“She thinks of Stanley's colored pencil drawings of theoretical businesses: a cafe, a bookshop, and, always, a grocery store. When she was ten and he was fourteen, he was already working as a bag boy at Publix, reading what their father called "hippie books." He talked about stuff like citrus canker, the Big Sugar mafia, and genetically modified foods and… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share
I honestly never intended food to occupy so much of my creative work. Food-writing often seems about to plummet straight into sentimentality.… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“Marry, don't marry,' Auntie Aya says as we unfold layers of dough to make an apple strudel. Just don't have your babies unless it's absolutely necessary .' How do I know if it's necessary?' She stops and stares ahead, her hands gloved in flour. 'Ask yourself, Do I want a baby or do I want to make a cake? The… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share
The obsession with food filled my childhood - that's what happens when your parents are from a place or time where people… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“But Stanley persisted in the kitchen, performing the small yet demanding apprentice's tasks she set for him- removing the skin from piles… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
Dad says that everyone invented baklava.” It occurs to me now to wonder what that means. Aunt Aya rolls her eyes. “Your… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
If you only write for 15 minutes at a time, you can write a book and still have time for Legos. — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“The streets of Aqaba are shell spirals and, on summer nights, crowded and complicated as a woman's heart.” — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
I'm constantly at war with myself to quit goofing around, and the internet hasn't helped that any. I've learned that I have to be… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“Sometimes when she lies awake her body feels as finely made as a tuning fork. She can hear and smell the most delicate things,… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
The daily writing practice is something I used to hear batted around a lot in writing workshops - which is probably why I dropped out of all the writing workshops. I wish I could take credit for innovating a new approach to writing, but the truth is that I've managed to write books despite myself. I'm lazy and ungovernable and… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share
“...tasting a piece of bread that someone bought is like looking at that person, but tasting a piece of bread that they baked is… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“She thinks of Stanley's colored pencil drawings of theoretical businesses: a cafe, a bookshop, and, always, a grocery store. When she was ten and he was fourteen, he was already working as a bag boy at Publix, reading what their father called "hippie books." He talked about stuff like citrus canker, the Big Sugar mafia, and genetically modified foods and… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share
“The loneliness of the arab is a terrible thing; it is all consuming. It is already present like a little shadow under the heart when he lays his head on his mother's lap; it threatens to swallow him whole when he leaves his own country, even though he marries and travels and talks to friends twenty-four hours a day. That… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share
“She's been scouted by Ford and Elite- real New York agencies. Micah, the agent for Elite- a tall black guy in silver eyeliner- said that Felice was "heart-stopping." Everyone says that Felice looks like Elizabeth Taylor- all pleased with themselves, as if she were hearing this for the first time. It used to bug Felice: she pictured that squat, henlike… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share
“On the top rack is a cooled and decorated seven-layered 'opera' cake. Her client- the Peruvian ambassador- had requested a "tropical" theme for a dinner party dessert. Avis had based the decoration on the view through the kitchen window, re-creating in lime, lemongrass, and mint frostings the curling backyard flora, curving foliage shaped like tongues and hearts, fat spines bisecting… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share
Here is something you have to understand about stories: They point you in the right direction but they can't take you all the way… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
