Once Mrs. Bashir had been paid, thanked and assured that Melinda would eat, say ‘hello’ to her parents, and keep in mind that she needed to start thinking about giving them grandchildren, Melinda joined Blaise, thanking him, too, as he held the door open for her.
The walk to the park didn’t take long, and once they had found a bench, Melinda began unpacking the bag of food. “They’re old friends of my family,” she explained as she arranged the containers between them. “But they still make some of the best food and they make Owl deliveries, which has saved my evenings more times than I can count. All right, so…” One by one she began pointing out the containers. “Hommos which is chick peas, tahini and a bit of lemon. There’s tabbouleh or parsley, tomatoes, mint and spring onions with a lemon and olive oil dressing. Baba Ghanuj, which is smoked aubergine, tahini with lemon juice and pomegranate seeds. Spinach fatayer which is basically a spinach pastry. Pumpkin kibbeh that’s made of roasted pumpkin and filled with walnuts and pomegranate molasses. And of course the pita bread to sort of tie it all together.”