Rosewater and Soda Bread (38 page)

8 cups water

4 cups uncooked basmati rice

4 tablespoons olive oil

3 pounds boneless chicken breasts, cut in strips

2 medium onions, chopped

Saffron water (4 strands saffron dissolved in 8 tablespoons hot water)

2 teaspoons turmeric

½ pound baby spinach

7 eggs

1½ cups thick, Greek-style yogurt

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 cup slivered almonds

1 cup honey

Bring water to boil in a large pot, add rice, and cover. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender. Drain any remaining water and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Add chicken, onions, and half the saffron water. Sauté for 15 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add turmeric and spinach and sauté for 5 minutes. Set aside.

In a nonmetallic bowl, whisk eggs and remaining saffron water. Add yogurt, salt, and pepper. Add chicken and spinach mixture. Mix well.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish. Spoon in 2 cups of rice, patting it down evenly. Next, add half the chicken and spinach mixture. Layer again with 2 cups rice. Add remaining chicken mixture. Mix almonds and honey, layer over top. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 1½ hours. Remove from oven.

Let cool for 15 minutes. Remove foil and cover with a large plate or platter. Carefully but quickly, turn the casserole upside down.
Tacheen!

4 cups flour

1½ teaspoons baking soda

1 cup sweet dried currants (raisins may be substituted)

2 tablespoons caraway seeds

1½ cups sour milk (add 1 teaspoon vinegar to sour the milk)

⅓ cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, currants, and caraway seeds. Mix well before slowly adding sour milk. Knead into dough.

Shape dough into a round loaf and place on a greased cookie sheet. Make an X on the top with a knife. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 1 hour, or until golden. Test with a toothpick. It is done when the toothpick comes out clean from the center.

Serve hot or cold with butter, accompanied by rosewater jelly and your own personal Finnegan.

A READER'S GUIDE

Marsha Mehran
: I have to say, Mrs. Delmonico, this is the best bowl of minestrone I have ever had. Is that dill powder you've got in there, or is it fennel? I can't decide.

Estelle Delmonico
: Call me Estelle, darling. And thank you. I do think my minestrone is special, yes.

MM
: And please, call me Marsha. So …Estelle. The powder, your secret ingredient? I don't think it's angelica. It's dill, isn't it?

ED
: (
laughs
) Ah! That I cannot tell. Only one person in this world will get that knowledge.

MM
: Marjan Aminpour.

ED
: Yes, that is right. Marjan will get my minestrone recipe and all its special secrets. But that is only after I am lying beside my Luigi again.

MM
: I can understand why you decided to give Marjan the recipe. She's very talented.

ED
: Talented, beautiful, and so strong. My goodness. She doesn't even know how strong she is.

MM
: Why do you say that?

ED
: Well, because she is only beginning to see her strength, her power. All the hard times are for her in the past. Now that she is on good ground,
terra firma
, she is ready to blossom.

MM
: Like your rosebush.

ED
: (
smiles
) Yes, that is exactly right. Like my Luigi's rosebush.

MM
: Estelle, I'd like to ask you about Teresa.

ED
: Another young woman who is beginning to see her strength.

MM
: I think some readers were surprised by your response. To her situation, I mean. Being Catholic, and all.

ED
: I am sorry, darling. I don't understand what your question is. What does it mean “being Catholic”?

MM
: Well…that is a good question. (
Blushes.
) I guess what I mean is that there are strict rules about what Teresa was trying to do. Rules that are there to protect the sanctity of life. Some might see your helping her as going against all that.

ED
: But of course that is what I should do. To help. What is this life we have if we do not see the pain in others, that we do not walk with their pain and open the heart to help them? We must always open the heart to love, yes? That is the only way to the center. To everything that is good in this world.

MM
: And to God.

ED
: (
pats Marsha on the arm
) Exactly, sweetheart.

MM
: It's been nearly two weeks since Teresa has left your house. Do you plan on visiting her anytime soon?

ED
: Of course! Dara O'Cleirigh, he is the postal man. He is taking me to Inishrose in two days. That is when the showers stop again. I will have tea with Teresa and her papa. He is very special, too. Like his daughter.

MM
: Yes, I hear you got along really well with Sean McNully

ED
: (
giggles
) Only friends, Marsha. Only friends. My heart belongs to one man only.

MM
: Have you given any more thought to the healing you received from Teresa? Have you spoken to her about it at all?

ED
: No. And maybe I will not. I think it is very good to have
mystery for my life. Some things—who can say why some things happen, yes? There is so much magic in this world, so much wonderful signs. They show us that we are part of—how do you say—La Divina.

MM
: The Divine.

ED
: Exactly. We are all part of the Divine.

MM
: And the Divine is part of us.

ED
: Brava, Marsha!

MM
: It was divine inspiration to have Fifi O'Shea sit in for Teresa. I would have loved to be there to see the faces on those guards. It would have been priceless.

ED
: Ah, but you were there, Marsha. We all were.

MM
: (
smiles
) I suppose you are right, Estelle.

ED
: (
claps her hands
) Okay! Now I ask you something.

MM
: Of course. Go right ahead.

ED
: I know two, three things about you. I know you love to write, but also that you love to cook.

MM
: Yes, that's right. Some of my earliest memories have to do with being in a kitchen, watching my parents prepare these intricate, beautifully perfumed dishes for the café they owned in Argentina. I think I associated love with food. From that early on.

ED
: What good luck! What an education to get when so young. I am also filled with memories of my mama and my grandmama Luciana in the kitchen, in Napoli. Always arguing but loving each other, sharing this recipe and that. I remember when they made
cacciucco
, always on my birthdays, but on Fridays also. Ah,
cacciucco
! Soft, buttery fish with mussels, chilies, and red wine. The smell of the ocean and the smell of the land, together in one pot.

MM
: Stop, Estelle. I am about to faint, it sounds so fantastic.

ED
: (
laughs
) I know what you mean, darling. But that is what cooking does, yes? Makes us love life. Makes us build a home.

MM
: Well, that's exactly right. Wherever my parents went, whether it was Buenos Aires, Miami, or Australia, the one thing that really kept us afloat, that reminded them of the good days in Iran, was food. No matter where we were, if we could return to the
sofreh
, we were going to be okay. I think that is why I knew Marjan and the girls would be just fine here in this little Irish village. I wasn't worried about them at all.

ED
: I am so glad you brought them here. This is their home now. I tell you something also, Marsha: even if I have this terrible arthritis, even if it rains every day for the rest of my life, I will never leave Ballinacroagh. You know why? Because this is where I let my love grow. Where Luigi and I became one. Where I became a woman.

MM
: That is beautiful, Estelle.

ED
: Thank you, darling. It is from my heart. (
Sighs contentedly
,
then looks up suddenly with a spark in her eyes
.) Okay! (
Gets slowly up from the kitchen table
.) It is time!

MM
: What's happening?

ED
: You see, over there at the mountain. Ten more minutes and another rain will come. Let's go!
Andiamo!

MM
: But where are we going?

ED
: To the center, Marsha. To my garden, where you will see the peace I am saying to you. To the Divine. We will walk and walk until we feel it shine in us. Come!

MM
: (
drains her tea and gets up, smiling
) Can't wait, Estelle. Thought you would never ask.

1. Dervla and her circle have opinions on everyone and everything in the town. What purpose do they serve in the novel? Why do you think Mehran chooses to open the novel from their point of view?
   

2. Rosewater and Soda Bread
   is set in the late 1980s. Do you think anything would have been different if the story had taken place now?
   

3. Orphaned and isolated from their homeland, the Aminpour sisters are a family of three with no parents or older relatives to rely on. What role do you think each sister plays in this family? How might these be different if the Aminpours' parents were still alive?
   

4. Is Father Mahoney a typical Irish Catholic priest? Why do you think the radio station is so important to him? Is he an effective spiritual leader?
   

5. Marjan's cooking seems to have a lot of power in Ballina-croagh—uniting, alienating, and even healing people. What is so special about her food?
   

6. In thinking back on her relationship with Ali, Marjan wonders, “Was it only within boundaries that people were allowed the freedom to be themselves?” (34) What do you think she means? Is this true of other relationships in the book? Has it been true of your own relationships?
   

7. In Marjan's box full of keepsakes from Iran, there is a rosewa-ter wash that she had once planned to use to cleanse Bahar for her first marriage. What do you make of this memory? How is it significant to the Aminpours' lives in Ballinacroagh?
   

8. Why do you think Estelle is so taken with Teresa? What purpose does she have in Estelle's life?
   

9. Why does Marjan have such a difficult time trusting Julian? Do you think he is a good match for her?
   

10. When she is preparing for her first Mass, Bahar says that she had once vowed never again to wear a veil, but then, “Everything had changed once again; now she was happy to be alone, happy to wear a veil again” (196). What do you think the veil symbolizes for Bahar? Why do you think she is so drawn to Catholicism?
    

11. Why do you think Sean McNully didn't confront the minister about his daughter? What prevented him from trying to find her?
    

12. Mehran ends the novel with a short Rumi poem. What do you think is its significance to the story? What might the rose represent? The rose water?