In Oakland! Got here yesterday and spent a lovely evening with the beautiful Donna K. Khorsheed. She took me to dinner at Kamdesh Afghan Cuisine, a family owned restaurant nearby. We had chapli kebab, eggplant borani (my favorite way to cook eggplant) and mantoo, described as dumplings filled with beef and onions that taste a lot like Turkish manti (ravioli with ground beef, garlic and yogurt, sprinkled with dried mint and sumac). Takes me back to my childhood in Belgium, where our Turkish friends used to make manti – once at our house where we spent the entire day cooking, talking and eating together. One of my fondest memories. Donna tells me there is a Palestnian version of manti/mantoo as well. We are hanging the art show today with the big opening tomorrow, followed by a screening of A Thin Wall. It’s all very exciting!
