Our Monday brunches in Tunisia have thus far been in cafés in the more pittoresque centre of Sidi Bou Said. We live in the not much less pittoresque modern part of the town and today, we're having breakfast closer to home. In fact, we're having breakfast around the corner, less than a minute walking from where we live, in a little place called El Khairat.
El Khairat is loved by all of us - Rihanna Gaga, her mother and me - for its excellent fruit juices. But it also serves sandwiches and today I'm going to try one of those. Inside, El Khairat is a small place, very much like a bakery, where you can pick what you want on your sandwich. I take chicken meat balls, cheese and a combination of salads. On my way out, I order two fruit juices: a large "cocktail" and an orange juice.
"Cocktails" are something you can buy all through the Arab world, but they have nothing in common with what is commonly known as cocktails in the West. They are elaborate mixes of fresh fruit, often with added stuff such as dates, syrup, chocolat, almonds, you name it... And El Khairat serves one of the best cocktails I've ever tasted.
Unfortunately, the cocktail is served long before the orange juice. Rihanna Gaga immediately seizes hold of the large cup and starts sucking enthusiastically on the plastic spoon that's stuck in it, mistaking it for a straw. When the orange juice is served, she's determined to have the cocktail instead. This creates a dilemma: the cocktail contains all kinds of sugary stuff I'd rather not have her eat. But knowing her character, I also realise she won't take no for an answer. At first I solve the problem by placing the cocktail on a chair so that it's out her sight, but a waiter picks it up and puts it on the table next to us, fearing the chair is too unstable. Once she sees the cocktail again, there's no stopping Rihanna Gaga anymore. So I feed her small bits of the cocktail while taking large spoonfulls myself.
Rihanna Gaga has always been strong willed, but the last few months, a stubborn determination has been added to that. And although I certainly don't think she should always get what she wants - we stopped letting her have her pacifier when she's not in bed, for instance, and although this led to some struggles early on, she has now come to accept it - with food I think she has a point if she expects to get some when we're having some. And in the end, if I think food contains stuff she shouldn't eat - should I really be eating it myself? (I realise this is lousy reasoning, but it's how a child would reason and I can see how it makes sense in a way.)
After we've finished the cocktail, she happily drinks the orange juice she first ignored and I eat my sandwich - which tastes excellent. Although El Khairat doesn't have the splendid views other places around here have, it is a good place for people watching: the road in front of the restaurant is a busy one, with most of the traffic on its way to the medina passing through here. And on the other side of the road is the large terrace of a coffee house which is always filled with a large number of men talking politics and sports - the type of coffee houses you can find all over the Middle East.
The terrace - which is mostly set on the pavement in front of the food stall where the juices are sold - is small, so there isn't much space for Rihanna Gaga to walk around. But she seems to enjoy herself, sitting quietly on my lap. This is something she's been doing a lot more the last few weeks. I try to feed her bits of the sandwich, but most of it is unsuitable for her since it contains harissa, a hot chili paste Tunisians love so much.
The last few days, the weather has been cloudy, but today promises to be a beautiful day. The sky is clear blue and after I've paid for the sandwich and juices, we cross the street to the coffee house for a Turkish coffee.
El Khairat is loved by all of us - Rihanna Gaga, her mother and me - for its excellent fruit juices. But it also serves sandwiches and today I'm going to try one of those. Inside, El Khairat is a small place, very much like a bakery, where you can pick what you want on your sandwich. I take chicken meat balls, cheese and a combination of salads. On my way out, I order two fruit juices: a large "cocktail" and an orange juice.
"Cocktails" are something you can buy all through the Arab world, but they have nothing in common with what is commonly known as cocktails in the West. They are elaborate mixes of fresh fruit, often with added stuff such as dates, syrup, chocolat, almonds, you name it... And El Khairat serves one of the best cocktails I've ever tasted.
Rihanna Gaga has always been strong willed, but the last few months, a stubborn determination has been added to that. And although I certainly don't think she should always get what she wants - we stopped letting her have her pacifier when she's not in bed, for instance, and although this led to some struggles early on, she has now come to accept it - with food I think she has a point if she expects to get some when we're having some. And in the end, if I think food contains stuff she shouldn't eat - should I really be eating it myself? (I realise this is lousy reasoning, but it's how a child would reason and I can see how it makes sense in a way.)
After we've finished the cocktail, she happily drinks the orange juice she first ignored and I eat my sandwich - which tastes excellent. Although El Khairat doesn't have the splendid views other places around here have, it is a good place for people watching: the road in front of the restaurant is a busy one, with most of the traffic on its way to the medina passing through here. And on the other side of the road is the large terrace of a coffee house which is always filled with a large number of men talking politics and sports - the type of coffee houses you can find all over the Middle East.
The terrace - which is mostly set on the pavement in front of the food stall where the juices are sold - is small, so there isn't much space for Rihanna Gaga to walk around. But she seems to enjoy herself, sitting quietly on my lap. This is something she's been doing a lot more the last few weeks. I try to feed her bits of the sandwich, but most of it is unsuitable for her since it contains harissa, a hot chili paste Tunisians love so much.
The last few days, the weather has been cloudy, but today promises to be a beautiful day. The sky is clear blue and after I've paid for the sandwich and juices, we cross the street to the coffee house for a Turkish coffee.
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