Coffee Time

  As we take the opportunities our lifestyle gives us to travel to amazing places, I've begun collecting useful tchochkies - demitasses. I use them frequently. In case you're interested - the copper ibrik is from this shop in Istanbul, the brightly colored demitasse from Daruta, Italy, the blue and white one from Uzbekistan and the commercial looking one from a chain of French-themed cafes in Dubai. Barely visible, to the left of the ibrik, are a set of beautiful, fine-china cups I received as a gift from a friend in Kazakhstan who had bought them in Minsk (although they're from the Lomonosov Ceramics Factory in St. Petersburg, Russia).