Leave it to the Armenian sisters to host the first official book club for Siren's Feast. And what a feast it was. Not only did everyone dress in costumes of some of the countries
I wrote about, but the spread was fit for a Queen--several recipes prepared from my culinary memoir. We had mango lassi (p.142) no less than three mouth-watering eggplant dishes, hummous, baba ghanouj (p.196), kibbeh, vosp kufta (p.207),
muhammara (p.197), lebneh, olives and feta, pickles and bread--all delicious. After all of that we still found room for Armenian pastries, Moroccan mint tea (pg. 37) and Armenian coffee for dessert. And then the gifted and lovely Anita actually read our coffee cups. It was good fortunes for all.
I brought along some artifacts and photos. The gals were interested in what Alejandro, my first love, looked like. I never got permission from the Scavullo estate to use the photo taken in 1969 but brought along a copy taken from one of Scavullo's photo books and also the little beaded tapestry my grandfather made when he was in a Turkish dungeon. I loved hearing the ladies' reactions to my story. Hours passed and it felt like minutes. And the Odyssey continues.
