Weekends, "meat water" and my mother.

Weekends, "meat water" and Iranian mothers.

It sounds kind of disgusting right? Meat water or Water meat; better known in farsi as: "ab goosht". A most delicious Persian stew with beef or lamb simmered with garbanzo beans and eaten with either bread or in today's case, "cheveed polo": green rice?

White basmati rice with some green stuff...sounds strange.

TASTES exquisite.

Coming home is always a very wholesome experience and I mean that in the most Mr. Roger's Neighborhood kind of way.

Ironically no matter what, I usually don't get enough school work done at home but I do feel (in most cases) refreshed, well fed and caught up with my sleep.

There's something cathartic about the stillness and the quiet of my parent's house that lets me put my mind on pause.

The older I am getting the more I realize and appreciate what home is and what it means. CLICHES are true and I'm telling you that distance makes the heart grow fonder....this is applicable to situations (gasp) OTHER than one's romantic relationships

For example, today at dinner my parents were cute enough to set a "sofreh" (in Farsi). That means they laid out dinner on the floor and WITHOUT a doubt my mother and I easily found a topic of discussion to bicker about...

If this situation were to have happened two years ago I probably would have been so hot tempered I would have put down my fork and refused to complete dinner (threats to disregard one's food in a Persian household is very insulting).

But instead I got pissed off for two seconds (cheers! Applause!) and realized that in fact my mom will do anything and I mean ANYTHING, to create some sort of dialogue at the dinner table/breakfast table/chai table/car rides.....

And no matter how lame or frustrating the discussion is my mom enjoys to converse, to speak and to argue, not because she likes to "argue" but because of the former former: "conversing."

This is a genuine effort on my mom's part. Perhaps she's worried that she will lose me to the english speaking world forever. Even though she is as much a part of society as myself I sense the worry some look in her eyes once in awhile. That maybe, just maybe I would just would rather "converse" about something else WITH someone else.

BUT DO NOT FEAR!

As long as my mom has really hilarious topics to discuss about and Meat water simmering on the stove, my heart will always belong to my mama's. I take that back. My heart will always belong to my mama's, with or without her RIDIK conversations (or sometimes monologues) and meat water...."ab goosht"