French Bean Salad

The best string beans I know come from the village of Artas south of Bethlehem.

For many years Umm Hilmi used to knock on our door at six in the morning bringing with her enough fassoulia for my mother to blanch and freeze for months to come. The same haggling over the price was repeated every year, with Umm Hilmi slightly raising her price in anticipation of this ritual and my mother, equally aware of the woman’s tactics, resolved to strike a bargain.