Jerusalem and Ottolenghi - ATWI80 Cookbooks, Post 2

I had originally been joking about my Around the World in 80 Cookbooks project, but sometimes life really does have other plans. Two events occurred which made this project seem much more worth while - almost like I was being told by the universe that this MUST happen. That being said, perhaps I should start a blog just for that project, but I have such a hard time keeping up with this one; I can't even imagine trying to keep up with two. In any case, the first event was the opening of our Christmas presents. For the second year in a row, my husband gave me cookbooks - an extremely unusual thing for him to do, especially twice. This year's books were related to each other - both written by the same authors. Jerusalem and Ottolenghi are both written by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. These two cookbooks both really illustrate a lot of my food philosophy - that food defines cultures, unites people, and can open up the world to everyone. The two authors grew up in Jerusalem - one is Muslim and the other is Jewish. This divided city, which has been fought over for decades, is at the heart of a conflict which began 10,000 years ago (or more). And yet, the people who live there share share one of the most fundamental culture traits - a cuisine. I have always loved foods from the Middle East, and I was fascinated by the stories behind these books. I had already read through most of the recipes, which seemed very do-able except for one major issue - the availability of some of the ingredients. This is still a new concept for me. Having lived my entire life in extremely large urban areas, I have never had to deal with being unable to find even the weirdest ingredients. Living in small town America is still a shock to my culinary system. Every time I go to the grocery store, I have at least one item the clerk can't identify, but I still have difficulty finding all but the most basic ingredients. And then, I found myself standing in a Middle Eastern market in Kissimmee, Floriday on Christmas Day. Yes, Christmas Day! We had decided to spend Christmas Day relaxing - no visiting the theme parks on the busiest day of the year for us. We had lunch at Wolfgang Puck's in Downtown Disney - which was quite lovely and nice, but not as over-the-top fabulous as I would have hoped from such a famous chef. For dinner, we decided to eat at Jerusalem - a Middle Eastern restaurant my husband and Mother-in-law had found while driving around outside of Disney. They had both raved about how great it was, and it seemed appropriate to us to have Christmas Dinner there. We were right, of course. The food was great - and there was a tiny market attached to the restaurant. Within 5 minutes, I had found most of the unique ingredients I needed to make the recipes from these cookbooks. I also found a can of harissa - my precious stash from Morocco having been depleted already. I still need to find a few of the unique spices used in the recipes, but next weekend's trip to the Metroplex should afford me the chance to find them. So, hopefully, my next post will be after I've tried several of the dishes. I'll post some pics, too. Till then!