The traditional meal for Persian New year dinner or Nowrouz is Green Rice and Pan-Fried Trout or Sabzi Polo and Mahi. The Green rice is Basmati rice cooked with herbs such as dill, cilantro, parsley and a few others. Since you can buy the herbs already cleaned, dried and chopped up and steam the rice in the rice cooker, that part wasn't so hard. The hard part is the trout which comes with skin, head, tails and fins attached, and full of invisible, little flexible bones that are waiting for a chance to choke you when you bite the pan fried fish.
A few years ago, long before Internet time, I decided to invite some friends over in the absence of my Mom for Persian new year's dinner. Making the rice like I said, wasn't too much of a problem. Cleaning and preparing the trout took me hours, had me in tears and made me wish I had invited everybody out to dinner. Even though I was a student at the time and couldn't afford it, it was worth paying for the dinner rather than trying to clean and fry that blasted fish.
This year we invited a dozen friends and family and I knew I had to make the traditional meal. My mom is older now and can't be expected to make a meal for such a big group. She asked me how I was going to clean and prepare all the fish that I had bought. She knew about the disasterous dinner of few years ago. I told her not to worry, I would find it in the Internet. And found it I did.

This You Tube Video of How to Skin a Trout is amazing. It is not as easy as he makes it look, but I was able to prepare the fish in time. After cleaning and skinning it, I patted it with some flour and pan fried it. I served it with some fresh lemon and saffron along the rice and it was a real hit. My mom was heard saying several times over the dinner, you know you can learn anything on the Internet.

I was visiting my brother and his family over the weekend and when we arrived my niece and nephew started to tease me with the new funny pick up lines they had learned. I know there are entire sites on the internet about these, but these few were G-rated and cute, so I thought I would share.
As I sat down my niece reached behind my neck to check the tag of my shirt and then smiled and said, "Aaaaaaah, it reads, Made in Heaven!"
I started to laugh, but my nephew tapped me on the shoulder and said, "I have a better one for you. Do you have a map?" "And before I could answer, he added, "because I am lost in your eyes!"
My niece finished the lines off by asking me if I was tired and again before I could answer, she said, "Because you've been running in my mind all day long!"
And then they asked baby Milan if his Dad was a baker. And when I asked why, they answered, because he is a cutiepie!
Hey maybe I will try these on Robert when he comes back from his trip.

Found this on email today and I thought it was fun to share with those of you worried for your health. For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies. 1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. 2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. 3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. 4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. 5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. CONCLUSION Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

I love Cybill Shepherd. I fell in love with her when she was playing Maddie Hayes opposite Bruce Willis in Moonlighting. That was one of the first American shows I ever watched and I started watching it in Wales on the Summer of 1986 with my Mom and sister in law while I was waiting to get my student visa to come to the States. I used to think that Americans spoke so fast, because it was hard for me to follow the dialogue. I was just beginning to learn English then. I still got some of the jokes though and I just loved watching that show. Over the years I have watched her in some of the movies like Chances are and her own show on TV. Watching her performing on Stage as the curvy widow in San Francisco the other night though was such a treat. She is funny and beautiful and such a fantastic actress.
Curvy Widow is the story of a woman in her late fifties who goes online in search of a companion or as she so aptly puts it a playmate. What I liked about the play besides Ms. Shepherd's wonderful acting and the funny adventures and misadventures of the curvy widow was how she projected her computer display on the wall beside her so we could follow her online journey. I've been to many plays but this was the first time I was seeing virtual life displayed on the live stage. It was a surprising departure from what I had been used to and I quite enjoyed it. I also enjoyed Ms. Shepherd taking questions from the audience after the play. She showed that she can think on her feet and is quite witty and smart.
Someone asked her, what was the best sex she had ever had. Instead of shying away from the question or getting upset, she smply answered, with myself! Now that is a real woman in my book :)
If you get a chance and Curvy Widow is playing nearby, I definitely recommend seeing it. I really do love Cybill Shepherd.