Coffee Mornings
Coffee mornings are usually held once a month from
10am to midday in the Officers’ Mess. They are open to all
ranks, children are welcome and booking is not required.
Each month, a different nation hosts the coffee morning
so you can have a taste of cookies and cakes that you
may have not seen or tasted before. It is very informal
and always delicious. Please come along and you will
always be welcome!
COFFEE MORNING
UPCOMING EVENTS
17th Apr – Romania
15th May – Turkey
13th Jun – Croatia
Italian Coffee Morning
16th January 18
What a great joy and honour it was
to host the first coffee morning of
2018. We were happy to put out on offer our traditional
sweets and we were proud to see everyone excitedly
queuing for our Italian Coffee. The Coffee was prepared
to order with our ‘Moka’ which
such is an essential part
of our culture. Offering a
coffee means “I really want
to share a moment with you,
to demonstrate to you my
friendship”, it is seen as
a treat and a gesture of
affection.
The coffee morning turned out to be a
beautiful morning of joy and cultural sharing. Thank you
to all who took part in the ‘false friends’ treasure hunt, and
hopefully you can all remember that Italian confetti and our
sugary sweet almonds can be of various colours depending
on the occasion. As a reminder, White is for weddings,
Red for graduation ceremonies, and not just paper shreds
thrown in celebrations. I will always smile now knowing that
the English word ‘Barracks’ in Italian is translated to the
word ‘Baracca’ which means hut... Imjin Hut??
The morning was a lovely moment of involvement and
friendship; a perfect to start the New Year.
Ciao e grazie!
Elisabetta Verardi
British Coffee Morning
6th February 18 Greece Coffee Morning
6th March 18
Following such a super Italian Coffee
Morning in January, I think it’s fair to
say that we did feel a little pressure to ‘not let the side
down’ and I can safely say
we didn’t! We had the great pleasure of hosting
the Greek Coffee Morning in the Officers’
Mess at Imjin Barracks. Everyone who attended had a
wonderful time and we felt very lucky to be able to offer
a little taste of Greek culture.
We served traditional Greek specialities which included
Tsoureki (Easter Sweet Bread), Kourabiedes (Butter
Cookies), Tiropita (Cheese Pies) and Spanakopita (Spinach
Pie). We also served our famous strong Greek coffee which
really got people’s morning off to a kick-start.
It was great to see everybody enjoy the coffee morning and
after a few really cold days, it was nice to have everybody
together in the warmth of the Mess.
My thanks to everyone who baked
such delicious cakes, scones, tiffins and shortcakes to
name but a few. The spread was worthy of an episode of
British Bake Off! I even found out that one husband was
the family baker and his wife arrived with not just a Victoria
Sponge but an immaculate Battenburg cake as well.
Thank you all for your support.
Evangelia Tsimpli
Theodora Kakogianni
The Morning was really well supported by all Nationalities
and it was a particular delight to see so many wives with
their gorgeous little babies and/or toddlers in tow. I think all
age groups enjoyed the happy, inclusive atmosphere
as it was definitely nearer 1pm
than 12 noon by the time
the Mess emptied. Thank
you to everyone who came
along and also to the Mess
Staff who made it all happen
so smoothly.
Lucy Michael
theIMJIN SPRING 2018
13