It’s the second day into March and, despite the cloudy, cold weather (unsurprises of early Spring) I have been doing much better and Kyle has broken out of his funk as well. I’ve been shoved into a routinely lifestyle, mostly for the sake of a steady income for our trip to the Philippines! I’ve had the strongest urges to travel lately, to be out of this country and to explore and get lost in a foreign city. New Brunswick has nothing to offer me.
My quick solution? Cooking!
Two nights ago, Kyle and I took our weekly trip to the Route 1 South Farmers Market to pick up a week’s worth of food. I was excited to pick up ingredients for Lubia Polow (Rice with Green Beans). The freshly pressed blog Violets and Cardamom caught my eye: her photographs of the dish were absolutely enticing. So much so that I even purchased dried saffron threads, a bottle of rose water and a pound of ground chicken at the Middle Eastern market (conveniently) around the corner from the Market!
I spent a good hour and a half carefully preparing the dish. After squishing my fingers around in ground chicken and Middle Eastern meatball seasoning, chopping green beans and simmering rice, salt and olive oil, I set everything to simmer under paper towels and an air-tight lid for thirty minutes, happily anticipating the finished product!
It tasted incredible. Kyle exclaimed, “I can’t believe my Asian girlfriend made this for a white guy!” The meatballs were perfect, the rice with the green beans and the slight sour zest of each bite into a diced tomato made the dish come alive. It was my first time making Persian/Iranian food and it was such a success!
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