This Year's First Iftar

 As is well-documented, I have a legion of wonderful friends (far more than my paltry virtues can justify). This is especially clear during Ramadan when several of my friends, none of them Muslims themselves, go out of their way to cook, and sometimes hand-deliver, Iftar meals for me. A prime example of this kindness would be, not surprisingly, the routinely excellent Steve Wehmeyer, my friend, colleagues, and boon travelling companion. In what has become a tradition, Steve brings over a huge container of homemade harira on the first full day of Ramadan to act as my first Iftar meal of the month. It's not as if I can't cook (although all of my friends are better cooks) during Ramadan, but fasting is a challenge, especially during the first couple days (and in this case magnified by meds and my first COVID shot), so having this delicious meal magically arrive was a blessing.

It's hard to get more classically Iftar than harira, dates, and water; a truly great way to break your fast.