This post presents the answer of the word search game and the translation of the words.
Practice this Arabic fruit vocabulary with the companion Byki list on List Central!
http://www.byki.com/lists/Arabic/Fruit.html
Word search game
In this post, I present another word search game. This time, the topic is fruits. Please try to find the following 10 fruit types in the grid below:
I will post the translations of the words and the answers of the game in my next post.
Yet another post related to the World Cup (كاس العالم). In Lebanon, we use the slang “futbal.” In Arabic we say كرة القدم, which translates literally–and naturally–to “foot-ball.”
I recently wrote about my first World Cup, which took place in Italy in 1990. I was living in Beirut, Lebanon at the time. The following photo was taken not too far from where I lived and watched some of those games. It was taken by a friend near my Grandmother’s home in Beirut after the Italian squad (المنتخب اللإيطالي) made a shock first round exit from this World Cup. Fans of Brazil thought it would be a good idea to hold a mock “funeral” for the Azzurri (the Azzurri is the nickname for the Italian national team); so they made fake coffins and draped them with Italian flags to symbolize the downfall of the Italian team, who until then were the defending world champions.
I recently came across a BBC article on coffee (قهوة) and its effects on the human heart. According to a 13-year-long study carried out in the Netherlands, drinking several cups of coffee–four to be exact–helps reduce the risk of heart disease by one-third.
Coffee is a popular drink in the Middle East, and I do enjoy one or two cups per day, rarely more. In Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East, the coffee we drink is ground very finely, similar to espresso, and it’s often roasted with cardamom (الهيل) seeds to give it a special aroma. We use a special pot (ركوة) to boil water. Once the water boils we add the coffee powder straight to the pot and continue to boil it. Sugar (سكر) is added to the pot as needed. Once done we let the pot sit for a few minutes. This helps the coffee powder sink and form a sediment at the bottom of the pot. This is important since we do not use a filtration device. This coffee is usually very strong, so we serve it in small cups as you would when serving espresso.
Here’s a photo of my coffee pot:
Here is what a more elaborate Arabic coffee pot and cups may look like:
Everyone who lives or lived in the Middle East before, particularly in Egypt, knows about fuul (فول). It is a very popular dish made of fava beans and various spices, and it is served mainly for breakfast. It is very easy to obtain if you live in the Middle East because almost all neighbourhoods will have their local fuul shop or restaurant. You can buy the fuul plain or with spices and ready to eat. You can even have it in ready made sandwiches.
Sometimes, you find a small cart going round your neighbourhood selling fuul to people in their houses or offering fuul and bread to workers on their way to work. I think that fuul originated in Egypt, but it is common in all Arab countries because it is an affordable, delicious and nutritious meal. It is easy to obtain in the West, as it is sold in cans. You can also get it plain or spiced. Here is an old advertisement of fuul Rita.
Plain fuul is basically boiled fava beans. People have different tastes and different ways of adding spices to it. The simplest way of eating it is to add salt and oil to it. You can add other spices as you wish to the basic combination of oil and salt, e.g. cumin, black peppers, chili, garlic, etc. The best thing is to try different combinations until you reach your best. Here is one recipe from a TV program.
My favourite fuul has salt, oil, cumin, a little bit of garlic, lemon and sliced fresh tomatoes. There is a very nice song about the fuul by Nilly and Iman AlBahr Darwish. It shows the setting at a fuul restaurant.
