OMG is my husband/Algerians out of the loop or what?!?!

[jpaula 20]

My theory on the Algerian "tarts" and the like is that they think the are making French deserts, but in Algeria they do not use butter. I have tried to find real butter there and you have to search high and low. Same goes for real milk. Unless you have a cow you may just be out of luck. I know in food they use alot of margerine, but I don't know what they are baking with. I just know it isn't butter. So, the deserts and the baked goods are all a little "off." And there is alot of artificial flavor. So, things like ice cream (which everyone loves) are really weird because it isn't really cream and it is this strange artificial flavor. There is one macaron cookie (no need of milk or butter for macarons) from a bakery near my apartment that I love and I stick to that for desert.

[Henia 11]

The Greeks and the Turks...of course you know how that goes.

shhhhh!

Remember: it's 'greek coffee".

You wouldn't believe the number of fights on that topic I've seen on the Usenet groups...

Yeah.. when I was in Cyprus.. it was Cyrpus Coffee... chuckle... crazy stuff..

Ye in Turkey is Turkis coffee, in Greece Greek, in Cyprus is Cyrpus coffee, in any arbic country is arbian coffeee...but sure tastes the same to me

[Henia 11]

My theory on the Algerian "tarts" and the like is that they think the are making French deserts, but in Algeria they do not use butter. I have tried to find real butter there and you have to search high and low. Same goes for real milk. Unless you have a cow you may just be out of luck. I know in food they use alot of margerine, but I don't know what they are baking with. I just know it isn't butter. So, the deserts and the baked goods are all a little "off." And there is alot of artificial flavor. So, things like ice cream (which everyone loves) are really weird because it isn't really cream and it is this strange artificial flavor. There is one macaron cookie (no need of milk or butter for macarons) from a bakery near my apartment that I love and I stick to that for desert.

Thanks JPaula for that post... I mean thier tarts are good, not bad tasting and not too sweet but all that artificalness I donnot like... so it gets me when I hear him say O well I like that... yuk!

[jpaula 20]

Henia,

I think the tarts there are very pretty and really gross You need to make custard with milk!

My huband had lived in thr States for seven years before we went back to Algeria so he had become very used to overwhelming variety. So, even he has been really frustrated by how stuck in habits everyone is. When his family comes over I either let them cook the fried lamb chops they love or I cook my pasta and fresh salald and if they don't like it they can eat elsewhere. I get along really well with my in-laws mind you, but I eat at their house all the time and eat what I am served. No one is jumping through hoops to make sure it is what I want. I am not going to spend my days there learning to cook Algerian food I do not like. Plus, I need to make healthy food. You just can't bend over backwards to please everyone there because it is impossible and you loose yourself in the process. If you are visiting for a few weeks, fine, we jump through the hoops. But, if you are going to live there you have to carve out your own life and habits and food and friends. You are going to get alot of flack for it, too. I don't get it from my husband, but I know there is a lot of clucking going on among the aunts and cousins and neighbors and....everyone else who has nothing to do but gossip the days away. I just imagine this is very hard if you marry someone who has never left Algeria. He is going to have to realize that there is not one way of doing things. America will be a huge shock otherwise.

So, I understand your frustrations and I hope you go meet those women. It sound silly, but one of the things that really changed my life there was finding a kind, reliable taxi driver who I can call whenever I need to. Make sure you are mobile on your own.

Oh, and it was so funny to me that he is worried the meeting is just for gossiping as I am not sure what he thinks Algerian women do when they get together, but I have news for him---nothing but gossip!

[ya falaha! 0]

Very informative posts, ladies!

Did you ladies notice that your SOs will say that everything is better in THEIR countries? I was just discussing that with Mohamed last night. I told him I've heard it time and again...this is better in Egypt, that is better in Egypt. Same with my ex. Ya know what..it isn't! I've been to Egypt and I live in the states so I know both unlike my dear husband. I told him..you're wrong..pretty much NOTHING is better there. The produce, the meat, other foods...I find the same if not better in the states.

[jpaula 20]

My husband used to say such things... Then we went back to Algeria. Now, the US is the best place on earth. I think it is easy to romanticize everything when you have been gone for a while. Now, he keeps calling to tell me that Ramadan in Algeria isn't how he remembered it and that he is bored stiff, even that the food he cooked for himself last year in the US is better than his mom's food (horrors! can't say that out loud).

[Henia 11]

Very informative posts, ladies!

Did you ladies notice that your SOs will say that everything is better in THEIR countries? I was just discussing that with Mohamed last night. I told him I've heard it time and again...this is better in Egypt, that is better in Egypt. Same with my ex. Ya know what..it isn't! I've been to Egypt and I live in the states so I know both unlike my dear husband. I told him..you're wrong..pretty much NOTHING is better there. The produce, the meat, other foods...I find the same if not better in the states.

Yes agree with you completely... my ex was the same way... Ahmed has not said everything here is better (yet) but he seems to his way (not always the Algerian way, but his way) is best...ufff

My husband brought another (nasty) tart... with the pastry crust, artifical pudding they call "flan" and this time it was decorated with bananas... the bananas were brown and covered in a gelee... YUK! Hmm... sorry to sound bytchy...but i wanted to say....and this is better then mine?

[ya falaha! 0]

LOL you are cracking me up today, Henia! You sound just like me when I'm in Egypt. Once we went out for shawerma but it didn't taste nearly as good as shawerma I get here. I said, sheesh..Egyptians don't even cook their own food good. Ok maybe that was harsh but true. I told Mohamed..wait until you taste shawerma from Cedarland. Sooo much better! The pastries in Egypt were pretty good. The baklawa and that kinda stuff was good. The other pastries tasted European. The only thing was the chocolate didn't taste like chocolate. It was more like German chocolate cake. Not devil's food cake like here.

[Henia 11]

LOL you are cracking me up today, Henia! You sound just like me when I'm in Egypt. Once we went out for shawerma but it didn't taste nearly as good as shawerma I get here. I said, sheesh..Egyptians don't even cook their own food good. Ok maybe that was harsh but true. I told Mohamed..wait until you taste shawerma from Cedarland. Sooo much better! The pastries in Egypt were pretty good. The baklawa and that kinda stuff was good. The other pastries tasted European. The only thing was the chocolate didn't taste like chocolate. It was more like German chocolate cake. Not devil's food cake like here.

Yes, well Kara we just finished the whole praying, eating and praying again bit. My husband tasted my tart (finally) even though I told him not to...and he actually said...hmm this tastes like a French pastry...it tastes good. WOW OMG... did I hear that right?

Hmmm today, after all this I actually looked at the food I was eating... in a cirital culinary way... just to be bychy and picky like he has been. I told him (in a nice manner of course, LoL) Mmmm why are the pieces of moutton fat in this soup? People in the US and Europe do not usually eat the fat of moutton or lamb. He looked at it, Hmm I donnow, I usually donnot eat he said... after that I kindly started to point things out... in which he followed suit... agreeing with me on many things.

I was telling him stories (briefly) about the various foods we have in Michigan, arabe and non-arabe... also foods we eat in HU. He saw his mouth salivate. And the most unthinkable thing happened... he actually said something nice: You are creative and flexible. Well hmmm, it is not the most best commment to make to one's wife but I will take as such.

Then in the middle of the dinner with about 8 other people told me he missed me. I am right now, I am in Algerie sitting right next to you eating dinner?!?! He started then to make faces at me, so I played like I did not see him. O snaaaaaaaps what a werido... we are going to have a talk when we go to sleep tonight!!!!!!!!!

[ya falaha! 0]

Awwwwwwww I'm happy to hear things turned around for you today. Men can be hard to deal with sometimes but other times they can be so sweet and understanding. I just wish they had an instruction manual.

[Henia 11]

Awwwwwwww I'm happy to hear things turned around for you today. Men can be hard to deal with sometimes but other times they can be so sweet and understanding. I just wish they had an instruction manual.

Ye but they seem to have a happy button... that I like to call haneen.... This seems to work with Ahmed...(also with my ex it worked LoL)

[hollyw 0]

My theory on the Algerian "tarts" and the like is that they think the are making French deserts, but in Algeria they do not use butter. I have tried to find real butter there and you have to search high and low. Same goes for real milk. Unless you have a cow you may just be out of luck. I know in food they use alot of margerine, but I don't know what they are baking with. I just know it isn't butter. So, the deserts and the baked goods are all a little "off." And there is alot of artificial flavor. So, things like ice cream (which everyone loves) are really weird because it isn't really cream and it is this strange artificial flavor. There is one macaron cookie (no need of milk or butter for macarons) from a bakery near my apartment that I love and I stick to that for desert.

hmmm thats very interesting... i knew something was a little off in all the pastries!! dont get me wrong, there are some that i like.... mostly very simple ones that have more dough than honey or peanuts. i can take about one bite or a cookie and i am full for the rest of the day!!! i always joke with my husband, when we go to visit family, that if his aunts make me eat cookies then there is no way i'm eating dinner. one thing about being a guest, meeting your husbands family for the first time... everyone is stuffing pastries down your throat!!! and if you dont like them, its just horrible. all i ever heard was "mange, holly, mange!!! couli couli..." i have grown to like chamiya though (sp??). in the beginning i could barely stomach a spoonful, but now i find that sometimes i look forward to eating it... weird

i also found that about the ice cream... my husbands little sister would get so excited and give medy and me a plastic box to fill up with icecream... always the same flavors: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and lemon. all in the same box. and since she was so excited I got so excited.. until we got the box home... lets just say it didnt taste like ben and jerry's!!! the lemon was actually pretty good.. although weird when it melted together with the choclate, strawberry, and vanilla....

.

My husband used to say such things... Then we went back to Algeria. Now, the US is the best place on earth. I think it is easy to romanticize everything when you have been gone for a while. Now, he keeps calling to tell me that Ramadan in Algeria isn't how he remembered it and that he is bored stiff, even that the food he cooked for himself last year in the US is better than his mom's food (horrors! can't say that out loud).

my husband has also found this... Ramadan back home in Oran isn't as great as he remembers it. he's still happy to be home... and he'll still stay until the end to see family. but he's soooooooooo bored. he does, however, like being able to be lazy all da long and sleep as late as he wants and have his mom prepare dinner and pick up after him.... he did not have that in paris!!

jpaula, are you back in the states??

[sarah and hicham 3]

Holly when is your husband coming? Or is he already here and I missed something?

[Henia 11]

My theory on the Algerian "tarts" and the like is that they think the are making French deserts, but in Algeria they do not use butter. I have tried to find real butter there and you have to search high and low. Same goes for real milk. Unless you have a cow you may just be out of luck. I know in food they use alot of margerine, but I don't know what they are baking with. I just know it isn't butter. So, the deserts and the baked goods are all a little "off." And there is alot of artificial flavor. So, things like ice cream (which everyone loves) are really weird because it isn't really cream and it is this strange artificial flavor. There is one macaron cookie (no need of milk or butter for macarons) from a bakery near my apartment that I love and I stick to that for desert.

hmmm thats very interesting... i knew something was a little off in all the pastries!! dont get me wrong, there are some that i like.... mostly very simple ones that have more dough than honey or peanuts. i can take about one bite or a cookie and i am full for the rest of the day!!! i always joke with my husband, when we go to visit family, that if his aunts make me eat cookies then there is no way i'm eating dinner. one thing about being a guest, meeting your husbands family for the first time... everyone is stuffing pastries down your throat!!! and if you dont like them, its just horrible. all i ever heard was "mange, holly, mange!!! couli couli..." i have grown to like chamiya though (sp??). in the beginning i could barely stomach a spoonful, but now i find that sometimes i look forward to eating it... weird

i also found that about the ice cream... my husbands little sister would get so excited and give medy and me a plastic box to fill up with icecream... always the same flavors: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and lemon. all in the same box. and since she was so excited I got so excited.. until we got the box home... lets just say it didnt taste like ben and jerry's!!! the lemon was actually pretty good.. although weird when it melted together with the choclate, strawberry, and vanilla....

.

My husband used to say such things... Then we went back to Algeria. Now, the US is the best place on earth. I think it is easy to romanticize everything when you have been gone for a while. Now, he keeps calling to tell me that Ramadan in Algeria isn't how he remembered it and that he is bored stiff, even that the food he cooked for himself last year in the US is better than his mom's food (horrors! can't say that out loud).

my husband has also found this... Ramadan back home in Oran isn't as great as he remembers it. he's still happy to be home... and he'll still stay until the end to see family. but he's soooooooooo bored. he does, however, like being able to be lazy all da long and sleep as late as he wants and have his mom prepare dinner and pick up after him.... he did not have that in paris!!

jpaula, are you back in the states??

Yes Holly my husband took me to a ice cream parlour (glacee) and since it was so hot I got quite excited...until I actually tasted the ice cream... 2 scoops of chocolate and one scoop of unknown flavour rolled in peanuts (everything sweet here seems to have peanuts in it) then drizzled with honey and chocolate sauce... Looked good, but tasted horrible... I had 2 bits and I was done.

[ya falaha! 0]

Hmmm you're making me hungry for icecream! I've got two containers in the freezer at home..butter pecan and mint chocolate chip..yummy!

In Egypt the icecream is more like gelato. It was soo good! My favorite is manga. Oh how I miss manga icecream *tear*