Shopping for the exotic in me...

When i was pregnant with my first child, i craved food i grew up with and ate as a kid. most memorably bologna and mustard sandwiches on fresh white wonder bread and many of my mom's persian dishes.

i asked my mom for some of my favorite recipes and she sent me this cookbook.

it is gorgeous and really swell. and it did teach me how to make the food, and also all about traditions like weddings and New Year. it taught me how to cook stuff better than my mother, but that didn't really help me because i badly had to have it the way she made it.

but the book does truly have the best descriptions of traditions and customs, hands down, even "real" iranians will tell you that. for example, the Noruz "sofreh":

"In every Persian household a special cover is spread onto a carpet or on a table. This ceremonial setting is called sofreh-ye haft-sinn (literally "seven dishes' setting," each one beginning with the Persian letter sinn). "

This is my sofreh grocery list for the Middle Eastern market I’m going to later. It was burned down when I went last year, but I heard from my friend I ran into at shabeh chahar shambeh suri that they reopened bigger and better than before. it’s my blessed one-stop shop for everything I need for our sofreh.

check out the short version of the symbolism…

The Seven ‘S’ Dishes:

Samanu – wheat sprouts transformed and reborn as pudding, sweet although prepared without any sugar – which is meant to be further evidence that Persian cooking rules all others.

Sib – an apple, which I could just pick up at Safeway, but what the heck? The apple represents health and beauty, which is no doubt why we give them to teachers in this country and why dr’s say one a day will keep them away.

Senjed – sweet dried fruit of the wild olive, which is the bush whose scent when in bloom supposedly rivals cupid’s arrows.

Seer – garlic, symbolizing bad breath, I mean, medicine

Somaq – ground Sumac berries that is super slammin when sprinkled in large quantities on kebob or rice or both.

Serkeh – vinegar symbolizing age and patience, both venerated in this culture as in many others.

Sabzeh – big dish of wheat or lentil sprouts that looks something like an ungroomed chia pet.

Boy and I are going to set up a Sofreh in his classroom tomorrow. We did it last year too and let the kiddos sample the pudding, etc.

I really can’t wait until this week is over. I don’t do well with breaks in routine and with my office moving tomorrow (hence the day off) I’m on edge and uncaged. i'm the same way about christmas. kinda not very celebratory, huh?

No big deal, really… just me. which is what this is all about, right?