Three Days, part 3

Monday, August 2, was the day to make the stuffed Grape Leaves. I found a recipe on the internet I liked as well as one in a book and then, like I always do, just made it up as I went along.
I used fresh Grape Leaves from Papa's garden,

so I blanched them the night before and kept them in the fridge over night, rolled up together in jars. Then, in the morning, I sorted the Grape Leave according to toughness and place the biggest, toughtest ones on the bottom of the pan- this prevents the stuffed ones from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Then layer thinly sliced lemon (and tomato and potato, if you want) on top of the grape leaves.Then I made the filling

1 cup arborio rice (rinse in cold water, then boiling water, then cold water)
then add the following:
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 sweet red pepper, finely chopped
2 scallions, chopped
1/2t ground sumac
2 t fresh thyme, chopped
2T fresh parsley, chopped
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Place a Grape Leaf smooth side down, place with  1-2 Tablespoons of filling depending on their size, and roll- bottom up, sides in, roll tightly. Place the roll into the bottom of the pan, seam side down. It is important to pack the stuffed grape leaves as tightly as possible together in the bottom of the pan and it is totally ok to make more than one layer, but I read not more than 4. Once you have your stuffed leaves packed in, make a mixture of water, juice of one lemon, 5 cloves of garlic- smashed with salt, and 2 T of olive oil. Pour this over the stuffed leaves to cover. Place a plate on top of them so that they won't float. Put a lid on the pot and cook, over medium heat for one hour. (The more layers, the more time it takes to cook, I think) Check periodically that there is enough water in the pan so that they don't burn and add boiling water if necessary. Check if they are done at the end of the hour. We couldn't wait and ate them warm, and they were delicious, but later, when I had one at room temperature they were even better. After the meal, I put them into a container and covered them with some olive oil, they keep for some days, if they last that long! Yum!