The landed gentry of the ancien regime used to summer in Zamalek, long before swine flu threatened to ravage the island.
To prepare our readers for summer and in celebration of Zamalek’s successful return to relative normalcy, TBE is today offering a special program of food, Zamalek shopping tips, and music.
Vegetable oil for frying (You need a lot of vegetable oil. Thankfully it’s extremely cheap.)
3 tablespoons butter (According to TBE’s calculations, 1 tablespoon of butter equals about 13 grams. Lurpak and other butters available in Egypt have measuring lines on the packaging for 20 gram segments, so this is approximately 2 segments.)
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour, dissolved in 1/3 cup milk
Salt
1 egg yolk, beaten lightly with a fork
½ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
¼ cup freshly grated romano cheese (TBE uses only the parmigiano. It sells for about LE100 per kilo at Alfa.)
2/3 cup fresh basil leaves torn by hand into several pieces or equal amount chopped parsley (TBE has never done it with parsley. Better to stick with basil. See below for a surefire place to find basil in Zamalek.)
TBE is proud to announce the world premier of “Obama’s Cairo Speech: The Musical.”
Today we are presenting Act One, with Acts Two and Three to come. Act One encompasses the point between the 1991 Gulf War and the end of the George W. Bush era in American politics. The theme of Act Two is the speech itself. Act Three is devoted to the reactions of interested parties.
The story opens in 1991, with Osama bin Laden putting in a call to a senior Saudi prince, volunteering to protect the Kingdom from possible Iraqi aggression. The prince politely refuses, telling bin Laden that the Saudi’s have instead decided to accept American overtures.
A jilted lover, bin Laden, backed by his new band, al-Qa’ida, sings his new ideology. Alert viewers will make a note of the lead singer’s t-shirt.
Several years elapse, and eventually the administration of George W. Bush is sworn in. Despite warnings about al-Qa’ida’s intentions, the administration was concerned with other important issues like making sure stem cell research was illegal, and so didn’t devote much time or effort to the threat of transnational terror. Their attitude can be summed up by this shirt, which was the official jersey of the White House Summer 2001 Softball team.
Then September 11 happened. As you might’ve heard, it changed everything.
The Bush administration develops a two-track response.
THE BOURSA EXCHANGE 