Stepping Back Into The Fray

Wow what a day.  March 12th 2011

I stepped away from the glitz of publishing for more than a decade and today was my first foray back .Thanks to the success of Arabian Dreams cookbook, not because I truly wanted to step back in.

I’m just not media hungry like I was at 20 years old.

Still. . .There I was sitting in the Green Room before the ALLURE OF THE EAST - FOOD PANEL went on stage at the Emirates Airlines Dubai Literary Festival, it was hard not to remember the days when I traveled to many of these events back between publishing books one to fourteen, somewhere in the 90’s. Today I’m definitely the outsider. Not the oldest, quite young compared to other authors, but definitely still the outsider. One book in ten years and I am sitting in the same room as the amazing Margaret Attwood and truly accomplished best selling Madhur Jaffrey…wow…out of my depth.

It was an honor to have been asked to speak at the Emirates Airlines Dubai Literary Festival and the subject matter really does appeal to me…What is the ALLURE OF THE MIDDLE EAST when it comes to food?…for me it’s the traditions and simplicity of some of the dishes. So simple that they are easy to mess up? How can this be! Well as a chef we over complicate matters by thinking rigidly. We think of skills and methods taught us through schooling and our own practices. The truth of the matter is, we often need to set them aside and remember that many Arabic mothers and grand mothers still to this day do not have modern machinery in their homes with which to cook with. It is that “touch of the hand” that my fellow panelists Madhur Jaffrey, Susan Husseini and Ariana Bundy(wow! now there is a great and amazing looking fellow pastry chef) all spoke so eloquently about. The “touch of the hand” is the truth of the Arabic food secret....."If you feel the food, love the food and have passion for the food, the food will be successful and tasty, no matter how simple or complex your recipe."

I agree. Some chefs I have worked with just don't have the touch of the hand and you can see it immediately. It's the difference between cooking being a JOB and cooking being a CAREER.

Book signings after the panel finished up, was a humbling session especially sitting beside Madhur Jaffrey. She can outsign anyone. About ten books to one.

Lunch after the event was with my publisher at Jamies Italian in Festival City. Wanted to try this as rumors are that Jamie Olivers Italian restaurant will soon be for our shores of Bahrain.

Honestly I went with the attitude that I did not want to like it. Truth is I loved it. Glad I did not pay, as it was pricey, but seriously nice food. I just hope the waitresses they have in Dubai, come to our shores.

My friends and I will be regulars for sure if that’s the case.

Discussed future book titles today, so please stay posted and by the way, book sales are better than even the author could have imagined, so please tell everyone about ARABIAN DREAMS cookbook, inside and outside of the Middle East, Book Sales are testament that this book has legs , as it is walking out of the bookstores everywhere.

Reprint is a word I love, and we are awfully close my friends so please keep the numbers ticking over. (And a huge thank you to those who have supported the belief that Middle Eastern Desserts deserved their own book.)

To top off a most amazing day I picked up a copy of the BBC Food Middle East Magazine and found that there list of top ten food trends list ARABIAN DREAMS as number 8 beating Gordon Ramsey’s Chefs Table at Verre Dubai, which came in at ten.

Last week we received BEST ARABIC TITLE IN THE WORLD, this book is just about the proudest achievement in this 42 year olds life.

Anyway, a great day done, I flew to Bahrain , touching down for just 5 hours to change the luggage and then run back to the Bahrain International Airport once again ….next stop…. Paris.

Will post pics soon to anyone following these screeds.
But the ones of Dubai, the ALLURE OF THE EAST and the Book Signing in Dubai will have to wait (sorry, forgot the right cables for the wrong camera!!!)

Remember “Love All-Serve All” , not my words, but from the palace of musical history, Hard Rock Café, since 1971, but truer by the day the world over.