Reza and Sora Jamshidi's Party

Carol, Arta, Reza Ilsa, Sora, Emma, Eliana, Pouria

I was invited to lunch at Reza and Sora Jamshidi's apartment: 7 adults and 2 children.

The afternoon was so restful for me, hearing the conversation as people who have been far away from each other gather, to fill in the details of their jobs, or in Eliana's case of the post-doc she will be doing at York.

The parents were watching the two little girls: Ilsa at 15 months and Emma at 12 months.

Ilsa can run.  Nothing gets in her way.

Emma is still deciding if the fastest place from one point to the other is walking or crawling. So she alternates between a halting walk or a fast drawl, depending on the hurdles (to her) that she must manage.

We had ghorme sabzi an Iranian stew, which I immediately went home and googled, since although it is made with lamb or beef, I had the idea that elk might be fabulous that way as well.

I forgot to mention the fabulous squash soup
that preceded the meal.  That blue bowl in font of me
is empty here, bt it was filled twice before this picture.

The preparation takes hours.  Even the video took a long time.

The next day, Pouria brought me the recipe, as it can be made a quicker way, as well as he brought me all of the ingredients:  the dried herbs, the canned herbs, the dried lemons.

Some people just know how to give exactly the right gift.

Arta

Injera

... a close up of the texture of injera ...

Pouria prepared an Ethiopian feast for us tonight.

Our meal was set out on injera, a sourdough-risen flatbread with a spongy texture.

When I was looking at it, I was reminded of the underside of a mushroom.

LtoR:Iranian stew, dahl, spicy beef, roasted red peppers

My injera is draped over my 12" plate
to give you an idea of the size of my meal.

So delicious!

He had purchased the injera over at an Ethiopian grocery in northwest Calgary, and then prepared some stews to put on top of it: a dahl, a stew of roasted red peppers, and a spicy beef. “This meal is only 75% Ethiopian,” he said, for he had added an Iranian beef stew as a fourth.

They offered me a fork for a utensil, but I know that the injera is at the same time food, an eating utensil and the plate. I ripped off small portions of the bread, using it to pick up pieces of the stews.

I bet everyone wishes they were at our house tonight.

Arta

Elkhoury-Manesh Wedding

... chocolate from the Khoury-Manesh wedding ...

Eliana came bearing gifts from Lebanon:  2 boxes of baklava -- one for me and one for Kelvin.

And then she brought me  tablet showing the Phoenician alphabet, which Michael and I will try to copy.

And what I can't open is the gift of chocolate, wrapped with lace and topped with a flower sprinkled with moon dust.

With her permission I am going to post some pictures of the wedding.  I had her sit by my side while I asked hundreds of questions about the pictures -- it was like being at the wedding.

Arta

Christmas Day on 26th Avenue

... cheese and crackers ...

At our house the Christmas celebration was around food.

At the house next door, the traditional Christmas was held.

The one where the parents stay up late to put out the Santa gifts, where they get up early to help navigate the children’s way through the Christmas gifts, and then they entertain guests for breakfast, and entertain children through the day with their new toys. All of this is done on the minimum hours of sleep.

Harry's curried vegetables
a first on the Christmas Day menu for  us

At this house – there was a single celebration at 3 pm and the celebration was all around Christmas food.

The dishes to produce were divided up: Harry to bring a curry; Philipp to bring an apple streusel; Amir and Pouria to bring the salad and with a gourmet avocado dressing; Trell and Ina – to bring Gerda.

And 83 year old Gerda?

Ina’s mom?

She brought knitted dolls for the children next door.

Remember the novelty doll that you flip the skirt of one doll and there was another underneath.

My children had a doll like that – a triple doll from the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the grandmother’s hat would flip over and she would become the wolf. That doll was eventually worn out.

... black salad tongs between the silver set of salad utensils ...
black, the preferred method for transferring salad to a plate
the silver salad set looses

Our dinner was shared by the following people: Bonnie Johnson, Kelve Johnson, Kelvin Johnson, Arta Johnson, Pouria Manesh, Amir Hamedzadeh, Richard, Miranda, Michael and Alice Johnson, Gerda Given, Ina Given, Trell Johnson, Harald Kristen and Philipp Mantzke

 A few things went wrong.

If I were to do the dinner again and do the stuffing in the slow cooker, I would put the stuffing on more than 20 minutes ahead.

The nice thing about the dressing is that it was ready 3 hours later when some of us were ready for seconds.

... creamy mashed potatoes ...

I think other than that, everything was pretty smooth.

Amir parachuted into the kitchen at the last minute and helped mash the potatoes.

Before next year, I am going to buy two new piece of equipment.

... HOT apple streusal... another Christmas Day first

One is the fat separator, where the juices of the turkey can be poured off and the fat can stay in the cup – I always get to skim mine off the next day, which is a little too late to save anyone’s arteries.

And I have been watching TV cooking shows on how to carve a turkey.

Gerda Given and Trell Johnson

So I struck out with that task.

Well, I meant the phrase "struck out" to mean, I tried to do it. But perhaps "struck out" could be taken in the sense of a baseball game.

Philipp Mantzke and Kelvin Johnson

Gerda stood beside me. She has been watching TV cooking shows as well. Besides she has carved turkeys for 30 years.

“Leave the meat on the drumstick. Some people just like to choose that and eat the meat off of the bone.”

Another good tip from her – "Cut the drumstick from the thigh through the joint."

Not that I hadn’t seen my favorite gourmet chef do it that way. I just didn’t think to do it that way when I came to carving up that piece.

The other thing I want to purchase is a flexible carving knife so that I can get down and around the carcass a little better.

I hope I can remember to look for one when I am shopping with Wyona at Winners sometime in the future.

I will probably just buy one on-line, the next time I am in the same house as my Cooks Country magazine and see what they recommend as the very best one possible.

 ... Pouria rests between courses ...

Pouria was a saint. He stood nearby with the lid of the roaster to catch the bones. I was out of large pots by now to collect them in, and both he and I wanted the broth for a great turkey soup in a couple of days.

The downside of boiling the bones is this. Well, first the upside.

It is easy to get the bones going if I just put them in a pot and let them start simmering while we are eating Christmas dinner.

a small stool for a chair, a medium stool for a table

I have that recipe in my head.

Throw in a couple of onions, a carrot or two and 12 whole pepper corns and then let the simmering go on for the rest of the evening and into the night.

 ... Amir and 4 month old Alice ...

The downside is that just as I am getting ready to go to bed, that is when I remember that the simmering pot has to come off of the stove.

The meat and bones should be cooled, separated and the product put out in the snow to cool for the night, since by now there is no room in the fridge for anything more – the fridge being packed with the Christmas dinner leftovers.

And that is what we will be eating today -- the left overs.


The soup will come later.

Yum.

.