Drinks

• For two date milkshakes, you will need 5 pitted dates, 2 glasses of milk and 2 tbsp. vanilla ice cream. Cut dates into small pieces, than place all ingredients into the blender. Mix for 30 seconds..

  For a pitcherful of sparkling fruit punch, you will need 1 cup sugar, 1 bottle sparkling water, 1 cup mango, 1 cup pineapple and 1 cup water. Make sure that all fruits are chopped and seeded. Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. When the mixture becomes a clear syrup, stir together the syrup and sparkling water in a pitcher. Add fruit pieces, ice and serve chilled.

Sambousa, Finger Food

• Sambousa is simply an Arabic version of an egg roll. You will need 1 lb. lean ground beef or lamb. 1/2 carrot, minced, 1 green onion, finely chopped, 1 tsp. tomato paste, 1/2 onion, minced, 1 chili pepper, diced, 1 garlic clove, minced, 1 tbsp. cumin, a pinch of salt for taste, 1 package egg roll wrappers, 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour, 2 cups of vegetable oil and 1 tbsp. water.

  Cook ground beef/lamb in a large skillet until browned. Remove the meat from the skillet and saute onions, garlic, carrot and green onion until tender. Add the tomato paste and salt. Stir in the browned meat. Combine flour and 1 cup of water in a bowl to form a watery paste. Set the paste aside it is used to seal the wrapper. Next, take a tsp. of the meat mixture and place in the center of the wrapper for a filling. Fold into the shape of a cone. Use the flour/water paste to seal the edges of the sambousa. Heat some oil in a skillet and fry the triangle shape until golden and crisp.
  This recipe makes 25 sambousas.

Ghoraibi or Butter Cookies

• You will need 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 cups softened butter, 4 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups blanched almonds (halved) and 1 tbsp. almond extract

  Begin by preheating oven to 300 degrees F. Use electric blender to beat butter until fluffy for about 4 to 5 minutes. Add sugars to fluffy butter, then the almond extract. Add flour very slowly. Use mixer for 4 minutes to mix sugars, flour and butter together. Place mixture in refrigerator for about 1 hour to chill. Roll out cookie dough on a floured surface to prevent dough from sticking. Roll into a ropelike shape about 2 inches thick. Cut rope into diamondlike shapes, diagonally on both ends.Place on a cookie sheet and add one almond to the center of each cookie. Bake cookies for about 10 minutes.
  This recipe makes 15 cookies.