This was a valentine's gift to myself: a relaxing, leisurely lunch on the patio with the sun blazing overhead and me shaded underneath an umbrella reading a good book. I can't ask for anything better to do on this gorgeous Sunday. We're lucky to get this kind of weather here while snow storms ravage the majority of the country. I will enjoy it while we have it. So, on to my lunch. I had a platter of dips (hummus and baba ganouj) with pita bread and cucumbers, a Lebanese eggplant and chickpea stew, sweet little clementines and a beer and tomato juice. Yes you heard that right! I used to love Clamato y cerveza when I was omni and the only way I can kind of duplicate that is to use tomato juice instead of Clamato. Tastes great and works for me!
The two dips in the front are hummus and baba ganouj that was leftover from my lunch yesterday at Gaby's Mediterranean cafe. I also had a big thing of hummus that I made last week so I added some of that to my plate as well. Drizzled with olive oil and flanked by cucumbers, this was heaven.
The star of the meal. Mnazalet Al-Batinjan or Eggplant and Chickpea stew from "Tables of Lebanon" cookbook. Easiest recipe ever. It's beautifully fragrant with cumin and mint leaves. The eggplant is so tender, it melts in your mouth. I love this dish.
Scoop some on bread and eat!
Dessert was the chocolate beer waffles from Vegan Brunch cookbook. Yummy! I served them with blueberry/maple syrup and a dusting of powdered sugar.
Oh yum! I love your little lebanese spread. Hummus and baba are two of my all time favorite things.
ReplyDeleteHappy valentines day :)
That looks like an absolutely perfect lunch!
ReplyDeleteomg, everything looks soooooo good. this is such a perfect way to spend a beautiful sunday...wish i could eat on my patio, but it's still so cold and there's still snow on the ground from our storm last week...alas. i'll just have to dream of sunnier days and chocolate beer waffles for now!
ReplyDeleteYou have some very inspiring food photography in your blog. I generally aim for a "studio" look in my photos (although I use natural light instead of the flash whenever possible, but in Finland it isn't always possible!) but your photos are making me reconsider that. They seem to be so full of natural sunlight that accentuates the dishes and makes for a lovely atmosphere.
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