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Before your memory fades … but the Italian title is The first coffee of the day… could I not read it?
Actually no, and that’s why my husband decided to give it to me.
Before your memory fades is the new book by Toshikazu Kawaguchi 川口 俊 和 published in Italy by Garzanti.
Do you know him?
I was very impressed to discover how Toshikazu Kawaguchi here in Italy has established himself thanks to the word of mouth that has been unleashed since March 2020, when his book Before the Coffee Gets Cold debuted and finished in the bestseller list within a week.
In fact, going backwards, about Toshikazu Kawaguchi
March 2012: the Grand Prize of the Suginami Theater Festival for the stage “Before the Coffee Gets Cold”
December 2015: the novel “Before the Coffee Gets Cold” published
April 2017: the Grand Prize Bookshop nomination
September 2018: cinema adaptation of “Before the Coffee Gets Cold” with Kasumi Arimura
February 2019: 100,000 copies of “In front of cold weather” exceeded in Taiwan
February 2020: the UK version of “Before the coffee gets cold” is 10th in the Bookseller ranking
March 2020: the British version wins the first place in the best-selling literary books in Singapore
until May 2020: his biography mentions a 3rd place as a novel translated in Italy in the ranking of the Corriere della Sera that I have not been able to recover
January 2021: Tales from the Cafe.
Autumn 2021: the project for a TV series produced by SK Global and developed by The Jackal Group.
And January 2022: Before your memory fades.
I don’t want to anticipate the focal point of these coffees nor what happens while the coffee is hot, in case you don’t know the story yet, but surely the idea of these special encounters over a cup of coffee is the key concept here on the blog too.
Unfortunately, without the magic and the Japanese delicacy, and with very different cooling times, but with the same intent to try, very modestly, to give small trips.
And about the first coffee of the day would you like to tell yours?
Hi I'm Claudia and this is KCDC.
The first cup of coffee in the morning is the best but all the others following are necessary too. Thanks for this interesting post, dear Claudia.
Right Olivia!
Every single coffee is important, both for the energy it gives and for the moment of relaxation it represents.
And the coffees drunk with a friend are special!
THANK YOU!!
Wikipedia tells us about some interesting legends, Claudia:
According to one legend, ancestors of today’s Oromo people in Ethiopia were the first to recognize the energizing effect of the coffee plant.
Another legend attributes the discovery of coffee to Sheikh Omar in Yemen. When exiled from Mocha to a desert cave near Ousab, Sheikh Omar chewed berries from a nearby shrubbery but found them too bitter. He tried roasting the seeds to improve the flavour, but they became hard. He then tried boiling them to soften the seed, which resulted in a fragrant brown liquid. Upon drinking the liquid, Omar was revitalized and sustained for days. As stories of this “miracle drug” reached Mocha, Omar was asked to return and was made a saint. So the coffee bean and the health benefits of drinking coffee were discovered in Yemen.
WOW Olivia!
Thank You so so MUCH!
All this is absolutely interesting!!
And no doubt it is worth a dedicated post.
I wonder if so Moka, the way we call coffee maker here in Italy, comes from Mocha as well.
Actually I do not know much about Yemen, but I saw many pictures from a friend of mine’s journey and I was impressed by the magic atmosphere.
Mocha, Moka, Mocca – that could very well be. I like to drink mocca the Morrocan way, with a bit of cinnamon added.
I also do not kow a lot about Yemen, have never been there yet. Sadly this country is at war with Saudi Arabia. Bad news!
Thank You Olivia, I didn’t even know that Moroccan coffee is with cinnamon.
That is: I really like cinnamon and I would always add it, as you know by now, but here coffee is considered Moroccan when it has a base of chocolate, then coffee, milk, and finally cocoa powder.
Cinnamon, cocoa, chocolate powder, they all enhance the taste of coffee greatly. I also like it with a taste of vanilla. I have a sweet tooth, however, I try to avoid sugar.
Cinnamon, cocoa and chocolate powder! I love all three of them!
Vanilla, on the other hand, is less, I am unable to explain why.
And I also try to avoid sugar as much as possible even if it is very very difficult as it is a component of many foods …
This is what a special website for Moroccan coffee says:
“Moroccans love coffee, and its consumption is enshrined in their café culture and love for sipping this world-renowned drink. Shared with friends while playing board games or offered to visitors at home, coffee is a staple of Moroccan culture.
Many recipes for spiced coffee draw from a culture known for the wise use of spices. They produce warming and delectable cups of coffee that you can easily reproduce at home.
Our quick recipe for this spiced coffee mixes coffee beans, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, pepper, cloves and nutmeg, all very easy-to-find spices that you might already have at home.
The result is a fragrant coffee that you can serve at any time to accompany morning breakfast or to soothe you during the afternoon alongside a sweet pastry.
The aromatic spices add complex flavour without overwhelming your senses, but it is easily adaptable to your taste. For more pungency, add the optional ginger and black pepper, or for a milder flavour use the basic recipe.
Once you get accustomed and fall in love with its flavour, it is very easy to adjust the amounts of spices and maybe experiment by adding other flavours that you enjoy—vanilla pods are also wonderful additions to the mix.”
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Olivia!
This is absolutely very interesting!!
“The wise use of spices” is something admirable and something to learn!
I was enchanted by the thought of ginger and black pepper in coffee and I absolutely must try!
Yes, ginger and black pepper are a very exotic combination for coffee. Why not? We can always try something new …
Sure!!I
I found this recepy: I was drawn to the blog name: Cooking for Elephants!
I love elephants …
It desccribes it as an ayurvedic recipe, a subject of which I know practically nothing.
I also know nothing about ayurveda but I like elephants, I like ginger and black pepper, too.
Have you ever heard about the Elephant Parade?
How lovely these painted elephants are! Thank you very much for this interesting video, dear Claudia. I like it.
You are welcome.
It’s longtime I have been attracted from the Elephant Parade and, more in general, I always melt in front of elephant images. they simply are BEAUTIFUL.
Yes, they are. I agree.
I love elephants. Once I was able to ride on an elephant, when I visited a working elephant farm in Chiengmai, in the north of Thailand, where I was visiting with my mother. It was a great experience to touch the elephant’s skin.
Oh nice!
Were your mother living in Thailand?!
I only can imagine how great your experience was!
I think I would be extremely emotioned if I could caress an elephant.
My mother and I both lived in Germany. We visited Thailand as tourists, first we flew to Bangkok, then we took a train to the north, up to the northern border of Thailand, to Chiengmai. There we spent a few days and saw the elephants.
Olivia I am sorry!
I missed the “with” you wrote, I thought where you were visiting your mother, while you wrote I was visiting WITH my mother.
I truly apologize.I’m a total mess!!
A trip with mom must be a wonderful and unforgettable moment of life.
Yes, all of the trips with my mother were interesting. I cherish these memories. We not only visited Thailand together but also Tunisia and Mexico.
Very interesting!
You have seen distant and different countries.
Can it be said that there is a destination that you have preferred or did each of them have their own charm?
I guess you have been able to grasp the very and pure essence of the journey.
I dream a lot of traveling, and I do it through the words and stories of those like you who report their personal experiences.
Most of all I love Russia because I have family roots there. I also like a lot Asian countries in general: China, Thailand, Indonesia, India. These are the ones I have visited several times. I am sure the rest of Asia is interesting as well: Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, North Korea, the Philippines. Maybe I will be able to travel there during this lifetime?
Absolutely yes! Olivia we repeat the “never say never” we have already talked about: hope dies last.
Instead, think that for me the East is COMPLETELY UNKNOWN: everything I know comes from readings or stories of travelers like you.
I also love my roots very much and I find that each of us can find a link with the land of origin.
True, dear Claudia. Our roots are very important. They should never be capped. They give us stability and a sense of belonging, even when we no longer live in our land of origin, for one reason or the other …
I totally agree with you Olivia, indeed, in addition to thinking that they should not be cut, I would like to be able to go back further in time and discover things that unfortunately I never got to know.
Yes! We should be able to travel backwards with a time machine, from one past generation to the other, further and further back through former centuries, how many interesting things about our forefathers and -mothers we could discover!
You’re right Olivia! And we would surely have a lot to learn from our ancestors and perhaps we could better understand the sacrifices they made and the experiences they went through.
Of these experiences we somehow carry something inside us, what do you think?
I am sure we carry many features of your ancestors in our genes, not even knowing about them. If we did, we could surely make much better use of them, develop them to the fullest (the good ones, the bad ones need to be eliminated, or at least suppressed).
I meant: of “our” ancestors …
Thanks <3
Right. I agree Olivia, and I would love to have the ability to positively and optimally develop the characteristics that I have inherited in my genetic heritage.
Instead I always have the regret of being worse than my mother but also my grandmothers and great-grandmothers.
I found out that one of my Russian-Jewish granduncles was a general in the Soviet Red Army, and later he worked for the KGB in Moscow.
Now that is some adventurous stuff. I also would like to be a general (instead of a scared rabbit) and work in the Secret Services! So tough!
OMG!
You’re brave! Other than scared rabbit.
On the contrary I am totally unable to even argue with people, it is something that goes against my nature. I avoid the conflict.
“Brave”? I am much less brave than I would like to be. I guess “femininity” hampers me.
As far as arguing goes, I am brave. There are several ways of arguing, aggressive or diplomatic. I prefer the second way.
Oh, I prefer diplomacy too, sure.
I think that among human people there is the possibility of explaining and comparing different ideas, and above all I admire those who know how to put themselves in the shoes of others, which is sometimes not easy but absolutely important.
And I admire people who have their emotions completely under control, who remAin cool and unfazed, no matter what they might hear – from the warmest compliment to the nastiest insult.
SANGFROID! That is what I am aiming at. SANGFROID in every moment of my life.
I too would need a cool head, instead one of my great flaws is to block myself: it’s true, maybe I won’t answer, but this doesn’t mean that I’m not upset.
Instead, as you say, cold blood rightly helps not to be overwhelmed by emotions.
I like the French word “sangfroid”. I could keep repeating it forever, mumbling it every day to myself.
“Coldblooded”, “in cold blood”, the English version does not sound so nice. I associate it with “”murder in cold blood”…
The German word does not sound very good either, “kaltblütig”, “kaltes Blut”. I associate it with a frog or a snake or a fish. They all have cold blood.
No, definitely the French version is the best. How would you say that in Italian, Claudia?
I agree Olivia: sang froid and in general many words from French sound more gentle and nice.
I had not associated with the Truman Capote novel, but it is true: you are right.
Also Kaltes Blut is a book title, am I wrong?
Italian is very similar to French: sangue freddo.
I do not know, if a book called ‘Kaltes Blut’ exists. It could very well be.
I found this link.
And also some information on Goodreads.
In einem wohlhabenden Frankfurter Vorort herrschen Entsetzen und Fassungslosigkeit: Die 15jährige Selina ist aus dem Reitstall, in dem sie sich so gerne aufhielt, nicht nach Hause zurückgekehrt und wird kurz darauf ermordet aufgefunden. Kommissarin Julia Durant und ihre Kollegen stehen vor einem Rätsel, das noch undurchdringlicher wird, als sich herausstellt, dass Selina schwanger war …
Thank you for the information, Claudia.
Thanks to you Olivia!
Who knows … may be one day we will read this Kaltes Blut. It seems a thriller that could be interesting.
Since I am studying the Russian language, I am reading Russian thrillers now. Not easy, let me tell you!
The last one I read was written by Alexandra Marinina, who is a popular bestseller author in the Russian Federation. Her thrillers are regularly on the “Top Ten” List of book stores in Moscow and elsewhere.
Thanks: this is very interesting. In fact, I don’t know of any contemporary Russian authors.
And I don’t even know if I can imagine how difficult it can be to read a Russian-language thriller.
It takes an effort to read Russian books, Claudia.
Oh sure!
Think that I am not yet able to read even a single word!
I have been studying the Russian languge for eight years now, so it is about time that I could read Rusian books.
Alexandra Marinina’s detective novel was not all that difficult because she uses everyday simple language.
Eight years seems like a long time, but actually learning a language written with a different alphabet is certainly much, much more difficult. Especially when I consider that many even after eight years of English, which is certainly easier to learn, still can’t read a book.
The Slavic languages are difficult to learn, their vocabulary and grammar is totally different from the Indo-Germanic languages.
I can only imagine, for me it is already difficult German with its verbs at the end of the sentence ….
Well, dear Claudia, I am making progress and am proud of it. I do my daily grammar exercises, and in the evenings, I watch and listen to Russian news, mostly the channel VESTI. It certainly helps. Endurance and resilience are needed.
Many, many compliments for endurance, resilience and for your constancy in continuing the exercises every day without stopping. It is not for everyone!!
Not for everyone but surely for me.
I immediately understood you are a special Woman.
Thank you, Claudia.
.