Fishawi tea shop, Khan al-Khalili, Cairo

Il n'y avait que les vieux et les touristes hier dans les allées du Café Fishawi. Tout le monde étaient dans Maidan Tahrir pour manifester contre le gouvernement. Peut-etre ces assemblées étaient les plus grandes depuis les funérailles pour la mort de Gamal Abd An-Naser en 1970. Une trentaine de morts (ou blessés) par la police, mais il n'y avait pas beaucoup que la police a pu faire. L'Egypte, quand ca bouge, c'est comme aux Etats Unis: ca bouge vite.

Les Etats Unis etait vite à annoncer qu'ils pensait que le gouvernement etait "stable."

Shati' Tea and Falafel Shop, Gaza...listening to Tunisia from the coast

Far away to the west of us, on the north african coast of the Mediterranean, people have risen up from their seats in the cafes and demonstrated for food and against unemployment in Tunisia. There are new voices in the debate over the crisis of the banks, a crisis which is being put on the backs of working people. This morning Al-Arabiyya tv interviewed the workers outside the headquarters of the Merchant Marine in Tunis. Last night an Egyptian Al-Arabiyya tv interviewer was in Sidi BouZid interviewing a man, who seemed to be FOR the old government staying a while, and a woman, Omaiz, who said the important thing was democracy and tackling the unemployment problem.

Below is the end of the interview, so that these Tunisian accents in good, clear--but slightly different from Palestinian--can be heard on this blog. Mr. Hussein, Mrs. Omaiyaz, and the moderator.
pro-and-conSidiBuZeed-Tunisia.mp3

Saint James Restaurant, London...Dunkin' Donuts, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

There was an interesting passage in the New Headway Academic Skills Reading Final yesterday that stated that most British students went to study at the University of Paris between the early days of Oxford in the 1000's up to 1169, when Henry the Second forbade students to study in Paris.

Here I am at Dunkin Donuts where the only reference to those wonderful London kindney pies at St James Restaurant (or coffee shop, with white linens) is the fact that I have to get back to my room to relieve myself...must go now because there is a man smoking a cigarette. Ugh


Je suis venu pour essayer le WiFi à Dunkin donuts, qui est juste devant Jarir Plaza à Dhahran, près de l'université.

Pas aussi "athletique" que d'aller à Starbucks à Doha, mais j'étais au Starbucks hier et il n'y avait pas de réseau. Ici il y un réseau Wifi avec Quiznos Subs à coté. Il faut que je mets mon clavier français sur ce netbook.

Je l'ai fait. Maintenant

A bientot des salonsde cafe au moyen orient.

Café de Flore, Paris

Continuing our coffee qnd dqte tasting series, here in Saint Germain des Pres, with the finest of service, well dressed waiters in their long white aprons and black vest coats, with the perfectly white napkins replaced by the yellow paper napkins now at Les Deux Magots, ... we continue.

Rashudiyya. these long, brown dates have a bamboo-like, cane suger-like taste. The smells are like the dry surface plants of the desert, and the surface of the date is a bit flakey. Inside, the date is soft and has a little hint of bitterness in its taste. It is sweet, yet bitter at the same time. It is like eating dark chocolate with minimal suger, although one is sure there is plenty of natural sugar in Rashudiyya dates. Interestingly, the root verb ra-sha-da, in Arabic is the word for guide, and gives us the name for the first four "good" or "righteous" caliphs, khulafa' al-Rashidiin, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali-. The plural of rashiid (رشيد), which means "rightly guided," "having the true faith," reasonable, intelligent, discriminating, mature (in Hans Wehr); ---the plural of rashiid is rushada' (رشداء), meaning "full legal age," mature (in Hans Wehr), is also the name of the famous North Egyptian town in the Delta, Rosetta, where the "Rosetta stone" was found. The Rosette Stone gave the key to Champollion to decipher Pharaonic Hieroglyphs.

Café de Flore, Paris

Coffee and date tasting at Café de Flore, continued tonight past midnight on my birthday.

Khudrii, which means "greengrocer" in Hans Wehr, but comes from the root verb "green"--خضري-- in Arabic. These dates are somewhat dry and hard, once they are demi-sec, one might say, like a fine red wine. Fine Khadri --خضري فاخر--are less expensive than fine 'ajwa or Rashudiya, and they are perhaps more of the common man's date. But, being somewhat more dry than the sticky dates, the pit comes out easily from your mouth and your fingers don't get sticky

The taste is less sweet, and more like a fiber cereal than other, more expensive dates. Khadri have a slightly muddy, kind of starchy, dry, earthy taste. This is really a fine woody taste (like the fine woods for making perfume in Arabia, i.e. 'oud--عود) with a hint of far-away Michigan oak-tree and acorn nut tannins and an easily identifiable fresh ginger taste.

Café de Flore, Paris

All accounts of gallantry shall be from Café de Flore, or Les deux Magots--better--in St. Germain des Pres.

Prime "ajwa"--soft "paste-like" black dates from Medina. These dates have a very rich, chocolaty texture with a hint of desert sage and woody tannins.

Best tasted with good Ethiopian or Yemen roasted-"torrified" to a very light brown, or with the southern Arabian preference of nearly unroasted, "green" coffee with cardamon.

Re-cap of the different coffee shops--Addison and Steele's, The Tatler

Flore, Fishawi, Shati, McNamara
All accounts of gallantry, pleasure, and entertainment, shall be under the article of
Café Flore, Paris; poetry, under that of Fishawi, Jeddah or Cairo; learning under the title of the Shati Tea-and-Falafel-shop, Gaza; foreign and domestic news, you will have from
McNamara Ground Ops Lunchroom, Detroit; and what else I shall on any other subject offer, shall be dated from my own apartment.

I once more desire my readers to consider that as I cannot keep an ingenious man to go daily to Flore’s under two euros each day merely for his charges, to Fishawi’s under six rials, nor to the Shati without allowing him some plain American, to be as able as others at the learned table; and that a good observer cannot speak with even Tuna (sandwich from the vending machine) at McNamara’s without clean paper napkins; I say, these considerations will, I hope, make all persons willing to comply with my humble request (when my gratis stock is exhausted) of a “visit-with-advertisement” a piece; especially since they are sure of some proper amusement, and that it is impossible for me to want means to entertain them, having, besides the helps of my own parts, the power of divination, and that I can, by casting a figure, tell you all that will happen before it comes to pass.

“All accounts of gallantry, pleasure, and entertainment, shall be under
the article of White's Chocolate-house;[57] poetry, under that of Will's
Coffee-house;[58] learning, under the title of Grecian;[59] foreign and
domestic news, you will have from St. James's Coffee-house;[60] and what
else I shall on any other subject offer, shall be dated from my own
apartment.

I once more desire my readers to consider that as I cannot keep an
ingenious man to go daily to Will's under twopence each day merely
for his charges,[61] to White's under sixpence, nor to the Grecian
without allowing him some plain Spanish,[62] to be as able as others at
the learned table; and that a good observer cannot speak with even
Kidney[63] at St. James's without clean linen; I say, these
considerations will, I hope, make all persons willing to comply with my
humble request (when my gratis stock is exhausted) of a penny a piece;
especially since they are sure of some proper amusement, and that it is
impossible for me to want means to entertain them, having, besides the
helps of my own parts, the power of divination, and that I can, by
casting a figure, tell you all that will happen before it comes to pass.”
Tatler, Steele Tuesday, April 12, 1709

Even though I have removed all references to Project Gutenberg, this was nicely pasted in from the Project Gutenberg Tatler, which says, "This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net".
posted by 3011 @ 12/01/2005

MacNamara Ground Ops Coffee Machine snackroom honors Mohamed Bouazizi

Rising food prices and unemployment sparked protests in Tunisia last December, which grew larger after the death of Mohammad Bouazizi, who burned himself to death in protest when police arrested him for selling food without a permit. His death was the tinder box for the beginning of protests, forced the President, Zein ed-Din bin Ali, to leave the country. Protests continue to this day calling for a new republic without traces of the old regime.

from my appartment

Al-Arabiyya montre le vieux Jimmy Carter au Sudan, mais les grandes Chaines imperialistes, CNN et BBC ne le montre pas. Ah, Jimmy, c'est toi, avec ton evangelisme chretien qui a eu l'idee de virer de l'aide militaire pour le sud du Sudan pour bientot mettre Darfour au pieges de tes amis dans les grands societes de Petrol. Maintenant les imperialists mangent les fruits de leurs efforts a diviser le Sudan pour bien avoir un petit protectorat pour "leur" petrol, et, en plus, un autre base militaire americain pres du base de Djibouti.

Pensee du 13 janvier 2011

...bien que il y a de l'avncement politique dans les droits des opprimees ethniques du sud Sudan, en meme temps et ca n'est pas tout a fait bon pour les imperialists, non, plus. C'est pour cela que maintenant Jimmy est avec Bashir, au nord pour verifier qu'il y aura toujours du conflit dans la region. Que les imperialsists sont complexe dans l'epoque de leur declin!