The Algerian Coast, Tunisian Betty Crocker & Flip Cup

The first day of this weekend began with church and ended with flip cup.

I kicked off the morning with a “coastal tour” around Algiers, planned by the CLO. We began at Notre Dame d’Afrique, a 19th century Roman Catholic church, after a windy drive down the hill from the Embassy and ultimately up another hill on the other end of town until we reached the church. Sadly it wasn’t open yet for the day when we arrived so we couldn’t see the inside, but the outside is quite striking and the view is great – looking out over the water (and a soccer pitch).

Next we drove over to a couple of public beaches, which were packed. Our group of 11 consisted of 9 women and I think we doubled the number of females on the beaches. Such is life here, I suppose. Also, comparisons were made to the Jersey Shore due to the preponderance of plastic chairs and umbrellas. Never having been to the Jersey Shore myself, I can’t say. Decide for yourselves:

We finished up the morning with a nice fish lunch overlooking boats:

After lunch, it was back home to whip something up for a birthday party I was attending that evening. I found a Tunisian brand of cake mix at the grocery store and thought I’d give it a whirl. Chocolate chocolate chip cake is hard to screw up, right? Right. Not quite Betty Crocker, but it was tasty enough to serve to people at the party. At which there was flip cup. And I’m pleased to report I still have the touch, thanks to my excellent Indiana University education. The corn hole was less successful. I went down to the Marines on that one.