For weeks my husband sat waiting for the mail. He would check the mail several times a day, pout, and double check again to make sure there wasn’t a little yellow package slip tucked in the corner of the mail box. Today the little yellow package slip arrived and Mr. H ran up to the desk to pick up his new baby.
What, pray tell was in that package?
I’ve really got to do something about those book shelves. They are embarrassingly dishevelled. Really people, I take better care of my books than that, its just that I reference them frequently and I have yet to hire a library tech to re-shelve them for me.
Oh, what? Yeah, you wanted to know what was in the package. I’m feeling a little ADD today.
The package came with a hard case, replacement strings and it’s own special pick (and plenty of bubble wrap to keep me entertained).
It’s a Persian Tar. Shipped from Iran a month ago. He’s already playing like he’s had it for years (he’s one of those annoying people who can pick up any instrument and make music come out). Mr. H is graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Near Eastern Language and Civilization in 3 weeks and starting his masters program with the same focus in the fall. Said tar is his graduation gift.
In case you didn’t know, a tar is a persian lute. Wikipedia link here.
This afternoon we hopped in the truck and tootled our way over to the Ballard Library for a reading and book signing with Marjane Satrapi. Marjane Satrapi is best known for her books Persepolis, Persepolis 2 and Embroideries.
I was shocked at the turnout. We spent the first part of the talk standing in the doorway between a tall woman who was kind enough to occasionally turn around and summarize what was just said, and the old woman who kept pressing her cane into my toes – I’m sorry I’m as far over as I can get, I’m not standing in your way just cuz I don’t like old people, I literally can’t move.
I spent the first few minutes of the talk wondering why I was actually still standing there. Aside from the fact that my husband really wanted to be there, I couldn’t see a damn thing, I was being jostled around by people with absolutely no manners, packed in like sardines with lots of people and let me make this very clear – I hate people. I had my eye’s closed straining to hear Ms. Satrapi over the chatter of the people behind me talking about how they couldn’t hear, when I was shoved again, this time from the front as people were trying to make their way out. I let the lady with the cane in ahead of me and after a few more people left we were able to inch our way inside the room and so was able to hear most of the second half of her talk – which was the question and answer section. I didn’t hear most of the questions, but her answers were illuminating anyways.
She has another book coming out in the fall that will be called Chicken with Plums and Persepolis will be made into an animated feature film, it will be black and white and the role of her mother will be voiced by Catherine Deneuve.
She made it clear that she didn’t have answers to questions about Iranian foreign policy or nuclear weapons “If I say I support Iran’s right to have nuclear weapons, then I am siding with the Islamic Regime; if I say Iran should not have nuclear weapons, I’m saying ‘Please Mr. Bush, invade my country.'”
When asked about the American war against Iraq she mentioned that 80% of the world’s population live under evil dictatorships, but few of the other countries have resources of interest to the United States. As far as the Islamic fundamentalists are concerned, she said that fundamentalists of any persuasion, whether it is Islamic, or Jewish, or Christian, or Secular (yes there are secular fundamentaists too) ARE the problem, the fundamentalist point of view precludes thought and reason, and especially learning.
Ms. Satrapi grew up in revolutionary Iran. The revolution occured when she was 10 years old, and Iraq attacked a year later. The Shaw was an oppressive dictator. The Iranian Revolution, like the French Revolution centuries earlier, overthrew and evil government that oppressed the people and had to go. Unfortunately, in both cases, the government that rose up to fill the void was just a different kind of evil. On the topic of democracy she said “Democracy is a cultural shift more than a political one. It will take time. You cant force democracy.”
The world is full of idiots and that wont stop. Often the idiots are more alike than different. George W. Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have more in common than just a messiah complex. On the topic of dictators, she was careful to specify that it was not a comment against men. “Dictators are raised by their mothers. Their mothers teach them how to be.”
Ms. Satrapi currently lives in France with her Swedish husband. She speaks 6 languages and is a huge supporter of education. Continuous learning for everyone is the most important thing. She also believes that the more you travel the better a person you become because you can shed the brainwashing by experiencing the truth. The more points of view you can understand the better a person you become. She finds that often, in France, she is the defender of Americans to the French, because she has been to America and experienced American people despite the brainwashing against americans she experienced as a child in Iran and in France.
She talked for quite a while, and there was a lot that she said that I missed, but I would stand in a croweded room to hear her speak again in a heartbeat, and you can bet I’ll be getting Chicken with Plumbs as soon as it hits the stores.
After the waterfall we had to decide what to do for dinner. I would have loved to try the Salish Lodge; we stopped and checked out the menu, but frankly I was not inspired. When plates start at $23, the description on the menu should make my mouth water. We decided to head towards Issaquah instead.
Gillman village is a cute little shopping center in Issaquah comprised of a grouping of cottages on a boardwalk. The shops are cutesy and charming, ranging from toy stores, to yarn shops to kitchen gadgets – there is also an Amish furniture store that made me want to refurnish the whole house.
Gillman village also has an assortment a restaurants, but the only one we have ever tried is Bamiyan Afghani Restaurant, because how could you pass that up?
Bamiyan was originally just an Afghan restaurant, but we noticed that they’ve added more traditional Persian dishes as well (Persian food and Afghan food are very similar). We started with the Ausht, which was an amazing creamy and savory soup – very rich. Then Mr. H had the koobideh which is one of our all time favorite dishes. Koobideh is a savory ground beef kebab, the kind of savory where it’s difficult to stop eating even when you’re completely stuffed. I had the fesenjan. Fesenjan is one of those dishes that lives on a continuum, in this case between sweet and tart. The placement on that continuum depends largely on family recipe and geographic origin of that recipe. I asked the server how tart the fesenjan was and she claimed it was not too tart. Fesenjan is a dish of stewed chicken in a walnut and pomegranate gravy. The tartness of the dish depends on the amount of pomegranate juice used. It turned out a little more tart than I expected, but I like it really quite sweet. Nonetheless it was very good.
For desert, Mr. H had the Firni (custard with cardamom and pistachios). I went with the Bastani which is ice cream made with rosewater and pistachios (we served this at our wedding with the cake). To top it all off I got to watch Mr. H rap with the staff in Farsi which always turns me on.
1 tsp ground saffron dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
1/4 cup rose water
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
Dough
2 cups all purpose flour
4 tbsp unsalted pistashios for garnish
1 1/2 cups ghee
make syrup: bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add the saffron water, rose water and cardamom. Mix well and set aside.
Make flour pase: in a large dep saute pan, toast the flour for about 10 minutes over medium head, stirring constantly. Add the melted butter and fry, mixing constantly with wooden spoon for 7 – 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove the pan from the heat.
Add syrup: gradually blend the syrup into the hot flour and butter mixture, stirring constatly with a wooden spoon for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a food procesor and process until smooth, about 5 minutes. The paste should set and become thick and smooth.
Chill: spoon onto a plate and pack firmly with a spoon. Garnish with pistachios. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. Cut into small pieces and serve as dessert.
1/4 tsp ground saffron threads dissolved in 2 Tbsp hot water
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp black pepper
1 large onion, sliced
2 tsp salt
Baste
1/4 tsp ground saffron threads dissolved in 2 Tbsp hot water
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup ghee or butter
Marinate: pound the lamb pieces lightly with a heavy knife to tenderize. Place the lamb in a ziplock bag. Add the onion, garlic, salt, pepper, lime, and saffron water. Seal and marinate for at least 24 hours and up to 72 in the refridgerator. Turn at least twice.
Make baste: combine butter, lime juice, saffron water, salt and pepper in a small sauce pan. Keep warm over low heat.
Grill: start a bed of charcoal at least 30 minute before you want to grill the lamb. Meanwhile thread 5 – 6 pieces of meat onto each skewer, alternating with cherry tomatoes. Grill for 3 -4 minutes on each side, turning and basting frequently. The total cooking should be 6 – 10 minutes.
Serve: Spread a piece of lavash break on a serving platter. When the meat is done, remove from the skewer and place on the bed of lavash, surrounded by tomatoes. Baste once and cover with lavash to keep warm.
– in a hurry? there’s an enzyme in the onion that helps to break down the meat. If your marinating for 24 hours or more, slice the onions. If you don’t have that much time, liquify the onion with a grater and the enzymes with break down the meat twice as fast.
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