Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Arabic Coffee -Qahwa- قهوة عربية


In the Arab,Gulf, Levant countries it's Arabic coffee, in the Balkans it's Bosnian coffee, Serbian coffee etc.., in Turkey it's Turkish coffee, in Greece it's Greek coffee, in Cyprus it's Cypriot coffee and so on... Bottom line we all have something in common and we are all proud of it!

We make this coffee in Lebanon in a coffee pot called "Rakweh", found in Middle Eastern stores or online as well as the coffee, I've never tried just any fine coffee because I like the mix of beans that I find in the Middle Eastern store (which is called Najjar Coffee), I'm used to it. The ingredients are simple: Water, coffee, sugar (I personally don't drink coffee with sugar so I discard it and serve it on the side). Cardamom is an Arabic tradition but it's always optional.

- We eyeball the amount of coffee added to the water but the perfect way is the following:
Half a teaspoon for every small cup (like the one in the picture or an espresso cup).
So for example, if you want to make 5 espresso cups, you fill 5 of these cups with water and add to the pot then 5 half teaspoons of coffee.

Boil water in a coffee pot. After water boils add ground coffee into the boiling water, stir well and keep cooking it. Every time it comes to a boil move it away from the stove, stir bring back to boil or cook again, repeat 4-5 times, then serve. We do this process because once it starts boiling it goes all over the place, so you wanna avoid the mess. Medium to low heat is always recommended.

If you like cardamom add some to it or you can buy Arabic coffee with cardamom.
You add sugar after you serve, if some of your guests like it without sugar. If everybody wants sugar, you add the sugar with the coffee and boil or cook. You adjust the sugar quantity upon taste, little sugar, sweet etc...

If you don't have Arabic style coffee cups, any espresso cups work.

*I took this picture in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina last summer, after my husband and I had a wonderful lunch by the river. They served sugar on the side and a piece of Loukoum sweets. I love this handmade coffee set.

Brilliant Lord


Psalm 8
A David Psalm (from The Message)


"God, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name.

Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you toddlers shout the songs that drown out enemy talk, and silence atheist babble.

I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?

Yet we've so narrowly missed being gods, bright with Eden's dawn light. You put us in charge of your handcrafted world, repeated to us your Genesis-charge, made us lords of sheep and cattle, even animals out in the wild, birds flying and fish swimming, whales singing in the ocean deeps.

God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world."

Spring causes me to be filled with a peace that takes away my breath. If you have ever stood on a mountain top like one in the Rockies and breath in the lightness, then you have come close to experiencing what I feel on a Spring day.
If God's breath is what inspires us, then it is breathed into me on a spring day in Iowa when the colors and the smells and the textures of the wind and the soil... fill my soul.

RICE NOODLES



Ingredients:
Rice noodles
Carrot .............. 1 (cut into thin long pieces)
Capsicum .........1 (cut into thin long pieces)
Spring onion ..... 1/4 cup (chopped)
Ginger-garlic paste..... 1 tbsp.
Thick soya sauce ........ 1 tbsp.
Chilli garlic sauce........ 1 tsp.
Ajinomoto.................. 1/4 tsp.
Salt to taste
Oil

Method:
1. Boil water in a pan adding salt. Break the noodles and put them in the pan and switch off the gas. Leave the noodles in the hot water for 5-6 minutes.
2. Drain the water in a strainer and run the noodles under cold water.(This helps in avoiding stickiness in the noodles)
3. Heat a little oil and add ginger-garlic paste.Stir a little and add the chopped vegetables, salt and saute them for 2-3 minutes.
4. Now add the noodles and the sauces. Sprinkle ajinomoto. Mix well. (It is better to use chopsticks for mixing)
Serve hot.