Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads! Father’s Day is on the third Sunday of June. Did you know that on July 19, 1910, the governor of the U.S. state of Washington proclaimed the nation’s first “Father’s Day?” However, it was not until 1972, 58 years after President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day official, that…
Tonight is Midsummer’s Eve as tomorrow, Sunday June 21st is the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere, and winter solstice in the southern hemisphere. Summer solstice is also called Litha—Celtic for the month of June. The date varies between June 20 and June 22 mainly due to the calendar system – most western countries use…
Pistachio Rose Water Cookies are delicately flavored and somehow light and airy, yet chewy and crispy all at once. Fresh flavors of lime and rose in these cookies beckon the spring and summer to be eaten outdoors at a picnic perhaps. The unique flavors in these cookies are lovely for the summer or the holidays. They…
Baharat is Arabic for “spice”. It is a special mixture of eight different spices that makes an all-purpose spice blend widely used in Middle Eastern cuisine. Just a little bit goes a long way to add depth and flavor to sauces, soups, grains, vegetables, stews and meat. Unless you have a Middle Eastern store in…
It’s the second day of fast for Ramadan 2015 and also the first Friday of Ramadan. Fridays are much like a day of Sabbath in Islam and the day on which a special prayer is held at Mosques called Jumah. It is a congregational prayer (ṣalāt) that Muslims hold every Friday, just after noon in the…
I can imagine that many families make a big deal of the first day of fast during Ramadan and particularly the Iftar or breaking of fast at sunset. Traditionally in countries like Bahrain, Pakistan or Bangladesh you will see tables full of food during Iftar. The Iftar will have various dishes of fritters and sweet…
Tomorrow, Muslim people around the globe will begin a month long tradition of fast. They will abstain from food and drinks from sunrise to sunset for an entire month. This marks the month of Ramadan. Ramadan which is often known as Ramadhan or Ramzan, depending on what part of the world you are from, is…
We are taking a turn for the more serious this Friday with The Counterfeiters. A 2007 Austrian-German drama film written and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, this movie is the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936. It is actually a film based on a 1925 novel…