Why We Are in the DAR

Abstract

Mama made tabouleh, and that took courage. The ladies of the DAR did not know those tastes mixed up together, the crunchy bulghur wheat and the lemony mint dressing. By now Mama can make it just as our Lebanese grandmother taught her to: she so finely chops every bit of parsley and scallions and tomatoes so the red tomato mingles with confettied green and white onions and presto, you've got a Christmas dish, Mama says. But she will not mound the tabouleh in the center of a plate and surround it with torn bread and lettuce leaves for scoop ing, because to some that would be exotic and primitive and not at all sanitary. To be considerate we've put out white and green mints in a bowl by the tabouleh, because the DAR ladies are not likely to munch on parsley leaves as our grandmother did, to sweeten their onion breath. A tureen luncheon means we must also cook up those little Swedish meatballs that the ladies love, and the yellow perfection salad all Jelloed up with shredded carrots and cabbage and crushed pineapple wiggling within. The ladies will bring covered dishes and a setup of their own, so as not to make too much trouble for the hostess, who is my mother today for the first time and she says God willing the last. The Christmas decorations are up no thanks to Uncle Bashir, who promised to help now that Papa is away but he's too mad at Aunt Melania to think straight. He has gone and visited the funeral director uptown and warned him for the umpteenth time that when he, Bashir al-Hadiri, is laid out in the Dulkoski Funeral Home, his only sister is not to be allowed in, no matter how pitifully she begs; she must be deprived of the final comfort of viewing his mortal remains. And that is her punishment for saying his oldest son, my cousin Assad, should not wear white suits summer and winter, he looks like a blackberry in a glass of milk. My sister Louise is good at winding ropes of pine along the banister and she makes fancy red bows out of ribbons saved from Christmases before we were even born. There's so much to do Mama has us stay ing home from school with headaches. But we are not worried on that