Scorched rice

Koobideh, which was made into meatballs that were dense and had no fat and were honestly terrible.

Tahdig that came to the table under a cloche of smoke, steaming, getting rid of the quality of tahdig that you look forward to, which is the crunchy rice, and then it's just billowing with smoke.

And the stews, the ghormeh sabzi turned into a sauce, not a stew.

Didn't taste anything like ghormeh sabzi.

All my friends were Persian.

And, like, eating Tadej, like, eating Persian rice was just, like, it was everything, right? I used to go to my friend Maxine's house, and there would always be just, like, a catering-sized container, like, vat of Persian rice at all times, no matter what morning it was.

There had always been some big gathering.

And so, obviously, across the board in the Jewish community, but particularly in the Sephardic community, like, food and big gatherings is such an important thing.

What's your first one?

My first one that I want to call out is Nixta Taqueria Presents: From Tacos to Tahdig: Recipes and Stories from Mexico, Iran, and the In-Between.

And this is a cookbook from Nixta Taqueria in Austin, Texas, which I have wanted to go to for years and never been to.

I've actually never been to Austin.