The other day I was making one of my husband’s favourite
starters, yaprak sarmasi: marinated vine leaves, stuffed with
rice, spices and optional minced beef, rolled into finger-sized
cylinders. I thoroughly recommend it!
The rolling technique is not hard but requires time and
patience, so it’s always more fun to make these starters in the
company of friends and family whilst sharing news and
stories. Once assembled, the bundles are boiled and – voila –
you have hundreds of little tastes of heaven! One day, I would
like to write a cookery book for meals that I have improvised
from international cuisine, but my goal for the time being, is a
cookery book for everyday life, offering advice on quantities
and ingredients which will provide healthy and tasty
sustenance for the family. And as with food, relationships are
very much influenced by what we put into them.
Adding spices and lemon or pomegranate sauce will help to
add flavour but no amount of wishful thinking will ever turn
rice into beans. In other words, how we enjoy marriage
depends on the degree to which we are willing to work on the
ingredients we put into it. No magic. No mystery. If you use
rotten ingredients, how can you ever expect to produce ‘haute
cuisine’? If you are unhappy in your relationship it is not
because you or your partner is in the wrong but rather, the
continuous use of the wrong ingredients. And if these include
resentment, anger and irritation, then how can you expect a
happy marriage?
