More Ramadan tidbits

*Starbucks has come out with a Date Frappuchino for the month of Ramadan in its Mideast outlets. Moslims typically eat dates and milk to break their daytime fast. It brings up blood sugar fast, although I've discovered that Mark and Spencer Extremely Chocolaty Orange Biscuits also do that job very well.

*Our driver Tofik took us home from work by an alternative route through the city that other night so we could see Algiers during Ramadan. It's quite spectacular. The city is as active and busy as noon. Young people and families are out strolling and laughing. You go by apartment complexes and the smell of chorba -- spicy meat soup -- spills over you and large crowds gather around the mosque where the soothing, haunting chant of the Koran being read fills up the night.

* During Ramadan Moslims make an effort to read the entire Koran, so people walking around with MP3 players and our drivers having it on their car speakers is understandable. The newspaper runs daily features about Koran-reading -- a blind man reciting it in its entirety by heart, a young child, etc etc.