Even in the kitchen.
“I started delving more into preserved and fermented foods when the pandemic forced us all into quarantine...Developing a shatta recipe or learning to make kombucha became my calming space. Preserved and fermented foods take attention, patience and close care. They became a distraction for me. A way for me to let go of everything else clouding my mind and focus on nurturing these sensitive foods. They reminded me to care for myself. And that even when times are uncertain, all I could do is take it one day at a time. And that after these days pass, I might end up wiser or have grown in ways I didn’t know, or even think I could. That I might end up with a bubbly kombucha or perfect jar of shatta. Or that even when your aunt is dragging you across borders and you think you’re going to die, you just might actually live to tell (and laugh) about it.
𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭⁣
This season’s self-care is taking on new forms. A whole day of foraging, rolling and stacking a family-sized pot of Warak Dawali. Other days it’s spending afternoons in the garden with my parents and some nights it’s mastering the art of home-brewed ginger beer and kombucha. They’re activities that take so much of my focused attention that I can’t think of much else. They cleanse my energy, soothe my anxiety and have hidden lessons through all the work and devotion they require.

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