My Masters program is cooler than yours

Yep.  It's true.  My Masters program IS cooler than your Masters program.  Reason #286:  For last night's "Comparative Cuisine" session, our professor took us out of the classroom and in to the kitchen.  We broke up in to five teams of approximately five/six, and prepared two-three dishes based on traditional Israeli and Palestinian recipes.   My team was assigned to make cheese bourekas and kanafeh.

Cheese bourekas topped with sesame seeds: We even made the dough from scratch!

After everyone finished preparing their respective dishes, we sat down and "broke bread" together.  And toasted with Israeli and Lebanese wines. 

Tabbouleh: Chopped red onion, tomato, cucumber, and bulgur salad

Labneh: Strained yogurt dip/accompaniment drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with za'atar

Hummus: Dip/accompaniment made from chickpeas, tahini, oilive oil, and spices

Israeli chopped salad and fried eggplant slices

Chicken schnitzel and Israeli couscous

Deconstructed kibbeh: Bulgur, minced onion, and ground lamb

Shakshuka: Eggs poached in a robust tomato sauce

...and those are just a handful of the dishes from last night.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to snap photos of the gorgeous kanafeh dessert we made - or the other half of the appetizers and entrees!

Considering that we are still early in the semester and many of us are new to the program (we do not know each other yet), I thought that last night's "kitchen class" was a brilliant way for us to interact and bond.

…

Until we eat again,

Lindsay, The Lunch Belle