Samak Meshwe and the Aroma... Eid Mubarak

I cooked for my Arab friends. They cooked samak meshwe the other day for me.
The difference is I used Malaysian spices and herbs, and they used olive oil and butter, and cheese, lots. Normally my friends would all congregate to the kitchen and waited with anticipation, drooling, and dripping, while I cooked.

This time.. the house was so very quiet, extremely quiet.

Esam shouted from the living room...
"Mohamed!! What have you done to your socks!!!!"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I am going to throw them stinking stuff. I am. And I'm going to do it right now!!!!"

"Heyyy.. it is not my socks you are smelling, you skunk. It is the belachan* I am using in my cooking"

"What's Belachan?"

"It is prawn-paste that brings out the best in Malay cooking, especially sent by my mom. You!!!!"

"Ohhh my God! Why didn't you say so right from the beginning? It wouldn't have smelt SO bad should I know it is in your cooking, and NOT coming from your socks you Malay!!!"

I laughed my ass* off

And still laffing

The closing of Ramadhan brings back lovely memories I had with Essam and the gang. We jested, we quarreled, we fought; but most of all we loved each other to the core.

Here's wishing a very special Eid Mubarak to my readers, and to Esam Bahr, Abu Gasim, Mostafa(5 different faces, 5 different Mos), another Esam (A. Gader), Ahmad B, Sami B., Naguib, Enver K, Anwar Suleman, M Al-Warady, A. Al-Abbasi, Tahsin Zonguldak, Ibrahim Cevik, Ramadhan Taseltein, K. Beroglou, Zubee K, Abu Abd Salam, Khaled Ireland (F Whitbread), Zuher, Slimane Debbar and his twin, Youseff Guelma, M Guidom, Ismael Batna, and the many more who will storm in any minute now "HOW COULD YOU FORGET ME, MOHAMED?? HOW DARE YOU!!!! "

Please do forgive me

.