When I read my Turkish friend Aylin's article earlier this week about anuş abur ("sweet soup") that's made for Twelfth Night, I had to race down to the Armenian stores at the bottom of my hill to try to find some. At Massis Bakery (Lebanese/Armenian), my Syrian friend Angelina told me that their store doesn't make it, but that her mother does her own version of it at home. "We add sugar and nuts and raisins to the wheatberry-chickpea mixture at the table," she said. On to Sevan Bakery (Turkish/Armenian) where kind owner Kapriel Chavushian told me that his wife makes three variations at home (traditional; nut-free for a grandchild with a nut allergy; and sugar-free for a diabetic family member) but that they don't sell any of them in the store. Then, with a smile, he went behind the counter and spooned out some of his own for me to share. And here it is, gussied up by yours truly with some dark raisins and some almonds (added "at the table" in the Syrian manner.) For more about this "Armenian Christmas Pudding" (which my Armenian friends the Hagopian Sisters had never heard of even though it's in an Armenian cookbook they gave me), click here to read Aylin's article and recipe.
Wonderful anecdote ... wonderful colors!
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