Lent Birthday Story

A somerville kitchen challenge:

A birthday celebration where the host is on lent with no white and/or creamy foods and the guest is a vegetarian who does not eat sugar.

Read on.

You start with a vegetarian stuffed vine leaves with brown rice and a Greek salad with no feta cheese.

You add marinated artichoke hearts and some spinach and cheese pies (for not-on-lent ones).

You inject some fun by inviting all to a Falafel Sandwich Bar and Falafel Sandwich Building seminar that goes like this.

Put one side of a (whole wheat) pita loaf on a plate.

Cut the falafel in halves and line them up in the middle of the pita.

Add on top, in this order, tahini sauce, Leffet (pickled turnips), tomatoes and parsley.

Roll and eat.

Look for a made-from-scratch falafel experiment and recipe from somerville kitchen soon.

And rather than cake, a fresh fruit salad - Japanese pears, oranges, grapefruit, apples, bananas, kiwi and 100% natural pineapple juice.

Light a candle on it and the challenge is lived up to.