Here we come again Summer!
Posted: 30 May 2017 Filed under: YARD, for gardening Leave a commentThe Victoria Day on May 21st in Canada is the official start of the gardening season – when the earth is warm enough for planting and there is no danger of overnight frost. The long weekend is marked by glorious display of breathtaking colorful annual and perennials and small yet vibrant sidling of virtually any vegetable and herb you might fancy growing in your backyard or balcony. Please click on the first image below to start the slideshow!
Moving back to the old house
Posted: 19 April 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentMy dear friends, between today and April 20th, I will be moving my English and Persian blogs back to the wordpress. My current host is Hostgator, which I am not finding very useful given the limited amount of activity I am engaged in.
So, fingers crossed, the transition should be smooth and my readers will be automatically redirected to the new site, which is different in appearance but identical in content. I will try to replace and fix missing contents and categories, should it be necessary.
PS I found in my ebook files, this drawing by my good and talented friend Vahid Dastpak. And figured it somehow reflects my decision to go back to the good old wordpress.com !!
See you soon!
Rose Tea for this Norooz
Posted: 13 March 2017 Filed under: Norooz, Uncategorized 2 CommentsSpring and the Persian new year is just a few days away; that, plus the company of good friends at Persian Food Bloggers ( #Persianfoodbloggers #PFBNowruz) give sufficient motivation to post again! Consider my reflection on Rose gardens and rose tea, a trip on memory line rather than a tea recipe, as I am sure everyone knows how to make tea 🙂
Meymand is a village close to my old hometown Shiraz in Iran’s southern province of Fars; it is well-known for its rose gardens and rose-water produce. The roses blossom around April when Rose Festival is held. This is also the time when the main bulk of rose flowers are picked and prepared either for distillation or to be dried for culinary and medicinal purposes. The rose gardens remain well and yielding till the end of the summer, providing an ongoing source of rose flower extract , called golaab in Persian. Read the rest of this entry »
A Food Trip in Iran
Posted: 1 March 2017 Filed under: A Food Trip in Iran, Uncategorized | Tags: Norooz, shiraz, Spring Leave a commentThat time of the year again, around spring and Persian New year, Norooz – the perfect time to find the motivation to write, to post, and to cherish and share the wonderful moments where people, plants and beautiful customs come to a renewed life one more time. Below is a selection of pictures taken by my sister, in several Iranian cities, including Shiraz, Yazd, Booshehr, Dargahan and Tehran, during the months of March to April 2016.
A Food Trip in Iran from Afsaneh Hojabri on Vimeo.
Fish Ghalyeh, (ghlayeh maahi) for Norooz
Posted: 17 March 2016 Filed under: Norooz, Uncategorized 6 CommentsWith the spring just three days away, here I am again celebrating the arrival of the much cherished Persian New year, Norooz, along with some 187 million other people in 15 countries across the globe, including a handful of my good talented Persian Food Bloggers – this time with a rather sophisticated Persian dish, a Southern Iran’s specialty called ghlayeh mahi, a spicy, thick fish stew. #PersianFoodBloggers, #PFBNorooz
Norooz which marks the beginning of the official calendar year in Iran and Afghanistan coincides with the Vernal Equinox, as you might know – this spring on Sun 21 March 2016 at 8:00 AM Iran time ( 12:30 AM Montreal time, where I live). Norooz is also the most cherished tradition observed and honored by people of different ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds inside and outside Iran. If you are interested to get a bit more familiar with Norooz traditions from a personal point of view, I urge you to visit my Norooz post from last year roundup, or watch a short colorful video clip from a few years back. Read the rest of this entry »
Holiday Sides with Quinoa and Lintel
Posted: 23 December 2015 Filed under: Holiday Sides with Quinoa and Lintel, Uncategorized | Tags: avocados, Grilled Zucchini, Lintel, quinoa, side dish, Zucchini, Summer dip Leave a commentHere are two absolutely healthy simple yet delicious sides/salads to go with any Holiday dishes. Let’s get into them without further ado
Carrot Mixed Rice, Havij Polow, with Fried Chicken for Yalda Night
Posted: 17 December 2015 Filed under: Carrot Mixed Rice, Havij Polow, Uncategorized 8 CommentsFrom the sunset in the last day of autumn (Dec 20th) till sunrise in the first day of winter (Dec 21st) we have practically the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere. And from then on, very gradually, days get longer until we hit the summer solstice six months later
Iranians mark “the longest and darkest night of the year” as Yalda, and have special rituals for it as they often do with other major celestial moments, namely Norooz, Persian New year on Spring Equinox and Mehregan, Persian Thanksgiving Festival around Fall Equinox
Three Vegan Blender Soups for Fall & Winter
Posted: 7 December 2015 Filed under: Three Vegan Blender Soups, Uncategorized | Tags: fall vegetable soup, gluten free, vegan, vegetable potage, vegetable thick soup Leave a commentLoving Fall-color vegetables? Feeling cozy with the promise of snow in the air and the desire of a steaming potage to go with it? Well then, let us get started with some inspirations (and instructions) for some hearty, easy, spicy blended thick soups. Remember, you could absolutely use your intuitions and creativity with the types and amount of vegetables and seasoning. Here is my take though.
Butternut Squash Cake
Posted: 18 November 2015 Filed under: Butternut Squash Cake, Uncategorized | Tags: Butternut Squash Cake, Butternut Squash Puree Leave a commentWhat do you do with your left over squashes after each Halloween? Leaving them out there for the squirrels to nibble at their leisure I guess, if they have been sitting there for too long!? Or perhaps, if the squashes are not too old, you would make a good use of them by turning them into puree, freezing them and using them in cakes, desserts and soups in the cold months ahead. Well, the latter is what I did this year.
Making squash puree is so easy I wonder why anyone should buy store cans! And of course, depending on the type of squash you use they make different tasting puree – from light yellow to dark orange in color. Below I will give a super easy way to make butternut puree – my favorite type of squash. Read the rest of this entry »
Remembering scents
Posted: 19 October 2015 Filed under: Memories & Events, Uncategorized | Tags: basil, rayhaan, smell_memory Leave a commentSensory cues are powerful mediums for setting moods and evoking emotions because they possess within themselves the magical quality of carrying small pockets of memories across time and space -memories inhabited by peoples, places, and events; memories which might be pleasant or sad; familiar or rare.
To me, the scent of cinnamon and apple promises the prospect of baking in a cozy kitchen on a beautiful cool autumn day. The scent of old vinegar, when trapped in a cabinet, always transports me back in time to my childhood when I visited my aunt’s old house and held my breath while playing seek and hide in her food storage lined with tens of “torshi” ceramic jugs. Read the rest of this entry »
My Caldron 