"Joe" at the Alwan's

When Joe asked me if I wanted to go over to his parents' house for coffee on Monday night, I jumped at the invitation. I love the Turkish coffee that is drunk by the Lebanese, and I knew it would be a great time relaxing and hanging out with his family. When I got in the car, Joe informed me that I was also invited to eat pizza with them, since his family hadn't settled down to have dinner, thought it was already 8:30PM. Pizza and coffee-what more could a college student ask for?!

Once we got to their house, Joe and I sat down in the living room with his dad, Henri, and youngest brother, Anthony. His dad was busy building a Halloween costume for a party he and Joe's mom, Theresa, are going to attend, and Anthony was torn between doing his math homework and showing us the trophy he won in a recent soccer tournament. Joe's other younger brother, John, walked in a few minutes later after working out at the YMCA, and Joe's mom came in and out of the room to talk to us as she was cooking dinner.

Eventually it was time to eat, so we moved the conversation to the dining room table. It felt really nice to sit down for a meal with a family, since I don't regulary get that chance during the semester. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Joe's mom had also an "appetizer" of stuffed, cooked kibbeh (refer to "There Ain't Nothin' Like a Home-Cooked Meal"). The stuffing was a mix of caramelized onions and pine nuts, and the whole thing kind of reminded me of an all-meat Hot Pocket. I learned that these are also a common street food in Brazil, where there is an even larger Lebanese population than in Lebanon itself, and where Joe's mom is from.

Stuffed, cooked kibbeh

John and Joe

After trying the kibbeh, we ate some pizza, and then it was time for coffee and dessert! Turkish coffee is not actually a type of coffee but rather a method of preparing coffee. The basic idea is to use a small pot to boil water, then pour in finely ground coffee, and finally bring the mixture back up to a boil. This process takes some fine-tuned technique, but Joe's mom made it look just as easy as using a typical coffee maker. Sugar is also sometimes added to the boiling water in the beginning to take some of the strengh from the coffee.

Boiling the coffee.

Joe's mom served the coffee in small cups, similar to espresso, and also brought out a couple Brazilian desserts for us to try. The one I had was ricotta pie (think cheesecake) topped with goiabada (goy-a-bah-dah), which is a guava paste served in Portuguese-speaking countries.

 

Here's the final result.

The ricotta pie,
topped with goiabada.

I was wired after drinking two cups of coffee, and Joe and I decided we should probably head back to campus to work on homework. Actually, I wish I had some of that coffee right now, since I'm posting this at around 2:30AM.

I guess I'll just leave everyone by sharing a joke Anthony told that night, which I have found unexplainably funny for the last couple of days: A pirate walks into a bar, complete with a peg leg, a hook and an eye patch. The bartender asks, "Hey, how'd you get the peg leg?" Pirate replies, "Argh, I got into a fight." Bartender says, "Ok. Well, how'd you get the hook?" Pirate replies, "Argh, I got into another fight." Bartender says, "Alright. Well, how'd you get the eye patch?" Pirate replies, "Argh, I was layin' on the beach, and a bird pooped on my face. It was me first day with the hook."

Thank you very much to the Alwan's!
Henri, Theresa, Joe, John & Anthony

The ten-year-old in me is still laughing...