What To Read This Summer!

facebook, BORDERS and Sacrificial Sheep

Two men, Two weddings, a Sheep and a Bloody Revolution...
Exciting new fiction by new author, Deborah Aldrich Farhi

Jess needs to have some fun. And she definitely needs a vacation. Little does she know she's not only about to have both, but a life-altering adventure of a lifetime!!

Here's what readers have been saying:

Karen: shooting skunks, cybersex, St Ives, this is my kind of book! It's beautifully written smooth and flowing a great holiday read can't wait to buy the book. Seriously this is one of the few books I would seek out to buy, loads are well written on this site but yours is very unique and marketable.

D.S. Hayle: The opening paragraph dragged me in, and I couldn't put it down. I love the main charaacter. Many people will be able to empathize with her. Many people have met and dated and married people they've met online. I have, and many others besides me! It is a very timely story. Great writing. I want this book when it comes out!

Sheila Cooper: Love it, love it! I think a lot of women will secretly recognise a part of themselves in this :)

J. Noshie: This is a really great read. It is a funny, moving story that is easy to read and is quite touching at times. I think you will like it if you enjoy a lighthearted, romantic adventure that is concerned with feelings, hopes, dreams and ideas. It also has some real belly laughs in it, i could not wait to read on at times even when i should have gone to bed. It is a real bargain too! Comes highly recommended by an avid reader of a mixture of genres.

READ AN EXCERPT:

"Jess is curled up on the sofa, sniffling. Fedi told her she might cry at the end of the film, but this is ridiculous. She's positively bawling. A few minutes ago she was laughing out loud, when the young disbelieving French son of a Muslim man failed miserably at the task of sacrificing a sheep, and he stood there whistling after it as if it was a dog as it ran away across the desert. Now the young man is wailing in grief and rocking his dead father in his arms, after a long, arduous soul- searching journey to Mecca."

Available on Amazon Kindle for a low introductory price!!!

Tabarka is nestled in a valley between the mountain border of Tunisia and Algeria. It's a favourite destination for Italians.
The hotels lining the streets which lead down to the sandy beach are superb in quality and relatively cheap. We stayed in late August and it was already considered low season. It cost us around 15 UK pounds, or 30 US dollars per night and our room had a balcony with spectacular panoramic view!
The beach offers choices of restaurants and cafes where you can sit and sip your drinks with the warm Med lapping up over your feet!
There is so much to explore, markets selling local handicrafts and antiques very cheaply, mini buses leaving every 20 minutes take you up to explore the villages in the nearby mountains.

Traditionally this is made with lamb, but you can use any meat or fish or vegetarian!!!

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo of lamb, chicken or other meat, fish or vegetarian protein
1 Onion, chopped
1 green pepper, sliced into strips
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
3 T tomato puree
1 T (if you like it hot!) or less (if you don't want it too hot!) Harissa paste. (BUY BELOW ON ebay!) Or, you can make your own base by roasting some
peppers, tomatoes, chilli peppers, garlic and onions and blending them up with a little olive oil.
2tsp each of ground coriander, cinnamon, cloves or anise, nutmeg, sweet red paprika plus 1tsp black pepper
If liked you can add some potatoes or squash or green peas
About 2 cups of warm water
Large bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Fry onions and pepper in some sunflower or olive oil for several minutes. If using meat, add the meat, or vegetarian substitute (but not fish) and continue to cook for about 5-7 minutes until the meat is browned.

2. Add tomato puree, spices and garlic stirring well to coat the meat and/or onion and pepper.

3. Add Harissa or homemade alternative, stir well, then add a small amount of the warm water and stir until a thick sauce forms. Gradually add more water, stirring after each addition until sauce begins to thicken again. Add remainder of water so it is now a little bit soupy and the meat is almost completely covered in liquid. Now add remainder of ingredients except the coriander and salt. Simmer on low for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding little more water if the water boils down too far)
If using fish instead of meat add the fish just as the sauce is thickening (after about 20 minutes) and continue to simmer until the fish is well cooked.

4. Add coriander and salt in the last 5 minutes of cooking. It is ready when the sauce is a little bit thick (like the consistency of gravy!) and the remaining ingredients are all cooked.
Serve on bed of couscous.

Tunisians eat this in a big bowl in the centre of the table, by breaking off pieces of bread and scooping the sauce and couscous with the bread and some soft cheese (like Philadelphia or cheese triangles)

It's noisy. It smells of antiques, and henna and incense. Crowds are pushing past you. You step aside to let a delivery man pass pushing a cart laden with freshly made bread. Loud male voices are calling out to you: "Madam, Messeur, Francais? Espanol?" They heckle you until you can't help responding. And what they are selling are magnificent hanging lanterns, all handmade and each one original; brass plates engraved with beautiful pointilism style pictures. Cloth made there, not in China or India. In fact, textiles is one of Tunisia's main exports. Many of the fine clothes sold in Italy or France are made from cloth originating in Tunisia! You spot some handmade silver jewelery and bead necklaces, and you begin to bargain until you walk away with some beautiful treasures at incredibly low prices. It's hot, you are tired and sweating, but at last you have woven your way out of the narrow passageway that snakes around through the centre of Tunisia's capital. As you reach the exit, the light flooding in as the passage opens up to the courtyard, you look to your right and there is a magnificent ancient weather-beaten arched door in water colour Mediterranean blue. And you are transformed. You have just followed in the footsteps of millions upon millions of people since ancient times who have walked through the same market place. Time now for a coffee at one of hundreds of outdoor cafes just a few yard's walk away.