Mansaf

For awhile I'd been dreaming up sharing a traditional Jordanian recipe with my friends here. Last year we'd done a potluck and I'd brought kusheri, a traditional Egyptian recipe. This time it was Jordan's turn. I had made mansaf once before with Matt to celebrate passing the two-year review, but now I wanted to make it for my roommates and close friends so I followed the recipe from here fairly closely for amounts. I used a thick Middle Eastern yogurt from the grocery store (labnah) and some lamb chops and put together a small feast with the help of my friends. One was tasked with the Egyptian fatoosh salad (chopped bell peppers, cucumber, and tomato drizzled in a garlic, lemon, olive oil, and salt dressing). One couple brought soft and fluffy pita bread and lemonade. My roommate helped me with the baklava (a somewhat-combination of this recipe and this recipe) which I had a few setbacks on but overall it ended up tasting amazing (and I'm about to go for a piece...). Everyone arrived, we laid out the feast, washed our hands, and then dug in. It was stupendous, we ate ourselves into a stupor, and then sat around trying to conversate. :)