Iraqi Art Tupperware Party

Girlfriends and I have had a long-running agreement that no one will start hosting “parties” that involve sales (a la Pampered Chef, Tupperware). This weekend, however, we went to Jordan’s equivalent. We were invited to the home of Jordanian artist Eyad Al-Masri. We were welcomed into his living room which is filled with his art and given a chance to walk around. Then we were fed among the most delicious meals we have had in Jordan – nothing fancy but everything was really, really delicious - Chicken with lentils, parsley salad, stuffed grape leaves, fried kibbee, and my favorite dish which may have been boiled kibbee. I don’t normally think of boiling as a cooking technique that makes food yummier than deep frying but this had a really nice texture – sort of like a thick noodle on the outside – but really probably the same bulghar wheat coating that is on all kibbee. But now that I think about it – for a lot of dim sum I like the boiled options more than the fried. Clearly I should boil more of my food.

After lunch, Eyad started bring out more and more of his art. Click here to see what it looks like. Dan and I agreed that while we think the art is cool – especially his use of historical symbols from so many cultures - Egyptian, Persian, Babylonian – it wasn’t actually art that we wanted in our own home. But then, he says – “oh, I also represent some Iraqi artists” and he pulled out a 2 foot high pile of canvases. He then started flipping through the canvases and while some were atrocious pieces of horses running, I loved one abstract with faces and beautiful orange and red colors. It is at the frame shop now.