Tunisia-Inspired Meal

I made moutabel, humous and flatbreads for some friends, followed by ojja. I was really pleased with the result, and my guests naturellement loved it all. The moutabel made good use of my bumper crop of aubergines, too.

The ojja was made with garlic, olive oil, green peppers, cumin, aniseed (didn't have caraway), green olives, merguez sausages and garden tomatoes, with eggs broken in near the end.


Humous with olive oil, smoked paprika and basil flowers


Moutabel with pomegranate molasses, walnuts and parsley


Anyone know where I can get whole blanched almonds in the Dordogne? I want to make the cous-cous we had in Tunisia, but in this part of France almonds only seem to be available either with their skin or flaked.

Tunisian Cakes

My brother's Tunisian fiancé came to the UK this week, to meet the family. She brought these beautiful homemade cakes as a gift. They are absolutely delicious; not too sweet, so you can really taste the fragrant pine nuts, almonds, pistachios, orange flower water, rose water and dried fruit that they are made of. As my tactful mum commented in response to opening the boxes of these treasures, "wow, you've really started off well here!".

It makes me emotional when such an effort is put in to make food so pretty and delicate and delicious. For me, that is what life is about, making the most of basic human pleasures, and giving to each other. See! The cakes have even made me philosophical! Is this normal?