When the domestic and political spheres collide.

On this most historic of days, I thought I would venture out into new and risky territory--the kitchen--to prepare for what promises to be a long and emotionally-fraught evening as we wait for news to trickle out of America about the election. The first results from the early, eastern states will roll in around 1am--California's poll won't close until 11 in the morning of the 5th. 

While the first part of my evening will be spent mingling with diplomatic folk, I intend to watch most of the closing tallies curled up on the couch with my roommates with al Jazeera and a bottle of wine.

Clearly, some quality midnight snacks are in order for an election all-nighter.

 So, I decided to bake Obama a cake.

Now, one of my roommates had managed to find a box of chocolate cake mix for a bargain $1.25 (see post below), so I started asking around our neighborhood vendors to see if they had any.

"I need to buy cake for Obama."

"Obama! May God protect him. Anything for you, Habibi. Do you want 'ready cake'?"

[They pointed to a box of ho-ho's.]

"No, not 'ready cake.' I want half-ready cake."

[puzzled silence.]

"Ah, you want flour and baking soda to make a cake at home."

"Ah, no. I want a box of chocolate cake."

"A box." [puzzled silence. Another offer of ho-ho's.] "Are you sure you don't want to buy flour?"

"I don't know how to make cake."

"You don't know how to make cake! You must learn!"

Yes, yes, thank you, Mr. Egyptian shopkeeper--I know my own domestic shortcomings. I was admonished to go home and crack open a proper cookbook by no less than three different vendors. In my next life, maybe.

After a quick call to my roommate to find the shop that does stock them, I marched back triumphantly, swinging my plastic bag o' cake mix like a hunting dog with a duck in its mouth. The hunter-gatherer instincts are hard to suppress in such moments.

My shopkeepers examined my purchase admiringly. 

"Oo--look at that! A box to make ready-cake at home! Clever girl." 

Thank you, Mr. Cucumber Seller.

I came home and, feeling fancy, decided to try sticking random ingredients into the powdered sugar icing. So I frosted one half of the cake with cinnamon icing, and one half of the cake with coconut icing, just to try something new. Hey, why not, right? Sounds good to me.

It was only after the cake was finished that I realized, with a bit of an internal eye roll, I had successfully make a symbolically multiracial cake fitting for the election: chocolate cake, white icing, cinnamon, and with the coconut, even a bit of Hawaiian flair for Obama's old home state--an pastry picture of a multicultural democracy. God, I'm a nerd even by accident. 

That being said, I was genuinely moved and a bit emotional when looking at pictures from voting booths back home. I'm so glad that I had a chance to send in my absentee ballot and participate in the election--I felt a heightened sense of connectedness to the American people, and even a sense of homesickness for the entire country. Seeing pictures middle aged and elderly voters, who can remember vividly the bigoted realities of Civil Rights era America, was particularly gripping for me. Whatever the result of this election, it's had an effect on me much deeper than ordinary politics should. 

A blogger for the BBC suggested that many people view this election as a "cleansing." I think that's come the closest as anything to describe my feelings about it. 

In any case--have a wonderful election day, all of my American readers! Many in Egypt will be staying up through the early hours of the morning to follow the results--and, as I eat my Obama cake, I'll be thinking about all of you.