Keepers: Recipes Worth Keeping

Introducing Tomato Prints and Recipes

2011-10-11T16:45:00.000-07:00

I’ve just finished creating a new blog called Tomato Prints and Recipes. The blog itself will explain how it came to be, both the blog itself and its precursor, seven very colorful handcrafted mini-cookbooks with the same title, Tomato Prints and Recipes. There was a limited edition of these cookbooks, seven to be exact. I’m hoping that the blog will allow more folks to enjoy both the art and the delicious recipes.

So dive right in while tomatoes are still in season. Pick some up from your backyard, your neighbor’s backyard, your Farmers’ Market, or where ever you find good fresh luscious tomatoes. And then cook something from Tomato Prints and Recipes. I’d love to know what you think of it.

Lamb Khoresht with Split Peas and Fried Potatoes

2011-08-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

Every time we ate this wonderful dish in Iran, I puzzled over the fried potatoes on top. Why would you add these when the dish was most often served with rice? I even considered making them “optional.” What I discovered when I made the dish for myself was how much the potatoes softened and rounded out the rather intense flavor of the dried limes, adding a nice mouth feel as well. Even with the hassle of frying them, they play a very important role in the dish and I would highly recommend including them.

½ cup yellow split peas, soaked in water for 30 minutes or overnight
1 medium onion, chopped
4 dried limes, washed, dried, and pierced with the fork
1 pound lamb, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons powdered dried lemon or lime
Salt and pepper to taste
2½ cups boiling water or stock [I prefer chicken stock]
Note: I heated my stock in the microwave.
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons lemon juice, optional
Note: It may not be needed if you use the dried lemon or lime powder.
2 tablespoon liquid saffron, see directions below

Garnish:
2 medium potatoes
vegetable oil
¼ cup slivered almonds, toasted
2 tablespoon chopped parsley or cilantro

1. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy sauté pan or a cast iron Dutch oven. Fry the onion until golden.
2. Add the lamb, turmeric, lime or lemon powder, whole dried limes, salt and pepper. Stir well and fry until the meat is golden brown all over.
3. Add the boiling water or stock and reduce the heat. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer on low heat until the meat is cooked. It should be tender enough to cut with a fork. [The recipe calls for 45 minutes to 1 hour but mine took a much shorter period of time—like 15-20 minutes. It all depends on the tenderness of your meat.]
4. Drain the split peas and add to the pan. Cover and cook on low heat for about 20-30 minutes or until the split peas are cooked. They should be soft while still retaining their shape. Add small amounts of boiling water or stock if the mixture looks too dry.
5. Add the tomato paste, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon of the liquid saffron. Cook for a further 10 minutes on a low heat. You can make the khoresht ahead to this point and refrigerate until you are ready to serve it. Before serving, reheat gently and remove the inflated dried limes as best you can.

6. For the garnish: While the khoresht is heating, cut the potatoes into ½-inch x 2-inch pieces like small French fries. Place them in a bowl of cold water unless you plan to cook them right away.
7. Heat about ½-inch oil in a heavy cast iron frying pan until hot but not smoking. Drain and dry your potatoes. Slide them into the hot oil. Cook until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel. If you need to keep them for a short period of time, remove from the paper towel, transfer to a plate and keep warm in a 250º F. oven.
8. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon liquid saffron to the toasted almonds and stir to combine.

9. Serve the khoresht in a shallow bowl or a bram. Garnish with the fried potatoes and the nuts. Sprinkle with the parsley or cilantro. Best served with rice to soak up the delicious sauce. Cucumbers with Yogurt and Mint is also very good with it.

To make liquid saffron: In a small cup, mix ¼ teaspoon ground saffron with 4 tablespoons boiling water. Stir, cover the cup, and let sit for 3-4 minutes. It is also possible to make half a recipe.

You can find both the dried limes and the lime/lemon powder at Middle Eastern or Persian food stores. Zand’s is located in Albany, CA on Solano Avenue, blocks from my house. I’m so lucky.

Serves 4
Adapted from Jila Dana-Haeri’s New Persian Cooking: A Fresh Approach to the Classic Cuisine of Iran

Eggplant with Traditional Whey (Kashk-e Bademjan)

2011-07-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

3 medium eggplants
2 egg whites, beaten until foamy
¼ cup oil or more as needed
3 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed or minced
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons dried mint leaves
¼ cup water
2½ teaspoons salt or to taste
¼ teaspoon pepper

Garnish:
5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed or minced
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon dried mint leaves, crumbled
½ cup liquid whey (kashk), mixed with ¼ cup water
Note: Available in Persian or Middle Eastern delicatessens. See photo below.
¼ cup chopped walnuts, optional
¼ teaspoon ground saffron, dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water

1. Peel the eggplants and cut each into four lengthwise slices. Place in a large bowl of water with 2 tablespoons salt and let them soak for 20 minutes. Soaking is supposed to remove the bitterness. Remove and pat them dry with clean dish towels.
2. Brush one side of the eggplants with the foamy egg whites. The egg whites keep the eggplant from absorbing too much oil. Fry the foamy side down in 2 tablespoons of oil until the eggplant is brown. Paint the top side with egg whites before flipping it over to brown the other side. Use medium heat. You will probably need to do this in multiple batches; add more oil as needed.
3. Brown the onions and garlic in 2 tablespoons oil. Add the turmeric and mint flakes and set aside. Add salt to taste.
4. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
5. Alternate layers of the eggplant with layers of the onion and garlic mixture in a rectangular ovenproof dish. Sprinkle each layer of eggplant with salt and pepper. You may have two layers of each. Pour ¼ cup water over it all and bake it covered in the oven for 20 minutes or until tender. You can make it ahead up to this point; refrigerate until needed.
6. For the garnish: Just before serving, lightly brown the garlic in oil. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the mint, whey, walnuts and saffron water. Stir until combined. Pour over the eggplant and bake, covered, for 15 minutes at 300ºF or until heated all the way through.
Note: If you’ve made the dish ahead, return the dish to room temperature, heat gently at 325ºF. for 30 minutes and then add the garnish as above.
7. Serve as part of a Persian dinner with Persian flatbread.

Serves 4-6
Adapted from Najmieh Batmanglij’s New Food of Life

Liquid whey or Kashk

Fresh Herb Stew (Khoresh-e Qormeh Sabzi)

2011-07-26T14:32:00.000-07:00

2 large onions, peels and thinly sliced
2 pounds lamb shanks or 1½ pounds deboned leg of lamb, cut in 2-inch pieces
½ cup vegetable oil
1½ teaspoons salt or to taste
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon turmeric
4 cups water or light stock (chicken or vegetable)
½ cup dried kidney beans or other red beans, soaked in water overnight
4 whole dried Persian limes, pierced with a knife. See photo below.
4 cups finely chopped parsley, about 4 bunches, thick stems removed
1 cup finely chopped chives or scallions, about 1 bunch scallions
1 cup finely chopped cilantro, about 1 bunch, thick stems removed
1 cup chopped fenugreek leaves or ¼ cup dried
Note: Available from purveyors of Indian foodstuffs under the name of Kasoori Methi. See photo below.
2 tablespoons dried Persian lime powder
OR
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice (my preference), 1-2 limes

1. Using a food processor, coarsely chop the parsley, scallions, and cilantro. Of course you can do it by hand if you prefer.
2. In a Dutch oven or a large pot, brown the onions with the lamb in 3 tablespoons oil. Add salt, pepper, and turmeric. Pour in the water or stock. Drain the soaked beans. Add them and the whole dried Persian limes. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes.

3. In a frying pan, sauté the mountain of chopped parsley, chives or scallions, cilantro, and fenugreek in the remaining oil over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until they grow limp and wilted.
4. Add the sautéed herbs and the lime powder or juice to the pot. Cover and simmer for another 30-45 minutes or until the meat is tender and the beans are nicely soft but not mushy.
5. Taste the stew for seasonings and adjust as needed. Place in a warm oven until you’re ready to serve.
6. Serve with plain rice or with Persian flat bread. It is nice have some Cucumbers with Yogurt and Mint with some added garlic.

Serves 6
Adapted from Najmieh Batmanglif’s New Food of Life

Persian dried limes

Fenugreek leaves

Fresh Herb Kuku

2011-07-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

5 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons Persian allspice (advieh)
OR
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon cardamom, ½ teaspoon cumin and dried rose petals, if you can find some
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 cup finely chopped fresh garlic chives or scallions, about 1 bunch
1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley, about one bunch, thick stems removed
1 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro, about 1 bunch, thick stems removed
1 cup chopped fresh dill, about 1 bunch, thick stems removed
Note: You can use a food processor to chop the herbs.
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves, optional
½ cup oil, butter or clarified butter

2 tablespoons dried barberries or dried currents for garnish, optional
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon oil
yogurt for drizzling, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line an 8-inch ovenproof baking dish or a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper.
2. Break eggs into a large bowl. Add the baking powder, Persian allspice mixture, salt, and pepper. Beat with a fork. Add the garlic, chopped herbs, fenugreek if desired, and flour. Mix thoroughly. Adjust seasonings to your taste.
3. Pour ¼ cup oil or butter into the prepared baking dish and place in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Pour in the egg mixture and bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and gently pour the remaining oil or butter over the kuku. Put the dish back in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes longer, until golden brown.
4. Sauté the barberries or currents in oil with 1 teaspoon sugar. Reserve for garnish.
5. Serve kuku in the baking dish or unmold it by loosening the edge with a knife and inverting it onto a serving platter. Cut the kuku into small pieces, drizzle with yogurt if you wish, and sprinkle with the reserved barberries or currents. Serve hot or cold with lavash bread and yogurt.

The photo above shows my kuku with a delicious patty pan squash salad.

Variation: Kuku can also be cooked on top of the stove. Heat the oil or butter in a non-stick skillet, pour in the egg mixture, then cook, covered, over low heat until it has set, about 25-30 minutes. Cook the second side by cutting into wedges and turning them over one by one, adding more oil or butter if needed. Cover and cook for 20-30 minutes longer or until golden brown.

Makes 6 servings
Adapted from Najmieh Batmanglif's New Food of Life and A Taste of Persia (from Epicurious on line)

The Last of the Iran Posts

2011-07-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

So here I am at the end of this series of blog postings about my trip to Iran, April 23 – May 14, 2011. I posted the first one on the shepherds on June 14, made 51 blog entries in June and 9 in July for a total of 60.

I think each post kept getting longer and longer. The more I studied where I had been and what I had seen, the more words just poured out of me. I would be delighted if you take in every word. But skimming through the entries or just looking at the photos will be enough to acquaint you with this complex and fascinating country which I have found intriguing ever since I heard my mother play In a Persian Market on our family’s piano so many years ago.

Geographic Expeditions is doing the world a great favor in offering these tours to Iran. As more people have the chance to see Iran first hand, to talk with the people, to see the ancient culture, to get a feel for the complicated and fraught politics of the country, these travelers, like me, will be enlarged by the experience. And if these people return home to share their experiences, gradually we will all become better informed, with more understanding of the Persian culture and with greater compassion for the Iranian people. At least that is my hope. I owe Geo Ex a great debt of gratitude for making this trip available to me and to my traveling companions. I am so fortunate to have made this trip. It was inspiring. And it is with great pleasure that I now share it with you.

I’ve done my previous travel blogs on this site (London/Syria and Bali), on a day-by-day basis, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3…. While I was able to email from Iran, the computer systems in our hotels were not especially reliable, and the government blocks the blogosphere. So I had no choice but to wait until I was home to put something together.

With my extensive travel journal done, I knew I didn’t want to duplicate the journal format on this blog. Instead, I decided to group together similar topics and experiences. When I started out, I didn’t know how many topics I might cover or even what they might be. But after a few chatty introductory posts back in mid-June, I found my stride and started to identify the topics that interested me the most. They turned out to be Food, Poets, Art and Artisans, Domestic and Functional Architecture, Monumental Architecture, Religious Architecture, and finally Ancient Ruins. I now look back and am stunned. I had a lot to say and it look longer to write (four weeks) than it did to take the trip (three weeks).

I prepared for both of my trips to Iran by reading a lot of books. But in these last four weeks, I have learned so much more, or have solidified what I already knew, in a deep and profound way. Gathering all the ruins together, for example, and grouping them by dynasties, I can really see what Sassanian bas-reliefs look like from one site to the next; I can see the Achaemenian fixation with being carried by vassal tribes; I can see the huge influence that Zoroastrianism had on both of these dynasties.

I have been able to put together some pieces of a gigantic puzzle called Iran by looking closely at one topic after another: doing research, studying sources, and using my own experience and photos to tell the stories. A history, art history, culinary, sociology, anthropology, and archeology class all rolled into one. What a thrill it has been to learn in this way. I did it for myself and now I get to pass it along to you.

So finally here are a few photos I wasn’t able to include in any of the topics. They are the loose ends. I really don’t want to tie Iran up into a nice neat bundle. Doing so would render this remarkable culture and country a grave disservice, for it is neither tidy nor neat. It is complicated, with loose ends of many sorts. I want to leave it that way, for loose ends open up the possibility of change.

Are these the photos we see when the news media speak of Iran? I think not.

We saw these alms boxes all over Iran and saw many people giving money. The best spot, I thought, was right after the collection booth on a toll way.

Tissue boxes were always on restaurant tables, usually in place of paper napkins. They were particularly handy for those of us who picked up colds along the way.

These metal hand and faces and hands were tacked to the door of a mosque by people coming to pray. The mosque is now the Calligraphy Museum in Tabriz.

When someone in the neighborhood dies, the family positions a glittery mirrored box with the photo of the person on a main street with information about the funeral.

These shy young Kurdish girls were visiting the gardens of Taq-e Bostan with the Sassanian Dynasty bas-reliefs. I loved their outfits.

Here I am in front of Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque on Imam Square in Esfahan. My favorite mosque in my favorite city on a gorgeous afternoon. I wish you had been with me.

On Reading This Blog: Miscellaneous Odds and Ends

2011-07-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

When I talk about Reza, I mean Reza, our incredible Iranian guide. I told you about him early on but if you are reading this blog from the top down, you won’t learn about him until you are close to the end. Geo Ex’s Carolyn McIntyre was our tireless and endlessly good-humored tour leader.

Writing Persian words in English is a nightmare. There are at least two or three ways of spelling everything when you are translating from Farsi, written in Arabic, into English. I have tried really hard to spell everything consistently. But if you are looking at other sources, like guidebooks and references on the web, you will find a huge number of imaginative spellings. Almost always, some part of the name is similar. When possible, I used the spelling of my beloved Lonely Planet Iran Guidebook which accompanied me on both trips and which I have consulted so many times.

And here’s a little info on my camera and computer, just in case you’re interested in the technology:

All the photographs on the blog, save 6 or 7, I took with my red Canon Power Shot SD780 elph. In spite of my ignorance of many of the camera's features, I really do like the photos I’ve taken. Any adjustments in terms of cropping, saturation, exposure, detail or whatever, I’ve done with my iPhoto program on my MacBookPro computer. I want to thank Carolyn McIntyre for two photos she took of me, one with the shepherd and one at the tomb of Hafez. I needed to use a few photos from the web for places we didn’t visit, for one place I missed, and a few more.

If you want to see any of the photos in a larger size, just click on the photo. The back arrow will return you to the page you were reading.

And lastly a plea:
I would really appreciate knowing if you spot something incorrect or misleading in this blog. I have tried assiduously to do my homework and to tell stories as fairly and accurately as I could. But I make mistakes and my sources make mistakes.
I would love to know your very favorite posting or photo or whatever it is you take away from reading about Iran.
And please feel free to ask me any questions that have bubbled up for you.

Introduction to the Eighth Set of Snippets: Ancient Ruins, Inscriptions and Bas-reliefs in Iran

2011-07-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

Countries around the world take very different stances in regard to their "ruins." Some set out to reconstruct or rebuild as much as possible. Some want to preserve the site as a "ruin" and pretty much leave it be. I think Iran's stance is somewhere in the middle. Reconstruct what you can and then try to preserve all the stuff that is on the site without disturbing it. The problem arises when some work is done, complete with scaffolding and good intentions, and the money runs out. The scaffolding remains, propping up the partially reconstructed building or obscuring the ancient bas-relief. You'll see examples of this in the sites below.

There are many ancient ruins in Iran, many of them way off the tourists' trail. Fortunately, we were able to see the most accessible and famous sites. Visiting Persepolis is, to my mind, a "must-do" in one's life time. We also visited two excellent archeological museums, the National Museum of Iran (no photos allowed) in Tehran and the Azarbaijan Museum in Tabriz, both of which had artifacts from excavations dating back to the 3rd millennium BCE, such as the one shown above. In this piece, you can see a battle between two lions and a bull. The bull is losing. Watch for the same iconography in Persepolis on the Apadana Palace Stairs.

In the post below, I have started with the oldest ruin we saw whose construction started in 550 BCE under the Achaemenian rulers and move on through to the most recent ruin which was originally built in the 5th century by the Sassanians.

Just a quick note for clarity: In the following section on ruins, Bisotun has two entries, one from the Achaemenian period and the other from the Selucid. Naqsh-e Rostam has two entries as well; it has both Achaemenian and Sassanian treasures.

Ancient Ruins, Inscriptions and Bas-reliefs in Iran

2011-07-10T15:33:00.000-07:00

Palace and Tomb of Cyrus the Great (reign 550-529 BCE), started construction 550 BCE, Pasargadae
As a ruin, there is not much to see at Pasargadae, the city which the Achaemenian Cyrus the Great began around 550 BCE when he first assumed power. There are palaces with only a few columns standing, a bas-relief or two, and the outlines of some channels and pools which brought life to the gardens surrounding the palace.

To the left is a corner pillar that bears an inscription in three languages saying: “I am Cyrus, the Achaemenian king.” Interesting to consider what made him want to leave this note for posterity.

Reza, our Iranian guide, took these very few elements and conjured up for us what the place looked like in its heyday. Perhaps we were sitting on a portico surrounding the palace, looking out at the luxurious gardens filled with fruit trees, flowers, and birds. The water would be trickling past, with little pools where it paused so that we might catch a reflection of the flowers at its side. The flowers and fruit trees produced wonderful smells and occasionally we could reach over toward a bowl of fruit for an orange. You get the idea.

When Darius I assumed the throne in 522 BCE, Pasargadae was relegated to a secondary position as Darius started building first Susa, then Persepolis.

Cyrus’s tomb is located a short ways away from Pasargadae. The tomb was ransacked ages ago and the building which covered it was destroyed; nothing is left of the treasure it once held. But there is still something quite solemn and respectful about the place.

Darius I’s rock face bas-relief and inscription, Achaemenian Dynasty, begun in 520 BCE, Bisotun

On our visit, we found ourselves in the midst of school children, mostly boys, scampering all over the access route to the viewing vantage point. Unfortunately there was not much to view, as scaffolding nearly obscures the whole face. Fortunately there is a poster in the gift shop with a grand picture of the site.

The immense rock face details the victories of Darius the Great (Darius I), to commemorate his victory over Magus Gaumata and the consolidation of his power. Darius is standing over the body of Gaumata and facing him are the eight rulers of provinces that threatened his reign. Behind him are his allies. Above is the winged figure of Ahura Mazda whom he thanks for assistance in his victory. In these bas-reliefs, as in others of this era, the bigger the size of the person, the more important he was. There are cuneiform inscriptions of Darius’ greatness in three languages Elamite, Akkadian or Neo-Babylonian, and Old Persian. Henry Rawlinson, a British army officer, in 1835 made casts of the texts by dangling himself off the cliffs. His casts facilitated scholars in deciphering the Old Persian cuneiform scripts.

City of Persepolis with Tombs, started in 518 BCE by Darius I (522-486 BCE ), near Shiraz and Naqsh-e Rostam

Persepolis was packed with Iranian tourists who, like us, wanted to explore this amazing site from one end to the other. We had to wait our turn to see the procession of vassal nations, just as the subjects had to await their turn to give their offerings to the Achaemenian rulers. The consequence of the crowds was that I couldn’t get many good photos and so I’ve had to draw on a few from my 2008 trip when we also had access to some areas that were closed to us this time. The photo above is the Gate of All Nations, built by Xerxes I, guarded by bull-like figures.

Darius the Great (or Darius I) started to build this complex in about 518 BCE and work continued on it for nearly 150 years. It is thought to have been used for the Zoroastrian New Year’s celebrations when the various nations in the empire came to pay their respects and offer tributes. Persepolis lasted until Alexander the Great entered the city in 330 BCE, carried off the royal treasury, and possibly set it afire. It is not clear whether it was accidental or deliberate. But the glorious Persepolis was destroyed and subsequently abandoned.

For a ruin, it is in relatively good shape because it was covered by dust and sand until excavations in the 1930s uncovered it.

Disclaimer: I can say with absolute certainty that all of these photos were taken at Persepolis. But I must admit that I am not so confident about their exact location on the site. I have done my best to place them correctly; but if you spot any egregious errors, I would be so pleased if you would let me know.

The Apadana Palace from a distance.

This may be from the Apadana. In this room there were six rows of six columns; each one was topped by griffons, bulls or lions set back to back.

To the left is an example of a griffon.

Lion and bull motif on the Apadana Palace Stairs. According to my sources, the lion represents the sun and the bull represents either the moon or the earth. Because this complex was used for the Nowruz or New Year's celebrations which occur on the first day of spring or the vernal equinox, this scene may represent the light winning out over the darkness or it may show that the powers of the sun and the earth or moon are always in equilibrium. Remember a similar scene from the Museum of Azarbaijan, shown in the post above?

Northern panels of Apadana Palace Stairs: Persians in long robes and Medes in short ones.

These are the Persian Palace Guards on the Apadana Palace Stairs.

The following three photos are from the Palace of Darius or Tachara.

Door jams of the north and south doors of the tripylon show King Darius followed by two servants holding a fan and a parasol.

Bas-relief in the Palace of 100 Columns, also known as the Throne Room. To the left is the doorway of the Throne Room. This is the largest of the palaces where delegates from subject nations came to restate their loyalty and to pay tribute to the Achaemenian rulers in the New Year.

Jim and I climbed up to the tombs of Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III with Zoroastrian carvings. Both are shaped like the ones at Naqsh-e Rostam and have bas-reliefs of the king standing before a fire altar, being held up on a platform by 28 vassal nations with the winged symbol of Ahura Mazda overhead.

Ganjnameh, Achaemenian cuneiform inscription, during Xerxes I's reign, Hamadan
Originally thought to be a guide to finding mythical Median treasures, this first of two inscriptions in cuneiform turns out to be a thank you from the Achaemenian ruler Xerxes I (486-465 BCE) to the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda for making him such a good king. It is written in Old Persian, Neo-Elamite and Neo-Babylonian. The second inscription says pretty much the same thing about Darius I (522-486 BCE), Xerxes’ father. After checking out the inscriptions, we stopped for tea at a small tea house and I had my first hookah experience of the trip.

Naqsh-e Rostam, Achaemenian tombs, close to Persepolis
Believed to be the tombs of Achaemenian kings Darius I (died 486 BCE), Xerxes I (died 465 BCE), Artaxerxes I (died 424 BCE), and Darius II (died 405 BCE). The openings led to funerary chambers where the bones were stored after the vultures had picked them clean, as was the Zoroastrian custom. Each tomb is in a cross-shape. This shape has engendered much speculation. What is clear from Reza’s comments about Achaemenian architecture is that they had a huge reverence for balance and symmetry and this shape has both of those elements.

Over the tombs is a bas-relief showing the Achaemenian ruler making an offering to a fire altar while standing on a platform being carried by citizens of his vassel nations. Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian god, is flying overhead. There is an almost identical bas-relief at the tombs in Persepolis, as noted above.
See below for some comments about the Sassanian bas-reliefs below the tombs.

Hercules in high relief, Seleucid dynasty, 148 BCE, Bisotun
The Greek inscription says that this figure was carved for Hyakin in 148 BCE in honor of a local governor. He is identified as Hercules because the club and lion skin on which he is laying is associated with him. Apparently his head was replaced at some point.You can see the place where it was reattached.

Naqsh-e Rostam, Sassanian Dynasty, 224-650, bas-reliefs, located under the Achaemenian tombs, close to Persepolis
These are amazing bas-reliefs of imperial conquests and royal ceremonies from the Sassanian Dynasty. The one shown above is of the investiture of Ardeshir I (224-241), on the left, the founder of the dynasty. Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian god, on the right, is handing him the beribboned diadem, a clear sign that Ardeshir's right to the throne came from god. Ahura Mazda is also holding the sacred barsom of twigs which is fuel for the sacred fire. Under the hoofs of their horses are their enemies. Carved around 240, it also has inscriptions in Middle Persian and Greek identifying the four figures, two of which are behind Ardeshir..

This bas-relief shows Shapur I (241-272) on horseback victorious over the Roman Emperors Philip the Arab, kneeling, and Valerian who was captured in the battle of Edessa in 260.

Taq-e Bostan or The Arch of the Garden, Sassanian Dynasty, 224-650, Kermanshah

This archeological site is set in a beautiful shaded garden with a small pond. The bas-reliefs in grottoes are a pleasure to explore. Above you can see a royal investiture with the king, Khusro II, standing between Ahura Mazda and Anahita. Ahura Mazda, on the right, is handing the king the royal diadem and symbol of power and the goddess Anahita, on the left, is handing him a second ring and pouring out water. Anahita is the composite Iranian deity of domestic animals, fertility, and water. Love and war were added to her list of responsibilities when the Achaemenian king Xerxes I forbade the worship of Ishtar, a Babylonian deity of love and war.

A winged figure is holding the royal diadem.

Here is a knight on horseback in full armour with chain mail with jousting lance raised. Perhaps Khusro II and his horse Shabdiz.

These figures are Sassanian kings, Shapur II and Shapur III. Sassanian rulers wore distinctive headgear which we saw on coins bearing their names and profiles. Scholars have been able to identify the figures on these bas-reliefs and others on the basis of the head gear shown on the coins. Even with the coins below, I can't tell these two apart. But the coins are very cool.

Coin of Shapur II.

Coin of Shapur III.

Takht-e Soleiman, Zoroastrian Temple, 5th century Sassanian Dynasty (224-650), then summer palace of Ilkhanid Dynasty in 13th century, on the way from Zanjan to Tabriz
Located on the edge of a small lake with a high mineral content, the Zoroastrian temple was dedicated to Adur Gushnasp, the fire of the king and warriors, which is one of the three most important fires in Zoroastrianism. It was also used as a site for royal coronation ceremonies. It was built in the late 5th century on top of Parthian buildings with a stone wall and round towers encircling the complex. In the late 13th century it became the summer capital of the Mongol Abaqa (1265-1282) of the Ilkhanid Dynasty, who was interested in reviving the pre-Islamic culture of Iran.

As you can tell from the gray skies above, rain was threatening for most of the morning and mid-way through our exploration started in earnest. It was also very chilly. Consequently I didn't take nearly enough photos, except for this wonderful reconstructed barrel vault to the left and various amazing openings, arches and stonework below. And with teeth chattering, I had a hard time following Reza's explanations, clear and succinct as they were.

As the rain increased, we hurried from place to place and ended up having our “picnic” inside a small store on the edge of the parking lot which was dry but not all that toasty. I would have given anything for a cup of hot tea.

Introduction to the Seventh Set of Snippets: Architecture In Iran

2011-07-08T17:13:00.000-07:00

It is inaccurate to call these posts on architecture snippets. Snippets implies that they are short and to the point. I must say that none of these posts falls under the category of short. But they are very much to the point. “And what is that point?” you might ask. Well, as an example, the point is to see the various palaces we visited from all over Iran arranged on a time line from earliest to most recent and to observe the changes that occurred (or not) over time. I, for one, have found this process fascinating and have learned so much using the thematic approach rather than following the chronology of the trip. I hope you will as well.

The posts about Persian architecture are from the top:
Religious Architecture: Mosques, Shrines and Tombs, Madrasehs, Armenian Churches, Zoroastrian Fire Temples
Monumental Architecture: Palaces, Gardens, and Water
Domestic and Functional Architecture: Ice Houses, Wind Towers, Caravanserai, Public Laundries, Public Bath Houses, Bridges, and Houses of Strength

I’ve also added several posts which will help you understand Domes and Squinches which form the basis and the marvel of so much architecture in Iran and Decorative Stucco Work or Plasterwork which is used to decorate so many buildings.

Domes and Squinches

2011-07-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

I can’t tell you exactly why I have this deep thing for domes—but I do. It all started back with the Brunelleschi dome in Florence in about 1988 where for a few moments I felt as if the spaciousness of the dome resided in my body. I was just sitting underneath it, breathing, and it happened. It was incredible. So the domes of Iran, every bit as spectacular as those in Florence—maybe even more so—have rekindled this deep love, from the simplest like the ice house in Meybod to the most extraordinary like the one in Imam Mosque in Esfahan.

I’m not going to go into the whole history of domes or we’ll be here for pages. Let’s just say that it’s possible to build a dome onto a round building, like the cistern in Yazd to the left, or an octagonal building, like the 1615 madraseh in Shiraz below, without much trouble—except the building of the dome itself. In those parts of Persia where wood was not available, sun baked bricks and mud were used to make houses with vaults, arches, and domes using a system called corbeling. During the Sassanian Dynasty (224-650), round domed Zoroastrian Fire Temples were often built. You’ll also remember that tombs were often octagonal buildings with domes.

In preparing for the trip three years ago, I read Jason Elliot’s Mirrors of the Unseen and a Robert Byron's Road to Oxiana, both of which made me aware of the awesome and daunting task of putting a round object on top of a square one. A little like a square peg in a round hole but upside down. They introduced me to the squinch. (Sounds like something from A Cat in a Hat, doesn’t it.) The first time I saw one—three years ago in Esfahan—I couldn’t help but run around to everyone in the group saying “Do you know what that is?” Pointing up to a corner… “That’s a squinch.” No one was as excited as I. And it’s probably true to this day.

So here’s the thing about squinches: In order to put a dome on a square building, there needs to be an architectural device that forms a transition between the two. If you just plunked down a dome on top of a square, the dome would be supported only just a little bit on the four sides—and that is not enough support.

A squinch is an arch set at an angle on each corner of the building, turning the square into an octagon, as you can see in the diagram to the left. (Source: Dr. Outahbachi-Imad, Kansas State University) An arch is placed on each side wall extending to the same height as the squinch. As time went along, a row of 16 smaller arches, above the squinches and set over the angles of the octagon, formed a 16-sided polygon, as you can see above in the 15th century Alexander's Prison in Yazd. A polygon is a whole lot closer to a circle than a square, and there are 16 points of connection rather than just eight or four. Now you can safely build the dome on top of it. So there, now you are formally introduced to the squinch.

But what is truly amazing, to me anyway, is that the Persians in the Sassanian Dynasty (224-650) invented them. You can see a good example in the Sarvestan Palace which was built 420-438 by King Bahram V in the middle of an empty plain. Located about 90 kilometers east of Shiraz, the building could have been a palace but it could also have been a fire temple. You can see the very simple squinch to the left. Thanks to the internet for these two great photos.

Jamah Mosque in Esfahan which was built over time starting around 771 has an interesting example of a more highly developed system of squinches. This squinch and north dome, in two photos to the left, were built by the Seljuk ruler Taj al-Mulk in 1088 in competition with his rival Nizam al-Mulk who built a similar, but less impressive, south dome in 1086-87.

There is a lot more I could say about domes, but let me add just this: Domes can be single shelled (or walled), double shelled or even triple shelled. Having multiple domes lightens and strengthens the structure in ways I don't entirely understand but it has to do with weight and thrust. The first double shelled dome we saw was the Oljeitu Mausoleum at Soltaniyeh, built from 1302-1312 during the Ilkhanid Dynasty.

I found the double shelled of Imam Mosque in Esfahan, completed in 1629, the most interesting because the outer shell is a different shape from the inner one. As you can see in the photo to the left, the outer one has more of a point and the windows are located in the drum below the dome. On the inside, the dome is much flatter and the windows are located in the dome itself.

Religious Architecture in Iran: Mosques

2011-07-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

First, a brief introduction to Islam.

There are two main branches of Islam: Sunni and the much smaller Shi’a (shi’at ‘Ali or Party of Ali). Iran is Shi’a as is Lebanon and parts of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The split centered around the rightful successor to Mohammed as leader of the faith. The Sunnis said that it should be the best person for the position. The Shi’a claimed that it should be a direct descendant of Mohammed and proposed that it be Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Mohammed and his first convert.

After several other men were chosen as caliph, Ali was finally chosen in 656 but was assassinated in 661. Hosan, the first son of Ali, was appointed and then died. And his second son, Hosein, was chosen and struggled against the caliph Yazid who represented the group that would become the Sunnis. Hosein and his followers were killed in the battle against Yazid’s troups at Kerbala on the 10th day (Ashura) of the month of Moharram, a date that is commemorated every year in Iran with pageants, parades, and mourning. The outdoor square, top left, is the place in Na'in where the pageants take place. In Yazd, men carry the nakhl, to the left, heavily decorated, through the streets as part of the commemoration.

Sunnis and Shi’as share various religious rituals such as prayer, fasting, pilgrimage and both hold the beliefs that “There is no God but God,” that Mohammed was the last prophet, and that there will be a judgment day. Shi’as who consider themselves Twelvers believe that there have been 12 imams, beginning with Ali and that the last one disappeared in 873, leaving the visible world. At some point, this Mahdi will return with Jesus to bring peace and justice to the world.

If you want to learn more about Islam, I would suggest Reza Aslan’s No God But God.
And now on to the mosque.

The mosque has traditionally been the center of religious life for Muslims. Its design was based on the first mosque, Mohammed’s house in Medina which was a central courtyard with a portico of palm trees along one wall supporting a roof of palm fronds. This wall was called the qebleh wall and later came to have the mehrab on it, the place indicating the direction of Mecca. In Iran, the Arab-style or hypostyle plan for a mosque, following that of Mohammed’s house, was first introduced in the 8th century. It is a square or rectangle with an enclosed courtyard, a prayer hall with a flat roof that required many columns to support it and arcades around the courtyard to provide shade.

However, the plan for most of the mosques we saw originated in pre-Islamic times in Iran where grand buildings had an arched entrance and a central dome, particularly during the Sassanian Dynasty. It became customary for the mosque to have minarets where the muezzin would call the faithful to prayer, a dome over the prayer hall, one to four iwans, vaulted spaces facing the central courtyard, with an ablution pool in the middle. The mehrab is located on the qebleh wall in the prayer hall, and the minbar, an elevated chair, where the cleric might give his Friday talk, is often next to it. Carpets are rolled out into the prayer hall and the courtyard to make praying as comfortable as possible for as many as possible. Men and women are separated during prayer.

Jameh means “gathering or community” so the Jameh mosques are those at which people gather on Fridays for prayer.

Jameh Mosque, 8th-10th century, Abbasid period, Na’in

This is one of the oldest mosques in Iran. The mosque is done in the Arabic style or hypostyle design: the prayer hall has many columns to support the flat roof, with porticoes surrounding the courtyard. The brick work was most likely done during the 11th century during the Seljuk Dynasty. There is also quite amazing stucco work on columns and the mehrab.

Jameh Mosque, hypostyle in 10th century, changes in the 11th -17th centuries, Esfahan

This is by far the most complicated mosque in Esfahan primarily because there are so many different architectural styles and periods represented. In comparison to the two Safavid 17th century mosques, this one appears austere; the decoration comes primarily from a creative use of brick and stucco. The Safavids did decorate the iwan over time with beautiful tiles as you can see on the south iwan to the left. But I found that I could see the architecture details better without the glitter of the tiles.

This mosque started out with a hypostyle configuration with porticoes around the central courtyard. In the Seljuk Dynasty in the 11th century, two domes were added, one in the south prayer room and one to the north. To the left is the north dome and below is the squinch system supporting it. This dome was commissioned by Taj al-Mulk of the Seljuk Dynasty around 1088. A fire in 1121 destroyed much of the mosque.

It is now a four iwan mosque around a central courtyard with a pool in the middle.

The vaulted rooms all around the courtyard date from the 12th to 14th centuries. Bricks alone form the patterns. I found these vaults just stunning, each one different.

In a side prayer hall in the western arcade, you can find the mehrab of stucco, commissioned by Ilkhanid Dynasty Sultan Oljeitu (Remember him from the Oljeitu Khodabaneh Mausoleum in Soltaniyeh?) commissioned in 1310.

Jameh Mosque, started in12th century, largely rebuilt in the 14th, Yazd

This mosque was founded by a local Seljuk commander in 1119. The minarets are the tallest in Iran and the narrow iwan is completely covered with blue tile work including stalactites (and, sorry for that, scaffolding). The prayer room has a squat tile double dome with amazing squinches which look like a basket-weave to me.

The tall faience mosaic mehrab from 1365 is gorgeous. The doors allow petitioners to come to the cleric to ask questions or seek his advice.

The Blue Mosque, constructed 1465, Timurid Dynasty, Tabriz
When we first walked up to the entrance, one of our group said “Well, it certainly isn’t in very good shape.” Little did we know that prior to 1951, most of the mosque was a pile of rubble. It was destroyed by earthquakes in 1773 and 1779. The only part remaining was the entrance iwan, shown above, with remnants of cable tiles and mosaics. The reconstruction teams are still at work. They have chosen to draw in the parts where the tiles are missing rather than replace with new tiles.

The plan of this mosque was unusual in that the central courtyard was turned into a large domed room with an entrance on each of the four sides. The mehrab is in a smaller domed room. The mosque was noted for its beautiful tile work and calligraphy, with olive green, ochre and brown added to the usual blues and whites of the tile.

Sheikh Lotfallah Mosque or the Women's Mosque, built 1602-1619, Safavid Dynasty, Esfahan

This mosque was designed exclusively for the women of the court. It was built without a courtyard and minarets (no need to call the public to prayer). An underground tunnel runs from Ali Qapu Palace to the mosque. The small but spectacular prayer room is located at the end of a dark corridor for the security purposes. The entrance has particularly well-done stalactites in the vault.

The tile is exquisite. Ali Reza Abbasi created both the tile and the calligraphy that was used here. The peacock’s tail in the center of the double dome is created by sun rays coming through a small hole at the top of the dome. Check out the complexity of transition from the square room to the circular double dome. So beautifully done, you can’t imagine it being any other way.

Imam Mosque, construction started 1611, Safavid Dynasty, Esfahan
Shah Abbas of the Safavid Dynasty moved his capital to Esfahan from Qazin in the north to avoid further conflict with the Ottomans and the Uzbeks, to gain more control over the Persian Gulf, and to centralize his power by creating a splendid new capital with a spectacular square around which was housed the three groups of people he wanted to keep an eye on: the merchants in the Grand Bazaar, the clergy in the mosques, and the court in Ali Qapu Palace.

He wanted his mosque, at present called Imam Mosque, to be the grandest of all and took some shortcuts in order to have it finished in his lifetime. Seven Color tiles were used in addition to faience mosaic to speed the work along. There are several speculations as to why the dome lies to the right of the entrance portal:

1) that it was the only way to align the prayer room in the direction of Mecca but still have the main entrance line up with the bazaar at the opposite end of the square.
2) that it would make the dome more visible from the square and
3) that it was based on a very precise geometrical calculation using the Golden Mean (Divine Proportion) which Jason Elliot writes about in his Mirrors of the Unseen.

The entrance to the mosque has elaborate stalactite tile work in the vault with minarets on either side. The interior is based on the four iwan design around a central courtyard with a large pool in the middle. The south iwan leads to the prayer hall and the mehrab; the east and west iwan lead to madrasehs; and north is the one through which you enter the courtyard.

The dome in the prayer room was the tallest in the city when it was finished in 1629. It is a double dome with the outer shape different from the inner one. The dome rests on an octagonal room with beautiful squinches in the corners. All the spaces, inside and out, are covered with tiles.

Nasir ol-Molk Mosque or the Pink Mosque, completed in 1888, Qajar Dynasty, Shiraz

The outer walls and the south iwan are covered with Seven Color tiles of a pink flower motif.

In the winter prayer hall there are beautiful stained glass windows, vaults decorated with geometric patterns and twisted pillars with stylized palmettes.

Religious Architecture in Iran: Shrines and Tombs

2011-07-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

Alaviyan Dome (without the dome), and Tomb, 12th century, Hamadan

This brick building was constructed to hold the tombs of the prosperous Alaviyan family of Hamadan in the crypt. It is believed to have been built in the 12th century, during the Seljuk Dynasty, but to have had the stucco work added in the Ilkhanid period during the 14th. It is not clear when it lost its dome. The scaffolding distracts from the nice architectural features of this tomb. The stucco work on the inside was excellent.

Oljeitu Khodabaneh Mausoleum, built in 1306-1312, Soltaniyeh near Zanjan

Oljeitu of the Ilkhanid Dynasty, built this mausoleum with the intention of bringing the tombs of Imams Ali and Hosein, the first and third Shi’a Imams who were killed and buried in Najaf and Kerbala in Iraq, back to rest in Iran. The towns refused and so Oljeitu decided to use the tomb for himself. He was buried here in 1317.

This octagonal building, built of brick, was was the first to completely cover the outside of the double-shelled dome as well as the stalactites at the entrance with turquoise tiles. The inside was decorated with bricks, tiles and stucco. A vaulted gallery runs around the base of the huge egg-shaped dome; the gallery is decorated with the red geometric carved and painted plasterwork designs I like so much.They almost look like quilts in these photographs.

Bogheh-ye Seyed Roknaddin Tomb (or Imamzadeh Rokna al-Din), dating to 1325, Yazd
This is the tomb of Seyed Roknaddin Mohammed Qazi, a local Islamic notable. It was not unusual for wealthy citizens to build what are called imamzadeh, which refers both to a descendant of an imam and to the place where he is buried. Unfortunately we only saw this tomb in passing. The tile work on the dome was just lovely, in spite of the electrical wires obscuring the view.

Astan-e Qods-e Razavi Complex or The Holy Shrine of Imam Reza who died in 816, Mashhad

We weren’t allowed to see the most famous of the buildings, being non-Muslims. So the shrine where Imam Reza is buried and Gohar Shad’s Mosque built between 1405 and 1418 were off limits. Gohar was wife of Timurid Shah Rokh who ruled from 1405-1447. The complex continues to expand with museums, mosques, and reception areas for foreigners.

We had our first and only chance to don light blue chador and move through the rain like slightly clumsy jellyfish. And to brave the extremely crowded women’s checkpoints where we were patted down and questioned as though we might be carrying explosives. Interestingly, we weren’t allowed to bring cameras into the complex, but we could bring cell phones with built-in cameras. So even though I couldn’t use my cell phone as a phone in Iran, I could use it as a camera.

Monitors in uniforms, armed with brightly colored feather dusters, were around to direct the multitudes of pilgrims visiting the complex and to make sure that everyone was obeying the various regulations.

The complex has a large number of volunteers who offer their time every week to help keep the site spotless. Can you see this fellow cleaning the chandelier?

Decorative Stucco Work in Iran

2011-07-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

Carved stucco, gach, or plasterwork is wet gypsum that is applied to whole walls or to particular parts of a structure, such as the mehrab in the mosque, indicating the direction of Mecca. It is both inexpensive, easy to work with, and long-lasting and can be molded and carved into exquisite lace-like patterns. While examples date back to the Parthian and Sassanian Dynasties, the work we saw was mostly done between the 10th and 14th centuries, during the Seljuk and the Ilkhanid Dynasties. The photo above is from the 10th century mosque in Na'in. The one below is from the mehrab of the Winter Hall at the Jameh Mosque in Esfahan. It is the most elaborate form of stucco work that we saw. I wish we could have seen it being done.

The floral designs might include arabesques of stems, leaves, and calligraphy interwoven on several levels to create a sense for depth and movement.

The stucco can also be molded to form stalactites, here at the Jameh Mosque in Esfahan, which might be covered with tiles or mirrors.
Plasterwork can also be painted.

Gypsum can also be used to form boxes which can be carved, as in the Music Room at the Ali Qapu Palace in Esfahan.

Religious architecture in Iran: Madrasehs or Religious Schools

2011-06-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

Reza, our guide, told us about the system of education in the madraseh or seminary as we sitting in the shaded courtyard of Madraseh-ye Khan in Shiraz. If you work hard and are academically talented, you can move through your education quickly. It is all about acquiring a thorough familiarity with a particular body of knowledge rather than taking a set number of classes or putting in a certain number of years. Usually the curriculum involves an advanced training in Shi'a theology and jurisprudence, although a number of other subjects may be included as well. Madraseh grew out of the custom of people gathering at mosques with a knowledgeable Muslim to discuss religious issues. In the Seljuk Dynasty in the 11th century, Nizam al-Mulk created a state system of madrasehs or nizamiyyehs.

Madraseh-ye Khan, Shiraz

This beautiful madraseh was built in Shiraz in 1615 by the Safavid governor of the province, but due to the prevalence of earthquakes, only octagonal entrance hall is original.

This is a perfect example of the traditional design for a madraseh: a large courtyard with a pool bounded by date palms and Seville orange trees. The courtyard is surrounded by arcades that lead to the students’ rooms.

A Madraseh of unknown name, close to the Public Bath House Museum, Esfahan

We stood outside this madraseh, whose name I never discovered, waiting for our bus. It had a beautiful example of angular Kufic calligraphy in tile work, shown above, and the stalactites on the entrance were some of the nicest I’d seen, primarily because the entrance wasn’t so huge or so tall.

Religious Architecture in Iran: Armenian Churches

2011-06-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

The Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church was founded, according to tradition, by Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeas in the later part of the 1st century. Armenia was the first country to accept Christianity as the state religion in 301. Most Armenian Christians originally settled in the area around Jolfa, in northern Iran, close to the border with Armenia.

Shah Abbas of the Safavid Dynasty forcibly moved 10,000 Armenian families from the area around Jolfa to Esfahan in the 17th century in order to assist him in rebuilding his new capital. They settled across the river in a part of the city which they named New Jolfa. The Armenians were known as being particularly fine craftsmen and, to this day, Reza told us, you want your car mechanic to be Armenian.

Armenian Church of St. Stephanos, outside Jolfa
We traveled by bus from Tabriz to Jolfa, close to the border of the Republic of Azerbaijan, to see this magnificent church and monastery. There is speculation about the earliest construction on this site (founded by St. Bartholomew in 62 AD or by an Armenian king in the 9th century) but the oldest part of the current structure is from the 14th century and most was constructed in the 16th. The setting is spectacular.

The carvings on the outside of the church, including a bas-relief of St. Stephanos being stoned to death, are very well preserved.

The dome is encircled by angels. Look at the similarity of the painted angel below and the carved angel above.

This soot-coated room and dome may have been a Zoroastrian Fire Temple, but it also might have been the kitchen for the site.

The monastery is still under reconstruction but the garden in front of it is beautiful.

Armenian Vank or All Saviors’ Cathedral, Esfahan

The church was begun in 1606 but was largely rebuilt in 1650-53, following the arrival of the Armenian families from Jolfa. The bell tower was built in 1764. The sanctuary, where photography is not allowed, is lined with one gruesome painting of torture and bloodshed after another. I found the paintings oppressive and left to visit the museum.

The most memorable part of my experience at the cathedral was my conversation with a group of young teenage school girls in the adjacent museum. They surrounded me and started with:
Can we ask you a few questions? Yes.
And continued:
Where are you from? America.
How do you like Iran? It is very beautiful.
Oh thank you. How do you like wearing the scarf? It is the law in your country. I want to visit your country so I must obey the law.
I decided to ask them some in return:
Do you have cell phones? Yes.
Do you talk to your friends on them? Yes.
What do you talk about? Our studies.
Do you ever talk about boys? Giggle giggle giggle. Oh no. We only talk about our studies.

Religious Architecture in Iran: A Zoroastrian Fire Temple and Towers of Silence

2011-06-30T09:53:00.000-07:00

Zoroastrianism was the primary religion of Iran from the early 500s BCE. It seems that Zoroaster (or Zarathustra) preached the message of one omnipotent, invisible and creator god, Ahura Mazda, represented by the burning flame in Zoroastrian temples, from as early as 1400 BCE. Life is a struggle between good and evil, darkness and light, according to Zoroaster, in which the good will ultimately triumph. The Achaemenians and the Sassanians proclaimed it the state religion, the priests assumed a great deal of power, and it remained dominant until the Arabs invaded in the 7th century bringing Islam with them. There are only 10,000-15,000 Zoroastrians living in Iran today, according to one set of statistics, mostly in Yazd and Tehran.

Zoroastrian Fire Temple
We visited a relatively modern Fire Temple in Yazd dating from 1940, but, according to tradition, the flame of this temple has been burning since 1174 in various places in Iran. Only the priests are allowed behind the glass through which we saw the flame.

You can see the Zoroastrian symbol above the door. A bird-man holds a ring which symbolizes loyalty in one hand, with the other hand held up as a sign of respect. The three layers of feathers in the wings represent the belief that you should think, speak, and act decently.

Towers of Silence

Up until the 1960s when the city of Yazd started to encroach on the Towers of Silence, the Zoroastrian population of the city carried their dead up to the Towers of Silence in a solemn procession led by a priest, carefully set the body on a large stone slab and left it there to be eaten by the vultures. Because they believed in the purity of the elements (water, earth, air, and fire) they didn’t believe in burying or burning the bodies for fear of tainting the earth or polluting the air.

It was a bleak and sorrowful place and the elderly man with his donkey did nothing to dispel the mood.

Monumental Architecture in Iran: Palaces, Gardens, and Water

2011-06-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

Most of the 17th, 18th and 19th century palaces we saw in Iran were used as reception halls and entertainment venues. They have several features in common: they are often set a garden with flowers, fruit trees, and cypresses and with some sort of water feature; and the buildings themselves are quite elegantly designed with pavilions, domes, tile or mirrored work or both, and various other kinds of ornamentation. We saw remnants of Cyrus the Great’s palace, garden, and water channels and ponds, built at Pasargadae around 500 BCE. So this idea of a palace set in a garden with flowing water goes way way back, as you'll see in the following six examples.

Chehel Sotun Palace, completed in 1647, Safavid Dynasty, Esfahan

This is a truly lovely palace. The name means 40 columns: 20 in the actual palace and 20 more reflected in the pool in front. Mirrored stalactites in the front entrance and beautiful Safavid paintings (and two much less refined Qajar paintings) in the reception area of the palace add to the richness and texture of the place.

Hasht Behesht Palace, completed in the 1669, Safavid Dynasty, Esfahan

This palace whose name translates as Eight Paradises, is set in Nightingale Garden. You can see the fellows cleaning out the pool in front of the palace; and we saw others replacing the still-blooming pansies for impatiens.

This palace is not as elegant on the outside as Chehel Sotun, but it is more amusing: check out the tiled story of the man with a fly on his forehead being assisted by his pet bear who is about to throw a large rock at his master’s forehead to kill the fly. No one needs to have the moral spelled out. It is here that we heard the fellow playing his tar in one of the small first floor rooms.

Ali Qapu Palace or Magnificent Gate, early 17th century, Safavid Dynasty, Esfahan

Originally built as a Timurid (15th century) palace, it was enlarged by Shah Abbas, the Safavid builder extraordinaire. A big thank you to the internet for the outside photo of Ali Qapu. You can also see it in the miniature. We paused in the pavilion to look out over Imam Square in the photo to the left.

And then we trudged our way up to the sixth floor to see the Music Room, so named because of the vaults cut into niches in the shape of musical instruments and vases. It was well worth the effort but we wondered how in the world the shah climbed all the steps. Apparently he would have been carried but the narrow twisting of the stair wells makes this hard to fathom.

Bagh-e Dowlat Abad, 18th century, Zand Dynasty, Yazd
I talked about this palace (or house) in connection with the wind tower or badgir. It was built in 1750 by Karim Khan Zand.

Bagh-e Eram Garden, 19th century, with a Qajar palace, Shiraz

This is a beautiful garden. The College of Law of Shiraz University has taken over the Qajar palace and hence it is not open to the public. We wandered through the garden admiring the cypress trees for which it is famous as well as the roses, pansies and other flowers. I loved the nice touches like the light posts. It was in this garden that I saw a group doing calisthenics one morning.

Bagh-e Naranjestan, Orange Garden and Qavam House, 19th century, Qajar Dynasty, Shiraz

The garden here is full of flowers and of people enjoying them and each other. You can see the fountain spouting water. The house was built by an upper class merchant family, the Qavams, who worked their way into government. There are some great examples of “tea house” portraits of Qajar nobles done in tile and the mirrored porch, behind the spout, is truly something. We spotted the Qashqa’i nomad in her bright red and gold dress in this garden.

Golestan Palace or Palace of Flowers, 19th century, Qajar Dynasty, Tehran

This was the first palace we toured on our first day in Tehran. The Qajars moved their capital to Tehran and consequently constructed various palaces and buildings suitably extravagant. We walked past the water in front of the reception area and the mirrored room with an outrageously large throne.

I heard for the first time about Seven Color Tiles. The Qajars introduced “western” subject matter into the painting of tiles, as exemplified in the tile of two women. The Lion and the Sun was the Qajar dynasty’s royal emblem.

Introduction to Traditional Domestic and Functional Architecture in Iran

2011-06-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

In addition to the monumental buildings we visited, we also saw a number of buildings which were in one way or another useful to the citizens of the city in their daily lives. The designs of these buildings are often quite ancient but none we saw was much older than the 17th century. Some of these buildings would have been made from unglazed bricks and covered with a combination of mud and straw. If they were not kept in good repair, the weather, both rain and heat, would over time destroy them. This photo shows the town of Meybod, on the road from Yazd to Esfahan, looking out from the citadel in the middle of town.

Because lumber was not readily available in the desert, domes were often used in building houses, public structures, and even chicken coops. Domes are well suited to a desert climate because the airflow in a domed room is far superior to that in a rectangular one. Particularly important in a chicken coop. I love the bumpy domes in the foreground above.

These arches in the old town of Yazd, in need of constant repair I'm sure, were too beautiful not to capture.

Ice House in Meybod

2011-06-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

A great example of imaginative architecture is the ice house, a very useful structure for dry hot desert towns. The one we saw was located in Meybod, on the road from Yazd to Esfahan, and possibly dates from the Safavid Dynasty, 17th century.

During the winter, ice would be collected from rivers or pools and brought to the ice house, whose walls were often four feet thick. The pieces would be placed in layers in the underground bowl-shaped area. The layers would be interspersed with hay or other forms of insulation.

The dome, to the left, had a very small opening so as to keep the sun and the heat out. The ice stored in this manner could last through the summer.

Wind Towers or Badgirs in Yazd on the Edge of the Desert

2011-06-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

Wind towers or badgirs still grace some of the homes in Yazd in the old part of the city. Traditionally, they would be located over a pool of water so that as the wind came down it would pass across the pool, cooling it, vaporizing some of the water and carrying the cool moisture to the room and to the house. The introduction of air conditioning has diminished the use of wind towers, I’m sorry to say.

They were also often built along with cisterns which would store water delivered to the city via qanats, an extensive system of wells and underground tunnels which brought water from the mountains to desert towns and cities. The wind towers would help to keep the water cool.

The wind tower of Bagh-e Dowlat Abad, a palace and garden built by Karim Khan Zand in 1750, is one of the tallest in town. You can see the outside of the dome, shown below, just in front of the wind tower to the left.

The dome located inside the house is just beautiful.

Caravansersai

2011-06-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, caravanserai dot the countryside, either in ruins, in some partial state of repair, or completely rehabilitated as a guest house or hotel for travelers. Many are from the Safavid Dynasty, 17th century, as Shah Abbas set out to build 999 of them along the Silk Road(s) to encourage traders to bring their wares through Iran.

As you can see from the plan to the left, there was only one entrance to the courtyard. Shops and storerooms faced the courtyard and the corridors and arcades on the inside were used as housing for travelers.

Public Laundry Museum in Zanjan

2011-06-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

This public laundry was built by the mayor of the town in 1926 as a nice place for the women of Zanjan to do their laundry and enjoy each other’s company. The beautiful brick arches and barrel vaults are a far cry from our sterile and utilitarian laundromats here.

We saw three museums which featured wax models to illustrate the use of the particular places: a kitchen museum associated with the White Palace in Tehran, this public laundry, and the Public Bath Museum in Esfahan below.

The Public Bath House or Hamam in Esfahan

2011-06-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

Public bath houses or hamam were common until the advent of indoor plumbing in houses. Some are still operational, but mostly for men, as far as I can tell.

This hamam, built by a private donor who also built the nearby madraseh, bazaar, and caravanserai (no longer in existence), is now a museum, with gorgeous tile work and imaginative water spigots. Several museums we visited make good use of human-sized figures to depict the activity going on. The figures here are particularly interesting.

There is another interesting intersection with the Houses of Strength or zurkhaneh. Depicted here on a wall are four athletes, two working out with their Indian clubs and the two in the middle wrestling. I wonder if it was their custom, after working out, to come to the bath house for a soak and a scrub. It would make sense to me.

Bridges of Esfahan

2011-06-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

I’ve already shown you a photo of one of the 17th century Safavid Dynasty bridges in Esfahan in the very first post about the elderly gentlemen gathering at Khaju Bridge. Here is another view of it. You'll remember that during our visit there was no water in the river because of irrigation needs on the outskirts.

Now here is something interesting in connection to the Houses of Strength. There are two statues of a lion with a man's head in his mouth at each end of Khaju Bridge. The man is clearly alive and is peering out of the mouth. The lions are decorated with some of the exercise equipment the athletes use in the zurkhaneh: the clubs are on the lions' front legs, and the bow and the piece of wood representing a door are on the side. I wish I could remember the whole story---I'll see if I can find out and report. Riding the lion is a favorite thing to do with kids of all ages.

Here are a couple of additional bridges:

Si-o-Seh Bridge or Bridge of 33 Arches from the Safavid Dynasty.

Shahrestan Bridge is the oldest bridge in town, dating from the 12th century though its underpinnings are from the Sassanian Dynasty in the 3rd century.

Houses of Strength

2011-06-28T12:20:00.000-07:00

Houses of Strength or zurkhaneh are neighborhood places all over the country where men can gather to work out. The space itself is quite simple: the walls are filled with photographs of previous athletes and other memorabilia, exercise equipment lines the octagonal sunken area, large enough for 10 or 15 men to practice a set series of exercises in unison. We spent an evening watching a practice in Esfahan.

In addition to the physical exercises designed to built strength (slinging about Indian clubs, lifting a heavy plank of wood while lying on your back, using heavy metal bows to build shoulder strength) and balance (whirling about as fast as possible with your arms outstretched), there is a spiritual component as well. The practice originated in pre-Islamic Persia but now incorporates various Islamic virtues as well: strength, courage and respect for Mohammed and the Imams.

The leader of the zurkhaneh, usually a former athlete, sits on a raised platform, playing the drum, and singing from Shanameh and Hafez. He also instructs the athletes after the ritualized exercise is over and asks them questions such as “Why were you late to the practice this evening?”

Introduction to the Sixth Set of Snippets: Artisans and Artists in a Persian Market

2011-06-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

This next set includes brief introductions to a number of artists and artisans we visited while in Iran. This is by no means a comprehensive index of all the men and women working in the arts and crafts business. But it does give you a peek into the importance of these crafts in the traditional culture of Iran.

The big question is: Will the traditional culture of Iran last? Or will everything modern take precedence? Again and again, we heard artisans say that they were worried about the future of their art because their sons and daughters are not interested in learning the trade. My hope is that more masters, such as Ali Saee, the metal worker discussed below, will bring in apprentices to study under them. And that young people, so many of whom are unemployed, will choose to learn a craft as a viable alternative to unemployment or a more “modern” job.

Persian Carpets and the People Who Make Them and Sell Them

2011-06-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

Carpet weaving and selling is a significant part of Persian culture. In traditional houses, family members and guests remove their shoes at the door and come into a space, no matter how big or small, that is covered with as fine a selection of Persian rugs as the family can afford. The fine rugs are passed down from one generation to the next. Most communal activities take place on the floor: eating, resting, talking. Now, of course, times have changed and many families, like the Sanganians, have chairs and a dining table. But the reverence for carpets remains.

I am not the person to tell you everything you might like to know about the intricacies of making or buying carpets. I appreciate them as works of art, made by incredibly skilled men and women, often in quite humble surroundings. Visit your local carpet store, like one I frequent in Berkeley, Noor and Sons Rug Gallery. They will give you all the information you need.

In Tehran, we visited the Carpet Museum, a beautiful space with more gorgeous carpets than you can imagine. Here are a few of my favorites, including the two above. The one to the left is a copy of the oldest one from the 5th century BCE. The original is in the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad.

We saw a traditional loom set up for demonstration purposes only, I suspect, at a caravanserai in Meybod. This sort of cotton carpet, often seen in blue and white, is used to cover the floors of mosques in this part of the country.

In Esfahan we visited two carpet stores and were shown a wonderful selection of rugs: traditional, nomadic, silk, wool, using natural dyes or synthetic dyes, old, new, big and small. I was tempted by several of them. Fortunately several of my traveling companions were more than tempted and purchased some beauties. So I could, without guilt, soak in the designs, colors, history and workmanship without having to pay the price. I may regret my decision. But there you go.

You can see from these three that I am more drawn to nomadic rugs than to the more traditional designs.

A Fabric Printer

2011-06-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

We had been to visit the Jameh Mosque in Esfahan and walked back through the market that connected that mosque with the main Imam Square in the center of town. It was a long walk. After we had walked about a third of the way, Reza, our guide, started asking shop owners if there were a tea house in the market where we might stop for a much-needed break. None suited him. Either they were too small to accommodate the 12 of us or they were too grungy. So he hit upon a splendid idea: find a shop selling something interesting, settle us in for the sales pitch, and pretty soon glasses of tea would appear, as is customary in those situations, to help convince us to purchase their wares. The plan worked perfectly.

The shop he found sold hand-printed cloth. There was an elderly fellow in the front of the space demonstrating how it was done; it was clear that it was hard and exacting work. He was charming, with a lovely twinkle in his eyes. Even though I didn’t believe for a second that he had produced all the cloth in the store by himself, he was fascinating to watch. No doubt there is a workshop someplace with a lot of people stamping away. But never mind, it was a lovely experience and we got our much needed rest and a cup of tea.

I bought some napkins with little tassels which I thought made them look different from the napkins you might find at Cost Plus or Pier 1. Katherine Fulton isn't so sure about the tassels. The design of the fabric includes the Persian paisley design we saw on the salad in Yazd. The paisley design comes from the outline of a cypress tree with a little wind blowing through its pointy top. Scroll down through the salads until you find the right one. You'll spot it.

A Metal Worker

2011-06-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

The group was moving its way slowly down a side street close to Esfahan’s famous Imam Square when we heard a tap tap tap coming from a small shop on our left. We peered inside and saw a young man working on a strip of metal, incising it with a tiny, detailed, and quite beautiful design. He said he was practicing his skills.

It turns out that he is an apprentice to a master metalworker, Ali Saee, who was not in the shop at the time. The shop's name is, not surprisingly, Saee's Art Gallery. The image to the left was scanned from his business card.

The young man showed us an incredible silver Koran cover which the master had just finished.
We thanked him for demonstrating his skill and slowly moved on down the street to our bus. I think he was grateful to get back to his work.

Miniaturists

2011-06-23T21:17:00.000-07:00

In Tehran, midway on our flight from Tabriz to Mashhad, we visited The Reza Abbasi Museum (a miniaturist and calligrapher from the 17th century) which had a stunning collection of miniature paintings. They weren’t teeny tiny but the workmanship and the startling designs were simply gorgeous. Look at the antelope on the right bounding out of the frame of the picture with such a desire to escape the hunters.

So I was prepared, more or less, for the beautiful work of several miniaturists in Esfahan. In the first shop, Persian Art Gallery, Reza Toghi, one of two miniaturists working in the gallery, demonstrated his skill and speed by drawing a man and his donkey on a small square of black paper in white ink with a minimum of strokes but recognizable in every way. He gave it to a member of our group and she passed it along to me. I am so grateful. You can see it below.

We were then free to look around the showcases and admire both his work and that of his students. Painted on pieces of camel bone, they were incredibly small, each exquisite in its own way. Many of them showed polo games as they were played during the Safavid Dynasty (17th century) in Imam Square just outside his shop. Horses, men, action, a mosque, a palace, and the market. And painted with the tiniest brushes you can imagine. You'll learn more about the buildings depicted here in upcoming posts on architecture.

A Maker of Traditional Persian Musical Instruments

2011-06-23T20:42:00.000-07:00

I’ve already mentioned this wonderful shop in Yazd in connection with Persian music. Moslem Mirzazadeh makes traditional Persian instruments, the tar and the settar, both of which he played for us. In the photo at the above, he’s playing the tar.

Traditional Shoe Makers

2011-06-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

We saw two traditional shoe makers during our time in Iran. The fellow shown above has a shop and workroom in a balcony over the Public Laundry Museum in Zanjan. You can see sample of his shoes hanging from the ceiling behind him. He was much more interested in showing us a copy of the dissertation a woman had written about him than he was in showing us his shoes.

The second fellow had a shop in the market in Esfahan, close to Jameh Mosque. A pair of his shoes, made in the traditional manner with traditional materials, would cost about $50. I like the way the toes turn up at the ends. Why would they turn up, I wonder?

Makers of Tiles

2011-06-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

Tiles are used to cover many surfaces in Iran, most notably mosques, shrines, palaces, and tombs. They are used to protect these buildings from the elements on the outside and hence have to be water-tight and durable and to beautify these buildings on the inside. So the role of the tile makers and tile workers is very important indeed. The exterior tile work on the dome of Imam Mosque in Esfahan, to the left, is faience mosaic. Below is a shot of the interior tile work in Imam Mosque.

We learned about two major kinds of tile work:

Faience mosaic tile work. Large sheets of individually colored tiles are fired, each according to the specific temperature that the color needs to be most beautiful. Following the design on a paper pattern, these larger tiles are cut into smaller shapes and set into gypsum to form a mosaic pattern. This form of tile making came into prominence in the Ilkhanid Dynasty in the 13th and 14th centuries but continued into the 16th and 17th century as well. The photo above showing the intricate detail of faience mosaic is from the Blue Mosque in Tabriz which dates from 1465 but collapsed in an earthquake in 1773. It is in the process of being rebuilt. Notice the beautiful calligraphy woven into the third strip from the bottom.

Seven Color Tiles. These square tiles are positioned together, painted as a whole, often with very complicated designs, and then fired. They were developed and used a lot by the Safavid Dynasty in the 17th century as they were rebuilding Esfahan and continued to be in used through the Qajar Dynasty in the 19th century. These tiles are not as brilliant as the faience mosaic tiles because they are fired at a temperature which best suits the majority of the colors but not all of them. Over time, the colors fade. But they are much less expensive to produce.The example to the left comes from the Pink Mosque in Shiraz and dates from the 19th century.

In Yazd we had the chance to visit a tile store. One of the owners does tile repair work on many of the tiled structures around Iran. Repairing old tiles is one reason the tile craft has stayed alive and well in Iran. The small tiles and ceramic objects that we saw in the shop are made primarily for the tourist trade. They are wonderful, none the less.

Introduction to the Fifth Set of Snippets: Ferdowsi and Hafez

2011-06-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

The story goes that any Iranian household is likely to have three books: the Koran, Shanameh, the epic tales of pre-Islamic Persia told in verse by Ferdowsi in the 10th century, and The Divan, a book of poetry by Hafez, written in the 14th century. OK, so I understand the Koran. It would be comparable to having the Bible in an American Christian household. But two books of poetry? Add to that the fact that many Iranians are able to quote from these books, sing parts of them, and that they visit their tombs with great enthusiasm and in prodigious numbers. It is quite remarkable and again and again we experienced the influence of these two men and their books on the culture of Iran.

Of course there are many wonderful Persian writers and poets. But I'm going to tell you about these two because they both came to have some meaning for me and we too visited their tombs.

Ferdowsi, the Poet from Tus

2011-06-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

Ferdowsi, born in 940 in Tus, right outside of Mashhad, already a well-regarded poet at 30, was commissioned by the Saminid princes of Khorasan to write a poetic version of an older prose text called the Book of Lords. He completed it in 1010. Unfortunately he had not been paid by the princes who hired him. And at some point during his 40 or so years of writing more than 50,000 verses, these princes were ousted by the Ghaznavid Turks who were not particularly sympathetic to his project.

Shanameh or Book of Kings tells the story of two mythic or legendary dynasties and two historical dynasties and stops just short of the momentous Arab invasion in the 7th century. The archetypal Persian hero of the book, Rostam, who embodies integrity, strength and chivalry, wages righteous battles and undergoes many trials and tests of endurance and courage. It’s a story that makes Persians proud of their pre-Islamic history and ancient glory. And apparently it is beautifully written. The statue we saw in Tehran outside Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi’s White Palace is a figure from Shanameh.

But there is more to its importance than that. In the 10th century, Arab culture was bumping up against Persian culture and language and threatening to over run it. Ferdowsi, fully understanding the threat, wrote Shanameh in a pure form of Persian, removing as many Arab-derived words as possible and as a result codified the Persian language for future generations. Or so the story goes.

The mausoleum which we visited in Tus was built in 1926 by Reza Shah Pahlavi, on the site of Ferdowsi’s tomb. Inside are giant carvings of some of the stories from Shanameh.

Our guide to the city of Mashhad, Ali, sang us one of the stories from Shanameh standing at the foot of Ferdowsi's tomb, his lovely voice reverberating throughout the large space filled with mythical creatures, ruthless enemies, and valiant heroes.

Hafez, the Poet from Shiraz

2011-06-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

Hafez was born around 1315. Not much is known about his life, except that he spent most of it in Shiraz, and a good part of what you hear is a figment of someone's overly active imagination. I'm not going to add to the speculation.

I picked up a translation of his poems before coming to Iran in 2008. I had read that it was customary for pilgrims in Iran to carry Hafez with them and each morning, or so I interpreted it, turn to a page, read the poem carefully, and use it as some kind of guidance for the day.

The translation I used was David Ladinsky’s The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master. Ladinsky has been criticized for not working from the original Persian, for essentially making a translation of a previous translation, and in some cases fabricating Hafez-like poems. I must admit that the criticisms give me pause. But at the same time, I find Ladinsky’s poetry fresh, engaging, and relevant. I decided to believe that, the scholarly imperfections not withstanding, these were wonderful poems and that Hafez would have approved of their spirit and intent.

So nearly every morning I opened my book and read a poem. In one case, I found one that was so startlingly relevant that I copied it on a piece of paper, stuffed it into my purse, and looked at it again and again as the day went on. It began “Anger sinks the boat.”

After a long day at Persepolis and Naqsh-e Rostam, we visited the mausoleum of Hafez in Shiraz, located in a peaceful and quite beautiful garden. See the photo above. Reza, our guide, read us a poem by Hafez in the original Farsi and Carolyn read Reza’s translation of it. So beautiful. I read one from The Gift called The Gift. If your eyesight is superb, you can read it to your left. And if you click on the image, it will get bigger.

I loved watching the people who came to the tomb, often carrying their books of Hafez. They would kneel down next to the tomb and lay their hand on it, just for a moment. Kids tried to climb on the tomb and were motioned off by watchful guards.

Outside the grounds, several men with parakeets, a stack of cards, and little pieces of paper were selling fortunes. Once you paid your money and picked a card, the parakeet would pick the piece of paper for you. And if you could read Farsi, you would have your fortune. My card showed birds escaping from the open door of their cage. But I don’t know what the slip says. I asked Reza to translate, but we never got around to it. Perhaps there is some regulation against tour guides reading fortunes. I suppose it could be awkward.

Note: So what is this Hafez/Hafiz, Esfahan/Isfahan thing going on here? In the transliteration from Farsi to English, there is no difference in pronunciation between the i and the e or the p and the f. So you can see all different sorts of spellings and it is easy to be misled. I have chosen to use Hafez and Esfahan, except in the case with the title of Ladinsky’s book which spells it Hafiz.

Drawing Chairs in Iran

2011-06-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

Since 2003 when I made my very first trip to the Middle East (Jordan, Syria, and Egypt), I have been drawing chairs in most of the hotel rooms I’ve occupied. And there have been quite a few.

I love to draw chairs for several reasons: drawing them helps me practice perspective, grounds me in the here and now (this city, this hotel room, this chair), and later helps me remember where I was and what the room looked like. I also take photos of the room and the view from the window. More grounding I suspect. And probably chronicling too.

I draw the chairs in permanent ink on little 7 x 5 pieces of paper. I carry a small bag of colored pencils, along with pens and paper. Once I’m done drawing, I use the pencils to color in the chair, just as if I were at work on a coloring book when I was young. I even try to stay inside the lines. Shadows have been interesting to me lately and I’ve been trying different ways of executing them.

I've taped the drawings into my journal which was actually, before I altered it, a book entitled Oriental Rugs Today by Emmett Eiland, a rug dealer in Berkeley, CA. So what you are seeing as the background of some of the chairs are the rugs pictured in the book. Nice, don't you think, given that I was in Iran and all.

So here they are, my chairs from Iran.

Tehran

Hamadan

Zanjan

Tabriz

Mashhad

Shiraz

Yazd

Esfahan

Introduction to the Fourth Set of Snippets: Food in Iran

2011-06-20T23:46:00.000-07:00

Now is the time to tell you about the food. Oh my goodness, it was just great. I’ll start with Breakfasts and quickly move into Lunches and Dinners which I divide into Soups, Salads, Bread, Kebabs, Rice, Stews, Drinks, and Desserts. And then two special lunches and one very very special dinner with Nahid and her family.

Of course, I can’t leave out the Tea and Sweet breaks that happened twice every day. They were important in several ways: they gave us the chance to relax and sit down, to have a spot of reviving tea, and most of all the chance to visit a bathroom which Carolyn, our Scotswoman and tour leader, called the loo.

Breakfasts in Iran

2011-06-20T23:33:00.000-07:00

I ate just about the same thing every day. A fried egg, some bread with (be still my heart) Carrot Jam, a small piece of fresh cheese, a little like feta but creamier, and hot tea.
To the left is a large bowl of Carrot Jam and the chef standing guard over it. Not really.
Below is the cheese I liked so much.

I would occasionally switch out the fried egg for scrambled eggs with tomatoes which was actually a wonderful combination—probably harking back to my mid-western childhood favorite, scrambled eggs with ketchup. And in Mashhad I ate a rice pudding flavored with rose water that was simply delicious.

In most of our hotels, the buffet breakfast included a whole lot more than my usual fare: many different kinds of breads, non-pork mystery luncheon meats, non-pork sausages, beans, yogurt, dates, fresh fruit, tomatoes, and cucumbers. You understand the non-pork part of the menu. It's a Muslim country and pork is not eaten at all. Not once did we spot a piggy or any pork.

Introduction to Lunches and Dinners in Iran

2011-06-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

Lunches and dinners in Iran are virtually the same. Or at least they were for us. We ate all of our meals in restaurants and hotels, so the difference among our meals had more to do with the type of restaurant—traditional or more contemporary—than the time of day. I was always most excited about the traditional restaurants which offered more “home-style” cooking, the kinds of food a Persian grandmother might cook.

In the next few posts, I will walk you through a typical meal: soup, salads, bread, kebabs, rice, stews, drinks, and dessert. Following that, it you still aren't sated, I will give you two very special lunches and an extraordinary dinner with Nahid Sanganian and her family.

Soups in Iran

2011-06-20T23:07:00.000-07:00

Most meals would start out with a bowl of barley soup, either tomato or cream-based, and occasionally another kind of soup.

A couple of places in Esfahan offered main course soups which were fabulous:

One with tiny meatballs, walnuts, kashk, and fried mint into which you break up pieces of flat bread. Reza, our guide, said that his grandmother used to make this soup for him.

Another with beans, herbs, kashk, and fried mint called ash Reshteh, a favorite in our hotel in Esfahan. Before eating, you stir it all up.

Salads in Iran

2011-06-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

The question that always arises around salads in countries like Iran is "How safe is it to eat them?" Reza, our guide, said that most every place we ate would practice safety in handling fruits and vegetables and suggested that we not worry about it. Most people in the group ate whatever they wanted. A few had minor tummy problems but no one was laid flat for long.

I took a measured approach to eating anything uncooked. For the first week or so I stayed away from nearly everything like lettuce, fresh tomatoes, and the like. I did eat peeled fresh veggies like carrots and cucumbers. In the second week I introduced more fresh greens and radishes. By the third week, I too was eating whatever I wanted, including some things in the market that may have been a touch iffy hygiene-wise. But I was perfectly fine.

The salads and vegetable dishes we were offered were just beautiful. They often filled a large table in a restaurant and were self-serve. Until we got accustomed to the fact that these salads were just the start of meal, we would load up—they could have been a meal unto themselves—when, in fact, we needed to practice pacing.

My favorite selection of salads was at a restaurant in Tehran where we ate on a stop-over from Tabriz to Mashhad. There were many many more salads to choose from and all equally beautiful and tasty. The top is potato salad with dill, the next is coleslaw with raisins, and the last is a mix of corn, onions, tomatoes, and herbs.

Occasionally salads would be wrapped in plastic and be present at our places at the table, as in a restaurant in Tabriz.

For one lunch in Yazd, we had a specially constructed salad in the shape of a Persian paisley design which Geri, one of my traveling companions, pointed out to me.

Yogurt with cucumbers or shallots were brought to us in bowls or plastic cartons nearly every lunch and dinner. If you want to try to make your own Yogurt with Cucumbers, click on the recipe title and it will take you to the posting.

A wonderful dish with herbs and eggs, baked like a frittata, called kuku. I'll get you the recipe before too long. The first photo to the left is from the Ferdowsi Restaurant in Tehran and the one below is my own version, called Fresh Herb Kuku, with a nice Patty Pan Squash Salad.

At an Armenian restaurant in Esfahan, I decided to make the salads my whole lunch. Just look at the wonderful plate I made for myself.

Bread in Iran

2011-06-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

There are lots of different kinds of bread in Iran. But the bread which is served at every meal is flat with tiny holes punched in it. We saw several different kinds of bakeries making it: some more mechanized than others. But the bread itself was always fashioned by hand, even if the baking process involved a conveyor belt.

Some comes wrapped in plastic, at a restaurant in Hamadan.

Some comes freshly made and still warm, at a restaurant in Yazd.

In my opinion, the best bread of the trip was made in a restaurant in Shiraz. The baker stood next to his blazing hot oven fashioning the bread from the balls of dough next to him.

Here he is decorating it with a tool. Sorry for the arm; the restaurant's manager was explaining the process.

With great agility and speed, the baker pops it in and it adheres to the side of the oven.

When it was done, he reaches in with a hook and pulls it out. Now that's fresh.

Kebabs in Iran

2011-06-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

On our flight from Tehran to Mashhad, the flight attendant, a nice young woman, started to give me a box lunch. I said “No thank you.” She said “Why don’t you want lunch?” I was a little startled, but I said, “Because I just had a large lunch of salads and kebabs and I’m full.” She persisted, “Where did you eat and what kind of kebabs did you have?” I said, “We ate a mix of different kinds of kebabs: some chicken, some minced lamb, some regular lamb.” “Oh,” she said, “that mix is called Bakhtiyari and it’s very good.” End of conversation.
So kebabs are ubiquitous. And everyone, including flight attendants, has opinions about them. What we discovered is that some are better than others and everyone, including me, develops favorites.

This is the Bakhtiyari mix of kebabs which the flight attendant likes: regular lamb, chicken, and minced lamb, as made in Tabriz.

This kebab featured chicken on one side of the skewer with minced lamb patted onto the chicken on the other side, as made in Hamadan.

This restaurant in Shiraz specialized in minced and regular lamb kebabs.

These lamb chops, from a restaurant in Esfahan, would have been enough for two or three people. I ate all seven. They were so good. French fries often decorate the dishes of kebabs.

Rice Dishes in Iran

2011-06-20T17:35:00.000-07:00

Rice is grown in Iran north of the Alborz Mountains close to the Caspian Sea. It is certainly on every restaurant table we visited. But apparently it is not as prevalent as bread. We saw a lot of wheat growing as we traversed the country.

Rice with a decoration of yellow saffron rice was the standard.

Occasionally we’d have a rice mixed with herbs.

In Na’in on the way to Esfahan, we had a pilau with rice, lamb, and raisins which was superb.

And the dolma stuffed with rice in Tabriz were juicy and delicious.

Stews in Iran

2011-06-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

In addition to the kebab and rarely in place of it, we would be offered special stews. These were the items on the menu that I treasured the most.

Pomegranate stew (Fesenjan) is made with chicken or little meatballs. This one in Tehran has meatballs. If there is a national dish, it is this. The second photo is my version of Chicken with Pomegranate Sauce (Khoreshe Fesenjan). If you click on the recipe title, you'll go to the post on this blog.

Yellow split pea stew with lamb often decorated with French fries, in Tehran. In Yazd, the chef added a bit of cinnamon which added a nice touch.

Here is my version of this wonderful dish, shown above, called Lamb Khoresht with Split Peas and Fried Potatoes.

Herb stew with red beans and lamb, in Yazd, slightly off kilter and not because I had been drinking. The round shapes are dried limes.

Here's my recipe for the above called Fresh Herb Stew (Khoresh-e Qormeh Sabzi).

Lamb with sliced almonds, dried limes, and barberries, in Kermanshah. You can tell I had already been piling this onto my plate of rice. The round shape is a dried lime, used for flavoring, which is usually not eaten. I ate this one and it was delicious.

Tabrizi meatball the size of a baseball with a plum inside, at a restaurant in Tabriz. I couldn't eat all of it, obviously, but I got to the plum.

Eggplant stew with kashk drizzled on top, in Zanjan at the caravanserai restaurant. Kashk is a yogurt product. You can find it in jars at a Persian deli.

Here is my recipe for Eggplant with Traditional Whey. I made a double recipe for a recent dinner party. It was the favorite dish of the meal.

Drinks in Iran

2011-06-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

Alcohol of any sort is not legally available in Iran and consequently we didn’t drink a drop of it the entire time we were in the country. Drinks of choice around our group’s table were Coke, Coke Zero, Coke Lite, Fanta, ZumZum (an Iranian cola), non-alcoholic beer which came in various flavors, like hibiscus, and of course bottled water. I chose water and after the meal hot tea if it was offered.

Desserts in Iran

2011-06-20T16:13:00.000-07:00

Three desserts were customarily offered: gelatin of various flavors including of all things banana and one that looked like blue Scope, crème caramel, and ice cream. Some were tastier than others. After a couple of not so tasty crème caramels, I was able to decline most desserts, except for the occasional saffron ice cream which was heavenly.

Baklava and dates were a treat after one lunch in Tehran.

Saffron rice pudding and halva in Esfahan, a departure from the usual, along with a cup of tea.

Two Special Lunches

2011-06-20T15:58:00.000-07:00

Abgusht in Jolfa
After visiting an Armenian Christian Church north of Jolfa, very close to the border of Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, we went to a special tea house for lunch. They specialize in a soup which is very easy to prepare in their tiny kitchen and just delicious. It is call abgusht.

First thing in the morning, the owner fills mug-sized metal containers with lids with a combination of lamb, a potato, a tomato, garbanzo beans, and onions, some water, and I assume some salt.

The containers are set in a metal box with a lid over a low flame and cook for 4 or 5 hours until the ingredients are soft, the broth is tasty and it’s time for lunch.

Containers with metal bowls, bread, a pounding device, fresh onions and chiles are brought to the table.

To eat it, you pour the broth into the bowl and add bread and fresh onions, if you'd like. That’s the first course.

Next you pour the vegetables and meat into your metal bowl and pound it with the plunger-like thing until everything is all mushed together.

You eat that mixture with more fresh onions and green chiles. I realize it doesn't look all that appetizing but believe me it is totally splendid and so fun to eat.

Visit to a Restaurant Kitchen

After visiting the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth imam of Shi'a Muslims, in Mashhad, we took the bus out into the countryside for lunch at a place that specialized in lamb chop kebabs. They were just delicious. I asked Reza, our guide, if I might visit the kitchen. We had to wait until lunch service was over—the restaurant had been packed with customers—to venture down into the basement kitchens. The head chef showed me around as Reza translated. Just look at that face.

The cooks marinating the lamb and threading them onto flat skewers for the dinner service.

The chef who makes all the salads.

The pastry chef. Why are so many pastry chefs women? Michelle, do you have an answer? (Michelle is my daughter-in-law who is the pastry chef at Range in San Francisco.)

The giant pots for cooking rice and the area behind the pots where the grilling takes place.

A dish sterilizing device of which the head chef seemed particularly proud. Once washed, the dishes move on to a conveyor belt which takes them through the sterilizing process involving a high temperature.

I don't know why I get such a kick out of seeing restaurant kitchens around the world. But I do. Thanks to Reza, I got to see one in Iran.

A Very Special Evening with Nahid Sanganian and her Family

2011-06-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

Three years ago when our group was visiting a small village in Iran, my friend Sam and I were waiting outside the public toilet for some of our traveling companions, talking with a family about the price of gas and other things when an exuberant young woman rushed up to us saying “I am so happy to make your acquaintance.” She proceeded to ask us as many questions as she could before our companions reappeared. She was delightful, her English was very good, and I gave her my email before we parted. I knew her name was Nahid, that she was 19 and studying English at a university but that was it.

Maybe six months ago, I got an email from her. She had just found my email address in an old notebook. I replied saying, “You won’t believe this but I’m coming to Iran in April.” We had a few exchanges and she invited me to her house in Tehran for dinner. We determined a possible date and time. I crossed my fingers that it would work out.

I arrived in Tehran at 1:30am on April 25, went through the extensive formalities to enter the country, the hour-long journey into the city, and finally fell into bed at about 4:00am. At 9:00am I get a call from the lobby saying "Nahid is waiting for you." Throwing on clothes and scarf, I dashed downstairs as quickly as possible. And there she was, with a welcoming rose bouquet, looking so mature and grown-up. Over breakfast, we determined that I would have dinner the next day with her family.

And what a fantastic time it was. Nahid, her mom Akram, dad Amir, and younger sister Niloufar live in a two bedroom apartment in east Tehran. Nahid had stayed home from work that day to help her mother cook. Her grandmother, Shokat Malekian, had come from south Tehran to be with us. Nahid came to my hotel in a taxi to pick me up. I think she was worried that I wouldn't be able to find my way. She was probably correct. Her father finished up his work as a driver in time to join the festivities. They invited me to remove my scarf. I felt as though I was being made an honorary member of the family. What a gracious welcome to their home.

We sat in the living room around a table full of delicious treats. Of course, I had to try everything. But I knew that dinner was coming, that it would no doubt be plentiful, and that I needed to save room. I was correct in my assessment and the dinner was truly delicious. In addition to what I've shown you below, there were three kinds of pickles: cabbage, eggplant, and garlic. So here we go.

Barley soup

Tomatoes and cucumbers

Cucumbers with yogurt, walnuts, and raisins

Fresh greens and herbs with radishes
This combination is more a palate-cleanser than a salad. It was served without salad dressing with many lunches and dinners.

Eggplant with kashk, walnuts and fried onions
This was one of my favorite dishes in Iran. Here's my version. Kashk is a yogurt product and is available in jars from a Persian deli.

Dolma made with grape leaves and with cabbage
Isn't that a beautiful arrangement?

Stew of lamb, split peas, and dried limes decorated with French fries
Here is my recipe for this wonderful dish called Lamb Khoresht with Split Peas and Fried Potatoes. It is so good.

Roasted chicken with green bean pilau

White and yellow rice

Gelatin dessert decorated with candies (like M&Ms)

Mind you, this was dinner for six people. We lingered over dessert and even longer at the door as I was leaving. I felt so enriched by the experience; I knew even then at the beginning of my trip that this would be one of its major highlights. And so it has been.

When I think about Iran and its future, I see Nahid and her sister, Niloufar, and her dear mother and father and grandmother and wish so much for them. On the way home I asked Nahid about freedom. She said that she tries to create freedom inside her so that no matter what is going on in the outside world, in her outside world, she will still be free. A wise and thoughtful answer, given circumstances in Iran. I can't help but hope that the outside world will allow her more freedom in the years ahead.

Tea and Sweets with an Occasional Hookah

2011-06-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

When we were traveling on the bus, we would pull into a city park or a caravanserai and our bus drivers would set up a portable table on which they would place thermoses of hot tea, hot water for instant coffee, and various kinds of cookies or sweets.

Samovars in shops along the road kept water hot and available to anyone in need of it at a nominal price.

When we were in a city and walking about, we would often stop at a tea house for refreshment under the trees in a garden, with tea and fresh dates or some other nice treat. And I, for one, always enjoyed sharing a hookah or water pipe with lovely flavored tobacco if they were available.

Our additional choice in cities when walking around was a dish of saffron ice cream flavored with rose water or a fantastic cold dish of paludeh made with frozen rice noodles, sugar, and lime juice. In Esfahan, we got a combination of the two. Do I look happy eating mine in Imam Square? Mmmmm, yes.

Introduction to the Third Set of Snippets: Traveling in Iran

2011-06-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

It’s time for answers to some questions I’ve been asked a lot: "OK so where is Iran? Where did you go exactly? Did you go with a tour? What about your leaders and your traveling companions? And OK so what was this outfit you had to wear?"

I can take care of the "Was it safe for you to be there?" question quite easily: Yes, I was very safe indeed. Safer than one might be in some parts of Oakland. Of course, there are places in Iran and in Oakland where I wouldn't walk alone and especially not alone at night. Most of the time we were visiting places as a group, moving pretty much like a herd of turtles, with Reza, our guide, at the front, and Carolyn, our tour leader, at the rear. (More about them below.) Even so I was careful, watched my surroundings, zipped up my purse, and then completely relaxed into the experience.

If you can think of any questions you'd like to raise, please send me comments. I'd love to respond.

Map and Itinerary

2011-06-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

So here is Iran in the center of this map. You’ll find Iraq to the west. Turkey, Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan are up to the Northwest. You’ll find Turkmenistan on the other side of the Caspian Sea. And to the east are Afghanistan and Pakistan. About half the country is covered by mountains and about a quarter of it by deserts. Iran’s population is about 75,000,000. Most live in cities at the base of mountains where natural springs and snow melt can provide water. Tehran, for example, is located at the foot of the Alborz Mountains and is home to nearly 7,000,000 people.

Our itinerary took us to the following cities:
Tehran in the north central part of the country for two nights
Hamadan to the southwest for two nights with side trips to Bisotun and Kermanshah, moving us closer to Iraq
Zanjan heading to the north for one night, stopping at Oljeitu Mausoleum in Soltaniyeh on the way
Tabriz even further north for three nights, stopping at Takht-e Soleiman on the way, with a side trip to Jolfa, close to the border of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Mashhad to the east (240 kilometers from Afghanistan) for two nights with a side trip to Tus
Shiraz in the southwest for three nights with a side trip to Persepolis
Yazd to the northeast of Shiraz on the edge of the desert for two nights, stopping at Pasargadae on the way
Esfahan to the northwest of Yazd for four nights, stopping at Meybod and Na'in on the way

We mostly traveled by bus which allowed us to see the countryside in all its splendid beauty. For the longer distances between Tabriz and Mashhad and between Mashhad and Shiraz, we flew.

Geo Ex, Our Leaders, and My Traveling Companions

2011-06-18T15:02:00.000-07:00

Geographic Expeditions (or Geo Ex as it is more often known) is the group that organized and ran our tour called Treasures of Persia, listed as “21 days of Moderate Touring.” Geo Ex has been leading tours to Iran for more than 18 years and is extremely skilled.

Our trip leader, on the Geo Ex staff, was Carolyn McIntyre who lives in Yemen and has an extremely deep knowledge of the entire region. She was born in Scotland, has a great sense of humor as well as a reassuring presence in the face of sand storms and the like.

Reza Mirkhalafzadeh was our Iranian guide. He was unbelievably well informed about every aspect of Iran—the history, culture, politics, whatever—and was also articulate, good-humored, and patient. Both brilliant and thoughtful, his erudition astonished me at every turn. He and Carolyn worked beautifully together on all the logistics of our trip. It couldn’t have been better.

Our bus drivers, Reza and Mohammed, were an important part of the success of the tour. Not only were they experienced drivers, they provided our tea and cookie breaks along the road, had hot tea and cold water at hand on the bus whenever we wanted it, and on several occasions made us our lunch, including here at a farm on the way to Yazd.

There were ten of us on the trip, ranging in age from 66 to 82.The fellow in the middle wearing the hat owns the farm where we had lunch. He grows apricots (2000 trees), peaches, pomegranates, and grapes and drives a John Deere tractor.

Wearing "the outfit"

2011-06-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

From the moment we landed in Tehran, before we could leave the plane, all women had to be appropriately garbed. The law says that the only parts of a woman’s body that can be uncovered are her hands and face. From that moment and for the following three weeks, until I was on the plane back to Frankfurt, I wore a head scarf, covering a good part of my hair and neck, a loose long-sleeved jacket that covered my bottom or longer, and long pants or long skirt. I wore sturdy Keen ground grippers---which on this day had walked me through Persepolis. I wore the outfit all the time we were out in public and even in the hotel room if a bellman was delivering a suitcase, for example. I only walked out of my hotel room once without my scarf, took a few steps down the corridor, and quickly turned around before I saw anyone who might be shocked by my gray hair.

Little girls generally have to start wearing some kind of head covering at the age of nine. School girls may have to start wearing them when in school at an earlier age.

Three years ago on my trip to Iran with Fellowship of Reconciliation, we had a fellow traveling with us whose relationship to the group was murky. Our Iranian handler told us that the two of them were friends and that he was traveling with us at his own expense. Whatever. If a scarf slipped too far back on our head, revealing too much hair, he was the one who pulled it up and admonished us to keep covered.

This time I noticed more leniency on the street in terms of women’s dress. I regularly saw young women wearing three-quarter length sleeves, their jackets more tightly fitted, open-toed shoes, and scarves quite casually draped around their heads. Apparently after the election two summers ago, the government pulled back from so vigorously enforcing the laws and the “morality police” have not been in evidence.

You can still see women of all ages wearing black chador, the large pieces of black cloth that completely cover your head, shoulders, and body all the way to the ground. It is not required. Older women might be dressed entirely in black underneath the chador. But you can also see younger women wearing chador with jeans and tennis shoes. Within the regulations, there is a fair amount of choice, as you can see from this photo.

So what is this Iran/Persia thing?

2011-06-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

Let me try to sort it out for you.

Three Aryan or Indo-European tribes migrated from Central Asia into the area we now know as Iran in the 2nd or 3rd millennium BCE: the Medes, the Parthians, and the Fars. They settled in different parts of the Iranian plateau but spoke very similar Indo-European languages. Farsi was the language of the Fars whose land was known as Parsa which morphed into Persia. From about 500 BCE or so, the state-authorized religion was Zoroastrianism.

Remember Indo-Europeans are not Arab. Arabs invaded in the 7th century and proceeded to convert the Zoroastrians to the relatively new religion of Islam.

The Indo-Europeans called the country Iran, after the word Aryan or “country of the nobles.” But the rest of the world called the area Persia even though the Persians were only one part of the original ethnic mix. Reza Shah in 1935 let the world know that the country's name was Iran, to strengthen the concept of Iran's being one nation of different ethnic origins.

These days it is permissible to use the terms Iranian and Persian more or less interchangeably. I use the word Persia when I am referring to the culture of the country and Iran when I’m referring to the country, its government and policies.

Introduction to the Second Set of Snippets: Persian Music, Markets and Caravanserai

2011-06-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

When someone asks me what I’ve been up to and I reply “A three-week trip to Iran,” I most often hear in response “Really? Why?” There are lots of reasons, needless to say, all of which I’ll talk about in due time. But let’s start at the very beginning: When did Persia first come into my consciousness?

I realize, to my surprise, that it was my mother playing In a Persian Market from sheet music on our family’s piano. I must have been about eight or nine. The sheet music’s cover, at least to my memory, was a market with tents of some sort and a camel and was printed on dusty orange paper.

I searched the internet several nights ago and found a copy of the sheet music and listened to a fellow playing it. My memory of it was pretty accurate. I learned that the piece was written by Albert W. Kelèbey, a Brit, in 1920 who, as far as I can tell, never visited Persia. The minor key makes it sound vaguely exotic, but it bears little relation to the Persian music I heard in Iran. He tells the musical story of a camel caravan coming into a market, a beggar calling out for money, a princess being carried dreamily through the market and being entertained by jugglers and a snake-charmer, a Caliph interrupting the fun, and then all the sounds slowly disappearing as night falls.

If you want to listen to it, here is the link to youtube.

The Real Persian Music

2011-06-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

We had the chance to listen to three live musicians and, on our long bus rides, to watch a video of the Rastak Group which specializes in Persian folk music. I thought they were brilliant. If you want to listen to them, here is the link to one of my favorite songs, the Azuri Gal Gal youtube.

A fellow was playing the tar as we ate our very first dinner in Tehran. I’m afraid that given our jet lag and the first venture into Persian food for many, we didn’t pay as much attention to him as we would have later in the trip.

We visited Moslem Mirzazadeh in his shop in Yazd where he makes beautiful traditional instruments. He played both the tar and in this photo the settar for us.

In Esfahan at the Hasht Behesht Palace, we listened to a fellow who is doing a project he calls Music in the Palaces. He comes there every morning at 8:30am to play the tar for an hour. Reza, our incredible Iranian guide, importuned him to stay a bit longer to play for us.

In the Real Persian Markets

2011-06-16T11:00:00.000-07:00

We walked through a number of bustling markets in Iran. Lots of people and great variety in the goods and services offered. Often sellers of a particular item—like pounded copper or gold jewelry or kitchen equipment or spices—would be in the same market location.

Hamadan

Members of our group bought scarves which were part of our required attire.

A fellow in a bread shop, proudly showing us the end result. Reza, our guide, bought us some, fresh out of the oven. So good.

Zanjan

Men selling small green sour plums, along with fruit you recognize.

Tabriz

Arched ceilings enclose many of the markets we visited.

Shops selling wedding accoutrement, including shoes and sugar cones which are rubbed together at the end of the ceremony to sprinkle the newly weds with sweetness for years ahead.

Mashhad

The market in Mashhad primarily caters to the pilgrims from all over the country visiting the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth imam of the Shi'a Muslims. He is the only one buried in Iran. Lots of trinkets and a profusion of black fabrics.

Also rows of male mannequins. Very strange I thought.

Shiraz

Shops in Shiraz sell very brightly colored cloth in contrast to the shops in Mashhad. Nomads living in the area wear incredibly sparkly dresses.

Esfahan

There are a number of artists and artisans practicing traditional crafts in Esfahan's market. I’m going to devote a post to them later on. Here I want you to admire the various food shops: strawberries brought into the market in a wheelbarrow, greens and spices, and beautiful vegetables.

Caravanserai: The Real Stopping Place for Camel Caravans and Other Weary Travelers

2011-06-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

In the 17th century (Safavid Dynasty), Abbas I set out to build 999 caravanserai to accommodate the camel caravans traversing Persia on the Silk Road(s). There were already lots of them in existence but he had a plan to boost the economy in a major way. We stopped at several as we were crossing Iran in our bus and passed many more that were in ruins.

Here we are in a caravanserai, converted to a restaurant, awaiting our dinner in Zanjan. It is not especially comfortable for foreigners, unaccustomed as we are to sitting on the floor. But the food was great and we ate it as best we could without dribbling on ourselves or the carpets. Fortunately our waiters spread plastic to protect them.

On the way to Jolfa, close to the northern border with the Republic of Azerbaijan, we stopped for tea and cookies at a refurbished caravanserai, soon to be opened as a hotel catering to skiers. The raised platform in the center of most caravanserai are for unloading and reloading the camels coming in through the one entrance.

The caravanserai in Meybod has been turned into a shopping area with a rug museum in the back corridor. The entrance is graced with a beautiful dome. One shop featured small pottery bird whistles which were very popular with our group and gathered school children. When the shop keeper returned with a box to refresh her supplies, I noticed that it was stamped Made in China.

This is a photo of our hotel in Esfahan before it was converted to the quite grand Hotel Abassi.

Introduction to the First Set of Snippets: Welcome, Exercise, and Shepherds

2011-06-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

I am overwhelmed by the vast amount of information and number of photographs (almost 1200) I could share with you about my amazing three-week trip to Iran, April 23 – May 14, 2011. I’m afraid that if I inundate you with too much, you’ll throw up your hands and stop reading.

So I’m going to start with some little snippets to let you catch quick glimpses of this remarkable country which is so much more complicated, amusing, and beautiful than our news media would have us believe. And then I will keep adding a few more snippets and photos day-by-day until I’ve told you my story.

Welcome to Iran

2011-06-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

Wherever we went, men and women, old and young, greeted us warmly with “Welcome to Iran.” “Welcome to our beautiful country.”

Our last day in Esfahan, a city I believe to be right up there with Florence in sheer architectural beauty, we visited three of the most famous city bridges built in the 17th century (Safavid Dynasty).

At the first and most famous of the bridges, we heard a man singing as we got off our bus and were drawn toward a group of elderly fellows sitting on the ground, listening to the song. Their samovar was heating water for tea in the middle and they were passing around the tea pot. They gather at this bridge every Friday morning to sing, talk and drink tea.

One of the gentlemen, a welder who had retired in 1984, got up to greet us and offered us tea which we accepted with great pleasure. He is holding a container for sugar cubes. Customarily you place a cube in your mouth and suck the tea through it.

Getting Exercise in City Parks

2011-06-14T10:48:00.000-07:00

One morning as we were passing a park in our bus, I saw women in black chador, the big pieces of black cloth which cover a woman from head to toe, working out on brightly colored exercise equipment. Too fast for a photo but the picture is perfectly imprinted in my mind.

Apparently the mayor of Tehran a while back got very interested in putting exercise equipment in parks so that anyone—kids and grown-ups of all ages—could use it. He was also interested in getting more green spaces into the city and more public art. Now doesn’t that sound like a good idea? Because the mayor of Tehran has influence around the country, other mayors followed suit.

Another morning later in the trip, I saw a group of people in a park in Shiraz, Bagh-e Eram Garden, doing calisthenics.

Given the deliciousness of Persian cuisine, it is a very good idea to get people out and moving around. We could use a little bit more of that here in the US—that’s for sure.

Mountains and Shepherds

2011-06-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

Alborz Mountains from the hotel

Zagros Mountains from our bus

There are two main sets of mountains in Iran: the Alborz in the northern part of the country separating the Caspian Sea from Tehran and the Zagros running down the western side of the country, the side closest to Iraq. This first photo was taken from the window of my hotel room in Tehran, looking north to the mountains.

Traveling through snow-capped Zagros mountains on our way to Takht-e Soleiman and ultimately to Tabriz, we ran into a large number of sheep, sheep dogs, and shepherds. We stopped the bus and had a wonderful photo fest.

We regularly saw herds of goats and sheep as we drove throughout the countryside. It is understandable given that lamb is the most commonly found meat on an Iranian table—and we ate a lot of it. The wool is also used in weaving carpets. But more on that later.

Italian Lemon Ice

2011-03-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

I find it best to start this process in the morning before serving for dessert at dinner—just to make sure the mixture freezes sufficiently. It is the perfect dessert after a heavy meal or anytime during the summer. Light and refreshing.

1½ cups water
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1 cup fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt

1. Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a 1-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Remove from the heat and stir in the zest, juice, and salt.
3. Transfer to a metal bowl and cool the syrup to room temperature. Refrigerate the syrup for at least one hour.
OR
If you are in a rush, as I usually am, you can put the bowl containing the mixture into a larger bowl filled with ice to cool it down quicker.
4. Freeze the syrup in an ice cream maker.
OR what I usually do
Line an 8 x 8 metal pan with plastic wrap and pour the cooled mixture into it. Place it in the freezer of your refrigerator. Periodically, pull the pan out of the freezer (two or three times) and stir the mixture to break up the ice crystals.
5. Transfer to an air-tight container and freeze until firm, about two hours. Remove from the freezer about 5 minutes before serving.

Makes about 1 quart
Adapted from Ruth Reichl’s The Gourmet Cookbook

The Sonoma Cookbook Club

2011-03-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

In the last week I have had two evenings of great food fun. Both are great ideas which need to be shared and passed around—as all good ideas should be. They originated with Kristin Viguerie of Sonoma’s Junipero and Company, a store that specializes in antique kitchen equipment, new and used cookbooks and food products from around the Napa and Sonoma Wine Country. The first is the Sonoma Cookbook Club and the second (in the blog to follow) is the Junipero Cooking Club.

Last Saturday night eight of us gathered at the Sonoma home of two of our members for a southern-inspired meal based on our cookbook of the month Frank Stitt’s Southern Table, a gorgeous coffee table-sized book which offers up mouth-watering recipes. This group has been getting together once a month for the last four months at each other’s houses for dinner and discussion of the chosen book, among other things. So far we’ve used Anne Willan’s Country Cooking of France, Christine Hanna’s The Winemaker Cooks, and The Silver Spoon, a comprehensive book of Italian cooking. For March I’ve suggested the three cookbooks of Indian food by Raghavan Iyer which I mentioned in a blog a while back.

The host or hostess chooses the cookbook and cooks the main dish and the rest of us chime in with what we would like to contribute. We try to encourage some balance in the dinner, which worked particularly well this last time.

All of our dinners have been fantastic and Saturday night was no exception.

We began with Miss Verba’s Pimiento Cheese with celery sticks, Tapenade, and Spiced Pecans.

Our composed first course was Asparagus with Farm Eggs, and Ham Hock Vinaigrette.

A second course was Fish with Citrus Vinaigrette on a bed of rice.

Our main course was Basque-Style Chicken with Peppers and a lovely Spoonbread, prepared, as is our custom, by the host or hostess.

Autumn Salad with Spiced Pecans, Pears, and Gorgonzola Cheese followed.

Our dessert was Bourbon Panna Cotta with Pecan Sandies. I chose this recipe partially because it required me to caramelize sugar, a cooking trick that I have shied away from. Boiling hot syrup scares me to death. But I did it, survived and was quite pleased by my accomplishment.

We each carried home a small wax paper bag of Macaroons and Oatmeal Cookies.

Eight is about the right number. The group’s only “rule” is that everyone who comes to the meal has to make something to contribute. If more people were involved, the number of dishes would be overwhelming and we would end up stuffed like little piglets. We each bring a bottle of wine but fortunately don’t consume them all. If we did, we would be tipsy and stuffed little piglets.

So isn’t this a great way to try new cookbooks, experiment with cooking recipes or exploring new cuisines, and then have a wonderful dinner with old and new friends?

The Junipero Cooking Club

2011-03-04T17:39:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, March 1, a group of 14 met in a Sonoma home with a good-sized (but not a professional) kitchen to celebrate an early Marti Gras by learning to cook foods from New Orleans: Shrimp Remoulade, Seafood Gumbo, and Bananas Foster. Our chef, and cooking instructor, was Stephen Viguerie, Kristin’s husband, a native of Louisiana who has the food of New Orleans in his blood. We paid a nominal fee to cover expenses and his time and effort. We got copies of the recipes and were invited to participate in the cooking to whatever extent we desired.

Southern food has held a special place in my heart from having lived in Durham, North Carolina for 20 years. I have eaten vast quantities of pork barbeque and deep fried hush puppies and cooked lots of southern dishes myself but have had very little experience with food from Louisiana which has an aesthetic and culture all its own. So this was my chance to learn.

I began with a Bloody Mary, garnished with pickled okra and a celery stick, which Stephen made for anyone who asked. I must say, a perfect way to start the evening. Many folks brought bottles of wine to share. There were also spiced pecans and crackers to stave off hunger.

The Gumbo process began with making a roux, a mix of flour and oil which cooks for at least 40 minutes until the mixture turns a rich brown without even coming close to burning. If it burns, you start over. That’s it.

While the roux was simmering, Stephen made his remoulade from scratch, whirling up his own mayonnaise in a blender and then adding the parsley and lemon juice once the mayo was done. He finished the dish by folding chilled cooked shrimp into the sauce and placing it on a bed of shredded iceberg lettuce.

When the roux was done, he added the trinity (onions, celery, and green pepper), various seasonings, stock made from shrimp and crab shells among other things, frozen okra and finally shrimp and crab meat and legs.

The Bananas Foster involved melting brown sugar in butter, adding bananas and rum, and setting the whole thing on fire. Pretty spectacular. Served over ice cream, it was so good.

A memorable dinner.

Watching Stephen work and having the chance to stir the roux and watch it change color was invaluable hands-on experience. He also offered excellent tips, such as adding Kitchen Bouquet to a recalcitrant roux and using frozen okra instead of slimy fresh.

I’m not saying that everyone can duplicate an evening like this. Kristin and Stephen put a huge amount of work into making it happen. But it’s worth considering. Can you hire someone to teach you and your friends something that all of you would like to learn? Can you gather in a regular home kitchen to make the food, drink some wine and eat together? Sounds like a great evening. I’d come.

My 2010 Cookbook Spreadsheet and Cookbook Recommendations

2011-03-03T22:23:00.000-08:00

Perhaps some of you will remember from last year (January 26, 2010 blog) that I keep a spreadsheet of all my cookbooks and write the date next to the title every time I use one of them. At the end of the year, I can analyze which books I’ve used and what type of cooking I’ve done the most. All of this is really quite fascinating to me but perhaps you are not as engaged as I am. After all it’s what I’m eating, not what you’re eating. Bear with me.

Over the course of 2010, out of a total of 543 cookbooks, I used 86 of them, 32 for the first time. I prepared 218 recipes from these 86 cookbooks, 14 from magazines, newspapers, cooking classes, or the internet, 86 from my blog, and 36 of my own devising, coming to a total of 354 recipes.

This information tells me that I am still quite wed to cookbooks in the paper form, ones that I can crack open, check the index, scribble notes and paste photos. I’ve begun to use Epicurious and Big Oven apps on my IPad, sending myself emails of interesting recipes, but those numbers are still really small. The 86 from my blog are those recipes I am getting ready to post and need to photograph, as well as those I just love and “keep” using again and again.

I cooked 43 recipes from West Coast and West Coast Wine Country cookbooks, 34 from cookbooks featuring European or English food, 28 from the Healthy or Vegetarian cookbooks, and 21 from the Quick cookbook category.

I used FARMfood a whopping 18 times. This is a beautifully designed book, published by Indiana University Press. Daniel Orr is a Hoosier (from Indiana); I’m a Buckeye (from Ohio). So at our roots, he and I are neighbors—and I feel that every time I use his cookbook. He ventured away to see the world and to learn to cook but has now returned to Bloomington, Indiana and has opened a restaurant, FARMbloomington, which supports local farmers and ranchers by buying their produce. His recipes are really good.

I used The Illustrated Quick Cook and Martha Stewart Living’s Everyday Food: Great Food Fast a combined 15 times. I love spending time in the kitchen, as most of you know, so speed is not my highest priority. But I also realize that it is for many of you and I’ve been trying to find great quick recipes that are tasty and fun. Both of these cookbooks meet that criteria. There are also lots of good photos.

Aloha Days Hula Nights came in at 12 times. This Junior League cookbook from Honolulu is truly marvelous. I took it with me to Hawaii over New Year’s 2010 and used it a bunch at the beginning of the year. There is nothing slick about it. Just good recipes, well tested, and delicious.

Without Reservations came in at 10 times. I took Joey Altman’s cooking class at the Ranch in 2009, bought his book with few expectations and found it to be totally admirable.

I would highly recommend any of these five. I would love to know if any of you has tried them and what you think of them.

My 2010 Dinner Spreadsheet

2011-03-03T21:31:00.000-08:00

I have another spreadsheet which I don’t think I’ve told you about before. You know that I write in a small dinner journal every night, noting what I’ve eaten for dinner and any wine or other beverage. On the left are a couple of pages from my 2010 journal. (Most pages don't have photographs.) I put the basic information month-by-month on a spreadsheet, see below, so that I can calculate at the end of the year how many dinners I’ve cooked at home or when traveling, how many times I ate leftovers, had guests to dinner (and who they were), ate in restaurants or had someone (bless them) cook for me. It’s really interesting to see the results. Or at least I think so.

Sorry this isn't clearer, but you get the idea.

Here are the numbers for Berkeley or Sonoma:
Guests came to dinner 39 times
Cooked 98 times (137 including for guests)
Ate leftovers 73 times
Ate in restaurants 47 times
Purchased prepared food and brought home 1 time
Friends cooked for me 15 times
Shared preparation for dinner 10 times

And here are the numbers when I’m traveling:
Cooked 9 times
Ate in restaurants 53 times
Friends cooked for me 12 times
Shared preparation for dinner 8 times

So during the course of 2010, I ate in restaurants 100 times (27%), cooked and ate my own food 219 times (60%) and had friends cook for me 27 times (7%). Six percent for everything else. Pretty interesting, don’t you think?

Italian Sausage with Red Grapes

2011-03-02T22:39:00.000-08:00

This is the last of the sausage recipes I have to give you. As you know, I truly love good sausage and I find them one of the quickest ways to get a delicious meal on the table. This recipe is no exception. The polenta will take you a bit of time but a nice loaf of bread would work just as well. A salad or the spinach suggested below and you're done.

1 medium onion, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage (about 4-5 sausages)
Note: I buy Caggiano Sweet Italian in Sonoma; buy fresh good quality Italian sausage, usually with fennel seed, where ever you are.
1 pound seedless red grapes, stemmed
Note: You can also use 1 cup Oven-Roasted Grapes (August 13, 2009 blog).
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary or thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy 10-inch skillet, add the onions, and cook until they are soft and amber. Remove from the pan and set aside.
2. Heat remaining olive oil in the same skillet over moderate heat until hot. Brown the sausages on all sides, poking them with a fork each time you turn them. This will take about 8 minutes.
3. Add ½ cup water to the pan, cover and turn the heat to low. Simmer the sausages until they are cooked through, about 10 minutes, turning once. Remove all but ¼ cup of the remaining liquid.
4. Add grapes and cook, stirring occasionally, until grapes are softened, 5 minutes or so. If using Oven-Roasted Grapes, you only need to cook them for a few minutes to warm them up.
5. Remove the sausages from the pan. Add the reserved onions, half of the rosemary or thyme, and the vinegar to the grapes and stir to mix everything together. Taste for salt and pepper and add as you see fit.
6. Cut the sausages in half and return to the pan. Heat briefly until everything is nicely hot. Sprinkle with remaining rosemary or thyme.

4 servings
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, October 2005

I often serve this with Creamy Polenta (June 11, 2010 blog) to which you can add the liquid in which the sausages have cooked and Spinach (May 31, 2010 blog).

Salmon with Swiss Chard

2011-03-02T21:55:00.000-08:00

This is perhaps my favorite fish dish in the world. It’s taken me a long time to get it on the blog, primarily because I have had a hard time getting a good photo of it. The last time I made it, I was so eager to dig into it that I forgot to take a picture until the dish was in shambles: messy, half-eaten, unappetizing. So at last I have a photo that is good enough. What’s more I’m not waiting any longer to share it with you. You will love this dish—or at least I hope so.

2 pounds Swiss chard, red or green, about 2 bunches
5 ounces pitted Kalamata black olives
1½ pounds salmon fillets, cut into serving size pieces, skin removed if you desire

Marinade (chermüla):
5 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon paprika or smoky sweet paprika
¼ teaspoon ground chile molido or any chile powder
3 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon salt

1. Remove the stems from the chard; save for another purpose or compost. Wash the leaves very well to remove all the dirt and cut into ½-inch strips.
2. Put it and the olives in the top of a steamer. Cover and steam over high heat for 5-10 minutes or until the chard is al dente. Remove from the heat. Take off the lid, cover with a cloth, and leave the chard to cool.
Note: You can do this step the day before you’re making the dish, preferably before trying to stuff the unwieldy bunches of chard into your fridge.
3. Combine all the ingredients in the marinade. Rub it all over the fish and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours in a cool place. Less time is fine too.
4. When you are ready to roast the fish, spread the chard and olives on the bottom of a baking dish. Place the salmon fillets on top of the chard, skin side down, surrounded by the marinade. Pour the liquid of the marinade over everything.
5. Roast at 425ºF. for about 30 minutes, checking after 25 minutes to see if the fish is done to your liking. The time depends on the thickness of the fish fillets.
6. Serve with bread to mop up the delicious sauce.

4-6 servings

Adapted from Anissa Helou’s Street Café Morocco

Ginger Pots de Crème

2011-03-02T21:25:00.000-08:00

I have fussed over this recipe repeatedly because I didn’t seem to be able to get the excellent ginger flavor I wanted. I tried many different solutions and finally found the one that worked: using my trusty micro-plane. I am satisfied that if you make this lovely dessert, you too will be totally pleased with its deliciousness.

2 cups heavy cream
½ cup sugar
5 ounces fresh ginger, peeled and grated with a micro-plane
2 yolks and 2 whole eggs, lightly beaten
¼ teaspoon salt
Diced candied ginger or Raisin Compote, see recipe below

1. Combine the cream and the sugar in a saucepan. Bring it to the point where it is just barely boiling and the sugar has dissolved. Add the ginger. Remove from the heat, cover the pan, and let it steep for 1 hour or longer.
2. Strain out the ginger, pressing to release as much liquid as you can.
3. Add the eggs and egg yolks to the cream. Stir gently to mix well. Pour through a fine-mesh strainer.
4. Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
5. Pour the mixture into 5 or 6 4-ounce ramekins. Place them in a baking pan and add enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the cups. Bake until the custard is just set 40-50 minutes. The custard should be soft in the center when lightly shaken. They will firm up as they set. Remove from the baking pan and cool. Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
6. Before serving, garnish with the candied ginger or Raisin Compote.

5-6 servings
Adapted from Annie Somerville’s Fields of Greens

Raisin Ginger Compote

½ cup golden raisins
¼ cup chopped candied ginger
¼ cup ginger syrup (If you can’t find this, use ½ cup maple syrup)
¼ cup maple syrup
¼ cup bourbon but you could use Madeira, sherry, or marsala

1. Place the raisins and candied ginger in a bowl. Add the remaining liquids and let the raisins and ginger macerate for an hour or more.
2. Spoon some of the fruits and the liquid over the pots de crème and serve.

Makes about 1½ cups
My own devising

The New Era Cottage Cookbook

2011-02-17T14:18:00.000-08:00

For the last couple of days I’ve been working on the New Era Cottage Cookbook, a project that I’ve undertaken with Bruce, the brother-in-law of a good friend, whose Michigan cottage I’ve visited every year, save one, since 2002. Bruce and I began gathering a collection of the recipes that have been cooked at the cottage over the years, including several from family members who are no longer with us. Coach’s Potato Salad and Rudy’s Hot Fudge to name just two. It is an act of love for both of us, perhaps a gift to the next generation of cottage-goers who want to know more about the food that nourished their moms and dads on steamy Michigan evenings.

But, as my regular dinner guest pointed out a couple of nights ago over spicy meatballs with sour cherries, rice, and tzatziki, working on it is also a distraction from writing my cookbook, a project that is both intimidating and exciting. I’d like to think that I’m learning something about doing my cookbook from organizing New Era. But actually I think his assessment is correct. I’m overwhelmed by my own project; this one seems manageable. Is there a way to make my cookbook project more manageable? Now that’s a really good question.

While I’m mulling that over, the following blog gives you two of the New Era recipes. They have been cooked a multitude of times—but not by me. I only just made the Hot Fudge last night for the first time—and I can report that it is every bit as good as I remember from the cottage. Let me know what you think.

New Era Recipes

2011-02-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

Coach’s Potato Salad

6 Idaho potatoes
5 hard-boiled eggs
1 small onion
Salt and pepper
5 kosher dill pickles
2 cups Hellman’s mayonnaise (Grandpa insisted on Hellman’s)
Note: Check out Bruce’s suggestion below for substituting light mayo, buttermilk or yogurt for some of the Hellman’s.
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
1 tablespoon sour cream

1. Boil potatoes and cool to room temperature. Peel and dice.
2. Chop eggs and mince onions. Stir together potatoes, eggs and onion in a bowl and chill. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. To make the dressing, chop pickles and combine them with remaining ingredients. Chill.
4. Combine chilled potatoes and dressing and return to fridge. Check for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper as needed. Best after several hours in fridge when flavors have had a chance to combine.

Bruce’s notes:
*While this salad is beloved in the family “as is,” we all realize the 2 cups of mayo contains a lot of fat and cholesterol. I have successfully “lightened” the salad by using “light” mayo, reducing the total mayo by at least ½ cup and upping the vinegar a little bit. Another possibility, but not tested, would be the addition of low fat buttermilk in place of some of the mayo and probably eliminating the sour cream.
*I also have added more mustard. Grandpa always used to ask “Is there enough mustard in the potato salad?”

Serves 6
Created by Lester – his signature dish
Made at the cottage by Lester, of course, and by Bruce many times

Rudy’s Hot Fudge

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in sugar and cocoa.
2. Return to heat and slowly add evaporated milk, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Continue to boil, stirring constantly for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Sauce will be quite thin but will set a little as it cools.

Katharine’s notes:
*You can also use 1½ cups heavy cream if you’d like instead of the evaporated milk.
*I added ¼ teaspoon salt because I think sweet things are always helped by a bit of it. There is a physiological reason for that but we don’t need to go into it here.

Makes about 2 cups
Created by Ruth and made at the cottage numerous times

Green String Farm in Petaluma, CA

2011-02-17T12:17:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, on a gorgeous late winter day, Katherine and I decided to take a drive to Green String Farm, a teaching farm about 17 minutes from Sonoma, whose philosophy is “to focus on aiding, rather than fighting, natural processes to grow healthy and happy fruits and vegetables.”

The program began with a short presentation by Michael Dimock, the head of Roots of Change (ROC), an organization dedicated to creating a sustainable food system in California by 2030. Dimock is an enthusiastic spokesperson for ROC, for sustainable agriculture and for the work Green String is doing to educate young people. Check out his web site. It is very impressive and his ROC e-newsletter is great as well.

Bob Cannard who owns and runs Green String Farm (and has been supplying Chez Panisse with lettuces longer than most of the farm’s interns have been alive) was up next. He immediately requested questions. What he was asked and the detailed answers he gave were way beyond my level of gardening expertise or interest. I’m probably not going to restore minerals to my backyard by grinding up volcanic rocks, for example. But his tip to hold off working my home garden until the soil has the chance to dry out was great. Working wet soil compacts it and makes it impossible for plants to grow. OK, I get that.

It was just fine to hear these two guys talking about care of the land and our food. I’m right there with them on the issues and principles. But I must say that it was the farm itself and the people who had come to visit it that truly captured by heart and gave me hope for the future:

The goats, the chickens, and some two-week-old ducks being hustled along by a young man who seemed devoted to their safety and well-being.

The beautiful vegetables and jams in the farm store and the beet floats, kim chi and jam samples being offered by the people who grew the produce and made the food.

And most of all by the number of young people and families with young kids who were there to support a new kind of agriculture and a new way to provide food for themselves and their communities, and who really wanted to understand the intricacies of sustainable farming. “Beyond sustainable,” as a sign at the entrance reads. While the older generation can provide inspiration and precious experience, it is the younger ones who will put this system to work on urban and suburban homesteads and on local farms across the country. Hurrah for them!

Lemonade from Lemons, Ice Cream from Ice: A Memorable Dinner in New Orleans

2011-02-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

The best travel days are uneventful. The worst are long, tedious, and aggravating with bad food and annoying airport announcements. The day I’m about to describe was neither of these. It was completely unexpected, outside of the usual travel assessments. And it ended, as most adventures should, in a celebratory feast.

We woke up in Berkeley at 3:45am on Thursday February 3 with an email saying that our flight from Houston to Miami had been canceled because of a freakish ice storm descending on Houston mid-afternoon. San Francisco to Houston was fine. Not knowing what else to do, we traipsed off to the San Francisco airport only to be told that yes, it’s canceled, then no, it’s not. In Houston, we got the definitive word: yes, it’s canceled. And what’s more, the next plane to Miami is on Saturday afternoon. Unacceptable, given that Katherine’s mother and Jacoba were already in Miami awaiting us.

Katherine speedily determined that New Orleans was warmer than Houston by a few crucial degrees. If we could get there, we could fly to Florida on Friday. With Katherine at the wheel of a quickly arranged rental car, we left the airport at 1:20pm, racing to stay ahead of the storm. Which we managed to do for about five minutes. From that point on and for the next five and a half hours, I was busy (and anxiously) watching the ice build up on the windshield wipers and the side mirrors and taking full advantage of my IPhone’s technological capabilities, as I munched on tiny bags of Fritos snatched from the Continental Lounge. Comfort food. Maps supplied us with a route, mileage and the exact location of our airport hotel. Weather.com kept us apprised of current temperatures (33-35 degrees). Zagat helped locate a possible New Orleans restaurant. Phone calls to and emails from the travel agent in Berkeley who found us a hotel and a flight for the next day. And texts to my niece, Beth, who lives in New Orleans, inviting her to join us for dinner. Relieved, exhausted, bleary-eyed, and hungry we drove into our hotel parking lot in the rain just a little before 7:00pm. It was 37 degrees. The windshield wipers and mirrors had melted. We were meeting Beth for dinner at 8 at the place she’d booked, Restaurant August. We’d done it!

Restaurant August, which specializes in contemporary French food with a focus on southern Louisiana ingredients, is housed in a lovely old building right next to the French Quarter in the Central Business District. Beth and Taylor, her boyfriend whom we had never met, were waiting for us at the bar when we arrived. It became apparent that Beth who works for a wine distributor knew nearly everyone on the staff. And moreover it was clear that we all shared a fondness for good food, wine and conversation. The evening began with a bottle of bubbly. The weary travelers started to revive. As the food started to appear and Taylor started to answer our flurry of questions, we sensed that this was going to be a very special dinner, a “meant to be” kind of occasion. As the night went on, we were sure of it. Here is a sampling of what we ate.

Sabayon cream in a tiny egg shell for our amuse bouche.

Organic greens with pumpkin seed brittle which arrived in a large square, ready for me to break into bits.

Gnocchi with a blue crab sauce.

Wild boar ragout. Maybe the tastiest of them all.

Mississippi flounder in a crispy crust with various veggies.

Our pre-dessert dessert. A tiny lemon tart with fruit and a smear of pistachio paste, I think.

A mini-version of beignets, a classic New Orleans pastry, with "chocolate salad."

Yellow cake with caramel Banana's Foster filling. Just luscious.

Goat cheese cheesecake on a bed of almonds. I can't remember the smear--and by that point in the meal it's a miracle that I remember anything.

A chocolate layered affair that had the most amazing mouth feel.

All this and I haven't even mentioned what we drank besides the bubbly. I must confess, I don't know. Except to say that the bottle of red wine was superb and the late harvest red dessert wine made from granache or gamay was fantastic. Maybe Beth or Taylor can assist their addled auntie.

So there you are: 3:45am in Berkeley to San Francisco to Houston to surprise! New Orleans for one of the best meals I’ve ever had with three of the most delightful dinner companions I can imagine. A “meant to be” kind of occasion. My very first time in New Orleans. I think I have to go back.

Joyful Muffins

2011-02-17T09:31:00.000-08:00

Pear/Mango/Candied Ginger and Pecan Muffins
In Japan some forty years ago, I acquired two 6-cup Joyful Muffins Pans. Check out the photo below. Don’t you love it? I smile every time I reach for them. These muffins are really nice. Even though they should be eaten on the same day they’re baked, I found that splitting them in half and toasting them in the toaster oven allowed me continue eating them for days and days. Almost all 18.

½ cup buttermilk
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2¼ cups unbleached flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup diced dried pears, mangoes, candied ginger or a mixture
Note: I especially like some candied ginger in the mix but then I love candied ginger.
1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Generously butter or spray the tops and cups of a 12-cup muffin pan or two 6-cup pans.
Note: This recipe turned out to make 18 muffins in my smaller Joyful muffin pans (see below). So be aware that you may need another 6-cup pan unless yours are bigger than mine.
2. In a 2-cup or larger measuring pitcher, combine the buttermilk, sour cream, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Whisk until blended.
3. Sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder together into a large bowl. Add the salt and sugars to the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Add the butter and cut it in with a pastry cutter or your fingers until it is the size of small peas. Mix in the dried fruits and pecans.
4. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the wet ingredients. Gently combine, taking care not to over mix the batter.
5. Fill the prepared muffin tins until the batter just peeks over the top of the pan. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown, firm and springy. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Unmold the muffin onto a wire rack to cool.

Makes 12-18 muffins depending on the size of your muffin pans
Adapted from The Cheese Board Collective’s The Cheese Board Collective Works