This week I've decided to take part for the first time in The Gallery, run by Tara Cain over at Sticky Fingers. This is how it works: following her prompt, I post a photo/photos and write about it/them. This week's prompt: Paint a picture of the world we live in.
Bahrainis love to shop. And although Bahrain has more than its fair share of glitzy modern shopping malls, the most authentic and fun shopping experience is to be had in the souks. There's no better place for buying spices and herbs for the evening kebab!
And then after shopping, they indulge in their second favourite hobby - tea and coffee drinking. There are many of these cafes dotted around the souks. Tea is flavoured with fresh mint and sugar and drunk in small glasses. Arabic coffee is thick and sweet and often flavoured with cardamom. And the gossip never stops.
Wow, looks like a very interesting place. Great pictures.
ReplyDeleteMy husband would be in heaven with all those spices. He is a spice nut. Is the coffee similar to Turkish coffee? I love that although is it very strong. A bit of a heart starter!
ReplyDeleteFun picture you painted here!
ReplyDeleteI lived in Palestine for some time and loved cruising the Arab Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, part of which is a sprawling souk. Loved the spices, too, and the smell of bread baking and seeing the stalls with beans and seeds and dried fruits. It's such a different experience than a sterile supermarket. (Not to say that there are not certain advantages to modern supermarkets, but they're not fun.)
Cardamom was also ground in with the coffee beans in Palestine. I rather liked the flavor of it.
P.S. In case you're interested, here's a story of my souk crawl in the Old City of Jerusalem:
http://lifeintheexpatlane.blogspot.com/2010/04/expat-shopping-crawl-through-souk.html
or the tiny url:
http://tinyurl.com/yc3xrhr
Barbara - thanks for stopping by and yes, Bahrain is a very interesting place to be for a few years.
ReplyDeleteSelma - Arab and Turkish coffee are similar, yes, and after a couple each morning, you are certainly buzzing to start the day!
Miss Footloose - I also like the flavour of cardamom. In fact I love all the spices here! Thanks for the links - will check them out.
Welll these photos are a far cry from Tesco and Starbucks! I can almost smell the aromas - gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteTrish - thanks for following! Bahrain is actually full of Starbucks and Costa coffee joints, which I can't understand as the local brew is far, far superior.
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