If you get smart, order on the kids menu. Cheating, I know. But everything is expensive at hotels here (even though I am techinically not paying for this, thank you mum and dad--I could be ordering up Moet and caviar), that if you can sneak by with a meal that equals 3.47 USD, why not? Additionally, this is special as it's the first splurge on American food, or a real meal. For example, I am the only person I know who hasn't snapped and scurried into a KFC or McDonald's (I wouldn't if they were the last places in Cairo anyhow) or the restaurants at the Cairo Four Seasons.

My diet here is bizarre. I eat a lot of whole wheat Syrian flat bread, hummus, Greek yogurt with honey, Washington apples ($$$), unrefridgerated milk (there is no such thing as cold milk), Egyptian cereals and pretzels, and yes, gallons upon gallons of Siwa and Bakara water, along with diet Coke. Then there is the occasional restaurant fare, which consists of zataar manaquish, koshari and pizza. And right now, I am so freakin' hungry that I will have to say adieu and eat.

In addition to this meal, I must give McVitie's Original Digestive Biscuits their props. They're addictive. Brit cookies have a solid market here, probably in part because of me and my foreign comrades. But, Mr. McVitie, I love you.