Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This time around,  Simona of  Briciole   is the host for our bi-monthly book group  Cook the Books . For our Feburary-March 2020 pick, s he selected  Pomegranate Soup  by Marsha Mehran*;  you can read Simona's invitation :  here . On the Page Mehran transports the reader to the fictional village of Ballinacroagh in western Ireland in 1986. After fleeing Iran during the revolution of 1979, Marjan, Bahar, and Layla - the three Aminpour sisters - are working feverishly to open their new café, the Babylon Café. They are intent on setting down roots and building a new life away from their turbulent homeland. At only nine in the morning the kitchen was already pregnant to its capacity, every crevice and countertop overtaken by Marjan's gourmet creations. Marinating vegetables ('torshis' of mango, eggplant, and the regular seven-spice variety), packed to the briny brims of five-gallon see-through canisters, sat on the kitchen island...

This time around,  Claudia of  Honey From Rock   is the October-November 2019 host for  Cook the Books . She selected  The Temporary Bride: A Memoir of Love and Food in Iran by Jennifer Klinec * and you can read her  announcement  here . In any case, you have plenty of time to join the Cook the Books fun if you wish. Remember, it's the October-November selection...and it's only October 1st. Admittedly, I read this a couple of months ago, but I read it again before posting today. On the Page This is Jennifer Klinec's memoir of her finding food - and love - in Iran. Klinec grew up in Canada, born to a Hungarian father and a Yugoslavian mother. Her 20s had her climbing the corporate ladder before she abandoned it all to teach cooking classes out of her flat in London. Then, in her 30s, she heads to Iran to learn authentic recipes and meets Vahid, a younger Iranian man who introduces Klinec to his mother who begins teaching her to cook. A...

Here we are at the September Soup Saturday Swappers event. Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  started this event and, every month, I get a new array of soup recipes to put in my to-try pile. This month, Colleen of  Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice  is hosting as we explore pasta soups. Colleen writes, "Make a soup, chowder, or chili using any shape, variety, or flavor of pasta you choose. Get creative." Here's the line-up of pasta soup recipes from the #SoupSwappers... Aash-e Reshte from Culinary Adventures with Camilla  Beef and Tomato Macaroni Soup from Palatable Pastime  6-Ingredient Broken Spaghetti Pasta Soup from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice  Chicken & Tomato Macaroni Soup For Two from Sneha's Recipe  Minestra from A Day in the Life on the Farm  Shrimp and Tomato Stew with Fregola from Karen's Kitchen Stories  There a...

I just finished a different book set in Iran. You'll hear more about that soon, I promise! But that inspired me to pick up some other books on my bookshelf from the same region of the world and I revisited this one first -  Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America  by Firoozeh Dumas.* On the Page Funny in Farsi  is a memoir written by an Iranian-born author who immigrated to California when she was 7 years old. It's - as you would expect from the title - funny. Really funny. But it's also heart-wrenching and mortifying. Imagine having your name's pronunciation slaughtered at every turn. I didn't have to imagine; I get it all the time. Most of the time I just introduce myself this way: "It's Camilla. Like Pamela, but with a C." Still, when people see if, even after I have just said it, it's still Ca-MI-la or Camellia, like those horrible flowers that rot while they are still on the bush. She writes  My name, Firoozeh, cho...

Today the #OurFamilyTable is sharing herbaceous recipes! Christie of A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures encouraged the bloggers: "The first full week of May is National Herb Week. Show us you show stopping herbaceous recipes highlighting their flavors." Pesto Carbonara by A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures Bastounakia with Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme by Karen's Kitchen Stories Lemon Thyme Lemonade by Our Good Life Blue Bayou Golden Beet & Arugula Salad by Simply Inspired Meals Herby Salt and Vinegar Chip Fish by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks Thyme Tea by Home Sweet Homestead Asparagus Soup with Chimichurri by Art of Natural Living Sabzi Khordan (Fresh Herb Platter) by Culinary Adventures with Camilla We share Recipes From Our Dinner Table ! Join our group and share your recipes, too! While you're at it, join our Pinterest board , too! Sabzi Khordan Fresh Herb Platter I used to have a friend from Iran. And whenever w...

When I signed on for the  Foodie Reads 2016 Challenge , I pledged that I would read more than nineteen books during the course of 2016. Amazingly, this is book number twenty-three and I still have a quarter of a year left to read! Dare I think I might be able to knock out another fifteen books this year? I'm not sure about that. But I'll try. Maybe I can hit at least thirty. Maybe. I read  Tomorrow There will be Apricots  by Jessica Soffer* last month while we were camping, but didn't get around to cooking from it until this week. On the Page... For now, let me say that Jessica Soffer is a gifted writer. But as talented as Soffer is, I found the plot implausible and the characters more cliché than compelling. Think about a troubled 14-year-old who self-harms and longs for the affection of her icy mother who is a professional chef. Think about an Iraqi Jewish immigrant who has recently lost a her husband and gets cajoled into teaching cooking classes. Every...

I'll admit it's not unusual for me to create a dinner to match a cocktail. Remember the Cuban dinner because I wanted to make mojitos? Or the South African soiree because I had found a bottle of marula liqueur?!? But what I have never been able to say is that I cooked a meal to match my tablecloth. Until today, that is. When I met a friend for lunch this week, she brought me a gorgeous tablecloth from Dubai. But the cloth itself hailed from Iran. So, I set out to find an Iranian recipe that I could cook with what I had on-hand and serve it on my tablecloth. I chose nagisi koftay because, to be completely candid, I liked that the name of the dish comes from the resemblance to the narcissus flower when the ball is cut open. Okay, I don't really see the flower resemblance, but it is pretty - a meatball wrapped around a hardboiled egg, simmered in a fragrantly spiced tomato-based sauce. I took some liberties on the the traditional spices since I didn't have turmeric...