Northcroft Wool

Bosnian Coffee

contributed by Semsa Nemec

3/4 cup any brand of coffee beans

6 cups water

sugar and cream

1. Grind coffee beans for 1-2 minutes until they are very fine.

2. Bring water to a boil in a pan on high heat.

3. Stir in 2 teaspoons of sugar.

4. Add the ground coffee, turn the heat to medium and bring back to a boil.

5. Serve in very small cups with cream and sugar to taste. Serves 6.



photo by Julianna Kuhn

Šemsa Nemec is a Bosnian Muslim, her husband Sinisha and brother–in–law are Croatian Catholics, and her sister-in-law a Serbian Orthodox Christian. They all lived in Bosnia until the country erupted in violence in the 1990s. Now they live in Pelican Rapids and celebrate all of each others holidays. “I have two Christmas, two Easter and two Byrum,” Šemsa said, smiling. The first Byrum is at the end of Ramadan, the of month of fasting in the Muslim religion, when people eat at 5:00 am every morning and then don’t eat or drink again until after sunset.

At Byrum, the holiday at the end of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate by making lots of food and spending time with family and friends. “When people come for Byrum,” Śemsa said, “sit down and eat food and drink coffee and talking.”  Baklava is one of the special foods served during Byrum and every family makes it. Traditionally, the dough for the pastry is rolled out very, very thin, into a piece large enough to cover the top of a table. Then it is cut and layered in a pan with oil, sugar and chopped nuts.  After baking, a sugar syrup is poured over the pastry. Šemsa learned how to make baklava by watching her mother, but living in the United States has taught her a major shortcut. Instead of rolling it out, she buys boxes of the paper thin fillo dough frozen at the grocery store.

With the time saved by using pre-made dough, Šemsa crochets beautiful lace for herself, her family and to sell. Her work decorates their house,  white lace with red hearts edges the shelves in her glass fronted cabinets, shimmering green mila, or doilies cover her coffee table. Her most exquisite work, that displayed in art shows at Lake Region Arts Council,  hangs on the wall of her living room. She even crochets baskets and vases and stiffens them with sugar syrup. In the summer, Šemsa gardens, growing dahlias of enormous size and beauty and growing a wide variety of vegetables in the small greenhouse that Sinisha built beside their home.  She mothers her son, Kevin,  helps him with his home work, and volunteers in the community. She has helped several years with kindergarten classes and on projects at the library, and every June, she makes two big pans of baklava for the International Friendship Festival. “American people too much like baklava,” she said, “gone in one hour.”

from Many Cultures, One Community: a book of stories and recipes.