Heatwave and Watermelon Salad

Couldn't be happier that my kids started summer camp this week.  What a relief!  So, for the past three weeks with school year coming to an end, I was busy with my kids' end of school year events, plays, picnics,"graduations," and even days off here and there.  Everyone's schedule was off, including me.  I missed my Pilates workout for 3 weeks in a row and I wasn't able to blog as much as I would've liked.  My kids had a week off last week before starting their summer camps this week.  So, I was the sole entertainer/tour guide for a whole week.  I must tell you that it's no easy task to go around town on public transportation with 2 toddlers and different personalities.  Not to mention the bathroom trips with my newly potty-trained little girl...  My son who is the older one - and almost never had any tantrums growing up - suddenly had the most tantrums compared to my daughter who is the younger one (and always has tantrums).  It truly was a treat...  I got a sense of what it would be like to have a teenager around the house.  So you can imagine how much happier I am sending them off to a place where other people get to entertain them for a few hours and I trust that they will be much happier spending their days with other kids.

Yes, I am no super mom - just a regular mom.

With the heatwave slowly making its way to north east, I have already started lecturing my kids about drinking lots of water and staying out of the sun.  I don't know about you, but I tend to lose my appetite on hot days and start indulging on cool treats: ice cream, sorbet, Popsicle and so forth.  However, my favorite thing to have on a hot summer day is watermelon!  I just can't get enough of it.  Frankly, I think it is the best summer snack or even a meal.  It has a high water content, yet sweet enough to get you going.  Not to mention that it cools you off too.

Some fun facts about watermelon: Did you know that watermelon is a good source of vitamin C?  Well, it's true.  Watermelon rinds are also edible and contain many hidden nutrients but most people avoid eating them due to their unappealing flavor.  I remember one of my aunts used to salt the rinds and eat them - she claimed they tasted very good.  Watermelon is also diuretic which means it elevates the rate of urination.  So, please avoid eating watermelon on long car rides - just a little advice!

One of the hot summer day meals in my household growing up was feta cheese on flat bread, served with watermelon and fresh herbs.  Still, to this day, you might meet a Persian who suggests this dish when it's hot outside.  I personally never liked the idea of mixing sweet and savory and only slowly trying to have an open mind about this mixture!  I just thought that you don't mix your salty with your sweet.  First, you have your meal, then indulge in something sweet afterwards.  Chocolate covered peanuts make no sense to me, nor do chocolate covered pretzels and so forth.  But that's just me.  I am starting to actually see more trends of mixing sweet and salty.  Suddenly caramel with sea salt is all the rage.  Granted, it tastes good and it's an interesting combination, but c'mom it's not all that exciting!

So, the recipe for today is inspired from the mentioned meal above with my little twist.  It's sweet and savory all in one plate!

Watermelon Salad

Watermelon – cut into small ½” thick triangle wedges

1/3 cup feta cheese – diced into small cubes

1/4 cup toasted pistachio nuts – shelled

1 tablespoon fresh mint – washed and julienned

1 teaspoon mint syrup

Flat bread or Lavash bread (optional for the carb lovers)

Please note: the measurements are not critical for this recipe.

On a large plate arrange your watermelon slices.  Add the feta, mint and toasted pistachio nuts.  Drizzle the mint syrup over them.  Serve immediately with or without bread.

 Watermelon Salad

Happy 1st day of summer :)

Grandmother's Infamous "Omelet" on Father's Day

With Father's Day being around the corner, one always tries to think of special things to do and special dishes to make.  In my house - except the kids of course - we are major meat eaters.  To make matters more complicated, we are also very picky when it comes to quality, taste and preparation.  You can also say that we can get a little competitive!  I have come to realize that most men like to make their own meat dishes - this includes my lovely hubby of course.  I think there was only a handful of times that I succeeded (in his eyes) making him his favorite cut of steak.  Now that he has his own smoker and dual gas/coal grill in the backyard, I'm not even going to try to come up with a "meat" dish for this father.  I have decided to prepare a special breakfast for him.  I call it a breakfast since in Iran we didn't have brunch.  You can translate it to whatever you'd like.  I am a huge fan of brunches now, but for the sake of keeping the Persian tradition, I called it a breakfast.  This breakfast is something that my grandmother used to prepare for us, not only for breakfast but also for a quick and tasty dinner.  You can easily prepare this dish with your little ones.

Grandmother’s Omelet

2 hot dogs – sliced ½” thick (preferably skinless)

1 small onion – peeled and finely diced

2 small tomatoes – washed and finely diced

4 eggs – beaten

4 tablespoon of milk

¼ teaspoon sea salt (or less depending on the saltiness of the hot dogs you are using)

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Bread of your choice

In a medium non-stick pan, melt the butter then add the onions.  Sauté the onions over medium-low heat until they are soft and translucent.  Add the tomatoes and mix well.    Add the sliced hot dogs and sauté with the mixture for another 3-5 minutes.   

 In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and milk with salt and pepper, then add to the mixture in the pan.  Mix well and allow for eggs to form.  Be careful not to overcook the eggs.  Take the pan off the heat.  Serve hot with your favorite bread.

Grandmother's Omelet

A Persian breakfast is traditionally served with sweet hot tea.  So basically, you brew your black tea and when you want to drink it, you add about a tablespoon of sugar to it.  I figured I can add a little twist to this tradition...  So I thought the best compliment to this breakfast is iced tea with my mint syrup and freshly squeezed lemon juice.  You can use either green tea or any kind of black tea (i.e. Earl Grey or Darjeeling) for this purpose.

Here's how you make the syrup:
Start out by making simple syrup.  Boil 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar together in a sauce pan, until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture starts to boil.  Add about a bunch of washed mint to infuse the syrup and let it simmer.  You don't want the mint to turn so dark because it will give syrup a bitter taste.  Just watch and stir every now and again.  Then take the mint out.  You should be able to smell a minty mixture in your sauce pan.  Let cool and pour in a glass bottle then store in your fridge.  You can keep this in your fridge for about a year.

I poured this syrup in an ice tray with a mint leaf in each one and froze overnight.  I also noticed that they will NOT exactly turn into ice cubes since the sugar content is high - they are soft and sorbet-like.  You can scoop out these cubes by using a small spoon.  Add a couple of these cubes to your iced tea with freshly squeezed lemon juice.  You or HE will love it.

Mint Syrup and Ice Tray

Have a wonderful Father's Day weekend.

 .روز پدر مبارک 

Now That May is Over...

Hello lovely blog readers.  It has been a month since I wrote or even got inspired... Despite the fact that month of May was filled with some happy occasions like Mother's Day and my wedding anniversary, it was also a sad month for me!  Unfortunately, my life became short of one exceptional human being... I will always remember her endless love and kind words.  I will forever cherish the memories I had with her.  I was lucky to call myself her granddaughter. Farewell to my beautiful grandmother.  May you rest in peace.

As some of you already know, I was very close to her.  Being the first grand kid,  I got to spend a lot of quality time with her.  She was a huge part of my life growing up.  I remember my mother used to drop me off every morning at my grandmother's house and the school bus would then pick me up from her house and then drop me off after school till my mother would come from work and get me.  I have such fond memories of those days... she was always in the kitchen cooking some amazing dishes and most times things that I loved.  I consider myself extremely lucky to have had that opportunity and wish my kids could have too!

As you can imagine, it has been very hard for me to blog or even share recipes with you as it was a reminder of my Grandmother.  It also seemed that my kids were off from school way too often in May!  Someone once told me: "The more you pay for a school, the less they go!"  I am really starting to feel that now that I have 2 in school. School is almost over and I have a week to entertain my little ones before they both start summer camp.  In New York, unless you have a summer house or know of someone who does, you end up signing up your kids at various summer camps and allow others to provide entertainment on hot summer days.  Clearly, we are on the latter category.

I will make this blog short, but want to remind you all of an older blog that was one of my Grandmother's specialties - Saffron Rice Pudding.  I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we all do.

Stay tuned...