Winter comfort food

Winter is fast approaching in southern Syria, and with it, comes Arabic comfort food.

Yesterday, a Syrian friend fixed me lunch, which included steamed molokhiah -- it sort of comes close to spinach -- an egg, cheese and pea omelet, along with sliced tomato, cucumber, hommous, and an assortment of homemade foods she brought back from her mother's kitchen in the village where she grew up: pickled black and green olives, makdous -- cold, stuffed eggplant -- labaneh -- not quite yogurt, not quite cheese, my favorite Levantine food -- and delectably sweet apricot jam.

Today, I ate leftover potato and pea soup from Abu Mousa’s kitchen, followed by Juliet’s stewed okra, lamb and rice, and rice-stuffed zucchini. It tasted good on a cold, rainy day that approximated a Chicago fall.