Hi Reader,

It's Bita! How are you?

Wow, it's been almost a year. I've missed you!

Here's a quick share of my current perspective.

Familia

In September our family gathered to celebrate our Maman Joon's 85th birthday!

We are so grateful to have our Maman in our lives and are spending as much time with her as we can. These days together are precious.

Bob and I are still managing to scuttle down to southern California for that sweet sunshine and cool ocean breeze. The fall weather down here is unmatched. We know we are blessed and will keep this trend going because it fills our cup.

Now let's get down to creative food.

Halloween Food Inspo

I went through my photo archives looking for inspiration for the season. We're hoping to join a pre-trick-or-treating community block party on Halloween night.

Here are a few gems:

Aunt Stacy made this hummus back when our girls and their cousins were younger and our families lived closer to each other. Those were good times. This skull hummus must have been for Day of the Dead which falls a few days after Halloween but works for either occasion!

I had tried replicating the skull hummus although my version looks more like a colorful lion.

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Last year I made these super cute and trending mummy dogs. They were a huge hit at the party across the street. This year I've signed up to bring something spooky and savory. I'm playing with an idea to make homemade pizza rolls and somehow make them look spooky. I LOVED Totino's pizza rolls as a kid!

For my Halloween pizza rolls, I'll most likely keep it easy with pre-made biscuits or crescent rolls for the shell. I'll fill up the pastry pockets with cheese, maybe some turkey sausage bits, and some sweet & tangy pizza sauce, mmm, that should be good. Let me know if you have any new ideas for fun Halloween-themed party foods for me?​​

Podcast news

The Modern Persian Food podcast with Bita (that's me!) and Beata (my co-host) is still going strong. We adjusted our format to allow ourselves more time for our families and other commitments by slowing down to a monthly broadcasting schedule.

I've particularly been enjoying taking the time to savor our cultural spotlight episodes, like our current deep dive into the traditions of:

​The Persian Festival of Autumn Mehregan​

Exciting News

I have some exciting news I'll be sharing in the next few days. I'm delving deep into something I've always been passionate about. I'll tell you more about it soon.

In the meantime, the time is now for YOU to start getting creative and visualizing your dream lifestyle. We're going to sketch it out together.

Until next time,

Bita