Tea and Sweets with an Occasional Hookah

When we were traveling on the bus, we would pull into a city park or a caravanserai and our bus drivers would set up a portable table on which they would place thermoses of hot tea, hot water for instant coffee, and various kinds of cookies or sweets.

Samovars in shops along the road kept water hot and available to anyone in need of it at a nominal price.

When we were in a city and walking about, we would often stop at a tea house for refreshment under the trees in a garden, with tea and fresh dates or some other nice treat. And I, for one, always enjoyed sharing a hookah or water pipe with lovely flavored tobacco if they were available.

Our additional choice in cities when walking around was a dish of saffron ice cream flavored with rose water or a fantastic cold dish of paludeh made with frozen rice noodles, sugar, and lime juice. In Esfahan, we got a combination of the two. Do I look happy eating mine in Imam Square? Mmmmm, yes.