Fri, 10 Oct 2003 Dear friends KABAB AND LABAN ARBEEL i was unable to trace the original and the best(saadoon street near al hurryeh pharmacy) there is a shoe shop in its place . however i understand that several similar kurdish style kabab shops have copied the original . the best is situated just on the opposite side of the saadoon .the name escapes me but it could be Samaran.i was mesmerised as i watched the vendor liberally apply summaq to the beatifully char grilled thick and wide pieces as he placed them on the usual kosat khubiz .i saw many shops exclusively selling leben arbeel and leben al shimal and as long as one is not too squeemish about hygiene the shnina tastes great. KAHI WITH KAIMER AND SHEERA this was my first morning breakfast . at 6:30 am in a side street close to the erkheita market . it was washed down with 4 estikans of thick aromatic chai each sweetened by 3 heaped spoons of sugar. this was the healthy option as i swear my fellow patrons were having patcha and tashreeb (at 6:30 am!!).i did ask for Bran flakes and skimmed milk but i believe they had run out of this option.the kaimer as thick as half a brick was historic.a view shared by about 100 flies . LABLABY while shopping in souk el safafeer , i spotted this colourful arabana with a huge ge-der of lablaby. the choice presented was : tasa or paper cone . i opted for the tasa and then much to my escort's amusement and disgust i asked for "hamith" . the vendor produced a bottle with a yellowish liquid and sprinkled on my tasa .i took a digital movie of the scene and showed it to him .he had never seen anything like it . he absolutely insisted that i should eat another tasa of lablaby as a reward for the thrill i gave him. half way through the second large tasa with "hamith" i felt very close to throwing up. Bajillah and M-kha-llila . what a combination to have on the same arabana .outside el madrasa el mustanseryah.both delicious and very yummy on their own . however for the sake of research and mainly to be able to report to you ,i decided to have a portion of each .not a wise idea. time is up . subject of food to be concluded after the eed(2 days) hag sameach edwin

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