This week was Persian New Year - Salleh no mobarak! (which is “Happy new year” in Farsi!) I’m celebrating this weekend with the family - I’ll post pictures of the food and decorations next week. It’s a big party not to be missed!

I grew up in a mixed household – half Iranian, and half American. I’m a true mutt. As a result, my idea of comfort food sometimes differs from my peers. Though I’ll go to town on mac and cheese with the best of them, I also regularly crave feta with walnuts for breakfast and complicated layered rice dishes for dinner. I generally only get to indulge when I visit my family. Most Persian recipes have imported ingredients I have to go out of my way for. This lazy home cook hates making extra grocery trips, so I just…wait for my mom to cook for me. Usually.

photo by Empuckett

I am a firm believer in eating breakfast for dinner. I think that eggs are delicious at any time of day and I would order waffles for dessert if I could. For some reason my open mindedness does not extend to having soda in the morning though – my throat closes up and just rejects the stuff. There’s a time and a place, guys. Get it together.

Can we take a minute to talk seriously about boxed wine?

I have no particular love for Clif Wine - someone brought it to my birthday party, though, and I love free things!

I’m not exactly a wine snob. I live in the Bay Area in California, so I’m surrounded by a lot of very good wine. I can appreciate it, but I’m going to be honest – most of the time I don’t think I can tell the difference between a $15 bottle of wine and a $50 bottle of wine. As a result, the wine I drink is usually around $9 and I can buy it at the Walgreen’s down the street. Don’t judge.

What is one to do when one wakes up at 7 am on what was supposed to be a very lazy Saturday morning? Boyfriend is still sound asleep (and is egregiously hogging your pillow might I add) so he’s no help for entertainment. Staying in bed any longer will touch off a headache for sure. Your solution? Tackle an old enemy who has been preying on you for years – finding the recipe for the Perfect Biscuit. Perfect details include height, flavor, fluffiness and (for extra credit) ease of creation.

I try to be a good human being most of the time, I really do. I try to be generous with my time and energy, to think of others and put my friends and family first.

Most of the time.

But for about a week every January I am entirely, insufferably self centered. And do you know why?

JANUARY IS MY BIRTHDAY MONTH! HOORAY FOR BEING BORN!

(I realize that it is now February, but honestly I’m still reeling from all the January love.)

photo by AmandaRose

Frittattas are such a wonderful breakfast/lunch/dinner food. They are filling but light, they taste luxuriant while still being a little healthier than many eggy dishes. That of course depends on what you put in them. I like loading mine up with fresh herbs and vegetables, along with a healthy (ha!) dose of cheese. Frittatas are also potentially quick, depending on what you have on hand. Which leads me to the most important piece of information – you can put anything in these suckers!