Marsha Mehran’s new novel Pomegranate Soup

After our December cover of OCPC featuring up and coming Iranian actor Nicolas Guilak, we were flooded with emails! Everyone wanted to know who this handsome new rising star in Hollywood was. He had just starred in an independent film entitled “Will Unplugged” and a year before he had caught our attention as the lead in NBC’s made-for-TV movie Saving Jessica Lynch as Mohammed Al-Rehaief, the Iraqi father and husband who risked his own family’s safety to help Lynch, leading to her heroic rescue on April 1, 2003.

Now six months later we wanted to catch up with Guilak to see what he is
up to…

Nicholas Guilak, just finished his final performance as the recurring guest-star
on Fox’s hit drama “24:Day 4”. A few of his previous credits include playing
the lead in NBC’s highly controversial drama “Saving Jessica Lynch” and
starring in “Homeland Security”. He’s guest-starred in more than a dozen
popular shows from CSI: Miami, Navy”NCIS”, Threat Matrix to JAG, The Agency, “24:Day 2,” War Stories and She Spies (which was directed by Reza Badiyi). Nicholas is a founding member of Big Dog Little Dog Productions, a nonprofit theatre company in Los Angeles, which was voted top 5 by Bravo in the year 2000. He is a big advocate of theatre and because of scheduling issues has not been able to do a play in the past few years. His next project is
to produce and star in a theatre production of Howard Korder’s dark comedy “Boy’s Life” for a summer opening in Hollywood. He is being considered for a few big feature films – we’ll give you the scoop as soon as we find out!

Fine Art Adel Rakhshani

Creativity occurs in every field of human endeavor, not just in the arts. Whenever people express original ideas, they are being creative. The ability of creative people to accept disorder also extends to their working methods. In order to venture into new ideas, artists must disrupt old ones, creating disorder in the process before achieving a new kind of order.

Adel has reached the point where he has given up the objective representation of his surroundings in order to reach the summit of the true unmasked art and form. This vantage point to view life through is the prism of his pure artistic feeling. Adel follows Expressionism, which was planted in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His tendencies such as distortion of form and intensification of color, has surfaced since his earliest works of art.

Adel looked to these artistic precendents to find forms that would express the intensity of feeling that he believes is part of the Iranian cultural tradition. Adel has also created many different masks which he believes are like the hiding of your identity while communicating a frightening ferocity. He believes his masks are magical objects that add a mysterious potency to the work.

In the past, Adel has done many children’s books in Farsi and English. Now in continuation of that he is producing a series of puppet shows that tries to teach young Iranian children the meaning of life. “”Iranian children here in America are losing their heritage and roots. We are responsible for keeping our great culture alive,”” Adel explained.

On the side, Adel is the president of the Iranian – American Artist Society in Los Angeles who meet on a monthly basis. We at OCPC wish Adel much success in all his future endeavors!

Dining Out Hatam A Family Restaurant in Mission Viejo

“”Where is a good place to go for authentic Persian food?”” How many times have your non-Persian friends asked you that question? Well, a few weeks ago we decided to go and check out a local Persian restaurant in the neighborhood called Hatam. It’s a cozy little place with a friendly environment and great hospitality. “”We serve fresh, homemade food all day every day,”” said owner Babak Kashkouli. Their specialties include, of course, kabob with the famous basmati rice on the side, as well as stews like Ghorme Sabzi, Gheime Bademjan, Abgousht, Fesenjan, Karafs, Koofteh, Tahchin, Bamieh and Kotlet; Ash and specialties like Soltani, Barg, Baghalipolo with Mahiche and more!

” “We use the freshest ingredients on a day to day basis,”” Babak explained. “”My sister Afsaneh Kashkouli manages the restaurant together with our serving manager Ali Shafiee.””

Aside from dining in, Hatam is best known for their catering and to-go services. Even while we were there they received two catering orders! So if you don’t have time to come in for a sit down meal, you can always order to-go!

“Anytime you want to come in during our business hours, we promise you the best quality service and food. We’ll treat you like a member of the royal family! And for OCPC readers, we offer an appetizer or a side dish with any entree!”” said Babak.

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