fahim mohammed
Well-known member
Family is sitting around chatting, having tea and coffee. I can't have coffee. Roll of the dice. No issue.
Suddenly the bell rings. Unannounced guests. Friends, informal. What to do?
We do, what we always do around here. Open our house to the guests. They bring us good luck. Guests..wonderful. A blessing!!
Replenish the coffee and tea jugs. Add more dates. Bring out the coffee and tea
cups. Greet our friends. Their youngest starts to pour the coffee and pass it around. It is his house too!! The coffee first and only then the tea.
Why, the coffee first and then the tea? Because that's the way it is done, in my house and those of my friends and all the houses I visit here.
And let's not forget the small dish to put away the date seeds, the small bowl of water to dip and clean one's fingers after handling the dates, the napkins to dry the hands and....
In the meantime, my youngest has rushed off to get dinner for us all. The guests must stay for dinner. A simple affair...we spread a clean sheet over the carpet in another room, place the dishes, the cutlery, then the food that has just been brought in..the eldest guest is invited for dinner. The kids help me stand up. Hands are washed and dried. We sit around the food.
Thank the Lord for His Blessings. Share our food together as we share our lives
together.
Simple people. Simple lives. After food, and washing our hands ( we have progressed to having anti-bacterial hand wash and sprays including antibacterial perfumes...I mention this only to reassure some that eating food with our hands is neither uncouth nor unhygenic...after all our hands have been used since time immemorial for eating food, amongst other activities...and for me the real taste of food is savored when I eat it with my hands.). We do have designer cutlery too and dining tables! But that is in another room and very rarely used. Strangely enough, our Western friends prefer to sit on the floor too!
Friends, we most likely sit on the floor and eat with our hands.
It is back to tea and coffee, after dinner. And dates and sweets from the land of the magic carpets and. Minarets.
A fresh serving has already been placed in the sitting area by the female members of the family.
Welcome to my house.
Suddenly the bell rings. Unannounced guests. Friends, informal. What to do?
We do, what we always do around here. Open our house to the guests. They bring us good luck. Guests..wonderful. A blessing!!
Replenish the coffee and tea jugs. Add more dates. Bring out the coffee and tea
cups. Greet our friends. Their youngest starts to pour the coffee and pass it around. It is his house too!! The coffee first and only then the tea.
Why, the coffee first and then the tea? Because that's the way it is done, in my house and those of my friends and all the houses I visit here.
And let's not forget the small dish to put away the date seeds, the small bowl of water to dip and clean one's fingers after handling the dates, the napkins to dry the hands and....
In the meantime, my youngest has rushed off to get dinner for us all. The guests must stay for dinner. A simple affair...we spread a clean sheet over the carpet in another room, place the dishes, the cutlery, then the food that has just been brought in..the eldest guest is invited for dinner. The kids help me stand up. Hands are washed and dried. We sit around the food.
Thank the Lord for His Blessings. Share our food together as we share our lives
together.
Simple people. Simple lives. After food, and washing our hands ( we have progressed to having anti-bacterial hand wash and sprays including antibacterial perfumes...I mention this only to reassure some that eating food with our hands is neither uncouth nor unhygenic...after all our hands have been used since time immemorial for eating food, amongst other activities...and for me the real taste of food is savored when I eat it with my hands.). We do have designer cutlery too and dining tables! But that is in another room and very rarely used. Strangely enough, our Western friends prefer to sit on the floor too!
Friends, we most likely sit on the floor and eat with our hands.
It is back to tea and coffee, after dinner. And dates and sweets from the land of the magic carpets and. Minarets.
A fresh serving has already been placed in the sitting area by the female members of the family.
Welcome to my house.
