Letter From London: The Classic Michelle Obama

Photo by Flickr/anirudhkoul/3499471010/ Big Ben from the River Thames.

Alexandria, Virginia - Taking British Air's overnight flight 292 is a pleasant journey from Dulles to London's Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport.  The seven-and-a-half hour trans-Atlantic trip on the Boeing 747 did allow time to see Tom Hanks' Angels and Demons.   I put away my wireless Kindle after 10 chapters of Dan Brown's latest thriller The Lost Symbol.  Unfortunately, I dozed for a couple of hours, awaking time enough for breakfast and the landing.  

Fortunately, I had a nice ride to central London to the offices of World Emergency Relief-United Kingdom at 20 York Buildings, near Charing Cross.  Then a nice lunch at the Royal Society of Arts before going to the Strand Palace Hotel for an afternoon's rest.  What was fun, as usual for me, was grabbing the London newspapers.  The headlines blared the silly and inane speeches of the Libyan and Iranian dictators.  

Photo by Flickr/fepigio/455457538/ London from the Stone Gallery.

London weather was wonderful, bright and sunny and cool.  The highlight though was the visit with the staff and trustees of WER-UK.  We spent a few days discussing international humanitarian projects of this importance charity.  One of the joys was the potluck dinner.  I can't recall everyone's contribution but they were terrific.  I remember the quiches, the hummus recipe and the desserts, especially the strawberry cake. Mouthwatering.

I have to admit, it's fun reading the British newspapers.  No holds barred journalism.  While The Sunday Telegraph covered the international speechifying at the United Nations in New York, they spent lots of space talking about President Obama and his alleged snubbing of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.  I don't know if it happened or not.  But, it was the Sunday Telegraph's Stephen Bayley's column about women that caught my attention.  Britons are truly taken by First Lady Michelle Obama. Bayley described her powerful image.

Said Mr. Bayley:
 
"Michelle Obama has a classic callipygian figure."  I'd never heard the word.  Bayley continued, "This is the word the Greeks had for 'fat bottom.'  Her wardrobe selection emphasizes these posterior curves without exaggerating them.  And long gym sessions doing grip-flip triceps pushdowns and hammer curls add to her statuesque qualities."
 
I'd wager no President's wife has ever been described this way.  I'm not going to tell you the definition now.  Look it up.  He also described Angelina Jolie a cartoon figure.
 

In my formative years I was a paperboy. I think they are called "Information Logistics  Consultants" now but anyway, I pretty much read every headline of every British daily newspaper during my trip, Monday to Saturday, I scanned them all, tabloids and broadsheets alike: The Sun, The Mirror, The Daily Star, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Express, The Independent, The Daily Mail and Today etc. "Up Yours Delors" was one tabloid headline that stands out as the most memorable and amusing, even if a little jingoistic. Readers of The Sun newspaper were urged to tell the Frenchman Jacques Delors where to stuff his ECU, a precursor to the €uro. The Sun advised its readers to promote entente cordiale by saluting across the English channel at midday to Delors in France, with two fingers whilst shouting "Frog Off." Delivering papers has left indelible marks on my psyche: an unhealthy (but very British) obsession with punning, wordplay and an eternal fondness for tabloid headlines, despite their sometimes misguided politics.

The Times had some interesting items, too.  Lots of Britons support euthanasia and going to Switzerland to die.  Lost among the headlines in the papers and the BBC and SkyNews was the story that Pope Benedict may stay in Buckingham Palace during his historic 2010 visit; that embattled Prime Minister Brown denied he'll quit on health grounds; that an 'egg whisk' beat blood flow problem in heart operations; and, a senior bank executive murdered his wife "after he discovered that she was having two affairs and feared that a divorce would cost him his wealth."
 
Newspapers are educational.
 
Now while the World Emergency Relief-United Kingdom staff was hard at work, Vera Spicer, the business and financial administrator, took my mind off the hot news with a tasty Lebanese hummus recipe.  Here it is:
 
Serves 4
 
500 g dried chick peas, soaked overnight and rinsed
2 Tablespoons Bicarbonate of Soda
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt
100 g Ice
200 g Tahini (Sesame seed paste)
4 Tablespoons lemon juice
 
Place the chick peas in a large pan with the bicarbonate of soda and plenty of cold water.

Bring to the boil and simmer for about 40 minutes or until it’s soft.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir well to loosen and remove the skins.
Drain and rinse thoroughly.

Place the chick peas in a food processor and whizz until it’s smooth.

Add the ice, tahini and some of the lemon juice, whiz again while adding around 500 ml of water until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Pour in the remaining lemon Juice and add salt to taste.

Add some olive oil and a dash of cayenne pepper or paprika (optional)

You can replace the first two steps with cans of already soaked and cooked chick peas, remove the skins and start from step 4.

Harry Covert lives in Alexandria and is the Editor of the Covert Letter.