For the last 3 years (or is it 4?) I've been hosting a potluck to celebrate Chinese New Year, usually around the end of January, beginning of February. I missed it entirely this year. (Seriously, where has the time gone!?!) Thank goodness there are other New Years to celebrate! Nowruz is the Persian New Year, which also coincides with the first day of Spring, and it was a nice change for a potluck theme - Middle Eastern food, instead of Chinese.
I have to tell you, our potluck was a Persian feast! For a small group of 6 people (small for a potluck anyway) we had a fantastic menu:
Appetizers:
Veggie tray
Main Course:
Adas-Polow (a saffron rice dish with lentils and raisins)
Koobideh (beef kebab)
Maast-o-Khiar (a yogurt and mint side-dish that went well with the beef kebab)
Jujeh Kabab (chicken kebab)
Persian Yogurt Salad (a yogurt and cucumber side-dish)
bbq grilled vegetables
Ghormeh Sabzi (beef and herbs stew with dried lemons)
Zereshk Polow (Saffron Rice with barberries)
Drinks:
grapefruit and lemon Italian sodas
Desserts:
Faloodeh (Persian Rose Water Ice)
One of the important parts of Nowruz is the Haft Sin Table. I think generally this is a separate table set up with seven symbolic items. I didn't go with the full Haft Sin items, but selectively put some of the items as a centrepiece for the table. Mirrors, lit candles, spouts (from carrot tops because I couldn't get lentils to sprout), rose water, sumac, and live goldfish!
And now I have 4 goldfish to look after. Well, actually...only 2 now. I seem to have killed 2 today. Let's hope the other 2 survive the night. And survive Millie. :)
Apparently I'm a sadistic goldfish owner. I've been enabling Millie's curiosity and terrorizing the poor goldfish.
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| Discovery! |
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| Close-up |
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| View from above |
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| Eye contact |
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| Playing tag with the fish. |
