Can I kiss you?

Share/Save/Bookmark

Can I kiss you?
by Temporary Bride
07-Mar-2010
 

After a quiet drive back into the city, we stopped at a famous pastry shop that I had visited a few days before. I had bought little metal boxes of pistachio and coconut baklava which were cut into tiny squares and sprinkled with rosewater. 

As we walked inside I could smell honey, lemon and roasted almonds. The men working inside were lifting trays of Yazdi cakes out of the oven. They stopped, brushing flour off their hands and looked very happy to see us. 

The kitchen was like a child’s fairyland. Everywhere were trays of tiny doughnuts ready to be rolled in icing sugar, little saffron biscuits flecked with cardamom and raisins and clover shaped cookies made from chickpea flour. They said the magic words: that I wasn’t to leave until I had tasted everything.

Hands and fingers appeared from all directions bearing sweets and cookies and cakes. Each pastry had its own unique texture. One was sticky, one was crumbly, one was covered in date syrup while the other had been rolled in sesame seeds. I tasted and nibbled and grazed until I was unable to move. They brought out glasses of rosewater lemonade and asked Vahid if we’d like to try making pashmak. 

The pashmak machine was like a giant metal tarantula. Each leg was tasked with picking up the warm, fluffy, strands of yarn spun from sugar and sesame as they came out of a central orb that melted the ingredients together. As it hummed into action we collected the delicate gauze-like fibres and wove them around our hands, stopping only to place a tiny thread into our mouths and feel it melt on our tongues.

When we were finished we were surrounded by a pastel rainbow of spools of pashmak. Most of it was picked up and carted away to decorate cakes or be sold for weddings. One of the men picked up a few strands of pink pashmak and wound it into a kind of necklace. He lowered it over my head and smiled at me. I blushed and looked in the mirror - it stood out prettily against the background of my grey scarf. As we left the pasty shop, I felt Vahid’s eyes on me. I tried to read his mind but I couldn’t and as we walked through the alleyways behind the shop, we fell into an awkward silence.

The afternoon sun was beginning to drop and the streets were quiet. It was afternoon siesta time and most of the shops were shut and families indoors. I thumbed my little sugar necklace and glanced at Vahid. His face had returned to a scowl and his eyes seemed troubled.  He was walking so quickly that I struggled to keep up.  Finally I gave up and slowed down, leaving him to walk several paces ahead of me. It took several moments for him to notice that he’d left me behind.

He stopped and turned around. His face looked tense and he looked at me without saying anything. “Why are you rushing?” I asked. “What is wrong with you?”

He took a few steps toward me and stopped. We looked at each other and I started to feel nervous and confused. He took another step closer and I took a small step towards him. He was so close now that I could smell his body. It was a mixture of cologne, sweat, rosewater and sheep wool. He took my sugar necklace between his fingers and lifted it to his lips and kissed it. I could feel his warm breath on my neck and he turned to gaze into my eyes.

He lowered his lips again to my necklace but this time his lips grazed my neck as he tore into the silken strands of sugar that lay against my skin. 

 

My scarf fell to my shoulders and my hair came loose. It was the first time that Vahid had seen me without a scarf. He reached out and touched a few strands of my hair. I struggled to fix my scarf but instead he grabbed my hands and looked at me. “It’s ok,” he said. “It’s safe here.” He looked into my eyes and the tortured expression returned to his face again.

“Can I kiss you?” he asked. He was 25 and I was 31. He was a Muslim virgin and I was a modern female from another world. “Can I kiss you?” 

Share/Save/Bookmark

Recently by Temporary BrideCommentsDate
The only room this way - Part 3
7
Sep 06, 2012
The only room this way - Part 2
4
Sep 04, 2012
The only room this way - Part 1
4
Aug 30, 2012
more from Temporary Bride
 
default

VPK

by Gavazn on

I like "Only my ammeh gets to kiss me".   :)


AsteroidX

Why they call Vahid "Dog Breath"

by AsteroidX on


Ali9 Akbar

there's this nifty American Invention called POLIDENT

by Ali9 Akbar on

2 tablets   soak them over night in a large glass of water .... 

 

//www.mypolicare.com/Default.aspx?section=polident 

 

fresh and clean  next morning....I doubt that it is on the embargo list  :-)

 

BTW i hear that they have a new formula where it takes only 3 minutes....he can soak them while he's taking a shower XD  


AsteroidX

Ali9

by AsteroidX on

He forgot to clean his dentures the night before.


Ali9 Akbar

man.... no wonder your mouth stinks

by Ali9 Akbar on

P....U....

 

have some dentyne 


AsteroidX

...

by AsteroidX on

What are you doing with this guy - how did you meet him and end up in Iran? I don't get any of this. He sounds useless.


Latina

How interesting....

by Latina on

I am intrigued! I shall read all the blogs to catch up to events that are unfolding.

Wow!


Veiled Prophet of Khorasan

No

by Veiled Prophet of Khorasan on

 

  • Only my ammeh gets to kiss me.
  • And only if there is an earthquake.
  • And only if I am on the roof.
  • Only if the roof collapses and I fall on her. 

I ain't paying child support.

VPK


Ali9 Akbar

did you brush your teeth???

by Ali9 Akbar on

and did you use SCOPE???

 

if not I'll settle for listerine 


default

deep awakening

by saadat bahar on

"I love you", she said as she pulled forward her scarf with a feeling of deep religious awakening, "and it's taken me all this time to realize it - but I love you". Surprised, Vahid decided to maintain his distance, splitting himself off from his original plan. But it was too late. She was falling to her knees, clutching onto the Imam-Reza charity box stand. "You take it, here and now! Take the Pashmak. Take the tiny doughnuts," she cried as they began to kiss each other. It was then that with one eye open, Vahid saw the  Ershad vehicle arriving beyond the high wall, near the Yazdi cake shop, and then a hairy figure walking toward them.


TellitLikeitis

گوزن جان

TellitLikeitis


بهش میگن  `فور پلی` آقا. دستِ نگه دار بذار کارشونو بکنند.


Multiple Personality Disorder

Yes, kissing is good

by Multiple Personality Disorder on

It's a lot better than killing.


Faramarz

Yes You Can!

by Faramarz on

You know T-Bride, I had my doubts about you, but you are coming around! I like that.

This was really good. Only you can make the act of Pashmak-making by a group of sweaty men so romantic!

And the description of Vahid’s smell, “a mixture of cologne, sweat, rosewater and sheep wool!” was so right on. It only lacked a taste of onions and koobideh on his breath! He is so primal, yet so romantic! I guess that western women kill for that!


default

Yolanda

by Gavazn on

I love women, I have a mum and 3 sisters. And I hate hypocrisy, so you're welcome. Kisses.


yolanda

......

by yolanda on

Hi! Gavazn

 You cracked me up........you wrote a post about the "flag" in a different blog, it was hilarious...thank you for the laugh:

//iranian.com/main/comment/reply/99760/274007


default

Temporary Bride

by Gavazn on

You and Vahid, it's been dragging on for too long. Just get a room.


yolanda

.........

by yolanda on

Wow! What a sweet story! It is as sweet as the Persian pastry in your story!

Thank you for sharing! I have bookmarked your blog!