I don't speak Persian, though I can understand a little and I used to know the letters.
I can't make a proper tadiq to save my life, though I've been complimented on my fesenjun.
There is however, one aspect of Persian culture that I can proudly say that I have assimilated. I can eat tokhme, yes with one hand, and throw the two halves of the shells away empty and still attached to each other. (I know, what can I say.)
Tokhme is a snack of dried (maybe roasted?) and salted seeds: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and others (I'm not sure what). You eat them while sitting around and chatting and telling funny stories and laughing. They are still in the shell, so you have to get them out with your teeth, and gradually huge piles of shells form in front of every one and spread out everywhere. The salt accumulates on your lips and makes them a little numb after a while.
It's not easy to break the a shell open without crushing the seed, or having to take it out of your mouth again and open it with your fingers, getting them wet and salty. Very inconveinient. Through focused effort I learned how to hold the seed and where to bite first, how much pressure to exert, and how, if necessary, to flip the seed out from between the shell halves.
Acutally, I must admit, I can only do pumpkin seeds. Sunflower seeds are much more brittle and a different shape. I don't know if I'll learn how to do them, though, because I don't like them as much. When there's tokhme, I'll just stick to the pumpkin seeds and pretend I'm a pro.
3 comments:
you really are a very talented writer dear selvi. it is a joy to read your entries...
i just wanted to mention that you can also claim to be a pro at guazi...the chinese name for tokhme...perhaps you knew that already...i have always admired how the chinese can so skillfully eat guazi by just the process you described in such vivid detail. you will have to boast about your guazi cracking skill the next time you meet a chinese friend. just be careful that you don't get "guazi ya"---guazi tooth which is a little dent in one of the front incisors that many chinese people have from a lifetime of pleasant guazi cracking while chatting with family and friends.
You made me laugh out loud! When people give me the seeds, I have given up and just eaten them whole hoping the extra fiber will be good for me. I try to do it discreetly so nobody notices that I do not have the skill you have so amazingly aquired!
kisses, laura
TC,
I seem to remember that you were also quite a good guazi cracker yourself.
Thanks for the tip. I'll see if I can recycle my accomplishment to impress anybody else.
Laura,
I tried eating them whole in the beginning too, but they are so "fiberous" and so darn salty that I had to find another strategy.
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