An Urban Girl

My sister made me this beautiful crown and I loved wearing it! Hello! It was a hot Spring in Los Altos.  And weekend Happy Hour has become mandated in the Urban household!  I love trying different cocktail recipes.  I keep the alcohol levels light, just so I don't alarm Mr. Urban with my new hobby.   I make a pitcher of Non-Alcoholic mix for the minors, and then just add a little zinger for the adults. Truth be told, most of the time I am not happy with the results.  I have been researching recipes for cocktails that I have drank and loved at various venues, and found that although all of them appear simple, they are quite the time consuming labors of love... incorporating various fruit and herb infused syrups in sly. But a recent winner were these Beautiful Berry Cocktails which I concocted from what we had in the fridge:  Organic cranberry juice, fresh juice of 3 limes, organic Agave for sweetening, and a handful of freshly picked raspberries in each glass to pi

Something magical happens, right around that time on a hot Summer day when the temperature starts to drop from the very hot to the pleasant warm. At that exact moment, I always take a deep breath and keep the air in my lungs for as long as I can, and then exhale feeling happier than moments earlier.  It happens like clockwork, I have been told by a very observant four year old who has me under her keen surveillance most of the time.  It all has to do with my childhood days in Tehran.  We would spend those hot summer days mostly at home.  Home was cozy and relaxing.  There was never a preplanned activity for the children by the adults.  Some days my cousins and I would swim in the pool for hours and hours under the hot sun.  But since the revolution, and then the war with Iraq, swimming in the pool which always made us laugh too loudly and even shout in childhood abandonment after each canon ball jump into the pool, was not a smart option.  Pools, which required wearing swimsu

A couple of nights ago at bedtime, my girl and I browsed Ottolenghi's beautiful cookbook, Plenty, instead of the regular lineup of  two or three children's books we read nightly.  Although she was hesitant at first, she got into it fast and actually took the lead by trying to find the recipe for the eggplant dish pictured on the cover of the book.   She deemed the dish an easy one and in her determined way she said "Wow, delicious, we must make this dish tomorrow".   "But it has eggplants" I replied, while thinking "aka those vegetables YOU HATE".  "Oh, mama, actually eggplant is the main ingredient."   OK.... By today the ingredients were all piled up in the fridge.  Here's the recipe , if you are interested. Of course I simplified:  Already seeded Pomegranates from the supermarket and Trader Joe's Tahini sauce instead of Buttermilk and Yogurt.   I did drive to the international market to procure the best Za'atar