...Amman proper and cooking...

While conducting research in your home region can be tricky, conducting research in another country, while always tricky, can also be...complicated. Proposals to write, permissions to get, paperwork to complete...and it continues. This day began with a meeting at the Department of Antiquities to solidify research agendas. The support and interest is apparent, but the paperwork and waiting. Ugh. Lots of it. The good news? This allows plenty of time for fieldwork planning. The joys of fieldwork.

After the morning meeting with the DOA, we headed out to the Citadel. I’ve written about it previously, and not going to repeat myself here, so there aren’t any pictures for this short blog. On this visit, however, we were able to visit the museum. Although the interpretive plaques are a bit yellowed and old, they still convey pertinent information and the museum’s layout and artifacts are crazy neat! And once you’ve seen pretty much all the places where those artifacts are from, it gives you a different perspective of the history and peoples of those times.

Catching a quick taxi to the Roman Odeon, we walked a couple blocks to a little restaurant for lunch. It was a light meal, since we would be cooking and eating our own dinner in a few hours, but packed with solid conversation. My parents-in-law are fabulous.

Once we finished our snack, we headed to the Roman Odeon and the Museum of Popular Traditions as well. The Odeon was a good preview for tomorrow’s adventure in Jerash, while the museum allowed for viewing artifacts (and clothing) that, again, we had seen previously in other locations, but for which there was now a greater understanding and appreciation.

Then, a scant 20-minute walk—well, 30-minutes if you get lost multiple times in the back alleys and souks like we did—from the Odeon up and down hills and lots of stairs, brings you to Beit Sitti (“My grandmother’s house”). This great little find in downtown Amman is neat to get a full-on traditional Jordanian cooking experience. We requested to make Magloubah (which means “upside-down” in Arabic, also spelled Makloubeh). Traditionally eaten with your hands, all ingredients are layered into a pot, and then the pot is cooked over a fire (or stove). After a half hour or so, the pot comes out of the fire and is flipped upside-down. What you’re left with is a beautifully-arranged and colored array of vegetables, rice, and meat. It’s delicious. Our host was gracious, and our instructor was a wonderful Bedouin woman. We had good dinner that included interesting conversation with two other folks who joined us last minute. It was really like stepping back in time a bit to your grandmother’s house. A fine nightcap to a relaxing and pleasant day.

My parents-in-law next to the pillars of
Hercules' Temple, at the Citadel. It's a neat
place to wander and view the city.

View of the Citadel and Hercules' Temple pillars
from outside the Roman Odeon. Beit Sitti is over,
behind, and up the hill behind that hill.

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