“It may be that she will give us food,” they said to each other. “Her food is bound to come from a lawful source.”

When they sat down there was a napkin with two loaves laid before them. They were well content. A beggar arrived just then, and Rabe’a gave him the two loaves. The two men of religion were much upset, but said nothing. After a while a maidservant entered with a handful of warm bread.

“My mistress sent these,” she explained.

Rabe’a counted the loaves. There were eighteen.

“Perhaps it was not this that she sent me,” Rabe’a remarked.

For all that the maidservant assured her, it profited nothing. So she took back the loaves and carried them away. Now it so happened that she had taken two of the loaves for herself. She asked her mistress, and she added the two to the pile and returned with them. Rabe’a counted again, and found there were twenty loaves. She now accepted them.

“This is what your mistress sent me,” she said.

She set the loaves before the two men and they ate, marveling.

“What is the secret behind this?” they asked her. “We had an appetite for your own bread, but you took it away from us and gave it to the beggar. Then you said that the eighteen loaves did not belong to you. When they were twenty, you accepted them.”

“I knew when you arrived that you were hungry,” Rabe’a replied. “I said to myself, How can I offer two loaves to two such notables? So when the beggar came to the door I gave them to him and said to Almighty God, ‘O God, Thou hast said that Thou repayest tenfold, and this I firmly believed. Now I have given two loaves to please Thee, so that Thou mayest give twenty in return for them.’ When eighteen were brought me, I knew that either there had been some misappropriation, or that they were not meant for me.”

Banana Waffle:

Strawberry Waffle:

Nice bread:

Click to see photos of all the classes, with many photos of dessert and food.

lessan.info/pixels

A photoblog is a blog whose primary content is photographs, i.e. the emphasis is on the photography not the text. There are tens of thousands of these photoblogs out there, as you can see at photoblogs.org (check it out, some of the featured photoblogs are great!).

The idea, at least the one I will be using, is that you post just the one featured photograph on the main front page, with links to archives of previous posts. There may be a brief description of the photograph below it. I’m aiming to post at least one photo a week, and at this stage it will be photos of food, mostly.

One could argue that this blog is a photoblog, but I never really meant it to be so it will change over time.

Current photo on lessan.info/pixels:

Pomegranate juice:

Lunch 25 May 2006:

Lunch 24 May 2006:

Lunch 23 May 2006:

Lunch 21 May 2006:

A very beautiful setting with the sunset, lots of food and a well planned programme.

It was a wonderful Bahá’í wedding – simple, dignified, and full of love.

Desert:

Close up:

Sandwich:

Quiche:

Omelette:

Olives and stuff:

The receipt – free WiFi!

From the street:

Menu:

They serve Thai, Japanese and Seafood:

I ordered the passionfruit drink – didn’t realise it came in a can:

Pouring the drink:

There were a bunch of dishes, I don’t remember what they were so here they are numbered – one:

Two:

Three:

Four:

Five:

They give you these Lychee toffee things afterwards:

Turkey and corn soup:

That’s olive oil on the soup.

Bring friends – Sieni and Saba:

Be there yourself:

You don’t need the menu. Just tell them you want the Burger.

Here’s the menu for your information, but you won’t be needing it:

Wait 10 minutes. Take a photo:

Add sauce as needed:

Take another look, then a big bite!

Did I mention they deliver too? No really, they do.

Optional step – Ice Cream from somewhere else – don’t bother, it melts quickly:

Sauce:

Salad:

All on a plate:

And some "asides":

Chicken in Pita:

Chicken and Liver, on a plate:

On the way (near Pash’s flat) there is a bush that has really nasty thorns:

Chocolate cake with jam at the bottom:

Starting with food – bread:

Slices of meat:

Mustard and hummus:

Resulting in a sandwich:

And, afterwards, for desert:

Sitting around in class:

Taking notes:

The flat, from outside:

Walking down Hatzionut:

Burger:

Fish dish:

Chilli:

Desert – comes with a scoop of ice cream:

Another desert:

You choose the bread (e.g. baguette), and then pick the fillings. They have all sorts of meats and cheese:

Racks of spices, decorating the walls:

Take-away packaging:

And, the sandwich itself:

Met Laleh and Shirin on the walk back down. Shirin used to serve at the Bahá’í World Centre, she was now here on pilgrimage with family:

Walking down the Terraces – view of the Shrine: