Notes for "A Dish for Family"
Here are the notes for "A Dish for Family."
Ulima Shamalieh -- She has tinted skin and brown eyes. Her silver hair was dark in her youth. Her body is beginning to stiffen with age, making it harder for her to manage some things; sometimes her hair escapes from her scarf. Her heritage is Syrian. She speaks Arabic and French, with some English. She is 58 years old in 2014.
Ulima is a widow and the only survivor of the family she knew. She has lost 5 younger siblings, 12 niblings, a husband, 8 children, and 3 grandchildren in the Syrian civil war. She also lost her job as a teacher and all the family possessions. This has left her desperately lonesome in new country where she doesn't have anyone and can't even speak the dominant language. After fleeing from Damascus, Ulima wound up settling in Rutledge, Vermont because at least there a fair number of people speak French. Sometimes she serves as a chaperone for people who have no female relatives left, or babysits children for busy parents. Despite the hardships, she remains grateful for the opportunities that brought her here and determined to go on as best she can.
Qualities: Master (+6) Wisdom, Expert (+4) Patience, Expert (+4) Retired Teacher, Good (+2) Chaperone, Good (+2) Endurance, Good (+2) Gratitude
Poor (-2) Sole Survivor
Gratitude
Allah has created us with all the blessings only for His worship. He is the one who provides us health, wealth, and all the necessities of life. Muslims always gratitude to the almighty God for all His blessings. We used to perform prayers as thanksgiving.
* * *
Originally Family Business Rest had no dotties. They have been added between Function Room 4 and the Fire Exit, and between the EE Room and the Gym. These will include hybrid toilets that can be used squatting or sitting. Unit D is the Children's Playroom. Labib's family has Unit F (pink) in the upper left (northwest) corner of this map. Families with small children got first chance at suites on the first floor, for easy access to outside play areas. Function Room 1 is a theater.
Labib's suite has the layout in the lower left corner, with a U-shaped kitchen on the right and bedrooms on the left. It has a full-size kitchen with an integrated dining table, a living room, two large bedrooms, two 3/4 bathrooms, and a tiny maid's bedroom with its own tiny bathroom.
The living-dining-kitchen area includes light panels on the interior walls to simulate windows. The U-shaped kitchen and the dining table provide plenty of workspace. The common bathroom has a sink, toilet, and shower. The maid's room is largely used for the girls' playspace and napping, but can be used as a guest room. It has its own tiny bathroom. The whole space is a wet room, though the showerhead isn't visible from this angle.
Labib and Oraida share the master bedroom with its ensuite. Their walk-in shower includes a handheld showerhead that makes wudu convenient.
Rida and Nakia share the second bedroom.
Silver Square is a mixed-use block with a parking garage underneath. Some of the buildings face the outer streets while others face the inner courtyard. The left side includes a bank, a supermarket, a clothing/housewares store, and two restaurants. Silver Hill Kitchen is a nice family restaurant for sit-down meals serving classic Vermont fare. La Provençale is a casual French restaurant that does delivery and takeout as well as sit-down dining, with an emphasis on fresh produce. The upper right is an office building with 1-bedroom and studio apartments above it. The rest of the units are live-work spaces with a lower level for retail, office, or workshop and above that a 1-3 bedroom apartment. Most are variable in size and shape, but there is a row of 5 matching townhouses in the lower right corner. There are 16 live-work units in the lower right plus 8 more near the upper right. That section also includes the main lobby (facing outward) and the multipurpose room (facing inward). Most of the live-work buildings have a tiny private yard, but most of the center is a common courtyard filled with trees, flowers, community garden boxes, benches, and a brick patio. Among the surviving businesses there are the Smooth Move smoothie bar and a hole-in-the-wall Italian-Vermont fusion joint called Naples Maples that does things like pizza, calzones, and maple gelato. There is also the Pretty Penny beauty parlor and Quirk's, a resale store for whimsical things.
The block is about half empty and many of the people living there are senior citizens because it's cheap. However, that leaves a lot of vacant windows to walk past, which everyone considers an eyesore. One way to fix this would be to encourage other seniors to move in, and some younger people for balance. This would be a good place for some of the Syrians to move in.
The recipe we used was "Sfeeha (Arab States) Baked Lamb Pies" from Recipes: Middle Eastern Cooking from the Time Life Books Foods of the World series (pp. 38-39). My partner Doug originally encountered them as Syrian Meat Pies.
Some similar recipes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatayer
https://littlespicejar.com/lebanese-meat-pies-sfeehas/ (pyramid, on sale, good dough, no pine nuts)
https://www.omayahcooks.com/blog/2020/1/28/sfeeha-meat-pies-and-a-plant-based-version-too (box shape, Aleppo pepper flakes)
https://hildaskitchenblog.com/recipe/sambousek-lebanese-meat-filled-savory-pies/ (good spice blend, no pine nuts)
https://apinchofadventure.com/lebanese-meat-pies-sfeehas/ (shows trifold)
Spices
https://www.syriancooking.com/2012/06/18/bharat-syrian-spice-mix/ (7, allspice base)
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/259981/baharat/ (9, paprika base)
https://www.feastingathome.com/zaatar-spice-recipe/ (7, with sumac)
https://foodytv.com/recipe/homemade-harissa-spice-rub-mix/
https://www.salty-savory-sweet.com/harissa-powder/ (sale)
If you are making a big batch of meat pies as a family, and people have divergent tastes, simply make plain meat filling(s) and then knead in a different spice blend for each. To tell them apart, give each spice blend its own dough shape. Common shapes include flat circle, boat, log, square box, and triangular pyramid. Watch a video of shaping the meat pies. The same works if you want to make lamb, beef, cheese, and spinach pies but that's an even more insane amount of work.
Enjoy recipes for Tomato-Cucumber Salad, Anything Pickles, Lebanese Quick-Pickles, Sumac Quick-Pickled Onions, Syrian Falafel, and Rice Pudding.
Mint-Lime Yogurt Sauce
Ingredients
3 people
4 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon honey
Handful fresh mint leaves
Half lemon or lime juice
Steps
Chop the mint very thinly
Mix all ingredients in a bowl till everything is homogeneous.
Let it rest at the fridge for 5 minutes.
Serve and enjoy!!
Snack Tray: olives, mixed quick-pickles, dried figs, grapes, hummus, goat cheese, pita
Syrian refugees are often ignored, especially if they are women, older, don't speak English, and/or the sole survivor of their family.
Mahram (Arabic محرم, also transliterated mahrim or maharem) is an unmarriageable kin with whom sexual intercourse would be considered incestuous, a punishable taboo. Current usage of the term covers a wider range of people and mostly deals with the dress code practice of hijab. Any man with whom a woman has a relationship (of blood or fosterage) that precludes marriage, is considered a Mahram to her and vice versa. One who is not mahram is known as a ghayr mahram. A member of the opposite sex who has not yet reached the age of puberty is also regarded as mahram.
A woman may live alone, in a place she feels safe, without a mahram. There are two opinions on traveling alone without a mahram: 1) She should not travel alone for more than 24 hours, without a mahram, except in an emergency. 2) She may travel alone so long as she feels safe doing so. However, a woman who has no living, reputable mahram may travel alone or with other women or may find a male subsitute, but the lack of a mahram is a hardship for her. In a community of refugees with broken families, where most people do not have the appropriate relatives to join them for meeting others, socializing can become extremely difficult and distressing, so that many individuals are isolated.
Terramagne-Syria generally regards older women, past the age of childbearing, as suitable chaperones if no female relative is available. Also, T-Syrian women tend to prefer traveling and socializing with other women, even if a male relative is available. One woman in a group of men is not going to be happy; she wants another woman for company. One man in a group of women will not be thrilled either, and would prefer having another man. A mixed group of different sexes and ages sets a public scene; an intimate family setting is also comfortable; and each has its own etiquette. What Muslims prefer to avoid is small, private or semiprivate meetings that can seem more intimate than they should be (khalwa).
Khalwa relates to the presence of a non-mahram man and woman being on their own together without the presence of a mahram or any other person. This could happen in a private place, or a public place. In either case khalwa is forbidden from Islam, and both the man and woman involved are sinful.
A recent development in local-America is men refusing to be alone with women, and women complaining about getting shut out, as a result of the increase in harassment lawsuits. Men have a reasonable concern in wanting to avoid accusations of misconduct; women have a reasonable concern in wanting to access career opportunities (without being harassed). A solution is to make meetings and mentoring public rather than private, preferably with at least 2 men and 2 women per group. This reduces both the opportunity for and the appearance of impropriety -- which neatly matches what the above Islamic guidelines aim to achieve.
Hijab is a head covering worn in public by Muslim women. It is a symbol of privacy and modesty and that it is practiced to show respect for the received knowledge acquired in the Islamic teachings. There are different variations of Hijab and it differs from one to another via its levels of layer and covering-up purposes.
The Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat) extends from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday. The Christian holy day is Sunday, and the Islamic holy day Friday.
Ulima Shamalieh -- She has tinted skin and brown eyes. Her silver hair was dark in her youth. Her body is beginning to stiffen with age, making it harder for her to manage some things; sometimes her hair escapes from her scarf. Her heritage is Syrian. She speaks Arabic and French, with some English. She is 58 years old in 2014.
Ulima is a widow and the only survivor of the family she knew. She has lost 5 younger siblings, 12 niblings, a husband, 8 children, and 3 grandchildren in the Syrian civil war. She also lost her job as a teacher and all the family possessions. This has left her desperately lonesome in new country where she doesn't have anyone and can't even speak the dominant language. After fleeing from Damascus, Ulima wound up settling in Rutledge, Vermont because at least there a fair number of people speak French. Sometimes she serves as a chaperone for people who have no female relatives left, or babysits children for busy parents. Despite the hardships, she remains grateful for the opportunities that brought her here and determined to go on as best she can.
Qualities: Master (+6) Wisdom, Expert (+4) Patience, Expert (+4) Retired Teacher, Good (+2) Chaperone, Good (+2) Endurance, Good (+2) Gratitude
Poor (-2) Sole Survivor
Gratitude
Allah has created us with all the blessings only for His worship. He is the one who provides us health, wealth, and all the necessities of life. Muslims always gratitude to the almighty God for all His blessings. We used to perform prayers as thanksgiving.
* * *
Originally Family Business Rest had no dotties. They have been added between Function Room 4 and the Fire Exit, and between the EE Room and the Gym. These will include hybrid toilets that can be used squatting or sitting. Unit D is the Children's Playroom. Labib's family has Unit F (pink) in the upper left (northwest) corner of this map. Families with small children got first chance at suites on the first floor, for easy access to outside play areas. Function Room 1 is a theater.
Labib's suite has the layout in the lower left corner, with a U-shaped kitchen on the right and bedrooms on the left. It has a full-size kitchen with an integrated dining table, a living room, two large bedrooms, two 3/4 bathrooms, and a tiny maid's bedroom with its own tiny bathroom.
The living-dining-kitchen area includes light panels on the interior walls to simulate windows. The U-shaped kitchen and the dining table provide plenty of workspace. The common bathroom has a sink, toilet, and shower. The maid's room is largely used for the girls' playspace and napping, but can be used as a guest room. It has its own tiny bathroom. The whole space is a wet room, though the showerhead isn't visible from this angle.
Labib and Oraida share the master bedroom with its ensuite. Their walk-in shower includes a handheld showerhead that makes wudu convenient.
Rida and Nakia share the second bedroom.
Silver Square is a mixed-use block with a parking garage underneath. Some of the buildings face the outer streets while others face the inner courtyard. The left side includes a bank, a supermarket, a clothing/housewares store, and two restaurants. Silver Hill Kitchen is a nice family restaurant for sit-down meals serving classic Vermont fare. La Provençale is a casual French restaurant that does delivery and takeout as well as sit-down dining, with an emphasis on fresh produce. The upper right is an office building with 1-bedroom and studio apartments above it. The rest of the units are live-work spaces with a lower level for retail, office, or workshop and above that a 1-3 bedroom apartment. Most are variable in size and shape, but there is a row of 5 matching townhouses in the lower right corner. There are 16 live-work units in the lower right plus 8 more near the upper right. That section also includes the main lobby (facing outward) and the multipurpose room (facing inward). Most of the live-work buildings have a tiny private yard, but most of the center is a common courtyard filled with trees, flowers, community garden boxes, benches, and a brick patio. Among the surviving businesses there are the Smooth Move smoothie bar and a hole-in-the-wall Italian-Vermont fusion joint called Naples Maples that does things like pizza, calzones, and maple gelato. There is also the Pretty Penny beauty parlor and Quirk's, a resale store for whimsical things.
The block is about half empty and many of the people living there are senior citizens because it's cheap. However, that leaves a lot of vacant windows to walk past, which everyone considers an eyesore. One way to fix this would be to encourage other seniors to move in, and some younger people for balance. This would be a good place for some of the Syrians to move in.
The recipe we used was "Sfeeha (Arab States) Baked Lamb Pies" from Recipes: Middle Eastern Cooking from the Time Life Books Foods of the World series (pp. 38-39). My partner Doug originally encountered them as Syrian Meat Pies.
Some similar recipes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatayer
https://littlespicejar.com/lebanese-meat-pies-sfeehas/ (pyramid, on sale, good dough, no pine nuts)
https://www.omayahcooks.com/blog/2020/1/28/sfeeha-meat-pies-and-a-plant-based-version-too (box shape, Aleppo pepper flakes)
https://hildaskitchenblog.com/recipe/sambousek-lebanese-meat-filled-savory-pies/ (good spice blend, no pine nuts)
https://apinchofadventure.com/lebanese-meat-pies-sfeehas/ (shows trifold)
Spices
https://www.syriancooking.com/2012/06/18/bharat-syrian-spice-mix/ (7, allspice base)
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/259981/baharat/ (9, paprika base)
https://www.feastingathome.com/zaatar-spice-recipe/ (7, with sumac)
https://foodytv.com/recipe/homemade-harissa-spice-rub-mix/
https://www.salty-savory-sweet.com/harissa-powder/ (sale)
If you are making a big batch of meat pies as a family, and people have divergent tastes, simply make plain meat filling(s) and then knead in a different spice blend for each. To tell them apart, give each spice blend its own dough shape. Common shapes include flat circle, boat, log, square box, and triangular pyramid. Watch a video of shaping the meat pies. The same works if you want to make lamb, beef, cheese, and spinach pies but that's an even more insane amount of work.
Enjoy recipes for Tomato-Cucumber Salad, Anything Pickles, Lebanese Quick-Pickles, Sumac Quick-Pickled Onions, Syrian Falafel, and Rice Pudding.
Mint-Lime Yogurt Sauce
Ingredients
3 people
4 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon honey
Handful fresh mint leaves
Half lemon or lime juice
Steps
Chop the mint very thinly
Mix all ingredients in a bowl till everything is homogeneous.
Let it rest at the fridge for 5 minutes.
Serve and enjoy!!
Snack Tray: olives, mixed quick-pickles, dried figs, grapes, hummus, goat cheese, pita
Syrian refugees are often ignored, especially if they are women, older, don't speak English, and/or the sole survivor of their family.
Mahram (Arabic محرم, also transliterated mahrim or maharem) is an unmarriageable kin with whom sexual intercourse would be considered incestuous, a punishable taboo. Current usage of the term covers a wider range of people and mostly deals with the dress code practice of hijab. Any man with whom a woman has a relationship (of blood or fosterage) that precludes marriage, is considered a Mahram to her and vice versa. One who is not mahram is known as a ghayr mahram. A member of the opposite sex who has not yet reached the age of puberty is also regarded as mahram.
A woman may live alone, in a place she feels safe, without a mahram. There are two opinions on traveling alone without a mahram: 1) She should not travel alone for more than 24 hours, without a mahram, except in an emergency. 2) She may travel alone so long as she feels safe doing so. However, a woman who has no living, reputable mahram may travel alone or with other women or may find a male subsitute, but the lack of a mahram is a hardship for her. In a community of refugees with broken families, where most people do not have the appropriate relatives to join them for meeting others, socializing can become extremely difficult and distressing, so that many individuals are isolated.
Terramagne-Syria generally regards older women, past the age of childbearing, as suitable chaperones if no female relative is available. Also, T-Syrian women tend to prefer traveling and socializing with other women, even if a male relative is available. One woman in a group of men is not going to be happy; she wants another woman for company. One man in a group of women will not be thrilled either, and would prefer having another man. A mixed group of different sexes and ages sets a public scene; an intimate family setting is also comfortable; and each has its own etiquette. What Muslims prefer to avoid is small, private or semiprivate meetings that can seem more intimate than they should be (khalwa).
Khalwa relates to the presence of a non-mahram man and woman being on their own together without the presence of a mahram or any other person. This could happen in a private place, or a public place. In either case khalwa is forbidden from Islam, and both the man and woman involved are sinful.
A recent development in local-America is men refusing to be alone with women, and women complaining about getting shut out, as a result of the increase in harassment lawsuits. Men have a reasonable concern in wanting to avoid accusations of misconduct; women have a reasonable concern in wanting to access career opportunities (without being harassed). A solution is to make meetings and mentoring public rather than private, preferably with at least 2 men and 2 women per group. This reduces both the opportunity for and the appearance of impropriety -- which neatly matches what the above Islamic guidelines aim to achieve.
Hijab is a head covering worn in public by Muslim women. It is a symbol of privacy and modesty and that it is practiced to show respect for the received knowledge acquired in the Islamic teachings. There are different variations of Hijab and it differs from one to another via its levels of layer and covering-up purposes.
The Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat) extends from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday. The Christian holy day is Sunday, and the Islamic holy day Friday.