Well, croissants, too, actually, but on the cruise I had croissants for breakfast every morning. It's the coffee I miss, partly because it's such a big part of my self-image.As a teenager, my fights with my mother were always ended with my getting her a cup of coffee. While we drank it we cooled down.
I remember drinking tepid (tap water) instant coffee in my dorm room at AUB, and the wonderful Turkish coffee my friend Mahmoud made, letting the mixture boil up to the edge of the pot three times, a feat made even more impressive by Mahmoud's blindness. He taught me to listen to the sound the coffee made as it climbed the pot.
Over the years, coffee was the accompaniment to conversations, to writing, to just sitting and enjoying a moment of relaxation.
I remember the smell of the coffee-roasters near the bus stop in San Jose, Costa Rica. I'd bring home a kilo of freshly-roasted coffee and one of freshly-roasted peanuts, and when the bus went past the cookie factory I'd go into sensory overload from the mingled aromas.
Then there was the high school English teacher in whose room I camped while teaching ESL. She always had a coffee pot going. I remember that as one of the most civilized years of teaching I spent at Keene High School.
I'm trying a different ulcer med now. Wish me luck. I want my coffee back.
2 comments:
Oh! Good luck, Lucie!!!! There is so much ritual to coffee! Just this morning, I was thinking of my dad... he often shows up for coffee on a rainy day. (He works outdoors year round.) And, lo and behold! He stopped in :o) It was just what I needed on such a damp day :o) I'm wishing you many happy cups of coffee again soon! Can you still have tea? Chai is a yummy alternative to the real stuff :o)
Best of luck! I spent a lot of years wondering what all those coffee ads meant by "body," but now that I've mostly switched to coffee, I understand perfectly. Tea has no body at all. Coffee does.
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