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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Quick Hits, or Kristina and Pritham Part IV

--Today, I'm a little bit jealous. I'm at office hours, prepping for class, while Nicole is playing tour guide, taking K&P to Baalbeck and Anjaar, not to mention Chtula (a place 1. where everybody going from Lebanon to Damascus stops to fill out their exit cards before getting to the Syria border and 2. where they serve kick-ass arisha and honey sandwiches). Insha'Allah they'll have a great day. Me, I'll be teaching. Sigh.

--Nicole has blogged. As always, she brings the funny.

--Two fruity moments in Tripoli the other day, with K&P and Nicole and I. First, freshly squeezed orange and carrot juice on the street. Delicious, and served in glass mugs. You know what that means, my germaphobic American readers: you hand the empty glass back to the juiceseller who gives your glass a quick water rinse and fills it up for the next customer. Second, also on the street in the middle of the souks, fresh lemon or "toot" (mulberry) ice...perfect on a hot day. The iceseller has this enormous, electric, refrigerated, stainless steel bin with a division to separate the lemon from the toot. It's like a huge ice cream maker. He dumps juice into each bin and then takes a spatula and slaps the juice against the sides of the bin, which instantly freezes the liquid. When somebody orders an "ice," he takes the spatula and scrapes some off the sides. Great operation.

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