Monday 14 October 2019

Shume Mire

Which means very good in Albanian. I had the most exciting and unexpected parcel delivered last week, and it was indeed very good
Some people just pack things up and shove them in the post. I confess that I am frequently one of those. But this parcel was so much more than that...
For starters, the outer wrapping was a recycled porridge oats packet. How cool is that? It ticks the green/eco box - and this retro packing is so much more interesting than the 'simply lidl' one I buy.
Then there was a postcard -a beautiful picture of a Victorian applique bed cover. I've spent ages looking at it -the central section is in A-Z of a woman's life ... from Adoration, Beauty, Cupid to Wedding, Xpression, Yes, Zingari. Zingari is an old term for Romany/Gypsy...no idea why the stitcher chose that for Z- perhaps it was a good omen if they showed up at the wedding, like a chimney sweep?
Then a picture of this elderly Albanian lady. She sells eggs and caj mali in the market, seven days a week from early morning till late at night.My friend Andrew buys goods from her when he is in Albania.
And at the bottom of the parcel - a pack of caj mali [pronounced chai marleyI drank this on my WWDP trip to Albania nearly 3 years ago. And when Andrew visited Albania recently, his wife Eleanor [a friend for over 35 years, and follower of the blog]reminded him to bring back some tea for me. So her very kindly made room in his case for some


Caj Mali  means mountain tea -This is otherwise known as sideritis, iron wort, or shepherd's tea. It is often brewed with mint, and sweetened with sugar. I make mine in a saucepan. I'm not sure how E&A brew theirs. I found this YouTube clip slightly alarming!
The older generation in Albania maintain that most ills can be cured with a cup of mountain tea. So perhaps a cup of this may help restore my energy levels .
Andrew taught me a few phrases before I went - and as well as Shume Mire - very good, I also learned faleminderit - thank you!
Thank you Eleanor -  I'm grateful for our long friendship, and I look forward to enjoying my tea, and remembering my wonderful trip to that lovely country in 2017.
One small parcel which has brought so much joy!

3 comments:

  1. The Porridge packet is a great idea! I remember in the 2000's, I used to turn foil crisp multipacks and kitkat multipacks inside out and used those as wrapping which, though not compostable, still was a good way to reuse waste. The tea sounds great! I hope it works its magic!Xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the idea of reusing the oats packet paper to make the parcel! That herbal tea sounds interesting! I enjoyed watching the video of how to make the tea. That is one strong brew she made!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Reminds me of those Pass The Parcels I used to make for the kids. I would put a little toy or a joke between each layer till they got to the big prize

    ReplyDelete

Always glad to hear from you - thanks for stopping by!
I am blocking anonymous comments now, due to excessive spam!