What do Mex-amenians feed their Vegan friends for Dinner?

This time it was something Armenian. My friends are a couple. The woman eats meat and dairy as we do( mostly organic and local if we can get it), and her boyfriend is a Vegan(vegetarians who do not eat eggs, dairy, or honey- any animal products). We wanted to have them over for dinner and kept trying to figure out what we could serve that would please everyone. Armenian food met the challenge. For appetizers we had olives and feta cheese, and vegetarian dolmas(rice, onion pine nut,olive oil, lemon). We made falafel from scratch. We use chickpeas and fava beans mixed together for our falafel.The trick is to soak the beans overnight. We had yogurt sauce for the dairy eaters and tahini sauce for the Vegan. Then we made hummus, baba ganoush, tabouleh, with a side of pita bread. So our Vegan friend could eat everything but the cheese and yogurt sauce. It felt so good that we could finally make something everyone could enjoy. Often times at our get-togethers, the meat eaters eat a wonderful, elaborate, home cooked meal, while our vegan friend cooks something separately for himself. So if you want to make a yummy vegan meal everyone can enjoy, think Armenian food/ Middle Eastern food. I'll have to work on a Mexican vegan meal for all to enjoy but that seems a tad more difficult

What do Mex-amenians name their boat?

Something Mexican, like the "Sea Senor" ( my suggestion), or something Armenian like the
" S/V Manti, " (also my suggestion) Manti is an Armenian food dish meaning, little meat boat pies, with broth. Manti is one of our favorite Armenian meals at my house . No, this Mexi-amenian family named their sailboat something Chinese !, the "Wu Li" which means Physics, patterns of organic energy, my way, void, or enlightenment, depending on the interpretation. Unfortunately, our humble little sailboat is landlocked due to extreme amounts of rain and snow, resulting in swollen lakes, and dangerous conditions here in the Pacific Northwest U.S.A.

You know you're Armenian if..,

Since my husband is half Mexican American and I am half Armenian American we are always exploring each others cultures and the similarities between them. There is a funny ongoing list of "You know you're a Mexican if..," here is a link to one of the lists http://www.unsolvedmysteries.com/usm425990.html
Here is a list of "you know you're Armenian if" http://forum.armkb.com/general/31409-you-know-youre-armenian-if.html


Here are a few of my additions-"You know you're Armenian if..,"

a lot of the food you eat has more than three syllables in the name
your family breaks out in spontaneous dancing and merry making
your Thanksgiving turkey is stuffed with ground lamb, pilaf and blanched almonds
your food contains spices that most Americans only use at Thanksgiving and Christmas time
you know that the painter Arshile Gorky is Armenian, but you're not exactly sure how
you've been told that yogurt, aplets and cotlets http://www.libertyorchards.com/ , string cheese, fruit roll ups http://www.amazon.com/Dried-Apricot-Fruit-Paste-Rolls/dp/B000O5JII6/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1296667313&sr=8-8 are all originally Armenian foods
your summer barbeques are comprised of shish kebab more than hamburger
you've eaten as many lamb burgers as hamburgers
your mom has a belly dancing costume complete with cymbals stashed somewhere in the house and has taken at least one lesson
You know you're Armenian-American if..,you noticed strange objects in the house while growing up; cymbals, hookahs, dumbegs http://www.thedrumworks.com/Doumbek_12x20.html
you know you're Armenian -American if.., you've tried to make whole wheat choreg at least once
you have at least one elderly relative with a bottle of Arak stashed in their closet
you have relatives that have meat hanging in their attics

Even my dog speaks Spanish?

I saw this in Costco the other day, and wondered what the heck? Woodland Amigos? Woodland? You mean like Chupacabra , toys for dogs? Sometimes I worry that my dog has other woodland amigos in the form of pulgas(fleas), such good friends that they want to cling to him all the time! And the packaging even states "we squeak" do they squeak in English or Spanish?

My Mex-Amenian New Year

So I don't know how many other people have a multi-culti New Year, a few of my friends that I know of. We made homemade Tamales and homemade Dolmas- stuffed grape leaves, and since my husband is from Texas we had to have Hoppin John or Texas Caviar, made from black eyed peas. You are supposed to eat something green on New Year's Day for good luck, wealth and prosperity, so instead of the usual collard greens we substituted grape leaves. The confusing part is that you are supposed to remove the corn husks from the Tamale and eat what is inside- in the photo you can see the corn husks come off easily, but you are suppose to eat the grape leaves and what is inside them. Some people unfortunately fail to understand this and try and eat the corn husk. We have a friend in southern Idaho who has what he refers to as "The Joy Luck Club New Year" He is half Basque, Half English with a Japanese stepmother and a half brother who is half Japanese who converted to Mormonism. So you see, Idaho is a lot more multi-cultural than many people think. There is a large Basque population here and also a lot of Japanese people were unfortunately interned here during the second world war, and remained on afterwards. So our friend's family has Sushi flown in for New Years Day which the Mormon half of the family celebrates without any alcohol.I bet there are many more multi -cultural stories out there in this great country of ours where we truly seem to be a great melting pot or in the case of Sushi a non melting pot.
Another odd case of food related multiculturalism- I caught my husband the other day making a tuna fish sandwhich, On a Tortilla! Really, "we were out of bread" he said. I can only take this so far. Me, I draw the line- fish tacos, or tuna fish salad on bread. Call me old fashioned, but I can only get my mind around so much . Happy New Year- Feliz Ano Nuevo- Շնորհավոր Նոր Տարի

My favorite Mexican food joint in Spokane Washington

Abelardo's 11519 E. Sprague Spokane Valley
(near N. Bowdish rd.) 509-924-7485

Finally, a Mexican food joint, in Spokane that we like . After trying 5 different Mexican food restaurants, we landed on a good one. So far we've eaten at Abelardo's 3 times for breakfast and it's been great. Big burrito's that I can never finish, great breakfast burrito offerings, I had a Chorizo Burrito, friendly service, clean, good value, and Homemade tortilla chips! Yes homemade, every morning, this is the mark of people who care about food.The only drawback is they have no coffee yet although I have mentioned it a few times. I've been drinking Jamaica- a drink made from hibiscus flowers with my breakfast burritos, that's a good alternative . I have also brought my own coffee in with me with no issue as I am rather particular at times. We haven't had any other meals there but plan on it in the future, so far so good. Spokane's really coming up in the world. Thanks Abelardo's, for bringing your good food to Spokane

Books I have enjoyed on the Armenian Experience

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Home-Story-Courage-Survival/dp/068814425X/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Dog-Fate-American-Uncovers/dp/0767902548


http://www.abebooks.com/Voyages-Najarian-Peter-Ararat-Press/629605410/bd