Guess who's back? Back again. Meriem's back. Tell a friend. Eid Mubarak/Happy Eid my lovelies! I'm back and on a very special day too! Today is Eid, the Islamic holiday that celebrates the end of Ramadan. To make today extra super special, I've gathered up a group of my food blogger friends and we're celebrating Eid on the interwebs together! How fun, right?! For our virtual Eid party, I chose to make a very popular Algerian no-bake dessert: almond paste fruits! Now, I really wanted to call these marzipan fruits but after doing some extensive research, I discovered that almond paste is actually not the same thing as marzipan. Marzipan has a larger ratio of sugar to almonds, whereas almond paste has an almost equal amount of almonds and sugar. Apparently, the larger proportion of sugar in marzipan makes it more pliable and easier to shape than almond paste, but I think you could achieve a pretty similar effect with almond paste, and it will taste better...

So you know how Algerians are obsessed with almonds and use them in almost all their cookies? Well, another thing that I noticed Algerians really love is semolina. They use it in their sweets, breads, pancakes and most commonly, in their country's national dish, couscous, which is literally made from ground semolina. Since I'm in Algeria right now, I figure it's only fitting for me to share with you guys one of my favorite Algerian cookies, which as you probably already guessed, are made with semolina. These cookies go by different names depending on what region in Algeria you're from. My family personally calls them mthaqba , but others may call them bradj , or mbarja . Regardless of what they're called though, they are all the same thing-- delicious semolina cookies filled with dates. Now there's one thing you should know about the way Algerians bake and that is, they don't use weight measurements like 1 cup, 1/3 cup, etc. They bake ...

Why are Algerian sweets so complicated and difficult to make? Every year, I tell myself that I'm going to take on the responsibility of making ALL the sweets for Eid and that basically never happens because I give up before I even start. I mean, if you saw the pounds of almonds that have to be blanched beforehand, you would give up too. The sad part is, my mom did all the blanching for me this year. And even then, I couldn't handle making everything. It's tough stuff people! I think what it all comes down to though is practice. Practice makes perfect. And what makes practice perfect is awesome step by step photo tutorials to guide you when you're practicing. That's why I made you guys this little tutorial to assist you in making one of my hands down favorite Algerian sweets of all time: kaak el nakache . In summary, kaak el nakache is basically like a shortbread cookie that's stuffed with dates and then decorated on the outside with a special pinchin...

Well, wasn't that just the quickest Ramadan ever? It literally flew right by us. While I am quite sad to see it gone so quick, I gotta say, I'm looking forward to getting back into my old sleeping habits. Going to sleep at 5 am and waking up at 3 pm was really messing with me. Too much sleep can definitely be a bad thing, starting with how considerably lazy it makes you. But lazy days are over lovelies, and I'm going to get myself back into the swing of things. Today, we're doing things a bit different though. I've got a step by step photo tutorial for y'all that me and my mama put together for these mini mhanchas. If you're wondering how to pronounce the second word, it goes like this: m- heavy h -anshas. When I say heavy h, I mean, try to imagine you're exhaling a strong and deep breath. Haaaaaa. Haaaat. Got it? Okay you might not get it right away, Arabic consonants are a bit difficult for non-native speakers. But you've got ...

The Daring Cooks’ February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax & Lis and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction, ingredients and deliciousness! We were given several recipes, and learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce our own tasty patties! My choice of patties for the challenge? Algerian potato patties, also known as, maakoud. They were the first thing that came to mind when I saw the challenge....actually no, I lied. These chickpea patties were the first thing that came to mind, but I couldn’t just re-make them for the challenge. That would kind of be like cheating, and I can’t be breaking the rules just yet. After all, this is my first Daring Cooks challenge, and I have to set a good name for myself  :D Okay okay, jokes aside, I would never cheat on a challenge because I would just be cheating myself out of learning something new. And although maakoud isn’t something new to me since I grew up ...

If you're an Algerian girl, and you don't know how to make some variation of couscous...stop right there. What are you doing with your life? When are you planning to learn?! Couscous is crucial to your culture. I mean, you can basically just throw away any dreams you had of marrying an Algerian guy, because if making couscous isn't at the top of the skills section on your marriage resume, he's not giving it or you a second look. Yes, it's that serious. Don't worry though, I'm here to help you. Making couscous is easier than you think. First off, let me just say that couscous in a box, you know the one that is ready in five minutes, yeah, don't ever use that. That is not acceptable. Real couscous, is not prepared in five minutes. Real couscous is moistened with cold water, set to rest, tossed with oil, steamed for about 15 minutes, tossed with water again, set to rest, tossed with oil again, and then thoroughly steamed one more time for about...

*Insert typical Eid greeting here* Did I mention I can't stand mass Eid greetings? I can't stand mass anything. If you send me a mass text, Facebook wall post, or email, wishing me a Happy Ramadan, Eid, or Friday, you best believe you will not be getting a response. If you can't take the time to at least insert my name just so it doesn't completely look like something you sent to half of the country, then I don't think I can take the time to write back.  Also, can someone please tell me when everyone decided to get unlimited text messaging? Because here's the thing. If you have unlimited text messaging, that's awesome. More power to ya. Text away. But if you send me a mass text message that has ten parts to it and I don't have unlimited text messaging, we're going to have a problem. A problem that will be solved by you paying for any extra charges on my cell phone bill.  Okay, happy thoughts, happy thoughts. Today was Ei...

Eid sweets are serious business in Algeria. My mom was on Skype earlier this morning with our family overseas showing off the ones me and her made this year. Of course, they didn't hesitate to show off theirs as well. You see, even though nobody really says it out loud, deep down, they're really always trying to out-sweet their neighbors, friends, and yes, even family. Why else would "What sweets did you make? " be the first question they ask as soon as you call them to say Happy Eid? Because they want to see what's up, duh. They want to know if you've made anything new and then of course, they end up asking you for the recipe in more or less words. Sneaky sneaky.  Ramadan definitely flew by this year though. And although we were really hoping for one more day to finish the sweets sans stress, the moon made it's special appearance yesterday night in Saudi Arabia. Alhamdulilah though. Me and my mom worked together late nights and early mornings to put ...