Dessert

Most Egyptian desserts are gross. I said it. Most are sticky and shiny and syrupy. It's just too much for me. Every Sabbath for lunch the cafeteria serves basboosa, which is somewhat like a cake that has been saturated in syrup. I'm not sure it's possible for it to be sweeter than it is. Bethany mentioned one recipe that had syrup that was two cups of sugar and one cup of water. There is also a dessert that was compared to hair when it was first introduced to me. Oh, yes, now I want to eat your dessert. Now that you have compared it to hair. I haven't had that since I've been in Egypt this time, probably because I haven't left the school very much.

I feel like I have permission to rag on Egyptian desserts because they don't seem to like American desserts very well either. Taylor made apple fritters a couple weeks ago. She gave one to Mary, our Egyptian housemate. And when she saw that Mary was leaving to meet up with one of the students (Mina), Taylor gave her another one to bring out to him. She said to tell him that she made it. Then she added, "And if it's bad, Sara made it." I watched out the window for a second to see if I could see Mina's reaction. My eyes aren't very good and he was at least a hundred feet from our villa, so I didn't think I'd be able to see his facial expression. I didn't see his face, but I did see him take a huge step forward and upchuck whatever was in his mouth into the cornfield across the dirt road from our villa. I don't like the word "upchuck," but I couldn't think of another word to describe how fast he did it and how far he projected it. The verdict: I made the apple fritters.

Taylor made shortbread the other night, and two of the students that tried it seemed like they could barely keep it down, and the other one that was at our house was too scared to try it. So I guess things are mutual.