Good morning and Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

If you’re reading this as an educator or a nurse (Nurses Week start on Wednesday), please enjoy your appreciation deals from Whataburger, Shake Shack, McAllister’s Deli, and Chipotle this week.

If you’re a parent or guardian of a school-age child, and have yet to pick up a gift for the educator in your life, I’ve got you covered. I recently asked a DFW teachers group what they really wanted this week and the comments blew up overnight.

From parents:

Books for my classroom
Personal notes
Snacks
Gift cards
Candles/ scent plugins
Drawings and letters from the students
Custom-made goods like t-shirts and clipboards
Class supplies, like baby wipes and sanitizer

From administration:

Duty-free lunch and recess
A good bonus
Time off
Extended lunch
Extra planning time and class coverage
A catered lunch (and not pizza!)
Early leave / arrive late passes
Portable A/C unit
Jeans or flip flop day without paying for it

Also, a teacher mentioned that they have dietary restrictions that prevent them from benefitting from some of the typical gifts, which is a great reminder to just ask your child’s teacher what they like or need.

One of our reporters sat down with a few teachers to get their thoughts and got some great insight on what gifts are helpful and memorable. Read that below.

Joi Louviere

Senior Newsletter Editor, Courier DFW

DFW teachers share what they actually want for Teacher Appreciation Week

A beautiful gift box for someone you appreciate. (Tamara Malaniy/Unsplash)

By Sydni Ellis

For some reason, Teacher Appreciation Week always sneaks up on me. The special week to honor your kids’ teachers is May 4 to 8, and with two kids in school and one in pre-K, it can get overwhelming fast. (Don’t even get me started on the time I accidentally gave the gifts—including personalized notes—to the wrong teachers!)

Even though it seems like every store has its own “teacher” section, complete with pencil paper plates and “best teacher” mugs, it turns out that most educators don’t want those gimmicky items. Instead, they prefer heartfelt cards and simple gestures to show how much you care about them and the hours they put into teaching and loving your kids all year.

I interviewed several DFW-area teachers to learn more about what they actually want this Teacher’s Appreciation Day, and their answers were insightful.

See what to get and what to stay away from

Ayat

The Pizzawarma is made in a wood-fired oven. (Joi Louviere/ Courier DFW)

There are a ton of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean restaurants in North Texas, but Ayat is the only restaurant I could find that specifically serves Palestinian food. This casual bistro started in Brooklyn, New York, in 2020 and has since expanded—the Richardson location is its eighth and first in Texas. The husband and wife-founded chain has earned a spot in the MICHELIN Guide and become a source of unity between Jewish and Muslim communities in the New York City area. I brought our DFW political reporter Katie, pictured below, along for my first visit.

We ordered the Pizzawarma, a wood-fired sandwich of sorts with beef shawarma, halloumi cheese, pickles, olives, and onions with a tahini sauce and a pomegranate molasses—and yes, it was as good as it sounds. Not to mention moist: The pizza dough was soft enough that you didn’t have to wrestle with it for a bite.

Then we ordered a very traditional Palestinian dish called Mansaf, a stew with bone-in lamb chunks, a fermented yogurt sauce over sajj bread pieces and rice, topped with almonds.

Extra sauce comes on the side so you can ladle on more if you want. The dish felt super decadent, with more tender pieces of lamb than we’re used to. The sauce was velvety—and yes, I immediately started dipping my pita into it (certified sauce queen behavior 👸).

If you’re new to these flavors, Mansaf is a great place to start. It’s more muted, with rich, stewed meat, and the portion is big enough to share.

I wasn’t shocked that there was no alcohol on the menu, because part of a restaurant being Halal is that it doesn’t serve alcohol. We tried a carbonated peach soda, produced in Lebanon, that was refreshing (and low-calorie).

Our first visit to Ayat was an amazing foray into the soul of Palestinian cooking, and now we’re hungry for more. Wanna meet us there?

Don’t Sleep On is a weekly series where I shout out DFW events and businesses I think you should try. Have a suggestion? Reply to this email.