Embracing The Lebanese I'm Marrying Into

In three months, I will be marrying Mr. AJ Saigh... my Lebanese man:) So today, I decided to embrace the Lebanese I'm marrying into, by making one of AJ's favorite Lebanese dishes... KIBBEH!

The first time I had any type of Lebanese food, was at AJ's dad's side of the family, over Christmas two years ago. If you haven't had Kibbeh, you do not know true happiness! The first time I met AJ's family (Christmas two years ago), AJ's aunt Jan made Kibbeh, Syrian bread and stuffed grape leaves. Honestly, this was the day I not only fell in love with the food, but AJ's family too (a family can win a girl over with food)! I'm not a huge fan of stuffed grape leaves (they are AJ's favorite), but I think I could eat Kibbeh every day for the rest of my life.

Kibbeah is a whole lot of meat, but it wasn't too tough to make. The photos don't look all that appetizing, but AJ gave it two thumbs up! Thanks to Jen Unser for the recipe. Try it out and let me know what you think!


Jen Unser's Kibbeh Recipe

1 lb. lean lamb (ground twice) - I used hamburger

1/2 cup fine wheat (bulgur)

1 medium onion (grated)

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Rinse wheat in cold water and set aside to absorb moisture. Knead meat, salt and onion together, and gradually add wheat, squeezing out any excess moisture before adding to meat. Wet hands with water to ensure smooth texture. Refrigerate.

Stuffing

1 lb. ground lamb

1 large onion (chopped)

1 Tablespoon pine nuts (I used a lot more because they are so yummy)

Salt and allspice to taste
Cinnamon (Jen's recipe doesn't call for cinnamon, but I think Kibbeh needs cinnamon)

In small sauce pan, sauté lamb, onion, pine nuts and spices until brown. Cool. In greased 2 quart baking tray, pat down firmly one part of the raw meat mixture to cover entire tray. Spread meat stuffing over raw meat. Pat remainder of raw meat over stuffing - cover entire baking tray, making sure stuffing is covered. Be sure to rinse your hands in cold water to smooth top layer of meat. Cut into diamond shapes, and run knife around pan.

Dot with Crisco or butter, and bake in preheated 350 degree oven. Serve hot with yogurt or salad.

We have a mouse

That's right, we have a mouse. And when I went to pick up traps at the hardware store yesterday, the cashier said, "when there's ONE, there's SOME." Eeeek!

The other night, I was sitting on the couch watching TV and I looked down to see, what I thought was a mouse running across our hardwood floor! Really?! A mouse in MY house?! I jumped onto our ottoman, and scooted myself around the floor to see if I was just REALLY tired and hallucinating, or if it was REALLY a mouse. I didn't find anything, and brushed it off as a terrifying sighting by a very tired girl.

The next night, AJ woke up around 2am to go to the bathroom, and he said he heard the pitter-patter of, what he thought was a mouse running across our floor. That was enough for me, and I was off to the hardware store to find something to get this mouse (or mice) out of our house. Thank goodness, nothing in our house has been chewed on, destroyed or damaged by the suspected mice or mouse... and we'll do anything to keep this from happening!

The presence of mice isn't anything new to me. My family has a summer cabin in Hawick, MN that we close during the winter months. Every time we open the cabin on Memorial Day weekend, we have to do a major cleaning because of the mice that got in over the winter. I know it's gross, but hey, when you have a cabin on a lake in the middle of the woods, the mice are going to find a way in! But our house is BRAND NEW, and the last thing I ever thought we'd have to deal with is MICE! But we do live very close to a ravine and we're in a heavily wooded area, so the chance of having some kind of critter in our house was probably pretty good. We also have a compost pile and a garden in our backyard, so we frequently have deer visiting. And our most recent guest is a huge groundhog or something, who lives under our shed. He's so cute, but we will never be friends because he ate all my mint and basil from the garden!

Since AJ and I are new homeowners, we decided to buy the original mouse traps that you put peanut butter on as bait. We put them out last night. No mice caught yet. Thanks to everyone for the other mice-ridding tips, such as the sonic thingy and the idea of getting a cat. If you know AJ, that cat idea will NOT be happening:) I have, however, asked my parents if we could barrow Lewford (family cat) for a few days. AJ would die if I brought him onto our house:) If anyone has any tips about getting rid of these pesky critters, please feel free to let us know!