Happy Ramadan!
Fun notes to get the month started:
If Bush and bin Laden were dates... The evolution of the Ramadan tent concept continues... Exponential happiness with fuul
Food
If Bush and bin Laden were dates
Al-Akhbar takes note -- with a cue from a Reuters photo -- that dates going by the brand names of both George Bush and Osama Bin Laden are being sold in Cairo markets these days for Ramadan. Tellingly, the bin Laden dates are --at LE15 -- of considerably higher quality than the Bush dates -- which go for a measly LE2.50.
Trends
The evolution of the Ramadan tent concept continues...
For Ramadan this year, Cinema Normandy in Heliopolis features a "cinema tent", with giant screens showing comedy films, and stages featuring singers and a famous DJ. The Ramadan tent standards will all be there, of course -- plenty of sheesha, a straightforward suhour pre-dawn meal, and traditional drinks.
But it's clear that the tent has evolved, is moving into theme mode, having plunged the depths of the singer after singer routine. This year the Peking chain of Chinese restaurant's Peking Boat hosts a somewhat multi-cultural tent. With its Chinese decor, Arabic takht orchestra, competitions for best backgammon player and Arabic karaoke voice, you may forget that you also have the Nile as a backdrop.
Food
Exponential happiness with fuul
In the lead up to Ramadan, Al-Ahram's back page features an item about fuul -- that most traditional of Egyptian meals -- containing some of the highest percentages of the nutrients needed by the brain to produce happiness. An Al-Azhar University nutrition professor quotes international studies proving that adding white tehini can only enhance the feeling exponentially. Adding a boiled egg to the mix supplants it with nutrients that also increase intelligence, potency, and happiness.
