OK, so I went to work this morning with my favorite doctor and had a blast. Well, as much of a blast as rounding on a Saturday morning can be. The doctor gave me some great recommendations for Venezuelan restaurants (that's where his wife is from). I eager to try out Tres Meridas in Frisco (have you been there, Diego? You seem to be all about Stonebriar). I think I would like Venezuelan food. Well, then I came home, picked up some pizza, and had a picnic in the park with my family. It's so nice to live with your family and spend a pleasant afternoon with them. Then we went shopping and I bought a great pair of shoes for $2.50!! That's not a typo. They're gorgeous heels and all the ladies in line were so jealous that I got the last pair! I then came home and watched all the shows that I had to tape this week b/c I was studying (Gilmore Girls, The OC, and The Apprentice). It was great fun. I'm checking out deals on TIVO; tapes can be such a drag. Empress Farah Pahlavi was on 20/20 last night. My parents taped it for me while I was at the Talent Show. The best part of the interview was the clips from old Barbra Walters interviews with the Shah in Iran. I'd never heard him speak English before. It was pretty emotional for us. On the Gilmore Girls episode I taped, Emily buys a set of dishes that had been hand-made for the "Shah of Persia in 1856." That was when my family's dynasty was ruling. My mom gave me this nostalgic look and held my hand. All together now: Awwwww. I really want to read the empress's new book. It's from the same publisher as Queen Noor's memoir. I read that last year. It was well written and interesting, but made the Shah appear weak and empowered King Hussein. Most Iranians see things the other way around. But anyway, the book should be a good read and provide insight into then end of a monarchy, and in some sense, a nation.



On : 3/6/2004 7:50:54 PM diego (www) said:

i've been to Tres Meridas. The food was great. The name of the restaurant comes from three Meridas (cities). One is in Spain, a second in Mexico and the third in Venezuela. They have food from all 3 regions; we had the Mexican specialties and they were good. My favorite part about Tres Meridas is that instead of giving you chips and salsa they give you fried plaintains with aioli dip (ailoli is kinda like a garlicky mayonaisy dressing). It sounds odd but they its a really really good combination.

On : 3/6/2004 10:03:33 PM prettydoc (www) said:

I love plaintains! I think I'm gonna like this place. I thought ciudad = city.

On : 3/6/2004 10:59:41 PM diego (www) said:

you are right. i guess i confused you - i meant to say that Merida is the name of a city.

On : 3/7/2004 12:05:12 AM prettydoc (www) said:

Oh, I get it. Merida, Mexico, Merida, Spain, and Merida, Venezeula. That's pretty clever.

On : 3/7/2004 9:42:34 AM persianguy (www) said:

FUCK THE SHAH. Do you know how much they screwed our vatan? They took hundreds of millions of dollars, and left to America. She's not an Empress, to be an empress you need to have a following and a nation, not 30,000 sell-out Iranians in L.A.

On : 3/7/2004 11:25:43 AM prettydoc (www) said:

Well, I'm not saying either side is right. I'm just saying that when you see images of the past, it's easy to see how your life would have been. It creates nostalgia for those who lived at that time and can't return to it and a feeling of "missing out" for those who will never see it first hand. The past regime and current regime both had/have their problems, I agree. I think Farah concedes that she's not an Empress, since she used the byline "Farah Pahlavi" on her book whereas she used to call herself "Empress Farah" in previous books.

On : 3/7/2004 1:44:54 PM persianguy (www) said:

No, there is nothing wrong with the current government (regime is such a dirty word), if only U.S, the royal family, and the Wahabis tried so hard not to bring the Islamic Republic down, then they would be doing fine. I really hate the Shah and his family, look at them...they collect donations for "Children of Iran" but use it to fund terrorists in attacking Iran, horrible. They sit here in the U.S. living lavish life styles running their satellite networks doing nothing constructive for Iran but bitching about what the current gov. is doing and what they're not doing. Hell, the current government is doing well as far as the economy is going (it's moving up, despite all attempts to bring it down), they've managed to make scores of improvement as far as Iranian technology goes (and moves Iran towards self-sufficiency as far as this department goes), and for education, today Iran has the highest literacy rate it had ever (and the highest for any predominately Islamic nation). Now compare this to the Shah...who accomplished what exactly? 6 figure prostitution numbers in Tehran? Reliancy on foreign governments? Killing Modaressi who was Iran's first democratically elected President (prior to his capturing of the kingdom...) Even today these "hardliner" Mullahs are still keeping the Republic alive. Ashura only strengthens what we stand for, as an Iranian nation in diaspora.

Nobody is holding you back from going. You can go back, it's not like there is some Pasdaren at the airports, or Hezbollah at the taxi-cab waiting to pounce on you. You may live in America, my dear, but your heart should always be in Iran.