Rosy's Gym & Beauty Salon

Behind Hijabs and Nikabs are bundles of beautiful women with luscious locks and sleek haircuts. I went with two friends to Rosy's Beauty Salon, owned by Miriam who is a buisness-minded british woman who has lived in Gaza for 26 years. Miriam and I chatted while I was under the eye pencil, being polished up with a 25 makeup process.

Miriam's business contains a gym with aerobics classes, along with a full on beauty salon (hair styling, dyes, waxing-- you name it). She also has a clothing store on the side. The beauty salon experience is a true behind-the-scene to the lives of some women in Gaza. Unveiled and tweezed- women prep for their engagement parties, weddings, and in my case- a Hena party (upcoming post).

"It's hard to get the products"-- Miriam notes- since everything has to come from the tunnels, and from Miriam's experience it's the first thing to stop- since it's a luxury item. Evidently- rice and beans would come first in times of need.

Waxing is a big part of beautifying processes in the Middle East (especially in this age of hairlessness- lasers, ultra modern 90 bade razors that change models every month, hair removing lotions...) From the stories I've heard, women often having "waxing day"-- with homemade Halawa: Sugar, Water, Lemon.

A simple recipe to hairlessness. The syrupy wax is made, and let the ripping begin! As a treat, mother's often dip a spoon into the Halawa and give it to the kids for a homemade lollipop.

Waxing is also essential for the bride-to-be, requiring a full body wax for the day of her wedding.

Sounds like a nightmare to me.

Here's a recipe for Halawa, which I'd rather call Hell- owww aaa!

Ingredients for Halawa

1. Two cups of water
2. Three cups of sugar or three cups of honey
3. Two teaspoons of lemon juice

Procedure

1. Place all ingredients in saucepan. Bring to boil.
2. When its colour changes to golden brown, lower the heat and continue to simmer.
3. Keep a careful watch on the colour. Once it starts to change to brown, turn off the heat.
4. Allow to cool a little, then pour small quantities onto heavy duty plastic, of the cereal bag type. Plastic that is not heavy duty will melt. It is not a good idea to use a plate, as you will need to peel it off something pliable after it cools.
5. When it becomes cool enough to handle, pull a piece off the plastic and pull and stretch it. This will immediately cause it to change color, from a clear golden brown to an opaque gold. It should be easy to stretch and pull. If it is too hard, you have left it on the heat for too long and must make a new batch. If it is too liquid, it has not been heated enough and must be heated once more, or a new batch made.

My Hummus!

The most superbly presented hummus, drenched with olive oil and topped with a juicy black olive. Mouthwatering!

Mandi Meal

This is just a pile of dirt. It is a very nice pile of dirt. I walked over it a few times by mistake as I pranced through the citrus garden at B's house.But suddenly, the pile dirt was pushed away to reveal a magical treat.
I gasped! This is where lunch is? B happily presented a beautiful meal called Mandi, which is cooked underground for over 2 hours.
After the top is carefully lifted, a fantastic three-tiered dreamy meal was revealed. Containing slow cooked onions, potatoes, carrots and chicken. The oil of the chicken drips onto a platter of yellow rice making the most superb, succulent, tender treat.
And voila-- one of the most mouth watering dishes I have tried yet. Beautifully presented, the carrots were tender and the chicken was dreamily seasoned with secret spices!

QUE DELICIA!

Closeted Banana

These bananas are still in the closet.

My co-worker put them in his office, but they're inching their way out, one banana at a time. This is a brilliant step towards what you should actually be keeping in the pantry!

Sonic Boom

The Israeli Air Force jets just caused a sonic boom over Gaza City (2:30pm).

A Sonic boom: "commonly used to refer to the shocks caused by the supersonic flight of an aircraft. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding much like an explosion."

These are rather common; and a good way to scare people.

Rapid condensation of water vapor due to a sonic shock produced at sub-sonic speed creates a vapor cone (known as a Prandtl–Glauert singularity), which can be seen with the naked eye.

Cool Pomelos

Cool Pomelo's from B's magic citrus garden.

"I have RayBans"

"Whatever, I have myopia, ok?"

Sancocho en Bolsa!

Wherever I am I'm usually craving plantains, yuca, manjarblanco (dulce de leche), arepa (thin corn bread), Lulo fruit-- among many others.

Home Sweet Colombia is far away right now, but my Dad sent me away with a few packages of instant Colombian wonderfulness.

Sancocho is a traditional soup, and I had saved the packages for months- for the PERFECT occasion, since this precious mix is worth its weight in gold. I knew the time had come, when within one week I met 2 Colombians that were new to Gaza. Both from Bogota- and both as enthusiastic as me for a little Colombian meal.

Recently Knorr came out with the culturally relevant "Sancocho" mix- Glocalization my friends.

Voila my special treat.

Gracias Paps!