of World`s Tomorrow`s Cities

No.527,Sunday,5 June,2016
Vice-President and Head of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization
Massoud Soltanifar in a meeting with Portuguese Deputy Foreign Minister Jorge Costa
Oliveira in Tehran on Tuesday night called for expanding mutual cooperation.‘Introducing
attractions of Iran and Portugal to the people of the two countries immensely influences
the development of their tourism industries,” Soltanifar said. He reiterated that the Iranian government’s policy to develop rational interactions with the world countries that
has started three years ago is seriously being pursued. “The conditions are prepared for
the presence of foreign investors in the Iranian market. The Portuguese deputy foreign
minister, for his part, said that the Portuguese people are interested in civilization and
culture of Iran and the establishment of Iran’s cultural center in Portugal can play an
important role in introducing Portugal’s tourism attractions to people of Iran.
Tehran, Kabul Opt
for Expansion of
Cultural, Artistic
Cooperation
fghan Deputy Minister of Information and Culture Mojgan Mostafavi
and Iran’s deputy head of Islamic
Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO)
for international affairs stressed the need
for the expansion of cultural and artistic
cooperation.According to ICRO’s Public
Relations Department, the Afghan official
and Abbas Khameh-Yar discussed cultural
and artistic issues.Referring to the threats
of extremism to the region, Khameh-Yar
underlined the need for further cooperation among regional states, including Iran
and Afghanistan, to counter extremism.
He further said that the Islamic world has
suffered the most from hostilities which
should be removed through concerted efforts.Iranian official voiced ICRO’s readiness for cooperation with Afghan Culture
and Information Ministry in various cultural
and artistic areas, saying that Iran is prepared to transfer its experience in different
cultural fields such as cinema, handicrafts
and miniature to Afghanistan.She also said
that her ministry is interested to cooperate
with Iran’s private and state-run sectors.
A
www.TOURISMtoday.ir
VP: Iran, Portugal
can Broaden
Tourism Cooperation
Omani Airlines Begin Shuttle Flights
between Mashad and Muscat
O
mani airlines, Oman Air, set up shuttle flights between Mashad and Muscat.The first direct flight
from Muscat to Mashad landed on Wednesday
at Hasheminejad International Airport.Iran Ambassador
to Oman Ali Akbar Sibouyeh told reporters at the airport
that political relations between the two countries have
always been on growing trend and progressive.He said
that the flight is a big step aiming to develop bilateral relations in the field of economy and culture.Director General
for provincial airports Mohammad Baqer Qassemzadeh
said the flight will be on
shuttle base
and it will land at Mashad airport at 4:30 a.m. and depart
Mashad for Muscat at 5:30 a.m. every day. He said that
a 150-seat Boeing-737 airliner has been assigned to the
every day flights.
By establishment of the flight, number of foreign
flights from Mashad go up to 19.Qassemzadeh
said that in next week another flight will be established between Mashad and Dushanbe,
capital of Tajikistan.Hasheminejad International Airport has between 160 to 180
flights a day in average, but, in peak
period they stood to 220 or 240.
10
Iranian
cooking
Zereshk Polow ~
Rice with Barberries
When I was a kid word got out that I loved
Zereshk Polow.
There are a couple of different ways to
make Zereshk Polow. Some folks layer
the rice with zereshk and steam them together while others simply make a chelow
and add the zereshk on top. Personally,
I am a fan of the first method as I think
that the polow as a whole tastes better.
With this said the zereshk changes color
in the steaming process and goes from
a gorgeous bright ruby red color to a dull
brownish color. So at some point I came
up with an idea where I hold on to a little bit
of the zereshk and sprinkle it on top of the
rice when it’s time to serve it.
Ingredients:
■ 2 cups rice
■ 1 cup zereshk
■ 1 tbsp sugar
■ 4 tbsp Saffron water
■ 2 tbsp butter*
■ Advieh
■ canola oil
■ salt
Eco-cities Perspective
of World’s Tomorrow’s Cities
Secretary of IUESA:
eyed Mohsen Tabatabaei, Secretary of IUESA, said eco-cities
create a balance with nature
and try to achieve sustainable development by improving efficiency of energy
and green transport.
Noting that urbanization has created
particular opportunities and threats facing human societies, Seyyed Mohsen
Tabatabaei, the secretary of IUESA said
the importance of cities’ economic dimensions are increased day by day and
the cities’ share of GDP is more than
their population share across the world.
Saying that cities’ 50 percent share in
GDP is considered in countries with ur-
S
banization rate of more than 30 percent,
he added that the increasing growth has
caused cities to have destructive impacts on global environment.
Emphasizing that cities leave ecological footprints because of the increasing
growth, he further said “according to the
researches, if all people are supposed to
enjoy standard level of the US, we may
need three Earth planets in order to fulfill
it.” He further maintained that more than
two-third of the world energy is used in
cities, and nearly 82 percent of greenhouse gasses are produced in cities,
adding “it is only a part of a term called
‘Entrepose’, which means the era of hu-
man impact on Earth’s ecosystems and
climate.” He stressed that it is time to
act after years of discussion, exchange
and analysis of issues and moving toward ecological and healthy cities, adding “eco-cities are the perspective of the
world’s tomorrow’s cities.
There will be no alternative but focusing on sustainable development and
considering environmental issues if the
cities are supposed to move in the path
of sustainability and create ideal life for
citizens. The pioneer of Eco cities was
a non-profit organization called urban
ecology in Berkeley, California in 1975
aiming to reconstruct cities in balance
and relationship with the nature and
reduce the trend of the Earth’s heat,
extinction of animals and species, and
social and environmental inequities with
cooperation of other related organizations; as a result, the first international
conference on Eco cities was held in
California in 1990. From then on, this
conference has been held regularly;
1992 in Adelaide, Australia, 1996 in Yoff,
Senegal; 2000 in Curitiba, Brazil; 2002
in Shenzhe, China; 2006 in Bangalore,
India; 2008 in San Francisco, USA; 2009
in Istanbul, Turkey, 2011 Montreal, Canada; 2013 Nantes, France; and finally in
2015 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
First cook rice per Cooking Rice . In the
mean time prep the zereshk.
Pick over the zereshk and remove any
steams or stones you may find. Then
soak in water for about 5-10 minutes. I find
the best way to do this is by placing the
zereshk in a colander and submerging it
in a bowl full of water. Rinse zereshk after
soaking.
In a skillet melt 1 tablespoon of butter then
add zereshk. Add sugar and give it a nice
stir so that the zereshk is coated with butter and sugar. You will see that it will start
to plump up! Add 2 tablespoon saffron water and let the zereshk absorb the liquid for
about one minute. Turn off heat.
Begin layering rice. Prep tahdig in any
method you prefer. This time I used canola
oil, water and 1 tablespoon saffron water..
Place one layer of rice..
Sprinkle about 1/4 tsp of advieh. Top with
some of the zereshk.
Repeat layers until the last layer is rice reserving about 1/4 of a cup of zereshk for
later..
Create 4-5 holes in the rice with the back
of your spatula.
Cover and cook on high for 10 minutes..
Melt 1 tbsp of butter and mix with 1 tablespoon of Saffron water and 1 tablespoon
of water. Pour all over rice.
Place a kitchen towel over the lid of your
pot and steam rice on low for one hour.
Serve rice in a platter and top with the reserved zereshk..
Generally, Zereshk Polow is served with
chicken. You can either add some cooked
chicken as you layer the rice or simply
serve it on the side. I think that Mitra’s
Sunshine Chicken goes really well with
this rice.