Tahdig

I've been lucky to have been exposed to a huge range of cuisines throughout my life, so now at the ripe old age of 34 (lol), there are few dishes I haven't tried. Still however, as of about a year ago, and cemented definitively by my cravings this year, there is a Persian dish that has now become one of my favourites - Tahdig.

I first learned about Persian food throughout my twenties, from literature like Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi. And from similar sources like that I learned about Fesenjan, stewed chicken with pomegranates, which is one of the most famous Persian dishes. I wasn't too interested in it however, the combinations sounded odd and jarring, too exotic for my tastes.

The first time I tried Persian food was in NYC with Deni. It was at a small eatery in the Flatiron district that had a few vendors. I think it was soon after halloween, because I remember taking to Deni about the Spirit Halloween store nearby being on clearance. I don't even remember what year it was, but I guess it must have been before she moved to D.C.. It might also have been a weekend, because the eatery was half closed, but the Persian side was open. It was run by a jolly middle aged man, and that was the first time I tried Fesenjan and was overwhelmed by the clash of flavours. I don't remember exactly what else we ordered. I left the experience thinking I was glad that I had tried it, but that I wasn't exactly keen to try it again. 

In STL however, after we moved to Creve Coeur, Jon and I saw on Google maps that there was a curiously placed restaurant in Bridgeton, in a dead strip mall right by the 270 and a Chic-Fil-A (that was always busy, of course), called Esther's Persian Kitchen. Bridgeton is well, a little dumpy. It's utilitarian, but boy it is an ugly place. It also seems like a weird spot to have a Persian eatery, so out of curiosity we went there to try it out. It was also probably at least 5 years since my last experience eating Persian food in NYC. 

Esther's Persian Kitchen turned out to be another one-man show. Esther was the name of the guy's daughter, and she encouraged her father to set up a little eatery. There was never much foot traffic every time we visited, but it was just as well because the owner was always running around doing everything. We visited at least 3 times, and it was during one of these trips that I discovered the beauty that is Tahdig, and fell in love.

Tahdig is basically burnt rice crust, usually served with stew. It is so simple an idea, like the brunt rice that sticks to the claypot in Claypot Chicken Rice, except there is more of it and it is consistently burnt in a disk. Mmmmmm. I can't logically explain why I love something so simple so much, but I do. I guess by the same token, I also love Guo Ba.

Anyway one of the things I was sad about moving away from STL was missing the food. We had a Nicaraguan place we loved (Fritanga), a fusion Asian place (Lona's Little Eats), great BBQ (Salt and Smoke, Pappy's), Southern Fried Chicken (Grace Meat + Three), Balkan food (Balkan Treat Box), diner breakfast (Original Pancake House), and etc. It turned out however that in the case of Persian food, we lucked out moving to our current location, because for some reason, there are not one, but two Persian restaurants in nearby Ridgewood. So far we have tried both of them, and the Tahdig they serve satisfies my cravings. 

These two restaurants, Pardis and Parisa, are both very nice and elegant places. They have table cloths and water glasses made of glass. They also of course, have nice prices to match. While I am happy that I am able to easily satisfy my craving for Tahdig, there is still something I prefer and miss about the Tahdig made by the one man place in STL, in the run down dumpy strip mall.

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This disjointed post, which falls far below my own expectations of my writing skills, but which I will post anyway, is brought to you by my children who have (during the time I was trying to write):

1. Did their homework half way and then ran around
2. Threw all the toy food out of the bin
3. Spilled Capri Sun somewhere in the house
4. Crawled under the computer table and poked my foot
5. Run off to poop
6. Chased after the one running off to poop with a broom

It's no wonder I feel like a gormless moron nowadays.

Things My Kids Did Yesterday

Yesterday was an especially aggravating day. It started normally for a Monday - get kids ready, drop off E at Summer Camp, attend toddler gym class with M, grocery shopping, etc., but after E got home it all went downhill, and by the time Jon got home at 6:30pm, I wanted to punch something. 

First were the two giant messes the kids created yesterday that were very hard to clean up: E knocked over a bottle of maple syrup and didn't notice until much later, and M scattered Jon's 'Smart Bran' cereal all over the couch. The maple syrup was sticky as hell, and unrelenting in it's decision to adhere to the floor tiles (Jon told me even after I cleaned it took him 1hr to get remove all of it), and I had no choice but to start cooking dinner even though the floor was still sticky (which pissed me off even more). Then, I was in the midst of cooking when I saw M dig through the cupboards to take out the box of Smart Bran, and could have lunged to stop here, but was in the middle of a task. Next thing I heard was E screaming that M made a mess, but of course I couldn't see how bad the mess was until later. 

It wasn't until I finished cooking that I saw the mess. The Smart Bran looks like hamster cage food/cage liner, and it's the same bloody tiny size. And it was ALL OVER THE COUCH in thick layers. There was so much that I had to empty out the handheld vacuum. Meanwhile, every time I lifted up the cushions to get to the bits that had fallen through the cushion gaps, I saw more cereal shower through the foundation of the couch and onto the floor. I was so angry, I yelled at the kids to go shower (which to be fair they dutifully did, because In I think I startled them).

Second were the fights. After E got home she started playing with her dollhouse and her new Ghost Spider doll, and M wanted to join in. They kept fighting and there was some hitting and crying and screaming. Totally normal for them. It was quiet for a while when they found the Play Doh (that I now have to go clean up, 18h later). But after I shouted them up the stairs to bath, and was already seething trying to clean up the cereal, they started fighting over the positions in the bathtub and were screaming for Mummy. God damn it. 

Third were the unnecessary (but also typical) bullshit that the kids do. At one point, I think after E shoved her away from the dollhouse, M somehow found a pair of scissors. I was at the computer and suddenly heard a snipping sound, and turned around to see whole locks of hair all over the ground and I screamed. I was just trying to get a short rest before cooking dinner. And now there was a toddler with chopped off hair (somehow not that noticeable, but now she has hair shorter on her left side), and lots of fine hair flying all over the place. Even before that however, I had been nagging E to do her Kumon work. Every day, especially when M is around, I need to constantly nag E to focus and concentrate on doing her Kumon. One time it took her 1 and a half hours to finish it, when it normally takes 30 minutes. It is just aggravating getting her to focus. Then of course later, while I was cooking, I saw M dump snacks out of a plastic bin for no good reason. She just thought it was funny. I later made her pick it up. 

Fourth was the weather. There has been a heatwave in NJ for the last 2 weeks. Yesterday I finally started developing a heat rash. Urgh.

Fifth was the lengthy time needed to make dinner. I was making chicken pot pie, with the idea that it would give a good amount of leftovers for at least two dinners + other lunches for the week. That did mean however that I spent at least 1 and half hours cooking yesterday, not even including the actual clean up. Cooking for that long is just exhausting, meanwhile you are distracted and the kids run wild (see: M grabbing the Smart Bran).

Anyway today M is in daycare. She started 2 weeks ago, and every day except for the first day drop-off has involved a lot of screaming and crying. Today however, she didn't fuss at all. I tried bribing her with Youtube on the way to drop off and a new unicorn stuffed toy, and maybe it worked. I don't know. Let's see how drop-off tomorrow goes.