AGAMI: National Days are mostly an impotent group of dates, but March 17 is one exception which always lives up to its naughty reputation. Who doesn't like St. Patrick's Day? Everyone wants to be Irish on Ireland's national day that commemorates a missionary monk's naturalist side when he chased the snakes out of the emerald isle. As my BBQ skills were needed on the north coast, I was unable to get to the Irish Ball at the Marriott on Friday night. The chairperson of the organizing committee, Aine Knapton, said 522 tickets were sold in two and a half hours. "It was a good night's crac [Gaelic for fun]. The Aldorige Irish Dancers provided the entertainment. The Irish band, Heart Beat, provided the music, there was a message from the Irish President, Mary Mcaleese and we danced until 3 am, said Knapton. "Last year the ball raised LE 42,000 for charities that included the St. Vincent's de Paul Society, a community of nuns in Heliopolis who work with Lepers and an orphanage. People were very generous last night and I suspect that we would have raised even more this year. The Irish community in Cairo is quite small, according to Olivia Leslie from the Irish embassy. "We have 300 people registered in the region and in Cairo there are approximately 100 expatriates. "On Thursday night we held an official reception at the embassy and all of the Irish community were invited for St. Patrick's Day. "The office in Cairo looks after a large area - Jordan, Syria, Sudan, Lebanon and Egypt. At the moment the ambassador is in Lebanon presiding over a medal ceremony for troops involved in peace keeping and the Deputy Head of Mission is in Khartoum. There is a lot of travel involved at this post. "Now 40,000 Irish visit Egypt as tourists each year, double the number three years ago, and trade between the two countries is worth approximately 75,000 euros, Leslie said. The Irish party continues this week, when the highly regarded Aldorige International Dancers perform in the Gomhouria Theater at the Cairo Opera House on Tuesday and Wednesday night. The Opera House, arguably Cairo's best feature, may never recover from the foot stomping high octane energy of 20 Irish dancers. Having seen such shows myself, I guarantee you will come away invigorated and feeling a little more than Irish yourself. An Irish Chef will be working all week at Harry's Pub in Zamalek's Marriott Hotel. He was flown out to oversee the menu at the Ball and will be serving up the stews, pies and potatoes that make the Irish cuisine perfect for the current cold snap which has caught Cairenes off guard. The pundits refer to it as the luck of the Irish. But you have to hand it to them, it has been their week. Not only has there rugby team dismembered the home countries but their cricket team, which was highly unfancied to progress at the Cricket World Cup, have tied with Zimbabwe and only last night defeated former world champions, Pakistan. To put that in perspective, it would be the equivalent of the Egyptian basketball team winning at Madison Square Garden, New York. But I missed all this because I was on BBQ duty in Agami, which is a suburb of Alexandria. I did swim in the pool, but not for long and my hosts did take me to one of the Mediterranean's most interesting restaurants. The Sea Gull is a must. It is situated west of Alexandria's main corniche, but still on the sea, where waves break over the restaurants front windows. This doesn't seem to worry the camels and Shetland ponies in the forecourt or keeps one attention for very long, because The Sea Gull is an Aladdin's cave of antiques and kitsch lamp shades. There is a live crocodile, stylish 1920s statues of a southern jazz quartet and two 1990s Californian highway patrol officers. The rooster's crow from the children's petting zoo as you view an outstanding collection of old black and white photos of Alexandria. Truly a unique Egyptian experience is The Sea Gull. And to my credit, I got through my column this week without mentioning the obvious Irish libation, Guinness, but now my work is done, maybe it's time, because as they say in Ireland, there is a meal in every glass you know!
