Coffee, Tea Or...Chickpeas

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The Boy sneakily hit the submit button on Amazon when I was attempting to educate the Youngling on the feasibility (or lack thereof) of procuring a hamster (or maybe it was a Guinea pig. Or both)

You see, between adjusting to my new job and rescheduling my pedicure a half dozen times, I didn’t notice that the boy was silently obsessing about a convoluted piece of machinery that allegedly made a killer cappuccino. Until he stopped being silent, and every cup of coffee meted out in the house was greeted with a low level whine that escalated to a crescendo matched only by the Youngling when it was forbidden from watching unprecedented amounts of Tom & Jerry.

I love coffee. And it needs to be a good, strong cup of coffee. And I am a bear if I don’t get caffeinated first thing in the morning. But I was faced with mastering a control panel to get a cup with crema.

You had to say a prayer first. Then flip a switch. Then pray again as you watched the thing hiss and spit. Then the lights would start blinking (or maybe they were in my head). Then you changed filters, thumped a tamper, steamed the milk, aligned the cups, made cure you picked the double shot option, balefully stared at the clock and prayed that the “Clean Me!” light wouldn’t light up because incidentally, it could happen whenever the machine felt like it and the resulting operation would casually add a half hour to my already insane morning.

I suppose The Boy was terrified I would invoke the return policy, and so he dutifully made me a cappuccino every morning, which I grudgingly drank. All was going swimmingly until he left on a 10 day business trip shortly after. I swear I stayed up all night stressing about how to make my coffee the next morning.

I said a prayer and flipped the switch. I trembled as it started the hissing, which to my horror quickly dissolved to a croak. I could have sworn it grunted before the “Clean Me” light cheerfully turned on.

I slunk off to find the nearest Starbucks on my way to work, with my lunchbox filled with Chickpea Salad.

Chickpea Salad

This is a really simple and filling salad to lunch on and also works very well with a simple dinner of dal, rice and a spicy pickle. I added a dash of sumac, a tangy spice I picked up from a visit to Turkey, which gave it a nice zing. You can omit this or just as easily substitute with an extra dash of lime or chat masala.

1 can chickpeas (garbanzos)
2 small tomatoes, chopped
1 small onion, chopped roughly
½ cucumber, chopped roughly
Juice of half a lime
3-4 green finger chillies
A handful of fresh coriander, chopped roughly
1 tsp sumac
Salt to taste

Rinse and drain the chickpeas. In a large mixing bowl, mix them together with all the other ingredients. Serve at room temperature.


Serves 4