The split-peas and sweet potato soup was sensational. It won't be this good if I had it yesterday. Some dishes taste better when they're freshly prepared but dishes like rendang, curry, pajeri (or paceri) are unbelievable phenomenal on the second day.
Let me tell you, I got my sensational soup from Pomegranate Soup. I wonder if Masha Mehran wrote her book while she was sitting in her kitchen, sipping her herbal tea or stirring abgousht in a big pot in her warm aromatic kitchen.
Set in a small village in county Mayo Ireland, Marjan Aminpour and her two younger sisters fled Iran seven years ago. They lived in London and later set up a small eating place called Babylon Cafe' on the Main Street beneath a holy mountain , Croagh Patrick.
Marsha Mehran had a way to pull me into her delicious Persian dishes and hectic life. The amazing thing was, I felt a tranquility in her kitchen every time I got to the part when Marjan began to prepare her dishes. I was right there in her kitchen watching her chopped the onions, rolled the dough and made a cup of mint tea. I finished the book in three hours. I have one word for Pomegranate Soup: Charming.
Sigrid Nunez is one of my favorite authors. The first time I read her book a few years ago, I fell in love with it. For two months I hunted down all the bookstores in the city (used and new) to get her other two books For Rouenna and The Naked Sleeper. I could've ordered from Amazon or even from the bookstores, but hunting down the book I wanted so badly is an exhilarating experience especially when I am in used bookstores.
Bending down to the lowest shelf, gradually move my eyes to a higher shelf until I hurt your neck. And when my and my neck give me in, I grab an empty chair or a stool and climb on it. I never know what will I see between the cramp, overflow bookshelves. Sometimes I find the book I made a mental note to get it, but I completely forget about it until I see the title on its spine on the top shelf. And I get this rush and warm feeling in my heart, "aahahhh....."
Okay, back to The Last of Her Kind which was about two freshman girls meet at Barnard College in the 60's. Ann Drayton the only child, a brilliant girl from old money family and Georgette comes from working class family. Getting to college was Georgette's way to escape from her dreadful life, while Ann an idealist longed for underprivileged life and despised her family. Race and class are the major theme of this book.
I flipped the pages pretty fast in the one third of the book, but when Ann was convicted for murder and sent to prison for life, reading a personal essay came close to mind. Ms. Nunez distanced herself from the characters. It was pretty heavy but the story didn't depress me as The God of Small Things did to me a few years back. I placed The Last of Her Kind on TO KEEP shelf.
Glad you enjoyed my wifes book as we both enjoyed your blog. If you thought the food in the first book was great well till the new one comes out. P.S You are the first with the new title "Rosewater and Sodabread" and as her Annoying Irish Husband I have to say it is off the hook!!!
Posted by: Chris | January 31, 2007 at 11:02 PM
Nina,
Looking at our books collection is kind of therapeutic too :))
Jo,
I expereinced the same thing too. None of my friends finished TGoST. They said it's too depressing, but I loved it.
Posted by: anasalwa | January 27, 2007 at 07:41 AM
OH.....God of Small things. That book truly sucked me in. I've always had an obsession for all things Indian/Pakistan and I really felt like I was walking with the author through that book. It was one of those books that i tried to push on other reader's I knew when I finished it and not a one of them could get past the beginning. They would send it back or drop it off with a 'sorry, just didn't get it'.
It was sad, but sooo beautiful.
I'll have to look for Pomegranite Soup.
Posted by: jo | January 25, 2007 at 07:56 AM
Note to myself: must buy more books to look at! :-)
Posted by: Nina | January 25, 2007 at 03:29 AM