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5 fresh fig recipes for summer snacking, Middle East style

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fresh figs recipes

Luscious fresh figs linger in our summer markets. Enjoy these simple ways of eating them while they last.

Figs are fruit so evocative of summer that just looking at a picture of them brings back vacation time – or just a summertime kitchen with the sun streaming through the window. Figs, with their mildly honeyed flavor, are one such fruit. Tomatoes, of course, another: see our Syrian tomato salad and our seasoned, slow-roasted tomatoes.

It’s so easy to dress a dish with fresh figs.

Here are five different ways.

Dry your figs in the sun

1. Try a salad of two or three kinds of lettuce with chunks of feta and quartered fresh figs. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the salad and toss lightly.

The sweet figs will set off the cheese’s saltiness and the mild acidity of the vinegar, making a perfect, and perfectly easy salad.

2. Grilled Figs Stuffed with Feta Cheese

Make a cut about half-way through the side of each fig. Stuff with feta cheese. Brush the figs with a mixture of dark honey and oil. Grill about 10 minutes.

Drink a rosé wine with this.

3. Add sliced figs to your breakfast cereal. Yup.

4. Poach figs in a hot syrup of 50% red wine and 50% sugar.

Simmer for 20 minutes on low heat, turning over once. Serve cold with whipped cream.

5. Make a fresh fig sauce to accompany organic roast chicken or other poultry: blend 1 cup quartered figs with 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons olive oil.

Add a little salt and black pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

More figgy adventures on Green Prophet:

Date rape straw can taste GHB

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date rape straw, woman with black drink, black straw
A date rape straw can tell if your drink is tampered with

Easy access to odorless, tasteless knock-out drugs makes victimizing women easy. These drugs go by  hip names like Cat Valium, Special K, Bump, Ruffies, and, with horrible humor, Black Hole – referring to the unconsciousness and amnesia that victims experience.

A woman trying to bring her rapist to justice is all too often brushed off with a cold “You asked for it.” And a woman raped while drugged has no way to prove her claim, for the chemicals dissipate in the bloodstream within a few hours.

But soon a woman won’t have to wonder if the cute guy she’s chatting with is really OK. Chemists at the Tel Aviv University have invented a device with a sensor that changes colors instantly when popped into a spiked drink.

The inventors, Prof. Fernando Patolsky and Dr. Michael Ioffe, presented the technology at the Nano Conference 2011 in Israel. They say that the sensor can detect the most commonly used date rape drugs with 100 percent accuracy.

Dr. Ioffe adds, “Currently, the system is geared towards detecting GHB and ketamine. We hope to expand the system so it will identify additional date rape drugs as well.”

Now working on making the device small enough to carry in a purse, perhaps in the shape of a pen or straw, the researchers explain that all it takes to make it work is one tiny sip to draw liquid up. If the drink is drugged, the straw immediately changes colors. The sensor would come in a disposable cartridge that works two or three times, and would be inexpensive to replace.

This sounds cumbersome to casual drinkers and after a few might be hard to use. But we are optimistic.

While looking for added investors, Drs. Patolsky and Ioffe hope to offer the anti-rape date device for sale in the next year.

The state of Middle-Eastern women’s empowerment from Green Prophet:

Learn Efficiently While You Sleep?

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girls sleeping on books, learning while sleeping
Cram for your exams while taking a cat nap? This Israeli study says you might be able to learn while you are asleep.

Is sleep learning possible? A new Weizmann Institute study appearing today in Nature Neuroscience has found that if certain odors are presented after tones during sleep, people will start sniffing when they hear the tones alone – even when no odor is present – both during sleep and, later, when awake. In other words, people can learn new information while they sleep, and this can unconsciously modify their waking behavior.

Cosmic Love Lantern Festival Will Light Up Jordan’s Wadi Rum

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lantern festival jordan wadi rum festival
Release some inner and outer light at Jordan’s lantern festival in the desert.

The Cosmic Love Sky Lantern Festival is sure to be a feast for the eyes this fall in Wadi Rum.  As if the dramatic mountain scenery weren’t breathtaking enough, sky lanterns will rise like one thousand moons over the vast expanses of the desert at 9:00pm on the projected date of September 27. Crafted of paper, a sky lantern, also called a sky candle or fire balloon, is typically made by attaching oiled rice paper to a bamboo frame, and the light inside is either a candle or a fuel cell.  After the air inside the lantern is heated, the density is lowered enough to cause the vessel to rise and fly for as long as anywhere from five minutes to half an hour.

Syria’s Cattle Caught in the Crossfire

syria cow, bison, crossfire, targetCash cows in a time of conflict smuggled between Syria and Jordan

As Syria continues to be swept up in violence, Syrian farmers are smuggling their livestock (and themselves) into Jordan to sell the cattle before they can be killed in bombing raids. Traders near Jordan’s border with Syria estimate that tens of thousands of sheep have been smuggled across the border since the fighting began almost 18 months ago. Since Syrian law strictly prohibits shipping the sheep out of Syria, herders are forced to circumvent the law.

Pig Abuse Rampant in Kosher Israel

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Pig abuse makes the headlines in Israel, a place where pork is strictly off-limits to most people.

A few years ago we covered the rampant Swine Flu that prompted Egypt’s cull of 300,000 pigs to “protect” people there against the virus. But the cull was likely just a matter of politics: The issues surrounding the raising of swine in countries where pork is religiously forbidden, including countries like Israel, raises a big question mark regarding the future of domestic and wild pigs in this region.  Although swine flu. or H1N1, did not become a massive world-wide pandemic in the end, there was still much concern during the 2009 Hajj religious pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia who might have been infected with the H1N1 virus. Now new pig abuse criticism pops up in Israel.

Jordanian Activists Take To The Streets For A Sustainable Future

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greenpeace-nuclear-jordan-jeacActivists gathered on the streets of Amman today to say ‘No’ to nuclear energy and ‘Yes’ to renewables

Following years of anti-nuclear campaigning and (more recent) controversy surrounding Jordan’s nuclear programme, Greenpeace activists in Jordan are stepping up their protests. They gathered today to launch a public dialogue about the dangers of nuclear energy and to push for a comprehensive national renewable energy strategy outside the headquarters of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC). Activists held a large banner that read “For a Sustainable Jordan: No to Nuclear Power,” while others carried out a street theatre activity demanding the government consider greener energy options such as solar and wind power. 

Lebanon Green Designers Transform Washing Machines Into Beautiful Seats

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upcycle-green-designers-lebanon-washing-machine-seatWith a bit of creativity and green spirit, old washing machine drums have been transformed into stunning seating by Xavier Baghdadi and Lea Kradokian

From beautifully adorned tyres to trash theatres, Lebanon is really getting creative with its rubbish. Now, two green Lebanese designers have used old washing machine drums to make intricately decorated seats with lots of storage space inside. Which is just as well as Lebanon produces 4,000 tonnes of waste a day and only 10 percent of that is recycled. Whats more, 40 percent of all garbage generated is consigned to over 700 illegal and unsafe dump sites across the tiny nation.

How Climate Change Contributed to The Syrian Uprising

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syria-protest-uprising-climate-change-droughtYears of drought and mass displacement in Syria may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back and led to the ongoing uprising

Following the eruption of revolts and riots in 2011 which later became the Arab Spring, the link between food prices and rising political opposition was a difficult one to ignore. The Arab revolutions had been sparked by the actions of a desperate young man who set himself alight in Sidi Bouzid after being forbidden from selling his produce at market. People across the region were also vocally unhappy with the rising price of basic foods and falling wages – in Egypt, loaves of bread were waved in protests to highlight this struggle. The link between climate change related factors and the war in Syria, however, hasn’t been as widely discussed. Yet, drought and ineffective water and agricultural policies are believed to have contributed to the uprisings and should “serve as a warning of the potential impact of climate change on political stability.” 

New Regulations Encourage More Sustainable Fishing In Turkey

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New regulations will restrict fishermen in Turkey from catching juvenile fish and using dragnets in shallow waters. But environmentalists say the laws don’t go far enough.

The new fishing season in Turkey will kick off in just a few days, on Sept. 1. In preparation, Turkey’s Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock has proposed new fishing legislation, raising the length of legal catches and the depth of legal dragnet use, according to independent media center Bianet.

Are Brazilian Blowouts Putting Kinks in Health?

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brazil hair model, beautifulMore popular in the US than the Middle East, the Brazilian Blowout craze (with its chemicals) did make the headlines in Dubai.

I’ve never understood the desire to chemically straighten one’s hair, perhaps because my wavy locks can go either way, and natural tricks for my hair type work just fine. Even so, many curly-haired friends have paid a bundle for this service, which promises to leave your tresses looking lovely for months. As the popularity of the treatment has grown, so too have the concerns. Some of the chemicals found in the products are linked to not so eco-sexy health risks including birth defects and spontaneous abortions.

Johnson’s Baby Shampoo Health Risk Ends in Victory for Babies

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johnson baby shampoo picture

Among those sweet baby scents have lurked not so sweet ingredients like formaldehyde, claim activists.

If there is a signature scent associated with babyhood, Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo could win that prize. It’s a longstanding favorite with parents around the globe and has been for decades. Though the consumer products giant shut down their Israeli offices in 2009, the company’s cosmetic brands in Israel netted them close to $50 million that same year, reported Ynetnews.com. Their products are sold throughout the Middle East including Israel, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, according to the website.

That means babies have been exposed to what activists have referred to as the ‘toxic tub problem.’ Fortunately, a concerted effort by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has led to a activist victory. Johnson & Johnson, makers of Aveeno, Neutrogena, and Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, announced this month that it will be removing some of these toxins from its baby and adult products globally.

A Planetary Conjunction With Giza’s Pyramids

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giza pyramids milky way stars align egypt

A beautiful image is making the rounds on social networks and news websites.  It shows three bright planets, Mercury, Venus and Saturn with each poised directly over one of the three pyramids at Giza Egypt.  According to the story, this conjunction will occur on December 3, 2012 for the first time in  2737 years. Skeptics such as Phil Plait,  “The Bad Astronomer,” point out that neither the story nor the simulated photograph are entirely accurate.

Water Theft and Punishment on the Rise in the Middle East

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Dubai, water, theft, water shortages, urban

We’ve been talking about chronic water shortages in the Middle East and North Africa for a long time. But now a new and troubling trend is beginning to emerge in the region: municipal, regional and national governments are taking more drastic measures to police water consumption.

Jordan broke out the big (security) guns to prevent its citizens from “stealing” what is actually a part of the commons and most recently, Dubai has threatened to punish water thieves in various neighborhoods throughout the emirate with fines of up to $2,722.

Khat Juice Drug Peddlars Arrested in Israel

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woman drinking green energy drinkThe drug du jour in Israel is khat, and the police are clamping down on its regulation.

Unlike conventional addictive drugs like marijuana, hashish, and cocaine, there is a Middle Eastern drug that has slipped through the cracks of the authorities. Causing societal havoc in countries like Yemen, khat qat, gat or ghat, is a type of leave that when chewed gives a mild feeling of euphoria. It is used by some women in Israel to suppress appetite.

Khat chewing has increased in recent years in the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and it’s khat’s now officially a trend among Tel Aviv and Jerusalem hipsters. Some concoctors are selling it through convenient stores, like cigarettes, and are even producing an organic ghat juice which functions as a powerful upper.