She marvels at stuffed grape leaves; as for raw kibbeh, she had never heard of it before!! She likes labneh and calls it "soft cheese," and she is trying to master mujaddara after I told her it was the dish of Esau that she reads about in the Old Testament — for she is a religious woman. But I thank my Lord for Clara: at the very least she prepares the ingredients for me and does the dishwashing, which I detest.
— And where did you come by this skill in cooking?
— Believe me, my dear, I learned most of it here in Washington, in the days of the Legation. When one of the varieties of our own food comes to mind, I ask one of my Lebanese friends in Washington, and she gives me the instructions over the telephone; I try — and succeed!
— And what comes after lunch?
— After lunch I have an appointment with a lady from a house-buying company, who is to show me a house for sale which, so she claims, would suit a legation. After a tour of the house on offer I did not find it suitable, because its price is beyond the limits of our budget. But we recently succeeded in buying a legation, and it will be one of the most beautiful legations in Washington...
And I shall tell the readers of The Woman's Voice about "the Lebanese House in Washington" as soon as we have finished the business of furnishing, which will take up most of my time in the coming three months.
— You said there is a single afternoon engagement on your program today; what is it?
— Yes — it is a cocktail party. My husband joins me at five o'clock from the office and we go to it; then we return to our house, and after dinner Charles withdraws to write an address he is to deliver before the philosophy department at Princeton University, while
I sit down among my papers, answer some necessary local letters, and draw up the menu for the dinner party at our house the following day.
— And are you happy with this bustling social life — continual parties and official invitations?
— This social side of diplomatic life may look empty, and in truth it is so; but it is necessary in the life of representation, and these relations, when well conducted, have their precious value in acquainting countries with one another. There is no doubt, though, that its burden falls mostly on the shoulders of the representative's wife, for the representative himself cannot devote himself to it amid his many
other responsibilities. That is why you find that when an ambassador happens to be unmarried, he asks a lady from among his relatives, or one of the ladies of his embassy, to be the official "receiving lady," and she is officially invited along with him. And when representatives conduct themselves badly in society, they do very great harm to the reputation of their countries... Were I a foreign minister, my dear, I would pick my country's representatives, great and small, "on the sorting tray!"
— Thank you, Mrs. Eva, for this delightful talk; do not forget The Woman's Voice — and until a second visit to "the Lebanese House in Washington," God willing...
The Palestine Question
To the dear reader
Just published:
The Palestine Question
With forewords by
Abd al-Rahman Azzam Pasha and Mr. Jamal al-Husseini
Publishers
Dar al-Kitab
Beirut – Lebanon