Easy skillet mac ânâ chese with cauliflower
(Photo provided â Yvonna Fast)
Easy skillet mac ânâ chese with cauliflower
(Photo provided â Yvonna Fast)
Winter weather calls for warming, hearty, delicious fare food that fills you up and gives you energy to fight that winter chill. Pasta to the rescue! From mac and cheese and spaghetti and meatballs to tuna noodle casserole and beef stroganoff, pasta dishes are a favorite for quick, easy winter meals. And during the winter months between January and March, Americans eat 20% more noodle dishes than in the summer months. Because … pasta is warming comfort. Comfort is a cultural thing. Comfort foods are the familiar flavors and textures of home that take us back to our childhood when we felt safe and at ease. They are soothing, satisfying, and scrumptious.
Nour has lost her father. She has also lost the place she was born in and now lives in the Syrian town of Homs, along with her sisters and mother. And so, by the fig tree in the garden, Nour whispers the stories her Baba once told her, so that the roots of the tree will carry those stories back to where her father is buried and he won t feel so alone. Her favourite is the story of Rawiya, a young girl from the twelfth century who left her home in search of adventure, dressed as a boy.
But Syria is changing and it isn t long before protests and shelling destroy the peace of the quiet city. As Nour begins her own journey as a refugee, she draws strength and inspiration from the voyage of Rawiya, who became apprenticed to the famous mapmaker, Al Idrisi, and who battled mythical creatures and endured epic battles in the attempt to compile the most accurate map of the world ever made.