Norouz 2010 ~ A Recap

I find the end of each holiday a bit nostalgic, there is such a high that comes with the approach of the holidays and then you bat your eyes and it’s all done and over with.

The month of March was rather busy around My Persian Kitchen. I tried my best to cover all that surrounds Norouz. It wasn’t until I went back through my pictures for the past three weeks that I thought about this post. There are so many fun memories and one of the things that made me smile is actually really feeling spring in the air through all the flowers around us.

But let me start from the beginning!

Our Sizdeh Bedar.

This one cousin was behind it all. His visit to the US was the best Eidy I could have asked for. He lifted my spirits! I love the fact that he is a social butterfly, yet he always manages to spend one night with us followed by breakfast at our favorite spot the next morning!

There we are hand in hand jumping over the fires!

Neda Khanoom’s dinner rocked…that is the part that didn’t come from Crown Valley Market!!!

Then there was the fun party at our house. The one for which we were cleaning herbs for days and made enough food for 50…but really we only had about 30 people! The fun began at 1pm and ended with the 7 die hards at around midnight.  One of them even spent the night. I love sleep overs! And yes, I did swear I am never having a big party again!

Spring has definitely arrived in our garden in the past couple of weeks. The Iris and Tulip bulbs that I planted a couple of months ago have bloomed.

The Fresia is simply gorgeous and fragrant.

The Mexican Lime (background) and Orange trees (foreground) that we planted last year have been doing well.  The two tomato plants (in the middle) are growing as well.

Both the Mexican Lime and Orange blossoms smell divine, especially in the early evenings.

And these gorgeous red flowers. Oh My! I separated the original plant because it was a cluster of bulbs a couple of years ago. I was going to get rid of them thinking that they will never flower. It took them a couple of years to come back stronger and better. I smile every time I walk by as it is simple gorgeous! Never mind the photo intruder she follows me around…

Aren’t they gorgeous? I have no idea what they are called…I should ask my friend Lori Lynn, I am sure she knows!

And finally our Clivia, which has bloomed more this year than any other year.  We have never had so many flowers bloom! It’s so exciting to see that all the work that I have put into our garden is finally paying off!

Let us not forget the trees! The Loquat tree is full of fruit. The squirrels and birds are mighty happy these days!

The guavas are still green but soon enough they will be ripe. The lemon tree in the background is full of lemons!

And our new plants: The Jasmine is doing great and the flowers smell heavenly!

And we got a Miniature Peach tree as a present and we need to find a place to plant it.

But nothing says spring like blossoms because they are what remind me the most of Spring time in Tehran. It’s nice to seem them here in So Cal…whether it be in a Vineyard in Temecula.

Or at the Botanical Gardens in Palos Verdes.

Or at the Farmer’s Market.

Before I knew it, it was time for Sizdeh Bedar! The Sous Chef and I went to a park in Long Beach and had a nice picnic on the actual day of Sizdeh Bedar which was last Friday.

While I was busy putting out our lunch and taking pictures I noticed a little someone eying two ducks. That’s when all the hilarity began!

Notice how intent she is? Look at that front left paw…right on the edge. Make no mistake she is part Lab and she LOVES to swim. She was ready to jump in and join the ducks. We had to keep an eye on this one, we didn’t want to get kicked out by the park ranger!!

The coolest thing was seeing two different groups of Iranian families with their food spread, grilling kabobs, and with Persian music playing in the background.

We took a walk around the park filled with ducks and geese.

They were all roaming around.

The dog eyed them all with her tongue hanging…she cut loose once and sent them flying. We are not used to this, she is practically afraid of her own shadow. The first time she saw geese a couple of years ago at a local park she hid behind The Sous Chef’s legs.

The geese in the foreground charged The Dog and me…I know better than to stand around, I am told geese bite…

And this? This was the best part. Seriously, funny and pathetic all at once! I found the perfect spot to throw our Sabzeh.  Well as soon as I threw them in the water these two white geese came out of nowhere.

They took turns picking at one of them and making quite a bit of noise.

Then they turned towards me and literally gave me the look: “Lady, is this all ya got? Boohoo!” All I am thinking is, “this is not supposed to happen, the Sabzeh needs to go down stream and take away all that is ill.”

The worst part of it all: the Sabzeh just stayed there and didn’t move. Not only it got picked by the geese, it didn’t go down stream.  All I could think was this isn’t good…this could be bad omen.

I was all bummed until we saw a little thing move slowly on the grass.

Well hello little fella! He was a mighty cool turtle…so cool that he looked straight at me while I got close to take his picture.  I decided that seeing him was good omen!

Overall it was a good day: our food was yummy, The Dog didn’t go for a swim, we didn’t get thrown out of the park, I got over the Sabzeh, and the turtle made my day!

How was your Norouz and beyond?