Babak: May 2020

Tuesday 5 and 6 May. Fardis birthday.

Today is Fardis's birthday.

I went biking after work directly as I didn't have enough time this afternoon.

I peddled with my ultimate power as much as I could, to save time. it was amazing, my biking record was broken by 37 minutes. That’s the power of love!

On my way back I stopped at Urban Gate to buy a specific kind of meat for Koobideh Kabab and ground lamb. unfortunately, Koobideh kabab meat was sold out.

I bought a 400-gram ground lamb for $10.

I decided to buy something different instead of a birthday cake. I bought Zoiolbia and Bamie as a birthday cake.

When I called Fardis and asked her if she wanted to join me for biking, she was out with Ara for an afternoon walk.

So it was the best time to set the birthday table.

After a quick shower, I made tea, cleaned the house, and set the table. When I was wrapping the gifts they came back home. Perfect timing.

We had a very small birthday party since we were in a COVID 19 situation.

I had promised Fardis to make Koobideh Kabab which is one of the most special Persian dishes as we couldn't go out for dinner. It was a one week project to prepare everything and I had watched a lot of Youtube movies on how to make Koobideh Kabob. I went to several Persian stores to find and buy proper skewers.

After dinner, I started to prepare the meat for koobideh Kabob. I cried a lot as I had to grate 4 onions to mix with the ground lamb and beef. Her birthday was to continue until the next afternoon with delicious Kabab

Next day, around dinner time,

I started to put mixed meat on the skewers but the meat wouldn't stick to skewers. That was only the problem.

During the week, I talked to my dad about it every day. He told me that after mixing everything, the mixture had to be ground several times.

So all mixed meat was ground again. It worked and meat stuck to the skewers.

I forgot to mention, before starting, Fardis said, 4 skewers is not enough for us so I had to go back to the Persian store and buy 3 more skewers.

Finally, 6 skewers were ready for BBQ.

I brought some scrap angles from my work as a spacer to make a gap between the meat and BBQ surface. It didn't work. Another problem.

The meat touched the surface, so I had to take out the cooking grates.

As I said I prepared 6 skewers

Two of them fell in the BBQ housing

two of them were BBQed but, some parts were burned and some parts weren't cooked enough.

The last two skewers, we decided to take out all meat from skewers and put in the pan and cook on the stove.

It was the most horrible Koobideh Kabob in the world for Fardis’s birthday.

Fardis said next time we will buy it.

It was very stressful during the BBQ, and I told myself I will never ever make kabab koobideh again.

After dinner, I cleaned up a lot of mess and washed everything.

But after a while we forgot everything.

I thought to myself, I am a Persian man! I have to make koobideh Kabob, If I want to be a real Persian man I have to do it. Yes, I can, Yes I can.

I talked to Fardis after dinner. Let me try one more time.

No more Lamb as it is very fat and smelly
Put the skewers on the angles and let the meat touch the BBQ cooking grates
Close the BBQ lid to keep heat inside

Fardis said okay, one more time! Just like our fist pizza was awful and the second time was perfect better than Papa John’s which was our favorite pizza, so It makes sense to try one more time.

I was happy that I can make it next time.

After an uncomfortable night, we were looking for a place for skewers. We decided to put them on top of the pantry in the corner.

Fardis wrapped them and gave them to me and I put them on the top in the corner. Suddenly, we heard a big thud, The skewers were gone, there is a gap between the pantry and the wall and they fell down the gap.

No more skewers!

No more homemade kabab koobideh!