09/18/2026
fresh homemade pistachio halawa for sunday’s brunch at OKRA HOUSE.
it’s been a long while since i’ve felt this excited about sharing food with people. all i want to do it feed people the foods i love, the dishes that take me somewhere, dishes that invoke some memory.
every morning while visiting siwa, the most beautiful oasis in the western egyptian desert, we’d have a little pack of halawa waiting for us with a bowl of ful and other delicious things.
it’s such a simple delicious treat. i loved the idea of something a little sweet with a hearty morning meal. i love the little packs they came in. i love how there was a different variation of halawa everywhere we went.
we’d occasionally have halawa growing up. to be honest, i never really liked it much. my mom would buy a little tub of it from jou jou’s in birmingham, slicing off thick rectangles of it to enjoy between a piece of pita bread, and when the pita bread ran out, it’d be a folded piece of white bread because where does one find pita in rural alabama?
i decided this weekend gave me an opportunity to finally make my own.
very much looking forward to seeing everyone at the space on sunday. thank you for giving me a chance to create a menu that feels so good to share.