Sorting it out

I missed you guys!

Marhaba! Hello……

I mocked up this header photo months ago - it’s a photo of my Dad from when he and my mom lived in Cairo. That was in early November, right after I’d returned from Decatur, Illinois, where we’d just buried him after his sudden death. Sudden makes it sound unexpected, which it wasn’t entirely due to his poor health, but it was nonetheless without any real warning. An October visit to Central Illinois felt like my dad’s final gift, gathering me and my sisters into the embrace of extended family in small town America. The skies were bright blue, the air crisp, leaves changing colors, and front yards decorated for Halloween, all the Autumnal things we never get here in the Levant and I hadn’t experienced in years. It was a beautiful and uplifting backdrop for an utterly dismal task. And seeing my sisters and their families, cousins, aunts and uncles, meeting old colleagues of my Father’s, and the outpouring of admiration and happy memories from friends of his all around the world, made his death marginally easier. While going through all of his worldly possessions (cat and dog included) and deciding what to do with all of them was miserably harder.

Once back in Amman, with the holiday season looming, and no real progress on my restaurant project to speak of, the idea of trying to come up with something to write about was nearly impossible. Meanwhile, Israel was dropping bombs on my beloved Beirut, friends there sending me heartbreaking voice notes about daily life in my favorite city. The genocide in Gaza continued, Trump was elected (again!) and somehow it was all a bit too much, the grief too difficult to articulate. The kicker to it all was the weird and wonderful association I’ve always had between my father and Lebanon - you see, he was there long before I ever was. He always spoke with such love for it and its people, in spite of always being there to cover conflict: the Civil War of the 80s, or the Israeli aggression in 2006. He’d antagonize my mother saying they were going to retire there, as he regaled us with stories of dashing across the Green Line while avoiding sniper fire, leisurely lunches up in the Chouf Mountains with friends, the olive groves, the dancing sea, and the mouse who shared his Hamra hotel room with him. “Being Lebanese was a profession, not a nationality,” he’d cleverly quip, and once I’d moved to Beirut I understood exactly what he meant. He came to visit us twice while we lived there, a sort of mini-retirement maybe, and we recreated those leisurely mountain lunches, seaside drives and encounters with the Lebanese I’d come to adore much like he had decades earlier. Those memories of his visits bring me much peace.

My Father was a multi-award winning journalist who covered the biggest stories of his time. Gorbachev asked my dad to write his biography, Obama asked him for advice on Russia when he became President, he saw the Berlin Wall fall, tanks crush student protestors on Tiananmen Square, the Soviets invade Afghanistan, coups in countless cities, endless wars, natural disasters, peace talks. How lucky he was…and talented, and I’d like to think I inherited a small molecule of my writing talent from him, a bit of curiosity, and a love of telling the stories of others, even if they’re smaller in scale. Each time I sent out my newsletters or wrote something on my blog, he was always the first person to send me a couple of encouraging words: “a good one” “you’re such a fine writer” “fascinating.” Nothing more. For months, the idea of writing a newsletter and not getting those two or three or four words back from him, broke my heart. But what a waste of his legacy if I don’t continue with my writing in some way. While my work is not on the world’s stage, I’m hopeful that my stories and observations perhaps illuminate something, make us all think a little differently, connect us with one another. Allah yer hamo (may he rest in peace).

HARVEST

In much lighter news, I want to introduce you all to Harvest, my restaurant opening in the coming months. I’ve been waiting to share until more of my ducks were in a row, and they finally appear to be! We’ve created and registered a company, opened a bank account, and settled on a location. While this might not sound like much, believe me when I say it’s been a journey to get this far! I want to use future newsletters to share what it’s like to open a restaurant here in Amman, the bureaucracy, the design process, the excursions to meet producers and farmers, figuring out social media, hiring our team, the branding, the suppliers, the endless choices that must be made….and last but certainly not least, the food! I hope you’ll follow along as I make my way through this patience-testing and terribly exciting process.

Harvest will be a daytime dining concept which features the food I love which is a mishmash of everything delicious. I like to think of it as comfort food that leaves you feeling good with a distinctly local sparkle. As the ladies of Kismet restaurant in LA say: Untraditional food that understands tradition. I hope this is food you will crave: seasonal salads, sandwiches, bowls, flatbreads, an unconventional conventional breakfast starring bagels, english muffins and baked goods. I want it to be a community space where we bring in brands like Sisters Brew Kombucha and serve it on tap, while our market will highlight other local food artisans’ products. We’ll also sell our own pantry items and grab and go ingredients to make whipping up dinner at your house a breeze. And while our focus will be on daytime noshing, in the evenings we will offer special events, supper clubs, have visiting chef nights, pizza nights, taco nights and make the space available to rent for your own private event.

So that’s us in a nutshell and I say us because alongside me I have an old friend Tara, who I worked with 10 years ago here in Amman when I catered. She’s got her own business, Good Thymes by Tara, which offers healthy snacks and food by order from her house. I think we’re the perfect fit for this endeavor. It’s been so much fun to have a true partner as we go through this challenging process, someone to bounce ideas off of and to trek to all the endless meetings with. We have a good time together and her creativity, experience, and work ethic will help make Harvest reach the potential I know it has.

ON MY RADAR

I’m reading “Care and Feeding: A Memoir” by Laurie Woolever and gosh does it give me goosebumps. She was the personal assistant to Mario Batali and then later Anthony Bourdain - attended the French Culinary Institute just a few years before I did, and paints an eerily familiar portrait of the food scene in NYC when I was there. I think my nostalgia for New York is running deep these days as I also savored this New York Times retrospective of the dining scene in the city since 2000 (how is time going so quickly??)

As someone who probably needs to throw away at least 20 cloth tote bags, I couldn’t imagine spending $127 on a Bronze Swimmer tote featured in this Eater article, but hey, someone must be doing it? I sort of want to find some green squeeze bottles and get my own brand of olive oil going over here….the Taste article outlining the history of this trendy packaging was fascinating. Oh, and this article from the Times about food tourism sort of resonated with me (sorry! it is from back around the new year) but when I was reading the comments I was surprised by how many people hated this point of view. I’d love your two cents.

Masterchef Australia, season 17 is back and so are the contestants who all competed in previous seasons. I’m loving it as always and so relieved they booted Mel as a judge. If you’re able to catch it do! I’m always inspired by the creativity on display. The latest Chef’s Table, Legends on Netflix featured chefs who have influenced me greatly, especially Alice Waters. It’s beautifully shot as always (but I could have done without Thomas Keller, TBH, thoughts??). And also on Netflix I really enjoyed The Four Seasons, a grown up dramedy, that spoke to my 50-something soul.

WHAT TO COOK NOW

In an effort to lighten my load, I’m going to forego this section for now, but I hope you’ll always take a look at my recipe box over on my website for seasonal inspiration.

More culinary conversations coming your way soon…..

xx CSJ

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