and none too soon. Viewing the inauguration from Casablanca was thrilling, and for me a reaffirmation of American values, values that have certainly been trashed, if not lost altogether during the 8 years of the Bush administration. We had a great party here last night, with a giant screen projecting the swearing in, the inaugural address and the helicopter carrying "the decider" back to Crawford. "Happy ReBirthday" said one of my Moroccan friends who joined our party crowd. There were Moroccans, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French, Swedish, others, but last night we were all Americans and the sense of hope, idealism, confidence and great relief was palpable. Just before starting the program - with Aretha Franklin - I spoke briefly, telling our audience it was the first time I felt comfortable calling our restaurant "Rick's Cafe Americain". They all understood. We've printed special souvenir postcards commemorating the "Inauguration of Barack Obama", offered two for one drinks and added three fixed menus to last night's regular meal selection, and are donating the proceeds from the special menus to an account set up by the King dedicated to supporting the Palestinians in Gaza. The gesture was appreciated as generous, but also obvious, in this tolerant country where Berbers, Jews and Arabs have been co-existing peacefully for centuries. The Jewish community in Morocco abhors the carnage in Gaza that has brought such tragedy to innocent civilians and set back the cause of peace. In the restaurant today I felt like it was the dawning of a new era. As soon as the doors opened we were filled with an eclectic lunch crowd - Chinese tourists, locals, and a group of Bulgarians driving Ambulances stenciled with sponsor logos on a charity run to Gabon! This evening there were Japanese groups, Spanish, Russians, Germans and many tables of our regular Casablanca clients. For a Wednesday our business has been phenominal. I take it as a sign of positive things to come. Yesterday I noticed the buds of the flowers I'd bought last Friday were open and whaddyaknow the blooms were red, white and blue. I scrambled around in a drawer and found a small plastic American flag someone gave me election night. I posed it in the middle of the red white and blue flowers that rest in a Berber brass vase embossed with animals at the base, and around the rim, Hebrew scripture. A perfect reflection of today's Rick's Cafe Americain in Casablanca. Let's all make a commitment to hope over fear. Cheers! And more cheers from all of us at Rick's. |
