Coffee, Tea and Thee

If I were to meet the slave-traders who kidnapped me and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for if that did not happen, I would not be a Christian and Religious today…

St. Josephine Bakhita

For Coffee, Tea and Thee we are celebrating St. Josephine Bakhita's feast day. What an amazing saint! She was stolen away from her home in the Sudan by slave traders and ended up in Italy. She was baptized at age 21 and became a Canossian sister. She endured terrible abuses at the hands of her captors and yet, she not only forgave them, but thanked them for helping her find the path to Christianity and the religious life. I took this opportunity to talk to the children about The Lost Boys of the Sudan. They were amazed that stories like St. Josephine's happen even today.This website had some interesting information about having an authentic Sudanese meal with recipes and instructions on how to serve your guests. We put a tablecloth on our coffee table and placed pillows all around. The flowers on the table are hibiscus flowers that the girls made. One species of the Hibiscus called the Roselle is used to make Karkade, a special tea in Egypt and Sudan. The Professor made the flag of Sudan to add to our table decorations.We opted for cinnamon tea to accompany our Creme Caramela (a traditional Sudanese dessert). Alright, it's really flan and I used an instant Jell-o mix to make it. Call me chicken, but any recipe that calls for baking something in a pan of water scares me. The cinnamon tea was delicious, but not a favorite. They were more interested in trying to catch the stick than drinking the tea. Shortcake has decided she is not a big flan fan, but loves caramel! Oh well, it was worth it just to get them to try something new!Sunshine had saved her Magnifikid that had a feature on St. Josephine and we read the story while we enjoyed our third installment of Coffee, Tea and Thee.