Belgian Beer in Cairo, Egypt - a trip down memory lane

Despite our fairly isolated situation (no large classroom exposures), the boys managed to pick up a cold that was going around last week. It was mild in their case, as far as I understand from having talked to other people that seem to have been struggling a lot more than we did, but still, the boys were a little out of it for a couple of days. This week it was my turn. For a few days I had a sore throat, irritated eyes, a heavy head and a runny nose. I felt warm and tired. It wasn’t all that bad, but enough that I lost my nesting energy, along with any desire to write or work, cook, shop, clean up or do laundry.

Yesterday I spent most of the day resting (thank heavens for Otlob; no cooking, no messy kitchen to clean up, and happy children!), and by late afternoon I felt much better, so we went with some friends to the Maadi House jazz/wine and beer tasting/Italian buffet event, which was very nice. To offer a larger selection that will compliment the regular Budweiser and Samuel Adams assortment, the Maadi House has ordered some new wine and beer. Among these new treasures is the Belgian beer Leffe Blond. If you have ever been to Belgium, or if you have any interest in European beer, you’ve surely heard of it. It’s not the best Belgian beer – I have a couple of other favorites – but it’s the one my friend Kurt, who was in charge of the order, could get a hold of, and I’ll happily settle. Not only does it taste good, but because it is part of the Belgian culture and I associate so many things with it, just tasting it felt like coming home; all those holidays we celebrated with friends – there was always Leffe in the fridge, graduation celebrations at the Institute where they served Leffe from the tap, having Leffe at a café on Grote Markt a sunny Saturday afternoon, the Leffe Brown they would offer me at the maternity ward after I had each of the boys (it helps the milk come in), having a Leffe Triple with visiting family in Brussels – it’s amazing how so many memories can come back from just a sip of beer. Thank you, Kurt. As soon as the baby is born, I will enjoy a bottle, and in the meantime, I’m still savoring that sip.