Fesenjoon

So I'm on the bus home after work chatting with Kamran on my cell, when I see Iman standing in the intersection across from my house waiting for the light to turn. I wave hysterically at him through the bus window, and I know he sees me but is not quite sure WHO exactly he's seeing. I motion him over to the bus stop, where I dismount and he comes over to say hi.

Now at this point, it is important to note that we had previously had a conversation in the Food Centre not twenty-four hours ago about how he was extremely disappointed that I had not invited him to my flat for a visit since we have been here. Therefore God, according to His wonderfully mysterious ways, arranged for us to meet on the street just beyond my building. Fate.

I tell him to come over and hang out, and he shows me the food processor he just acquired from one of the ladies here at the World Centre. Sweet. So with the food processor in tow, we head back to my place to "stir up" a little trouble. Kat was home when we arrived, and was just about to cook something for dinner, so Iman offered to whip up a little fesenjoon.

Ok, there is some sort of weird phenomenon here at the World Centre where everyone seems to be a little fesenjoon-obsessed. Granted, it is quite a delicious dish of chopped walnuts, pomegranate paste and chicken, but everyone really goes crazy for it. And it's funny to me how many different versions of it there actually are. Kat and Iman had an amusing (to me) discussion about how their fesenjoon recipes were so vastly different...
"I add my paste to the chicken and let it simmer to thicken."
"Well, I cook them separately and add them together on the plate."
"You leave the onions in with the chicken?"
"You don't?"
"Do you want me to leave the onions in?"
"Not if you don't want to. But I eat them separately."
..that sort of thing.

Well, now Iman cannot claim that I have not invited him over to my flat for a real visit. It was quite lovely having a nice gentleman come by and cook some fesenjoon goodness for the ladies. Next time I'll have to do ghormeh sabzi if I really want to impress.