Two meals

On Saturday last at Heidi's instigation we went to a Ramadan "breakfast" just after sundown. This had been organized by pastor Jane Voight in her continuing effort to make better understanding between the christian and Muslim communities. Given my atheistic even antireligious philosophy this was a stretch for me. The kids were trepidatious as well. When we arrived at the community center a bit on the early side we felt a bit awkward. All the women were in headscarves and some of the men in traditional dress. We say no one we knew. The room gradually filled up and one of the young men called the other men to prayer. They retired to another room and when they were done the meal began. The men forming a separate line from the women, and the tables pretty much gender segregated as well. The men's line moved faster and I guided Jack to a seat next to two cute boys knowing that Zoie would like sitting across from them. They were brothers from Dubai and were quite curious about what had brought us to this meal. We talked quite amiably for a while and when the girls joined us it was even more pleasant. The leader of the local mosque, the father of a friend of Heidi's who is a professor at Cal Poly sat across from me and we had lively and civilized conversation over the meal. Later as the meal was breaking up we met Zaki who was there with his family. He invited us to join him at his eponymously named waffle restaurant south of town for breakfast the next morning.
We had always been curious about this little place just off the Los Osos Valley Road exit from 101, and now we had a personal invitation to visit. We got there about 9:00 the next morning Zaki and his wife and kids run it, and the first thing they said was "We were beginnig to worry you wouldn't come." The meal that followed was wonderful and so was the hospitality we were shown. We now have new friends and a new place for breakfast in the morning.