Pining away

Just a little over two weeks ago, the calendar made a promise - March 21, the first day of spring, the beginning of warmth and color and yummy freshness. But that promise was broken. Instead, northern New Jersey has seen rain and tornado warnings and a chill that only a puffy black winter parka and countless variations of stew can fix, and just barely fix at that.



















And so, I suppose I've been on an unintentional strike. But it occured to me tonight that by staying away from the computer, I haven't shared that meal two weeks ago that instilled so much excitement in me. For, you see, March 21 wasn't just the first day of spring. It marked the beginning of the Persian year, Norooz.

Norooz is probably the biggest holiday for Iranians and in my house, the occasion rivals Christmas. A few weeks before the New Year, spring cleaning begins. We shop for new clothes and new sheets. We plant seeds and buy fresh flowers. The centerpiece of the festivities is the "haft-seen" table, which literally translates to seven s-es, "seen" being the equivalent of the letter "s." The table is supposed to be set with seven dishes representing rebirth, health, happiness, prosperity, joy, patience and beauty.

The symbolic dishes include "sabzeh," or sprouts, usually wheat or lentil, representing rebirth; "samanu," a sweet, creamy pudding of wheat sprouts; "seeb," or apple, representing health and beauty; "senjed," the sweet, dry fruit of the Lotus tree, representing love; "seer," or garlic, representing good health; "somaq," or sumac berries, the color of the rising sun of spring; and "serkeh," vinegar, representing age and patience.

My family doesn't really know all this. I have to admit I looked up the meanings and realized that our yearly haft-seen includes many other elements: a watch, gold coins, goldfish (or in our case, as all our fish die the day after the New Year, a fish-shaped pendant) and colored eggs. You may also notice my contribution - marshmallow Peeps - because I'm addicted to them as well as hyacinth, called "sonbol" in Farsi, and candles. We usually include sweets like dates and homemade baklava, but I'm pretty sure those were in the process of being eaten by the time these pictures were taken.

After the cleaning, the planting, the shopping, and the decorating comes the party. And oh boy, do we like to party. Norooz 2008 started with a couple glasses of Veuve Cliquot, followed by a parade of some of my favorite foods in the whole world.

Broiled salmon, crusty from a lemon juice marinade and rendered extra sour by virtue of baby dill pickles and a wholly Iranian pickle known as "torshi" ...

Basmati rice, fluffy and scented with heady saffron, layered with fresh herbs like parsely, dill and all those other unidentifiable greens you find in the produce section this time of year...

"Kookoo sabzi," a veggie patty made with those very same spring herbs and vegetables, dotted with chunks of walnut and held together by an egg...

And, my favorite, the homemade baklava that I mentioned before. The one thing I didn't get a picture of. I apologize. But rest assured it will make another appearance on this blog, I promise.

I also promise that when it does, I will have a recipe, something I can't offer at all tonight. These are my mom's recipes, done by feel and taste and from the heart, and no amount of "Wait, let me measure!" could slow her down enough to allow me to take notes. I suppose I'll just have to feel and taste and work my way through the ingredients until I figure out the recipes for myself.

But that's a travail for another time. For now, I'll keep on pining away for spring, maybe adding a little extra vinegar to my salads. That stands for patience, remember? Lucky I get to practice my hand at that virtue in sunny California. Tomorrow I set off for San Francisco and Berkeley, where spring has apparently already sprung. I can't wait.