On Saturday, Pamela Frank hosted our first dinner party to raise awareness and support for this film project. She had about 20 friends in her fabulous home on Jamaica Pond in Boston.

Nawal cooked several of the recipes that we have included in the film. I practiced filming Nawal cooking to prepare for the production in Iraq. Nawal prepared an amazing amount of food in a day and  a half. Even after everyone ate, we still had nearly full platters...Mesopotamian magic.

Pam’s creative approach to the cause was to recommend that each guest at the paty  buy Delight from the Garden of Eden, cook some of the recipes–with a little help from Nawal, either in-person or by Skype–to host their own parties and invite their friends to make donations to the project.

We need private donations as it will be some time before any grants come through and I would like to move film in Iraq before the weather becomes too hot.

Most immediately I need to hire an intern to work at least 3 days a week with me on a myriad of tasks from enlisting in-kind donations, location scouting, researching grants and sponsor organizations, to updating the website and conducting social networking.

Meanwhile I received some very kind letters of about TEA, which I have posted on the screening and press page. Nawal also told me about letters she received from soldiers in Iraq. I posted one on the Nawal’s Book page of this website.