Shab-e Yalda (Winter Solstice) 2016 and a Recipe for Apple and Pear Faloodeh




Yalda, the ancient Persian festival of winter solstice is celebrated on the eve of the longest night of the year which also marks the beginning of the winter season in the northern hemisphere. Shab-e yalda (yalda night) festival dates back several thousands of years ago to the birth of Mithra, the light of the world and the god of justice and victory. It's a wonderful night when family and

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Writing Retreat On Lake Como

Image
       Join me for a week on Lake Como, to write about that childhood memory, travel experience, or any other event you've been wanting to capture in print.  Spend the mornings in writing instruction, and afternoons in leisure touring the area, eating exquisite foods and pinching yourself that it's real. Kathryn Abajian and I hold the writing retreat at Villa Monastero (pictured above) in Varenna, on the banks of Lake Como, Italy. We're scheduled to repeat it September 24-30., 2017.      Come along with me for an armchair visit to learn about the villa and its origins. Maybe you'll decide you'd like to spend a week here with us too, improving your writing skills, and partaking of the region's foods, wines and nearby sights.                                The villa was founded as a Cistercian monastery in 1208, but its mission foundered in 1667, when the nuns left...
Read more

Polenta with Spuntature e Salsicce (ribs & sausages)

Image
Years ago, when I lived in Rome, I'd order polenta with spuntature at a restaurant in my neighborhood of Trastevere. But only in winter. It's a rare restaurant that features it at other times of year, and if it does, it's likely to be a place devoid of Romans. Even though you can certainly make polenta in spring, summer or fall, to me, it's strictly winter food. And now that winter is in full swing, polenta is on my mind. I've made it a few times this season already, but not with spuntature. Since I was going to be making a ragù, I thought I'd include some sausages too, and put together some meatballs to enrich the sauce even more. As long as you're going to the trouble of cooking something for several hours, you might as well make enough to put in the freezer for a few meals later on, right? So I pulled out my biggest stainless steel pot to get it going. While the sauce was simmering away, I fried some meatballs.  I know, frying foods isn't the best th...
Read more