Isfahan, Pie, and Saturday Adventures

Another perfect, Midwestern-y, Bloomington-y Saturday. Why? Well, I shall tell you!

We went to the Farmer's Market as per usual and finally, finally, finally PEACHES are here! I got a small basket (there were 9 in it) from a very nice Amish man. I know he was nice, not only because he had a nice smile, but also because two little girls were looking at some peaches next to me and both were holding some rocks (they were probably about 3 and 5 years old). And he said to them, "how would you like to trade one of your rocks for one of my peaches?" and they looked at their dad and he said, "ok," and so they did. Sometimes people make me very happy.

Then we each got a perfect onion (seriously, it is the most beautiful onion I've ever seen), and I got green beans and a small bag of kettle corn, which a couple in plain dress cooks in a big big kettle (well duh) every week. My friends also got local honey, zucchinis, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Then we went to an Indian buffet. There are (I think) 3 Indian restaurants in town and now I have been to all 3. This one is the most cost effective, but not the tastiest. Still and all, though, good naan, good saag aloo, and quite a good variety of dishes for a lunch buffet.

We parted ways, and two of us walked across campus to get to our bus stop. When we got there, there was a woman waiting for the bus who needed to get to Target, but wasn't sure what bus to take, or if she was in the right spot (she was). We got to chatting, and she said she was from Iran and had been here for 4 days. She'll be here for a month before applying for a research visa to start a post-doc in African-American literature here in the fall. She asked me how old I was and when I said 24, she asked if I was married. And I said no (my friend had just taken a phone call so she missed this) and the woman told me that I was too young to get married anyway. "Get your degree first," she said, nodding. "That's what I did with my masters, and then I got married, and had twins. They are 12 now, and back in Iran with their father." She got her PhD in India, teaches in Tehran, and likes studying African-American women, "because we are women, and so we should be feminists. yes?" (we said yes, too.)

We told her we were studying art history, and that we had just taken an Islamic art class and were interested in that. So she started telling us about visiting Isfahan and what it is like now, which was VERY exciting as Isfahan is straight-up awesome. I now pull out my trusty class notebook to tell you that Isfahan was the capital of Safavid Iran from 1590ish-1722 (and is now the 3rd largest city in Iran). It was known as the "pearl of Persia," and is kind of equivalent (except bigger and more awesome) to Versailles in terms of gilt, grandeur, and grandiosity. According to an official chronicler named Iskandar Beg Munshi, "Isfahan is half the world they say/but by saying so, they only go halfway." In other words: once you saw Isfahan, especially in the 17th century, you didn't need to see anything else. Everything else paled in comparison.

Most importantly, images!
This is the Mosque of Shaykh Lutfullah (1603-1619). This was the second mosque there, and we're not quite sure why there were two. Possibly it was a mosque specifically for women, but it was more likely a private mosque for royals, as a tunnel connected it to the palace. It looks an awful lot like the Dome of the Rock, which very well could have been intentional. It is completely cloaked in blue and gold tile work, and there is stucco-designs on the windows so it looks like stained glass. Some interior shots:
This is the Music Room, or Chini-Khane (China Room), which I believe was located in the palace. This is where the displays of art were, well, displayed. It was a trophy room and proto-museum, which symbolized, through art collecting, the far-reaching power of the Safavids.

Speaking of far-reaching power, this room is one of the "mirror rooms," and it was furnished in Venetian glass. Which, for an Italianist like myself, is pretty exciting! Also, I weirdly just found out there is a Duke Ellington suite called "Isfahan." Check it out here.

Our bus came, and our new friend (whose name we never learned) attempted to get in the back door of the bus, while telling us to "tell the bus driver that I want to go to the Target." So I was on the sidewalk telling her that she wanted the other bus that stopped there, and that it would be there soon, and there were maps on it, and to get in the front door when the bus got there, while my friend tried to stall the bus driver, who CLEARLY saw me, but shut the door and started to pull away. So I had to jog after it and tap on the door and dive on. And then we took seats and dissolved into giggles.

The rest of the day was spent lounging about, having long phone chats with various family members (including my super cousin who got to see Jeter's 3000 hit today in person! most excellent), and making PIE. I love pie. It is (if I had to pick) my favorite dessert. I love how they look, I love the fruit, I love apple pie with cheese and pecan pie with nothing, and I have not, until today, made a pie on my own. One of my best friends from college works in a pie shop, so she was always in charge of them, and both my mother and sister are great at making pies, so I can usually just enjoy the fruits of other peoples labors. Today I did peach (with my market peaches!) and it turned out quite well. It was less runny than I was expecting, although I think I need a remedial lattice making class! Photographic evidence:

Also, if anyone has a foolproof crust making method, let me know it, please. I used refrigerated dough, which is fine, but I'd love to make my own. The problem is that I have about a foot of available counter space, so rolling out doesn't work very well.

So, pie. Summer. Friends. A slight sunburn. It doesn't get much better than that. And if you are interested in more things pie related, check out Pie in the Sky, a Brit TV show from the mid-90s about a policeman who retires to open a restaurant and keep chickens in the backyard but who solves crimes on the side. Or Pushing Daisies, a really great TV show about a piemaker--the dreamy Lee Pace--who owns the Pie Hole pie-restaurant and has the ability to bring the dead back to life for limited amounts of time. He teams up with a private investigator to solve crimes, since he can ask the victims what happened to them. Kristin Chenowith is the waitress. Jim Dale narrates. Delightful. Or Waitress, a sweet and sad movie about pie, babies, abuse, waitressing, and love. To quote Waitress:

"Baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle/Baby don't be blue, gonna make for you, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle/Gonna make a pie from heaven above, gonna be filled with strawberry love/Baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie, and hold you forever in the middle of my heart."