28 Days of Dinner at Home: Day 2- Letter to Friend

Dear friend,

I know that things are really hard right now. You feel like you have just stepped out of the warmth, and everything is cold and unfamiliar. Sharp edges dog your path, threatening to bite you with steel teeth. The world is moving so fast that it makes you spin, and you just want to pull the covers over your head and scream. With each clumsy new task you attempt, you feel more and more doubtful. Gravity threatens to pull you down, like a baby spoon dropped from a highchair. With a splat everything is messy. You clench your fists and close your eyes and hope to wake up when it's over.

Upon the backdrop of your inner eyelids, you watch a movie of your life. See how you dropped the edge of the table, lifted your little sausage link legs, stomped out a little march, and then promptly toppled over. How good it felt to cry hot tears, and to be swooped up and held!

Remember when you walked into the new school. You screamed because you didn't want to leave those arms. You couldn't imagine a whole day without them! After you were too tired to carry on, the little girl sitting next to you handed you a piece of macaroni. It was not long before you discovered a new talent for macaroni art. Your were so pleased with yourself!

Remember when you failed that history test. You were so embarrassed that you hid your test score from all the other kids, and ran out of the classroom. Something made you tell your brother when you got home, and he made you laugh at your attachment to the idea of instant perfection.

Remember when you learned, as an adult, how to swim freestyle? You could barely get from one end of the pool to the other, and you felt humbled and out of breath every time you tried. "Enjoy this time" your friend said "because soon you will swim with ease and you will take it for granted". She was right.

With every encroaching shadow you have learned to grow toward the sun, twisting this way and that, adding new rings to the pattern of your life. Each time the shadow comes you seem to forget how to find the sun, until the gentle wind whispers against your leaves and you suddenly feel yourself glistening.

Just wait.

It always comes.

Eggplant Kuku with Persian Dill Rice and Sesame Carrots

Note: I have never made Kuku before, so I loosely followed a recipe out of the divine Najmieh Batmanglij's "New Food of Life"(I highly recommend this cookbook if you are at all interested in the elegant and labor intensive art of Persian cooking.)

Eggplant Kuku

1 medium eggplant

~1/2 cup grapeseed oil

salt

2 small yellow onions, sliced thin

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 eggs

2 Tbsp Sabzi (can buy from Caspian if you are in MN, or other Persian market)

3 tsp saffron water (dissolve 1/4 tsp saffron into 1 Tbsp hot water)

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 Tbsp all purpose flour

salt and pepper to taste

I made this recipe with the eggplant skins on. You can peel them if you prefer. If you peel the eggplant, do that first..then slice the thing into rounds. Lay them flat and sprinkle them with salt. Allow them to sweat out their brown and foul tasting liquid. Squeeze them into a paper towel and pat them dry (they should be quite spongy now). Heat about half of the grapeseed oil in a frying pan and add the eggplant. Add the onions, and a pinch of salt, and stir until everything browns and gets a little mushy. Add more oil as you need to to prevent sticking. If things get too hot, you can de-glaze with a little water or wine (I actually accidentally used sherry vinegar, we'll see how it turns out!) Add the garlic and cook a few min more. Remove from the heat, pour the mixture into a bowl and mash with a fork.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with a fork and add the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Then add the eggplant mixture, blending thoroughly. Lightly oil about 8 or 9 muffin tins and spoon in the dough. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

Persian Dill Rice

2 cups long grain Basmati rice

2 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp oil (enough to cover the bottom of the pan)

4 cups water

liberal amounts of dill

Saffron water for color (see above)

Wash the rice until the water runs clear (or about 10 times haha) in warm water. Persian rice is fluffy and light, and not at all sticky. This is why it needs to be washed, so that each grain exists as an exquisite, individual entity. Pour the washed and drained rice into a pot with the oil and salt already in the bottom. cook until the rice dries, then pour in 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until the water is gone. Remove from the heat, and fluff with a fork. Sprinkle with dill and saffron water before serving.

Sesame Carrots

slice 4 carrots thin

season with 1 tsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp sesame oil and some toasted sesame seeds. Adjust to taste.

Christina's vote: A dinner filled with love.