Samanak Cookies

 written by: Muhammad Anwar Andar

Zarghona and her brother, Obaid go to the castle and they complain from hunger to lalo Mama. Lalo Mama takes them inside the castle and brings them some cookies.

Zarghona asks about the cookies. Lalo Mama replies that these cookies are called samanak cookies.  The guests want more information about samanak cookies. Lalo Mama opens a window.

Window: 

In the window,  Najeeba has come to her aunt’s house to learn making samanak cookies. Her aunt explains it as follow: “In the beginning, we should wash some wheat grains and then wrap them in a clean cloth and put it in a pot for a few days. We should wet the cloth with some water everyday till the wheat grains germinate. Then we unwrap the wheat and spread them on flat trays and put the trays in the sun two times daily and splash some water on them. After the grains grow roots, we cut the green leaves and grind them with a grander or mortar; squeeze the ground leaves with a cloth in a pot and then we purify them and add some flour and a little oil and then we prepare cookies from them and then we bake them in an oven.”

Lalo Mama closes the window.
obaid is eating the Samanak cookies faster. Zarghona blames him for eating fast but Obaid says that he is hungry. Lalo Mama says that fast eating sometimes causes problems and then he opens other window about this issue.

In the window, the reporter of the castle is talking with some juveniles about fast eating and taking big bites.

Imran, a resident of Paktia province says, “It was wedding ceremony of one of our relatives and I was sitting beside a man who was taking big bites and he did not care about table manner and I had to leave the table.”

Madina, a resident of Nangarhar province says, “My uncle died and we have the custom to prepare food after burial of the deceased. A woman was eating with me from the same plate. She did not know the etiquette of table. She was throwing the remained of his food on the plate and I could not accept to eat with her from the same plate.”

The reporter asks some juveniles that how they could prevent others to eat slowly and take small bites.

Sefatullah says, “Once we had invited my uncle’s family to our home. My cousin was taking big bites and he eating very fast. I did not tell him anything at that time but after the lunch, I told him about his fault. I said that if he eats fast and takes big bites, some people might not like his this manner and they might hate him. He thanked me for informing him from his wrong table manner.”

Lalo Mama closes this window too. The guests promise that they will remember the table manners and would share the issue with their friends.

Lalo Mama wants to say goodbye but Zarghona wants him to open another window for them too.

Lalo Mama opens a window abo of memories.

Window:

In the window a boy remembers his memory. He says, “Once I was riding my bicycle and I was running with a car. The car reached to stream and the driver stopped the car and I was not aware of the stream and when I was to pass the car, someone opened the car’s door and hit me and I fell from my bicycle in the stream and injured my head.”

Lalo Mama closes this window too.