Peace in the Middle of the Eastside

Diva and I always try to create an atmosphere of love when we prepare our food - loving food for loving people. And I love Helga and Andrew, our dining companions last night for a serious ass buffet of awesomeness. When we first met Andrew and Helga there was question as to whether we could keep them around, basically because we had just only weeks before them made friends with a couple named Andy and Olga. Total mind bend. Keeping them straight wouldn't prove to be too hard. These two are amazing - sound artists, musicians in the band Metal Rouge, fighters of the good fight, aesthetes, and recently real raw food champions. She may be a novice, but Helga makes the best raw no-bean hummus I've ever tasted and she even taught me a way to make pomegranate juice without a juicer. Just squeeze the fruit all around, on every inch, roll it on the counter, keep squeezing, feel the mushiness inside, then yr ready to poke a hole and start sucking. Love it ! On the menu for our Middle East Peace Party:
Carrots Casablanca
Humanity Hummus
Persian Country-style Salad
Doobie Dolmas
fresh cut veg crudite
flax cracks
pomegranate seeds
grapes
Mocha Lemon Chip Cheesecake
Our job was to supply the carrots, cheesecake, and dolmas. Around here, Britt's trying to keep his Lebanese side on the down low - but it really shows when he's rolling those doles. Mary my fabulous foodie mother in law - and incidentally, dolmas dauphin, but of the lamb verite - once said, "Rolling dolmas are easy. It's like rolling a joint." Needless to say, my husband was on a roll. Our grape leaves are washed of their brine, marinated in a bright citrus blend of lemon and orange juice with garlic and salt, and our filling has the best fresh dill, parsley, golden raisins, pine nuts, salt, cinnnamon, cumin, nutmeg, zucchini, and olive oil. We just die. Add some wine, some soothing herbal teas, some african funk, some heated debates on everything from shitty cereal to radiohead, some food conspiracies, and some serious ass serious love. We can all just get along.