Tuesday, January 02, 2007

And a Lovely Christmas Was Had By All....

Yes, we have been misbehaving badly in not posting, but we have plenty of excuses:

1. the dire need to be lovely and charming at various events
2. the lengthy process of cleaning out the parents' house now that their divorce is final
3. barfing up a lung

As I was mostly Nice and not too terribly Naughty last year, I received some lovely presents from Santa: a 6 boxed set of ninja movies, cookbooks, jewelry, chocolates, teas, and various nibbly things.

My favorite cookbook was probably "Treasured Armenian Recipes" (1949), which, of course, includes a recipe for Brain Salad. The recipe notes that one must "Clean brain of all red veins, wash thoroughly in cold water, simmer in salted water for 20 minutes. Drain and cool. Arrange on lettuce leaves, add chopped parsley and green onions, and sprinkle olive oil and lemon juice...."

it also includes a recipe for Madzoon and helpfully informs the reader that "To make madzoon you must first obtain 1/2 cup of madzoon..."

The recipe for Khash Or Pasha includes such delicacies as 4 calves hoofs, 6 lambs tongues, 2 lbs. Calves tripe, 2 garlic cloves, salt, pepper, and paprika. When making Khash Or Pasha, "It is best to buy the feet already cleaned if possible. Otherwise soak feet in boiling water to loosen the shoe, then take off the shoe from each foot. Singe all hairs and scrape off the rest with the edge of a knife. Wash everything very thoroughly. Soak the feet and stomach in water over-night."

It also has recipes for "Paste" and "Topic", and a large number of the recipes call for an ingredient called "Spry".

I will provide full recipes upon request.

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6 Comments:

Blogger Larry Jones said...

So glad you finally have the cookbook of your dreams, and I hope you will be sharing your culinary experiences with readers.

11:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wish I had seen this before my last dinner party. And I do mean my "last dinner party".
Who would have thought that when making Khash you needed to remove the shoes from the foot and singe off the hair..
Needless to say the dish was a total disaster. Everyone has already told me that as soon as they get out of the intensive care unit at the hospital they are in they will never return to my home. But I think they will come back to retrieve their coats ..
Anyways, I missed you..
Hope you can get a replacement lung for the barfed up one..

11:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can do without the brain salad but I could go for a cup of Spry.

11:18 AM  
Blogger L said...

Larry: ha ha! I don't think I will be making Brain Salad though...

Happy and Blue: uh oh-- sounds like it WAS your last dinner party! I'm sorry you missed my blogging -- I just needed a bit of a vacation perhaps...

frustrated writer: I could use some Spry myself... hey! it looks like I need to relink to you...

12:12 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gee, L, would you clean my brain of all red veins? Oh wait, my current project has already done that.

11:14 PM  
Blogger L said...

comfort addict: ha ha! I feel the same way sometimes

11:11 PM  

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