Sequoia

Farewell: In five days I'll be leaving Cairo, so it was nice to have been invited to lunch at the Sequoia with the Fulbright staff (director and administrative associates) and a few other Fulbrighters at 2:00 PM today. We had a plentiful mezza, a selection of small dishes, that included: tabouleh, fattoush, hommos Beiruti, muhammara (hot pepper dip), ta'amia, tomeya (garlic dip), baba ghanouj, vine leaves, grilled halloum cheese,

sambousek, spinach fatayer, chicken liver, fried calamari, hawawshi (meat minced and spiced with onions and pepper, parsley and sometimes hot peppers, chilis, placed between two circular layers of dough, then baked in the oven or grilled in a panini press), Alex-style liver, mini shawerma (chicken), spiced cubed chicken in individual small pitas, Arabic bread. The hawawshi was my favorite; I'd not had them before. Afterwards was dessert; the creme brulée was the real thing. Tomorrow my apartment gets inspected so that I can get my deposit refunded. Also, have to close my Egyptian bank account. Will see how that goes.

Good News: Egypt's opposition announced today that it would support voting in the upcoming referendum on the constitution, ending speculation that the fractious coalition would boycott it. The vote will take place over the next two Saturdays. The leading opposition party, the National Salvation Front, asked that the vote be postponed for a month, but said supporters should turn out to vote against it if the referendum proceeds as scheduled.