A Recipe All The Way From Lebanon! Blog for October 1

‘Marashi ich’ Ingredients 2 cups fine white cracked wheat 2-3 red firm tomatoes, diced small ½ cup sesame paste ½ teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon salt ¼ cup lemon juice 1 bunch parsley, chopped 3 green onions, chopped 2 medium onions, chopped Preparation 1. Wash and drain the cracked wheat and put it on a large dish or on a tray. 2. Add the salt, cumin, diced tomatoes, all the onions and the parsley. Mix thoroughly then put to one side. 3. Thin the sesame paste with the lemon juice and spread it over the mixture, and mix once more. Spread the whole evenly and thinly over the bottom of the dish and serve. Note: This delicious and satisfying dish made with uncooked cracked wheat and served cold, cool, or at room temperature, is more usually prepared by the people of Kilis and is called by that town’s name: Kilis ichi (Kilis içi). In Marash, this dish is prepared with sesame oil without tomatoes or pepper. Thanks to the plentiful supply of sesame oil in Marash, a new version of it has been created. Thanks to Garo Derounian for forwarding the recipe originally published at the following website - https://www.houshamadyan.org/mapottomanempire/vilayetaleppo/sandjakofmarash/local-characteristics/cuisine.html

Today I saw an Armenian searching for food from the garbage.

 Dear Marash Girl,

Today I saw this man searching for food from the garbage. 

I couldn't stay inactive. I stopped and asked "Hye es?" ("Are you Armenian?)   

He said, "Ayo!" ("Yes," in Armenian.)  I gave him a small amount of $ and asked him to buy food, not to eat from the garbage. 

God bless you. 

​Garo Derounian​
Researcher

Beirut, Lebanon
Tel: 00961 3 546247
Email: garoderounian@hotmail.com

N.B. Marsh Girl writes, "​God save our people from starvation.  Readers, please help if you can, by donating money to the Armenian Missionary Association of America, 31 W Century Rd, Paramus, NJ 07652

to help our people, the Armenians in Beirut, Lebanon.

The Folks In Beirut, Lebanon, (Your Yeghpayrner) Need Your Help!!!!

                                                 "Աստուած օրհնէ մեր տունը"   "God Bless this home."  

                   Photo credit Levon Kalaydjian (He found it, while helping to clean the streets of Beirut after the explosion.)

Marash Girl's friend in Beirut writes in an email following the explosion which caused the disaster in Beirut, Lebanon, "For contributions, I don't know to whom you can address. Now lots of organizations are fundraising but I don't know the donations will reach the right places. They are evacuating people from their houses,  listing the damages.  Even before the satanic explosion we were facing very bad economic crises. I know lots of families in Bourj Hamoud the Armenian Quarter who were already in difficulties. Those are needy also."

Պէյրութի հզօր պայթումը, որ բազմաթիւ անմեղ Լիբանանցիներու կեանքը խլեց՝ իր ետին թողելով հազարաւոր վիրաւորներ, աւելի քան աւերիչ էր։ Անկախ այն իրականութենէն թէ արկած էր կամ կանխամտածուած ոճիռ, վնասը չափազանց ահռելի էր եւ անկրելի։ Աւերն ու կործանումը այնքան հսկայական էին եւ ծաւալուն, ոմանք զայն բնութագրեցին նմանը չունեցող Լիբանանի 15-ամեայ քաղաքացիական պատերազմի ընթացքին։

Please help by donating to the Beirut disaster relief fund at the Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA.org) in order to help those in need in Beirut, Lebanon.

Contact. 

AMAA Worldwide Headquarters 31 W. Century Rd. Paramus, NJ 07652

Tel: 201-265-2607             Fax: 201-265-6015                 info@amaa.org

https://www.newsweek.com/how-beirut-explosion-compares-hiroshima-bomb-1523236

How "singing as if her life depended on it" saved her life!

Fast asleep in the back seat of an automobile, she was awakened by the rattling against the car windows. . . where was she?  Of a sudden, she remembered --  she was in Lebanon, visiting her cousin Garbis (Dagermenjian), with her friend Gail.  And where were those two? They weren't in the car, the car doors were locked, the moon shone over a long, smooth, sandy beach  as the shallow waves rolled in . . . and the car was surrounded by soldiers in Lebanese army uniforms, carrying long rifles aimed at Marash Girl who was, thankfully, inside of a locked car!  What to do?  The only thing she could think to do was sing, and she started singing as if her life depended on it!  She sang every song she could think of -- Bye, Bye, Blackbird; You Are My Sunshine; Jesus Loves Me . . . The soldiers were non-plussed.  She sang and sang, until at long last, she spied her cousin and Gail in the distance, bathed by the light of the moon, walking towards the car . . . accompanied by a man in military uniform carrying a rifle . . . Arriving at the car, Garbis explained (in Arabic) to the soldiers in attendance that Marash Girl was his cousin, his chaperone, as it were, and Gail was his fiancee. . . at least that's what he told the girls that he had explained to the soldiers.  The soldiers released the three young people and let them go on their way . . . off the grounds of what turned out to have been the  beachhead fortification of the Lebanese Army. . .  and Marash Girl survived to tell the tale!