I had this very entertaining conversation with this young woman who has sworn me to secrecy. So in keeping with my promise I will not reveal the identity of this mysterious women who provided me some light entertainment the other day. We can call her Mysterious Young Woman I Find Entertaining (M.Y.W.I.F.E for short).
Me: (while eating watermelon) Watermelon is best eaten with salt sprinkled on it.
M.Y.W.I.F.E: You must be kidding. That's just disgusting. The sweetness is completely lost. Must be a Paki thing.
Me: Actually, you're right it is a Paki...err, I mean a Pakistani thing. We like to add spice to our lives unlike you boring Arabs.
M.Y.W.I.F.E: Hah! You weirdos even add spice to your fruit salads! Tell me that isn't crazy.
Me: Hey now, don't hate. Fruit chaat is very tasty and you know it.
M.Y.W.I.F.E: Good point...I do like it. But its the principle...fruit salad and spices just don't mix.
Me: (mumbling under my breath) sorta like Pakistani and Arab.
M.Y.W.I.F.E: What's that?
Me: Nothing. Hey, I bet you didn't even know the crazy thing YOUR people do with watermelon.
M.Y.W.I.F.E: Wait one second (putting down her watermelon and grabbing her chair), let me brace myself for this amazing load of crap.
Me: People from Sham (Syria, Jordan, Palestine) eat their watermelons with salty cheese and pita bread. True story.
Stunned silence.
M.Y.W.I.F.E: Dork.
Just don’t call it genocide
1 week ago
27 comments:
I really want your input on this:
http://themuslimkid.blogspot.com/2009/03/understanding-islam.html
Thanks!
-The Muslim Kid-
Hahah! Oh man this is funny! Wow!
2 questions.
1. is "M.Y.W.I.F.E" your wife? Sorry I dont get a lot of the sarcasm on your blog! can't tell the jokes from the not jokes.
2. just out of curiosity, you live in Saudi Arabia, how long have you been living there? Do you know arabic?
BrNaeem: "Man this kid wants to know my life story"
lol.
-The Muslim Kid-
I seriously thought my father was the only person in the known universe to put salt on watermelon.
Two fruits that benefit from salt are oranges and guava. The thought of fruit chaat used to put me off but I was converted one Ramadan when it was served up by The Boss as a starter. Man I was so hungry that day that I decided to give it a try and now fully appreciate the salty, sweet, sour and hot taste, not quite umami (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami) but close. One thing I do not like in fruit chaat are tough guava or pomegranate seeds, it totally ruins it for me.
LOL! Love this post!
u totally got her!
btw, I eat my watermelon as a dessert after lunch.. and i eat it as a light dinner with cheese and bread...
:-P
Our Watermelon Story:
http://hammadin.blogspot.com/2006/09/water-melon-story.html
How cute! I love when you write about that unnamed person. ;-)
I have known many people who add salt to fruit (watermelon, apples), but I personally wonder why add something bad for you to something that already tastes yummy. :-)
My Syrian friend told me recently that he sometimes eats pita bread with apples. So I laughed when I read what you wrote about that unnamed person's people eating pita bread with watermelon.
Cute story...thanks for sharing!
My mom and dad both put salt on their watermelon. And cantaloupe too.
They're not from Pakistan though... they're from some boonie-ville town in middle-of-nowhere county in Virginia. I always thought it was kinda gross, personally. But cheese and pita bread? Dude, that takes the... ew.
Sallams.
Funny post :)
I love salt on my Watermelon.
AA-
@MK,
1. "is "M.Y.W.I.F.E" your wife?"
Do I have to spell it out for you?? ;-)
2. "how long have you been living there? Do you know arabic?"
Man this kid wants to know my life story. :-) 6yrs, somewhat.
@Coolred, your father and the entire Indian subcontinent. :-)
@Masud, so so true about the pomegranate seeds...its like having to pick out the black pepper seeds from your biryani.
@Saudi Dawn, ah-Ha! We got a reader who actually has eaten watermelon with bread and cheese...and you're not even embarrassed to come out of the closet?? :-)
Seriously, I tried it once and its not as bad as it sounds. People should really give it a try...what kind of cheese do you use?
AA-
@Din, what a disgusting picture!!! A simple warning would have been nice...thank god I wasn't eating. :-P
@Susanne, "I personally wonder why add something bad for you to something that already tastes yummy."
Good point. I guess some people just want to be different and unique. Salt on fruits is neat.
But what ever possessed a person to take a watermelon and say 'hey, this would be cool with cheese....AND pita bread!' Now *that* blows my mind! :-)
@Amy, "They're not from Pakistan though... they're from some boonie-ville town in middle-of-nowhere county in Virginia."
Actually, you pretty much described the vast majority of Pakistan. So that kinda explains your parent's eating habits.
Like I mentioned above, the cheese and bread thing isn't that bad at all. It combines a few different tastes with the sweetness of the watermelon, all at once. You should give it a try.
@Adnan, spread the word: Salt and watermelon rock!
LOL! I dont mind admitting that i add salt to my green apples and oranges 2! it lessens the tangy taste of them...
as for what cheese i use: it's always some type of white salty cheese like Halloumi/Akawi/Nabulsi...or whatever white cheese u like, it's all a matter of taste..:-p
Never heard adding salt on watermelon .
I like watermelon, it is my favourite drink with sugar and citron :-) mmmmm
Ok awesome story. Another awesome story: My brother and I were at an aunties house one day for iftar, and we started eating the fruit chaat. It was sooo spicy we had to get something to drink immediately so we could cool our tongues. We lunged for the fruit punch and gulped it down. Little did we know that the FRUIT PUNCH WAS ALSO SPICED UP.
AA-
@Gess, why not add salt to the watermelon juice? ;-)
@Sophister, nice story, but mine was more awesomer! :-P
AA
Mysterious "young" woman??? who are you kidding, Naeem? Mother of three... she ain't young no more... :-)
WA
Sophister,
But spices can have different flavours; not all of them are like chilli or hot.
Very funny.
Although both me and my husband are from Pakistan but I never saw anyone putting salt on watermelon till I got married :). My husband wont eat watermelon without salt.
Dont we have enough salt already in our foods that we have to put on fruits also. O by the way I dont even like spicy fruit chaat which is very amazing for someone born and raised in Pakistan :) Whereas for my husband no amount of spices are ever enough :)
Wasalam
UmmOsman
PS: Last month we went to Native Deen concert and I remebered reading a post by you saying that you went to school with them or so, ofcourse I had to brag it to my boys that I read a blog of someone who went to school with them :)
AA-
@Junaid, haha, good one....I mean, hey cut that out...she'll always be young to me! :-P
Seriously, M.O.W.I.F.E just doesn't sound as good as M.Y.W.I.F.E.
@UmmOsman, you never heard of salt on watermelon until marriage?! You never like spicy fruit chaat?!? Your Pakistani-ness is officially revoked!
Speaking of Native Deen, here's another one for your kids: The sister of the author of a blog you read teaches one of the daughters of one of the members of ND. Your kids will think you are the coolest mom in the world. No need to thank me.
Lol. Speaking of Native Dean...
One of them members, I think Mohammad something, is doing a project called, "Bite the Bug" , its a campaign to end malaria in Africa. Some college students came to my Sunday School to record kids saying stuff about it, I was part of the video too. :D
So she is your wife!
-The Muslim Kid-
i think...wallahu alam that eating salt with fruit and other things stems from the ahadith which states "salt is beneficial in the beginning and end of meals,some jurists even say it is sunna.so paks are in fact following a sunna.you may want to mention this to anyone that says its disgusting lol.references ill put a reference up as soon as possible.
AA-
@MK, "So she is your wife!"
Ssshhhhhh...that's just between me and you. :-)
@Anon, you are officially da man! or da woman. You have officially proved that Pakistanis love the Sunnah! Yaaayyyy....
Hmm, some members of my family used to do that a lot. I thought it was a Louisiana thing. But watermelon with cheese? That's just wrong.
I thought watermelon w/ salty cheese was wrong, too. Until I tried it. Sold!
Petey Greene, late D.C. radio host made a video about this years back. Salt is a must.
http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=5522
@Izzymo, "But watermelon with cheese? That's just wrong."
LOL! I agree with UmmFarouq. At first, I thought the same. But when I tried it, its really not that bad. Now, I won't go so far as her to say that 'I'm sold' :-)
But do give it a try.
@UmmFarouq, maybe you should put together a youtube vid teaching people how to eat it with cheese and bread! :-) Thanks for the vid link...
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