I should say at the start that I did not cook any of this. In forty years at the grocery I sold every ingredient on this page by the pound, and I can tell good bulgur from bad by the feel, but in the kitchen I am permitted to carry trays and to taste, and that is all. These recipes belong to three ladies of the Society who were kind enough to measure what they have always done by hand, so that I could write it down. Each one told me that her way is the right way, and that the others are very nice women.

Our ladies say the most important ingredient is time, and the second most important is another lady to talk to while you roll.

Kibbeh is the national dish of Lebanon, and every family will tell you its own is the best. Catherine has made the kibbeh for the Society since the hall opened, and for the mahrajan this summer she supervised fifty-eight trays at the age of seventy-nine, sitting on a stool and pointing. In the old country the women pounded the meat and wheat in a stone mortar. Catherine uses a meat grinder and does not apologize.

1. Rinse the bulgur in a strainer and let it sit 10 minutes, then squeeze out the water with your hands. 2. Brown the pine nuts in the butter, take them out, and in the same pan cook the ground lamb and onion until the meat is done. Add the allspice, salt and pepper and stir the pine nuts back in. Let it cool. 3. In a big bowl, knead the bulgur, the twice-ground meat, the grated onion and the spices together with your hands, dipping your hands in the ice water as you go, until it is smooth like a dough. Catherine says ten minutes. I timed her once, and it was fifteen. 4. Butter a 9 by 13 pan. Press half the kibbeh into the bottom in an even layer. Spread the filling over it. Take the other half of the kibbeh in small flat patties, lay them over the filling and smooth them together with wet hands, so there are no holes. 5. With a wet knife, cut the top into diamonds all the way down, and run the knife around the edge of the pan. Pour the melted butter over the top. 6. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes, until it is deep brown on top and the edges pull away from the pan.

Catherine says: "Lean meat. If it is fatty, it falls apart and everyone will know. And do not be stingy with the pine nuts. This is not a time to save money."

Lee wants everyone to understand that tabbouleh is a parsley salad with a little wheat in it, and not a wheat salad with a little parsley in it, as she has seen in certain restaurants that she will not name, though she named them to me. It should be green. If it is brown, somebody has made a mistake.

Rinse the bulgur and let it soak in the lemon juice while you chop, about half an hour. Chop the parsley by hand with a sharp knife, not in a machine, or it turns to mush. Lee chops with two knives at once, which I do not recommend unless you are Lee. Put the parsley, mint, onions and tomatoes in a big bowl, add the bulgur and lemon juice, the olive oil, salt and the allspice, and toss. Taste it. It should make your mouth pucker a little. If it does not, more lemon. Serve the same day with the lettuce leaves to scoop it up. Sahtein.

Evelyn learned this from her mother-in-law, who learned it from hers, in the mountains, and Evelyn has made it for every hafla, wedding, baptism and funeral in the Society since 1951. She says the secret is the samneh and the patience, and that the syrup must be cool when the pastry is hot, or the other way, but never both the same, or it goes soggy.

Make the syrup first. Boil the sugar, water and lemon juice together, without stirring, for about 10 minutes, until it is a little thick. Take it off the heat, stir in the rose water and orange blossom water, and let it cool completely.

Make the pastry. Mix the nuts, the sugar and the orange blossom water. Brush a 9 by 13 pan with samneh. Lay in half the phyllo, one sheet at a time, brushing each sheet with samneh. Keep the rest of the phyllo under a damp towel while you work, or it dries out and cracks, and then Evelyn says some words that are not on this page. Spread the nuts evenly. Lay the rest of the phyllo on top, one sheet at a time, brushing each one. Brush the top well. With a sharp knife, cut all the way through into diamonds before you bake it. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, until it is golden all over. As soon as it comes out of the oven, pour the cool syrup over the hot baklawa. It will sizzle. That is the sound of it going right. Let it sit several hours, or overnight, before you take it out of the pan.

Evelyn says: "Do not cover it while it is warm. Do not put it in the icebox. And do not let your husband cut it, because he will cut it too big."

If you make one of these, write and tell us how it came out. If it came out badly, tell us anyway, and the ladies will tell you what you did wrong. They will enjoy it very much.