It all started around 9:30 am this morning. Knock knock knock. It's our neighbors with a bowl of pudding for us! We have been Zgougou-fied!
(No, Lydia did not partake of the zgougou, but she was a good actor!)
I thought that I know a lot about living in the Arab world, but this one is a new one for me...and it's called Zgougou. Apparently it is specific to the country we are living in, and although it might look like chocolate pudding, it is NOT.
Think: nuts from a pine tree that are the base ingredient of the brown bottom layer, and cream and "orange blossom water" that make up the white middle layer, and finally all sorts of nuts, sprinkles, you name it on top.
It's not too bad, although there is a definite importance in quality here. We got zgougou-ed twice today, one bowl was rich and creamy, and the other was watery and overwhelmed with "flower blossom water."
Another funny aspect of this holiday...everyone makes the same zgougou, and then they all go around and give each other a bowl of zgougou...kind of lacking in variety, but maybe they all do what we did and compare...I can just see it now,"my mom's zougou is better than your mom's zgougou!"
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(No, Lydia did not partake of the zgougou, but she was a good actor!)
I thought that I know a lot about living in the Arab world, but this one is a new one for me...and it's called Zgougou. Apparently it is specific to the country we are living in, and although it might look like chocolate pudding, it is NOT.
Think: nuts from a pine tree that are the base ingredient of the brown bottom layer, and cream and "orange blossom water" that make up the white middle layer, and finally all sorts of nuts, sprinkles, you name it on top.
It's not too bad, although there is a definite importance in quality here. We got zgougou-ed twice today, one bowl was rich and creamy, and the other was watery and overwhelmed with "flower blossom water."
Another funny aspect of this holiday...everyone makes the same zgougou, and then they all go around and give each other a bowl of zgougou...kind of lacking in variety, but maybe they all do what we did and compare...I can just see it now,"my mom's zougou is better than your mom's zgougou!"
Haha! On Christmas Eve here everyone exchanges wrapped apples. (The word for Christmas Eve is Ping An Ye and the word for apple is Ping Guo so you can see the reasoning...) Our culture is very money focused so it's like "who spent the most on the apples" because sellers charge a fortune for them that day. Anyway, learn how to make the zgougou 'cause I want you to make me some - but I can't give you any back.
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