Dear Friends,
We are one week away from the publication of my cookbook Bottom of the Pot – Persian Recipes and Stories (Flatiron Books)! And I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than with a platter of Joojeh Kabab – Chicken Drumettes Kabab from my book.
The summer sun is still gracing us with her warmth and light. And a charcoal grill and late summer barbeque is always a good idea.
♪ MUSIC WE’RE COOKING TO ♪
Raw honey.
Like the jar from Trader Joe’s.
Dripping in gold, warmth, and sweetness.
My daughter’s eyes, Soleil’s eyes, the sun’s eyes, shimmer like raw honey.
Dripping in gold.
Showering us with warmth, sweetness, and unyielding love.
And occasionally stubbornness, and intense, deeply felt, unyielding five-year-old emotions.
Pure and raw.
♪ Music we’re cooking to ♪
My water broke at 7:30am. By 8:00am we were busy putting away all the food Drew had planned to prepare that night for Book Club – The Life of Pi.
It was a bright, clear and sunny Sunday morning in 2006. Los Angeles never looked more beautiful. Massive, in-your-face billboards, boulevards vast and desolate, cracked sidewalks and all. The freeways were clear. For once.
They gather around me with bated breath. The air is thick with anticipation and hope.If it all goes as planned, the fruits of my labor will be met with thunderous applause and joyous cheers. High fives and high jumps and quasi-cartwheels all around. Maybe even a little impromptu jig.
If it all falls apart (literally), shoulders will slump, and slight groans will replace the cheers. Dissapointed little feet will shuffle back to the table.
Mmmm…what’s that smell, Mama?
It’s koo koo again. Do you think you’ll want to have more, Luna?
With that smell all in the house, how can I ever say no!
This was our third batch of herb koo koo in three weeks. After days of koo koo for lunch, dinner, after-school snack; and having exhausted every cuckoo – koo koo joke, I was certain there would be no interest in yet another bite.
If we were playing that silly “what if you were stranded on a deserted island, what is the one food item you would take with you” game – my answer without hesitation would be yogurt.
Plain, un-adulterated – nothing added – yogurt.
If I were a poet I would compose volumes of love sonnets declaring my eternal love and devotion to yogurt.
Copyright 2021 Naz Deravian. All Rights Reserved.