of sharing her life compan-ion's way of thinking...

Al-Naqqash realized that unless he hastened to adjust his position he would lose the beautiful lady's smile, so he put in quickly: We never stipulated who is to do the cooking — the woman or the man; and whichever of them we choose, we may rest easy. Except that this age allows her to listen to Beethoven while she stuffs the squash!!...

And from his last sentence we understood that he had chosen the woman for the kitchen!

Wadi'a watched the battle in silence — but a strange silence: with all her senses she was with al-Naqqash. She wants the woman to cook, to spend her free hours pre-paring delicious food for her husband and her children — on condition that she always mind the nutritional value; and by force of profession — she is a doctor's wife — she set about itemizing this nutritional value: vitamins, protein, iron, and, and...

Here Aliyya sprang up to defend the nutritional value of the Eastern kitchen, com-paring it with the Western kitchen, which she had witnessed at close quarters and whose poverty she had touched with her own hands; how often she had heard the Europeans sighing over the delicious dishes that we enjoy and they are denied.

And Maliha said: Fine — our food is good, but we take no account of quantity in our kitchen; it always exceeds the family's need. Take the common people, for example...

Maliha did not finish her sentence. At the mention of the people, Rashad cut her off: "The common people cook better than we do; they

Aliyya says: We live in bliss — long may our kitchens flourish just as they are...

Maliha does not entirely agree...

use Hama ghee and take artful pains over the taqliya, and there is nothing more delicious than the smell of a popular quarter at cooking time. Then, as to quantity, I agree that it should run to excess, so that a dish is left over for the next day. Eastern dishes have proved their pedigree: let them sit a day or two in the refrigerator and they grow tastier — and thus we hit two birds with one stone: the woman's rest and her freedom for other work, and the

goodness of the food!!"

And Rashad waited for the reac-tion... He was expecting agreement that day-old food is tastier, but not a head was raised!

And al-Naqqash said: My friend, all I care about is that the food be deli-cious, for man eats with his tongue before his mind... Every pleasure is followed by some disappointment — except the pleasure

of eating, without excess... Eating gives the eater pleasure three times

Wadi'a agrees with al-Bibi's view that day-old food from the refrigerator is tastier!!