I started off doing some shopping. I was planning on doing some light cooking, and the menu included was mostly middle eastern food. I needed a spice, sumac, that is fairly hard to find unless you go to a market that specializes in middle eastern cuisine. I new a place that had Arabic writing on the sign in front of it, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
The bells on the door rang loud as I walked in. There was no air conditioning, and the sweet and spicy scent of cumin and other exotic spices filled the air. Out of the back room, a large man with maybe 5 days worth of stubble walked slowly to the front counter. He was sweating, fat and looked as though bathing wasn't a high priority.
"What is it you want?" he said to me on a condescending manner. His accent was as heavy as his large gut hanging over belt.
"I'm looking for a spice, sumac. Do you have any?" I said, trying to make the conversation as short as possible so I could get the hell out of there.
"Why, what do you want it for?" he said, almost acting like he was doing me a favor by getting it.
"Well, I want to make a fatoosh salad, and I need it for the dressing," I said bluntly, again trying to move on.
"Go to the back room, all the spices are back there," he said, looking at me up and down.
"Back here?" I said, pointing to the red door in the back of the store.
"Yes my friend, go through there, Jalad is back there and he will help you."
I walked through the door, and little did I know that I would be in the back room for the rest of the night. As I walked through, I saw a young man filling spice jars out of large sacks. He was absolutely gorgeous! Black hair, clean shaved, and the body of a god.
"What do you need?" he said to me standing up to greet me.
"Sumac please," looking at him, but trying to not show any interest.
"Come here, get a bag and take what you need," he said to me.
