Category Archives: Ramadan

Apr 06 2020
2 Comments
Easter, Midsummer, Ramadan

It’s a Sale!

It’s pretty rare Convivio Bookworks runs a sale, but we won’t be popping up this spring at pop-up markets, and here we are with all these wonderful Ukrainian pysanky eggs that just arrived, and all those beautiful handmade sturdy paper egg containers from Germany (great places to stash your jelly beans and malted eggs). We also have cards you’re not likely to find elsewhere for Ramadan, and there’s a brand new Swedish maypole decoration for Midsummer, and these fine handmade artisan goods are not going to do anyone any good sitting in our little house ’til next year. So we’re giving you 15% everything in our Spring & Summer collection, 15% off all of our Ramadan cards from Manal Aman of Hello Holy Days! fame, and while we’re at it, since soap is so important right now, 15% off all of our handmade soaps from local soap maker Kelly Sullivan and from Brother Andrew at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community in Maine (as well as their delightful new culinary lavender that’s in a brown paper bag tied up with string).

Click here to get to the Convivio Book of Days Catalog; use code SPRING15 when you check out. Plus we’ll give you FREE SHIPPING on domestic orders when you spend $50. (And our flat rate shipping is only $8.50 if you don’t spend $50.) We ship Priority Mail so you’ll have your order in time for Easter. If you’re in Lake Worth Beach, let us know and we’ll deliver your order to your front porch for free no matter how much you spend (we’ll deduct the shipping charge if you spend less than $50).

Your orders support what may just be the smallest company on the planet, as well as all the artisans we buy from… most of them are folks we know by name. That support is greatly appreciated at times like this, so thank you.

May 03 2019
Book of Days Calendar, Ramadan

Blossoms & Bridges, or Your May Book of Days

It’s May and the world around us is bursting forth, bursting into new bloom, new green, new life. It is the story that never grows old. Here in Lake Worth, where we have constant green, the green is a new shade of bright, and the flowering trees begin their annual blooming, most abundantly with the Tabebuia Argenta, or Yellow Tabs. This one is blooming right outside our front door right now, even as I type this. Fittingly enough, our Yellow Tab is the cover star of your Convivio Book of Days Calendar for May. Our monthly gift to you is a printable PDF, so you can print it and pin it to your bulletin board and keep it as a fine companion to the Book of Days blog.

May Day has come and gone, and next up is Cinco de Mayo this Sunday, and come sunset that same day, it’s the start of Ramadan. We were inspired this year by our friend Manal Aman of Hello Holy Days! to add some new items to our Convivio Book of Days Catalog: Manal’s lovely cards for Ramadan and Eid al Fitr, which she designs herself and sends to us from her home in Canada. Manal came to Canada from Pakistan as a baby, just like my Aunt Anne came to the United States from Italy as a baby. Pakistan, the same homeland as Tara and Sami, the folks who run The Pelican in downtown Lake Worth on Lake Avenue. During some of my lowest days, it was Tara who would welcome me to her restaurant for breakfast and send me on my way afterward with dinner for later on, as well. For sure, Seth and I are sending Tara and Sami one of Manal’s Ramadan cards this year, to thank them for their kindness.

Manal’s idea is simple: to bring Ramadan and Eid to the mainstream through companies like Crate+Barrel and Martha Stewart Living. As she says, “We live in a time and place where there’s a lot of misunderstandings about Muslims.” Her goal is to help build understanding between communities. Which sounds an awful lot like ours. And sometimes the simplest thing––like sending someone a card––can go a long way toward building that understanding, building those bridges. And bridges are so much better than walls. In this home, anyway, we feel this is true and this is right and good.

   

Two of Manal Aman’s beautiful cards for Ramadan and Eid al Fitr, new to the Convivio Book of Days Catalog. You’ll find many to choose from, and free domestic shipping when you spend $50 across the catalog. Image above: The yellow spring blooms of the Tabebuia Argenta.

 

Tagged
May 15 2018
6 Comments
Cold Sophie, Ramadan, The Ice Saints

Ramadan & the Ice Saints

With tonight’s new moon this 15th of May, the holy month of Ramadan begins. For those of the Muslim faith, it is a month of prayer, almsgiving, and most especially fasting. During the daylight hours, not even water is taken. But this daily period of deprivation is rewarded once the sun has set with good nighttime meals. A common food to break the fast each night is Harira, a traditional Moroccan soup made from chickpeas, lentils, tomatoes, and onions in a broth spiced with cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, chiles, and cumin. Harira is served all year long, but it is especially plentiful at Ramadan. I plan on making some this week, and maybe you’d like to, as well. There are many variations, some with meat, some vegetarian, some with egg and some with noodles, and all manner of spices. But here’s the recipe I’ll be using:

H A R I R A
1 onion, chopped finely
Olive oil
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
8 cups chicken broth
1 cup dried red lentils
2 cans chopped tomatoes
Dried chiles, for a little heat (or 1 teaspoon chili powder)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
Salt & Pepper
Flat leaf parsley, chopped
Lemon wedges

In a large pot, cook the onion in some olive oil until it is translucent. Add the chickpeas and the broth. Bring to a boil, then add the lentils, tomatoes, and spices. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Bring to a boil again and simmer for a half hour or so, until the lentils are mushy and the soup has thickened. Ladle into bowls, finishing off each serving with a bit of fresh olive oil, chopped parsley, and a lemon wedge for squeezing. This recipe makes about 6 to 8 servings.

In places like Morocco, this simple yet hearty soup is often the first thing folks take to break their fast with the setting sun. It is a bit of spiritual and physical nourishment. Other wonderful things follow, and often the feasting goes on well into the night. And then to bed… until the tabbal, the drummer, wends his way through the dark and empty streets to awaken everyone for the final meal before sunrise, usually bread with mint tea. And so each day goes in this month of fasting until the next new moon.

This year, the start of Ramadan coincides with the arrival of Cold Sophie, who, according to German legend, brings a blast of cold weather, winter’s last hurrah. But they say it’s been such a long and cold winter that I’m not going to give Sophie any attention at all. She and her fellow Ice Saints have had a ball of it this year, so enough of that. She can have some Harira with us if she wants, but that’s it. We’ve got our sights set on summer.

Image: My husband may be a potter, but I still can’t help buying bowls I like from other potters, too. These porcelain bowls are brand new additions to our collection. They’re by local potter Nena Escobar. I found them just last week, and I suspect we’ll be eating Harira out of them this week. Oh and if you do want to read more about Cold Sophie and the Ice Saints, well… here’s an earlier Book of Days chapter about them.

 

← Older posts
Newer posts →