Souk Jara. Rainbow Street. Amman. Every Friday through summer.

Fill your car with everyone from the hara (the ‘hood)

Head on down to the Friday Souk Jara.

At the end of Rainbow Street

You’ll have to use your feet

At Souk Jara it’s memnooh for sayarahs (no cars allowed!).

The trendy place to walk in Amman. Okay, the ONLY place to walk in Amman.

Don’t forget to bring some flooss (money)

For a tasty treat or some juice.

My new favorite, Red Lemon,

Serves a smoothie straight from heaven.

If you buy me one I’ll give you a booss (a kiss!).

The glorious Red Lemon!

Meet the author of Diwan Baladna

From hello his book will have had ya

He’s a native son, you see,

Born and raised in this country

Learn his way, so you won’t sound like a hubbla (a goof).

Tony Mike Anqoud and Ahmad Kamal Azaban, author of Diwan Baladna. And a dictionary to follow!

The kids all love Souk Jara. It’s true.

Just ask them and they will tell you

Shar binnat, painted faces

And all the cool places.

There’s so much for them to do.

S'mores and Mores. That favorite campfire dessert at Souk Jara.

The storytellers are on stage and all set.

Their live music beats out any cassette.

The singers in their glory

Link the song with the story

For a performance you won’t soon forget.

Agwa nooooooooo3333333333! Somebody tell me what this means.

You will leave feeling so optimistic

After seeing things that are so artistic.

So many things made by hand

Some simple, some grand.

Some days it’s good to be materialistic!

(Buy something!)

Souk Jara. For accessories and so much more!

The day was great, but it came to an end.

Don’t you worry, it will happen again.

This is no fluke

Every week at the Souk

And don’t forget to bring a friend.

Y'all come back now.

When the scissors come home to roost

There’ll be nary a scrap to snip

Sunday papers will line the bird cages

Not even one coupon you’ll clip

The first time they went away

You wailed “No fair!” while throwing a fit

As of late you favor origami

Over the likes of scherenschnitte

When the scissors come home to roost

The kitchen will become a salon

The grim allusion to locks like Rapunzel

Will return to a time once upon

Following their disappearance

And a disposition to a solitary stray thread

You sprung out from being strung out

and simply resorted to your teeth instead

When the scissors come home to roost

They’ll call to the paper and rock

“It’s time for some hand to hand combat,

And it’s not going to be a cakewalk”

If they ever come home to roost

The first thing you’ll cut is a rug

It’s a shame those scissors are so pointy

For you might want to give them a hug

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My dear friend, Momma Bean of http://a-tale-of-three-beans.blogspot.com/, first buttered me up with a birthday poem, then tagged me with a get to know you better questionnaire. It’s a good way to make sure I do it, Momma. So here goes:

1. If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing this? If you aren’t anonymous, do you wish you started out anonymously, so that you could be anonymous now?

I don’t really blog anonymously, I blog about my kids and post pics of them and my life for friends and relatives. I go by the name Almond Joycie, because sometimes I feel like a nut, and some people just call me The Limerick Lady. I don’t wish I started anonymously but I thought about writing another blog anonymously for creative writing under a pen name.

2. Describe an incident that shows your inner stubborn side.

I try to be open minded and willing to see the other side of things for the most part. If ever there is something I have a hard time changing and give into stubbornness I would say it relates to housework. I always change the toilet paper roll, but that’s only because I would hate to be caught without any. I would say since I moved to Jordan it is refusing to do what I think is categorically thought as a man’s job, because my list is neverending and while I could probably do it myself, why not get some help.

The most recent incident was when the laundry room floor overflowed on my birthday. I could have investigated the matter but I went to my husband and said “All I know is there’s water all over the floor and it involves electricity” and walked away. I eventually pulled the plug while wearing sneakers, cleaned it up and found that the drain hose had become dislodged. I guess my husband is more stubborn than I so I ended up fixing it in the end.

3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?

The decision of wearing my hair down, or putting it up in a clip. I am certain I see someone 20 pounds lighter unless I am in the harsh lights of a clothing store dressing room when I get a reality check. I usually see a smile followed by a Stuart Smalley pep talk “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and, doggonit, people like me!”

4. What is your favourite summer cold drink?

Gramma’s Iced Tea.

5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?

Mostly read, play online games to unwind, write, play Scrabble by myself.

6. Is there something that you still want to accomplish in your life?

Some thing, singular? Oh I have a list of things. My bucket list is long. At the top of the list is becoming published, learning to read and speak Arabic fluently, and jumping out of a moving plane.

7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the shy person, or always ditching?

Maybe a little bit of everything. I was never just one thing but I probably appeared to be a friendly introvert.

8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what would you see ?

Two people dancing the polka to a Bose stereo on the hardwood floor of a big farmhouse. They might look like two people working up a sweat, but they are really two people holding each other up.

9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog, or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people and events?

I think I give 90 percent of my true self.

10. If you had the choice to sit down and read a book or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?

Oh, that’s easy. Read a book. I am so averse to the telephone. I would much rather write my thoughts down, I tend to stick my foot in my mouth otherwise.

My turn to tag. Three poets of many that I would love to know more about.

http://buttercup600.wordpress.com/

http://kavisionz.wordpress.com/

http://sharplittlepencil.wordpress.com/

This year she wrote a tribute to me in verse. I just had to share this on my blog for posterity’s sake.

When you were born
Such a LONG time ago
I was just out of diapers
(atleast I think so…)

I had a great big sister
And a cool brother too
But God had decided
That I needed YOU.

I’ve always been lucky
Blessed in so many ways
And you entered– the jackpot
Who would brighten my days.

You are sweet and you’re subtle
You are strong and you’re wise.
And your heart, well it’s huge—
An incredible size.

I hope that your day is as special
As your smile is so sweet.
And you know that I miss you
from my head to my feet.

Happy Birthday, Little Sister!!!

I also received a beautiful card from my oldest daughter.

Is today a special day? Very.
It marks the birthday of Cari.
If your wish be my command,
May your day go as planned.
Happy Birthday from your limerick fairy!

Starts with how you may dress

Comb your hair wash your face

or you’ll be a dis­grace

and you don’t want to be a big mess.

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Lucky me. Yesterday I made a new friend. She’s a poet and clever too! She found me from fiveloaf’s mention of me as a favorite blogger. fiveloaf is one of my favorites as well! Well, one good turn deserves another so I went to check out her blog. It turns out that she is as good with the rhyme as she is the punchline. Check her out. On her blog she links to different links for writing prompts. The above poem was written with a one minute deadline with a one word prompt from oneword.

My fellow blogger and poet Kavita celebrates her birthday each year at the stroke of midnight complete with fireworks. You would too if you were born on January 1st. She requested that I write her a poem on her birthday months ago, and this is my present to her. I haven’t actually met her, but our lives intersect on that virtual plane called the internet. We both participate in Jingle’s poetry potlucks. Her poetry is beautiful while mine is more on the quirky side, but we love each other just the same.

Not actually talking to someone doesn’t mean you can’t get to know them, but it does cause problems when you must sit down and rhyme this person’s name that you’ve never actually said aloud. I didn’t want to make the mistake of picking the wrong pronunciation so I sent her a message for a little verification. It turns out my friend has a bit of a split personality because she tells people her name two different ways depending on her mood. So on this first day of the first month of 2011, Kavita gets two poems to fulfill her birthday wish.

For when Kavita rhymes with taffeta

Happy Birthday to you dear Kavita

Hope you will eat your cake and have it. A

nice big thick slice

Eat it once. Eat it twice.

as you sit in a pink dress of taffeta.

For when Kavita rhymes with Velveeta

It’s your birthday today, Miss Kavita

Your poems are as smooth as Velveeta

I shall sing you a song

Sing it loud, sing it strong

the indistinguishable In-a-gadda-da-vida.

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if you see it walking down the road
could you kindly please remind it
to wander back into my life
i vow i won’t confine it

i’ll let it out in big guffaws
i’ll even wine and dine it
with jujubes and vimto
in fast forward then rewind it

we’ll eat them one by one
our jaws will glue shut by the by
we’ll grow raspberry moustaches
and laugh until we cry

we’ll bring our joy to others
in an ever abundant supply
the two of us together will
give by the words we live by

i’ve found my sense of whimsy
we shall never say good-bye

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Here we are, a new year, a new beginning. Last year I wrote about a New Year’s Revolution. But as Dr. Phil would say “How’s that workin for ya?” The kind of answer that either requires some justification or reflection.

The year started out great with lots of blogging and by spring I was journeying into poetry. Thanks to National Poetry Writing Month I discovered a new passion. I was discovered by Jingle who included me in her community of poets. Through this I wrote a special poem for my mom which I entered in a contest to get a children’s book published. I didn’t win, but I sure saw the support I have in all my friends who voted for me daily. Layali started school, the last of my four children. I decided to use up my free time by attending classes to improve myself from learning to read Arabic, religion, and a book club as well. I found things overwhelming and started pulling away from things as I dealt with some chronic pain. The year ended with a month of family illness, mostly stomach flu. I’m not trying to be a downer here, but just to show you the reasons behind my blog dragging to an almost halt.

But blogger friends are the best. They are so encouraging and keep you connected to the world you thought you left behind. And my 8-year old daughter Petra would rather be read a blog than a bedtime story so when I showed her the blog Jingle posted of an interview with poet/blogger fiveloaf (who by the way thinks I’m a pretty good poet) she asked me to write her a poem. So this poem is for Petra and Ugly Duckling and Kinzi and Chocoholic and Jingle and fiveloaf and everyone whose work I have read and everyone who has read my work, but mostly for me. My resolution this year? Exercise? Nah. Learn more. Maybe. Amuse? Definitely.

By the way, Happy Birthday Kavita.

The Doldrums—light, shifting, and sometimes completely absent winds—notorious for trapping sailing ships for days (or even weeks) without enough wind to power their sails.

No, I haven’t been sailing anywhere near the “equatorial calms” and my life has seemed anything but calm. With the little one now in school, I thought that this would be MY year to do what I like as I liked but it hasn’t quite gone that way. I started driving the kids to and from school, attending a weekly class learning Arabic, joined a book club, lost my play group and the sanity that our excuse for group therapy created, didn’t get an exercise routine down, and still can’t figure out what makes time fly. 2 o’clock always comes too soon.

In addition to that, I was having some pain issues that thank God I believe are behind me. I am in awe of science and technology after receiving what I like to call “shock therapy”. Anyone living with chronic pain should check this out.

So what could bring me out of the doldrums and back to blogging? The answer is mint biryani, an Indian dish that simply must be shared. I will keep this first post brief, but if you find yourself in the Doldrums, with no wind to power your sails, try this tasty dish:

Mmmmmmint Biryani!

2 cups Basmati rice

6 T. oil

2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 large onions, diced4 large cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. whole cumin

Mint Sauce

2-3 garlic cloves

2-3 sliced hot green pepper

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. curry spice

1/4 cup powder coconut milk

4 T. yogurt1/2 cup frozen peas

1 medium sized cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves

Rinse and soak rice in warm water for 15-20 minutes.

Add 7 cups of water in a large pot, 1 T. salt and 2 T. oil. Bring to a boil on high heat. Drain rice and place in pot. Simmer for 6-8 minutes, drain and set aside.

During the preparation  of the rice, add oil to a medium sized pot and cook on high heat. Add the potatoes and stir until golden brown. Complete cooking potatoes is not necessary as it will be achieved in the next steps.

Stir-fry onions in the remaining oil in the pot until tender. Add garlic, ginger, and cumin. Stir until onions are golden brown and the cumin scent is clear. Place the potatoes in the pot again.

During that procedure, proceed to prepare the mint sauce. Combine garlic, peppers, mint, salt and curry in a blender. Mix until a thick sauce is formed. Add coconut milk and yogurt, lightly mix. If yogurt is mixed for a longer period of time, it will result in a liquid substance that is undesirable.Pour the sauce into the onion mixture in the pot. Add peas, cinnamon and bay leaves. Stir well.

Remove half the contents of the pot into another medium sized pot. Add the sauce to the remaining rice.Drizzle 1/4 cup of water over the rice. Apply a thin paper towel over the rice to maintain the vapor  during the cooking procedure. Cover the pot, and simmer 15-20 minutes.Stir biryani with fork to blend with sauce and serve hot.

www.am-food.com

How do I love thee? Let me count the sesame seeds.

A major perk of driving the kids to school is the opportunity to get fresh, and I mean FRESH, bread for my breakfast and sometimes sandwiches for the kids’ lunches. What better way than to pull over and have it made for you. My favorite place to stop is at the second circle where the service is friendly and fast. What would you like on your kaak today? Falafel? Hard boiled egg? Zaatar? Cheese?

Kaak, it's fast, it's fresh and it's fabulous!