Hi, my name is Ayah and I have always been fascinated with the kitchen. The aromas filling the house and all the love put into the food is fascinating. I am a daughter of an excellent cook, who in turn is a daughter of an exceptional cook. I remember all the summer holidays we spent in Damascus; in my head, I have a picture of my grandma standing behind the stove cooking up her magic. I never appreciated her food until it was too late, in fact I never appreciated the fact that we were blessed with a mum and a grandma who just put their heart and soul into their food, who put on our tables exceptionally tasty food everyday and brought us together around the table. My grandma cooked for a big family all summer long, all her children and grandchildren everyday and never got tired or ran out of ideas. (I think we were 20 people!). Every time we arrived in Damascus, Taita would have Yalanji (vegetarian stuffed grape leaves) in the fridge waiting for us, along with all the cheese, fruits and bread and oh my god I can’t even explain how good her Kibbeh was!

I’ll never do mum justice if I say her food is the best food I ever tasted and believe me I don’t say that because I am her daughter, everyone who tastes her food says pretty much the same thing. My mum is the kind of mum who would wake up at 5 am to bake fresh cheese pastries and Mana’eesh for breakfast or bake you a cake for a school trip!

So, I guess my passion for food was inherited and this blog is all about good food. The food here is a little bit like me, a mix of everything. Some of the recipes here are as traditional as it could get, others are modern, or just something that I created. The recipes are sometimes Syrian, sometimes Palestinian, and other times Jordanian or it could be a very good recipe from this vast world that I could not but share with you. One thing for sure though, all will be failproof and cooked with lots of love. Happy cooking!