Photo for January 5, 2007.

JordanianArakHaddad, originally uploaded by nazarian.

A family friend from Syria gave this bottle when I visited Cyprus last year. Before I had settled in the US, I never thought that it would be weird to hold an alcoholic drink made in an Arab country, with Arabic inscriptions on it. I had drank Lebanese and Syrian vodka before and had never thought about it. But living in the US does wonders to you. The official propaganda eventually gets to you. After a while you start believing that the Muslims are fundamentalists and are out to get us, the Germans are genocidal freaks, the French are cheese eating surrender monkeys, and the Americans are the most superior nation in the world. It's quite silly but a lot of effort is made to convince people this is indeed true.

Anyway.

This Arak resembles Ouzo but is a little stronger. I think regular Ouzo is 40% alcohol. This one has 50% alcohol, and if you don't swallow it immediately, it will burn the inside of your mouth. One is supposed to mix it with water but I think it's the sissies who do that.

My goal was to finish it over the Christmas and New Years holidays. The Arak is still in the bottle laughing at me. Maybe this weekend...