Random Spots

My eagle-eyed husband spotted this super cool Chevy Nova from the 1970s with a Texas license plate (in addition to its legit Iranian one) cruising the streets in Pardisan. So random, right?

And here's a random, quick video my husband made of the tasty treats and nicely decorated cakes you can find here, even in the small grocery stores. 

He knew I'd want to see those SPONGEBOB CAKES, OMG!

POMEGRANATES

My husband’s friend gifted us with several pomegranates, which are the favorite native fruit of Iran. I really did not know what to do with them all. I don’t like to eat the arils (seeds) alone, but my husband does so he ate some raw. 

And with the juice I was able to squeeze from the pomegranate, we drank a bit (it was sharp and sour, refreshing) and then I mixed some of it into this yogurt sauce I had made for breakfast. 

Yogurt-pomegranate sauce with cucumbers and tomatoes, potato & pea stuffed bread, omelette, olives, walnuts and pistachios, pomegranate arils, and tea.

ROSE WATER

Remember this GORGEOUS bouquet of roses my husband gave me for my birthday? 

I hate to see flowers die, so I decided to make some rose water from the petals. 

Just put the petals in a pot and cover with water, 

boil for a few minutes until the petals resemble cooked red cabbage. 

Then strain the water into a jar or spray bottle. The water can be used to freshen up a room or in your hair or on your skin. Voila, pretty rose water!

ON THE TV

Spotted Disney's CARS on the tv here. It was nice to see a familiar family favorite film ...in FARSI. 

RANDOM SPOTTING of HALLOWEEN

Remember in an earlier post, 40 Halloweens, I wondered if Iranians knew about or celebrated Halloween? I was surprised and tickled to see that there was some mention of it as I saw in a PressTV video about Iranian chocolate. I think this is in a shopping mall in Tehran:

Well, that's all the random spots of random spotting for now. Thanks for reading! 

40 Halloweens

There are 2 sides to Halloween: the adorable babies as pumpkins side, and the disgusting bloody zombies side. I despise the horrific side, but dressing up as cute characters is always fun. In Iran, I don't have to worry about terrifying commercials for haunted houses or horror films to suddenly appear on the TV. But, my kids were bummed that there’d be no Halloween in Iran. 

Back in America, they were not big on trick or treating, but they enjoyed getting costumes from the store. It was difficult enough to find costumes back then, so I knew it’d be impossible here. Plus, even if we did, we don’t have money to buy costumes or enough idea of where to even look. I told them to make their own from things they have around our apartment. At first they balked at this suggestion, but then they came up with some really creative costumes in the exact characters they wanted to be (well, my younger 2 did). My daughter was “Shy Guy,” from Super Mario, and my son was “Ash” from Pokémon. 

We got them some Iranian candy as well. 

These Jelly Bon Bon’s were good. Sort of melted in your mouth!

These strawberry flavored center-filled candy was exactly the same as the kind in the U.S.

This chocolate did not have that depth of yummy taste like the milk chocolate in the States, but was good enough! 

So I doubt Iranians care about Halloween, but the Sherlock Holmes episode that night on the Tamasha TV channel was The Last Vampyre. Coincidence? I think not. 

A few days after Halloween, it was my 40^th birthday! Now I’ve mentioned in a previous post, that they say life begins at 40, so that means my true self was born in Iran, how fascinating! Okay, so I know it’s not a literal thing, but somehow seems poignant. I’ve never felt truly at home in Pakistan or America, and Iran is not exactly a perfect fit for me, but it is the only place I can feel completely comfortable abut the best part of being myself, a Shia Muslim.

So anyway, that day, my husband brought me these GORGEOUS roses...

...and this DELECTABLE selection of sweets. 

Then we went into Qom. We found another BAMA restaurant there. This one was much easier to get to in that we did not have to cross the street to get in! We parked right in front by the curb. Once inside, we saw that it was 2 stories. There was this cool fish tank!

Then when we got upstairs, there was this huge window with a lovely view of Qom!

We enjoyed a tasty meal and then went back to Pardisan, where we went to a very nice park!

Since my children are too big for the playground now, we spent most of the time on these fun work-out machines, which are often found in the parks of Iran.

My husband and I at the park. 

My kids and I at the park with the sun in our eyes!

The day after my birthday, I went to visit a bunch of gals who had also moved from America to Iran that became friends with online before I arrived in Iran. And a couple of which I had already met years ago in Texas. It was so nice for me and my children to see and converse with friendly faces! Finding my friend's house was a bit confusing. When she sent me her address I could not make heads or tails of it (btw, Iranian coins don't have heads or tails)! She had assumed I was arriving by taxi cab so the cab driver would have known what the address meant. Little did my friend know, I am in no way ready to take an Iranian taxi by myself. My husband made an educated guess about how to get there and we got close and then saw one of my friends and followed her inside. The gals were kind enough to make sweet desserts, and one of my friends even brought a birthday cake for me. 

Well, thank you for reading and keeping in touch with me! Stay tuned for my next post titled, "The Terrible Story of Tahdig," in which I describe how I made the classic Iranian crispy rice dish. 

InshaaAllah (God willing).

Alhamdulillah (Thank God).

p.s. Have I had 39 or 40 Halloweens? I don't do math much.