Scene 1
20 March, 2010
Airport in Tehran. A black-haired man clutching a big white bag with a writing in Arabic that he doesn’t understand. Will they stop him?
He is nervous, for he doesn’t want to have to give away what’s in the bag – precious boxes of rose and cardamom-scented Iranian pastries and confections. Delicious gifts for family and friends.
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Scene 2
23 March, 2010
My dining room, at dusk, in England. Sipping warm masala chai and enjoying the sweets that A. brought me from Iran.
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Almond and rosewater baklava, with little pastry and lots of almond. Melts in my mouth.
Round, light brown confection, decorated with green pistachios. Flour halva, perhaps? Smooth, not to sweet, and with a certain roasted flavour that I’m beginning to get seduced by.
Coconut, flour and rose water biscuits – like Persian macaroons?
White coconut & rose water & cardamom fudge-like creation. Divine! (Must learn to make it!)
Tiny melt in the mouth round droplets of biscuit – with cardamom, flour, and icing sugar perhaps? They’re delicious!
Another round biscuit, with almonds. Like almond macaroons?
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Garden glistening with rain. Thourgh the dining room door, leading into the rain.
Yellow of the daffodils on the dining room table.
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Thank you, A.
.
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A few months ago:
Persian baklava – Photo by Samantha Twigg Johnson
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Blackberries and I 
The Grubworm
/ 23 March, 2010Mmmm, the floral scent of roses and nutty sweet tastes – I think these sort of pastries are hard to beat – they pretty much tick every box. And you set the scene(s) perfectly.
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javanejoon
/ 24 March, 2010Im so jelous !!!!! I wish I was there in your living room eating Persian pastries too ! Nice post 🙂
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Maninas
/ 24 March, 2010Thaaanks!
I’ve got a huge box, and would love to be able to share some with you.
JAVANE, I’d love to make the coconut confection. Do you know that that might be? Thanks!
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Kitchen Butterfly
/ 25 March, 2010Love rose-scented cooking!!!!!! and that baklava looks great!
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Maninas
/ 25 March, 2010Thaaanks! 🙂
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Mariana
/ 26 March, 2010Hello Maninas – lovely to meet you. I’m so pleased that baklava found it’s way to you. It looks too good to eat. What a thoughtful gift. You must be a nice friend I think.
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Maninas
/ 26 March, 2010And it’s lovely to meet you, too! You have a wonderful blog, and I really enjoy your writing. It’s a pleasure to see you here.
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Wit,wok and wisdom
/ 26 March, 2010Hello Maninas,
Thank you so much for visiting my blog!I’m really glad that you liked it!Your blog is a rich repository of delectable food stuffs as well…I was going through your desserts and I wish I could make something like them.I’ll sure give them a try and let you know…till then do drop by my blog whenever you feel like:)
Take care!
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Maninas
/ 26 March, 2010Welcome to my blog, and thanks for your comment. 🙂 Hope to see you here again.
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tasteofbeirut
/ 26 March, 2010I felt like I was reading a script for a movie; keep it up, please, it is so much fun to read !
Thanks for the link to Mariana’s post; I can’t wait to follow their footsteps into Dubrovnik and later to Trieste, the hometown of my great-grandmother! I enjoyed reading her post so much, thanks for thinking of me!
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Maninas
/ 26 March, 2010Thank you! I’m so glad you like it! I will try!
I’m looking forward to Mariana’s posts, too. I love her writing.
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Bria
/ 27 March, 2010Lovely vignette. Beautiful!
Persian pastries have such a sweet and warm charm about them. They’re what a good chai was created for!
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Maninas
/ 28 April, 2010I agree! 😀
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selma
/ 11 May, 2010Veoma mi se dopadaju tvoji postovi i opisi sa tvojih putovanja. Persijska kuhinja je nešto u što bi se rado upustila. Inače mi se dopada arapska kuhinja, a očekujem da joj je persijska vrlo slična. Morala bih nabaviti neku dobru knjigu koja bi pokrila moja zanimanja, nešto poput gastro putopisa, sa opisima praznika, običaja, vjerovanja, namirnica, posluživanja i na koncu receptima.
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Maninas
/ 11 May, 2010Bok, Selma! Bas te je lipo vidjeti tu kod mene! I meni su jako dragi i zanimljivi tvoji postovi.
Perzijska kuhinja ima slicnosti s arapskima, ali ima i puno razlicitosti. Vis tribala sam malo pisat i o tome kad sam pisala o nasoj perzijskoj festi.
Mogu ti preporuciti par knjiga. Najmijeh Batmanglij je perzijska autorica koja zivi u US, i napisala je nekoliko odlicnih knjiga o perzijskoj kuhinji. Meni osobno je super i Margaret Shaida. Vise detalja ovdje. Uglavnom obje knjige imaju to sto trazis, tj. kombinaciju informacija o kulturi i obicajima i recepata. A ja ti mogu poslat neke stastojke koje ne budes mogla nac kod vas (npr. susene limete).
Kad sam pisala i istrazivala o perzijskoj kuhinji, nasla sam nekoliko stvarno dobrih perzijskih blogova. Vridi ih pogledat!
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