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Posts Tagged ‘food’

Ethiopia Coffee

November 22nd, 2009 No comments

Ethiopian coffee tradition is an important part of Ethiopians social life as well as cultural life. If Ethiopians invite you to attend a coffee ceremony, it is considered a mark of friendship or respect and is an excellent example of their hospitality.

Most people who find themselves as guests in their house would never fail to notice, the coffee ceremony Ethiopians are quick to present to their guests or visitors.

Their homage to coffee is sometimes ornate, and always beautifully ceremonial. The ceremony is usually conducted by one young woman wearing her traditional Ethiopian clothing of a white dress, with woven borders made up myriads of spectacular colors.

The long Ethiopian coffee ceremony starts with the ceremonial equipments being arranged upon a bed of long scented grasses. Next, the coffee is roasted on a flat pan over a tiny charcoal stove, the pungent smell mingling with the heady scent of incense that is also customarily burned during the Ethiopian coffee tradition.

Next, the woman who is in charge of the coffee ceremony carefully washes the handful of coffee beans on the heated furnace, then stirs and shakes the remains away. Once the coffee beans have turned black and shining and the aromatic oil is coaxed out of them, they are ground by a pestle and a long handled mortar.

The ground coffee is slowly stirred into the black clay coffee pot locally known as ‘jebena’, which is round at the bottom with a straw lid.

Because of the ancient manner used by Ethiopians, the ground result can be called anything but even, so the coffee is put through a dainty filter many times.

The youngest child is then sent out to announce when it is to be served and stands ready to bring a cup of coffee first to the eldest in the room and then to the others, connecting all the generations.

Finally, the lady in charge of the Ethiopian coffee ritual will serve the coffee to friends, who would have patiently watched the Ethiopian coffee ceremony for the last, almost, hour.

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5 Ideas To Make Your Thanksgiving Table Special

November 21st, 2009 No comments

We think of Thanksgiving as a special holiday in which to give thanks for the people who fill our lives with joy. Make this year even more special by honoring your guests around the dinner table with very special decorations.

These are 5 simple ideas for honoring your Thanksgiving guests around the dining room table with some very beautiful decorations.

1) Linens: The table cloth, runners, and place mats should be number one on your list of decorations. You should use fall colors, layering as many of those colors as possible. Emboss the linens if you like with leaves, fruit, and nut shapes if you are able. The more linen you can use, the more festive your table will feel.

2) Candles: Group pillar candles together using similar fall colors. Place the candles on top of silk fall leaves and surround them with nuts, small gourds, and pine cones. This is an inexpensive but very effective way to create a fall centerpiece.

3) Fruits & Vegetables: Fresh fruits and vegetables placed in groups in decorative bowls is always a nice look on a side board or buffet. Choose colorful fruits and vegetables that will last for a few days, like apples and artichokes. If you’d like your display to last a few weeks or months, you may want to invest in artificial food items.

4) Place Cards: Place cards are an intimate way to show your guests that you are thankful for them. Include a special message in a card at each place setting to share your feelings in private with each guest. Your thoughtfulness will not be forgotten.

5) Garlands & Swags: Make garlands or swags of leaves, fruits, pine cones, berries, and fall colored ribbons to hang from your dining area doorways. You can also purchase bundles of wheat and tie wide, wire-edged ribbon around the center to decorate your dining room. Don’t forget your lighting over your dining room table. A few bundles of fall colored leaves will give a soft light and homey feeling to the atmosphere.

If you can create a Christmas Wonderland you can create a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving festival as well! Using the warm colors and textures of a fall day, think of all the places you would decorate for Christmas and turn those same places into an Autumn wonderland! Your Thanksgiving table will be a feast for all the senses!

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Sweetest Gift Are Personalized Sweets

November 20th, 2009 No comments

Gift giving could sometimes be difficult or simple and easy on the other. It becomes difficult when people have to search for items that are rare, peculiar, unique or pricey. When these kinds of gifts are needed, they take time to be found since they needed to be hunted at specialty stores, vintage shops, and other gift shops abroad. Additionally, these items are often needed to be ordered days or even months before the exact date of the occasion. Some gifts are simple and easy to find as they only require people to go to the mall, pick them at the nearest aisle, get paid at the counter, wrapped and be delivered to the rightful receiver. Doing this type of shopping for gifts is for people who are in a hurry.

Giving gifts can be done in anyway and gifts can be any kind of items. But, to make every gift count and extra special, they need to be personalized. Personalized gifts are more special because they are prepared with more effort and love from the giver. This kind of preparation gives more weight to any gift thus it is more cherished.

One example of personalized gifts is personalized sweets. Sweets on their own, given as gifts, are boring. However, when they are added extra personal touches, they become more interesting and more special. To mark these sweets personally, people may tie ribbon in their favorite colors or pack these sweets in boxes of their choice. Additionally, they may also mix different kinds of sweets in one package. Commonly, sweets are grouped according to kind in a container but with personalized sweets, all kinds of retro sweets can be placed together.

However, no matter how personalized sweets are prepared; they all have one thing in common. They all come with personal notes saying messages that come from the heart. These messages can either be a simple “thank you” or “I love you” or they can be intricate and long as poems and love letters. Whatever these notes say, they all add to making personalized sweets extra special.

Gift giving has been in existence for many years, dating back to even the ancient times. With today’s choices in gift items and the swiftness of delivery systems, gift giving became more varied, easy and fast.

People, no matter where they are and what they want, can choose from these many goods and be delivered to anyone anywhere. No matter what change gift giving comes across, one this is for sure. It more special when personalized just like personalized sweets.