This Islam By Country wikipedia link is interesting if you want to know something about the history of Islam in a wide variety of countries, including many countries that aren’t normally considered “Islamic” in nature (El Salvador, Korea, Brazil, etc.). There is a table with countries links listed in alphabetical order - but it’s the “details” link next to each country link that is of interest.

Last night, Diane and I went to Mamajuana Cafe. I’ve been to this place three times now and if I had to pick a favorite restaurant, this would probably be it. They make great food. As a side note, the restaurant is a half a block away from the Mormon chapel in Inwood and close to The Cloisters/Fort Tryon Park as well.

Besides the fact that it was Valentine’s Day, we were going because Diane hadn’t been there yet and I wanted her to experience the seafood paella they offer, which is nothing short of incredible.

When we arrived, we realized Mamajuana Cafe was preparing a special Valentine’s Day 4-course meal for its customers. Each course offered a variety of options. We were glad to see paella was on the list for the third course. Here was the menu with its choices (the choices we decided on are in red):

First Course (choose one)

• Lobster & Roasted Red Pepper Corn Chowder
• Edible Flower Salad W/ A Honey Champagne Vinaigrette
• Crab Meat & Cheese Fondue W/ Flatbread
• Spanish Tapas For Two (artisanal cheeses, cured meats & assorted condiments)

Second Course (choose one)

• Shrimp 3 Ways (a) plaintain crushed w/ guava BBQ Sauce; (b) Grilled Spicy w/ Passion fruit sauce; (c) Chilled w/ Rose cocktail sauce)
• Filet Mignon & Cabrales cheese empanadas
• Viagra Ceviche for him (raw oyster, clams, octopus, shrimp & lobster in squid ink latin mojo)
• Mamajuana ceviche for her (crabmeat, scallops & lobster in a vanilla safron mandarin mojo & mamajuana liquor)
• Stuffed Crepes (w/ smoked chicken & melted leeks in a walnuts & asparagus champagne cream)

Third Course (choose one)

• Paella Valenciana for two (saffron rice, chorizo, calamari, shrim, clams, mussels & 1/2 lobster)
• Whole Crispy Red Snapper (stuffed w/ seafood & served w/ coconut rice in enchilado sauce)
• Mar y Tierra (grilled filet mignon & langoustine w/ truffle mashed potato & grilled asparagus in a wild mushroom red whine au jus)
• Lobster Ravioli (ravioli w/ lobster inside in saffron, piquillo & lobster cream sauce)
• Grilled quails (w/ dominican rum ginger glaze & sweet potato mash w/ haricot vert)
• Roasted Chicken Breast (w/ Foie gras & portobello mushroom in a porcini cream sauce, fingerling potatoes & sauteed spinach)

Dessert (assorted desserts for two)

This is a picture of us with the dessert presentation, which consisted of cheesecake strips (with edible flower on top), flan and chocolate mousse.

Champagne was supposed to be included with the meal - they didn’t seem to mind that we asked for fruit juice instead.

It made for a very memorable and romantic meal and for my part, I couldn’t have been with better company.

[A special thanks to my good friend Jeff Hedberg and his father, who introduced me to this restaurant some months ago]

Some more pictures of the restaurant, from the outside:

Two days ago I was in Utah.

I am wondering who else experienced the joy of driving through the unbelievable snowstorm.

I traveled through that snowstorm from Salt Lake City to Orem (to visit with my parents) and then back again a few hours later (to catch a plane). Road-condition wise, it was crazy and so am I for doing that twice. There were extended periods of time when we were driving between 2-10 miles per hour.

But I was glad for those extra hours with my parents.

Now on to a different issue of global significance.

Mom, I hope you are paying attention.  You will NEVER beat me at Super Scrabble (or Boggle, for that matter). So you can just forget about it. Below, for the historical record, for all to see - the very important picture of the official Super Scrabble scorecard from our games on Sunday:

Note: After a little online research, I discovered that what we are calling “Super Scrabble” is referred to (by at least one source) as “Speed Scrabble”. It’s a version of Scrabble played without the board. Here’s how it’s described (though we start with two tiles each rather than four tiles each and only take one additional tile when a person says “go”):

This game is a lot more fun than regular scrabble, and it goes by quicker. To begin, you sit in a circle and dump the scrabble letters in the middle. You then turn them upside down. A scrabble board is not used in this game, but everyone needs space to build their own crossword. When everyone is ready, somebody says go. Everybody takes four letters and tries to make something of it in scrabble form (without the board!) When someone has used all their letters, they yell “go”, and everybody has to get four more. When someone has used all eight of the letters that they now have (you can break up previously made words, or even break up your whole board if you are stumped) they yell “go” and everyone has to get four more letters. This is done over and over until all of the letters are used up. The first person to use all of their letters wins. If no one feels that they can use all of their letters at any time, everyone agrees to get four more letters and continue play. This game really gets intense when some people start falling behind while having to get more and more letters.

[Note: S.O.Y. is simply an acronym for Students Organization of Yeshiva. ]

This sale will be going on through February 24th. The description at the S.O.Y. Seforim website reads:

The S.O.Y. Seforim Sale, the largest Jewish book sale in North America, is operated by the students of Yeshiva University. The sale provides discounted prices on the widest selection of rabbinic and academic literature, cookbooks, children’s books, music and lecture CDs, and educational software.

If you live in New York City and have an interest in Jewish and/or Hebrew literature, then this is not something you want to miss. It’s the best opportunity you’ll probably ever have to browse through the literature described above.

If you don’t live in the area, the website offers an opportunity to order online (with the caveat that you must place an order of $100 or more).

The sale is being held at the Yeshiva College campus in Washington Heights. See the website for information about how to get there.