"I don't wake up to an alarm," Aisha laughs, adjusting her soft, dove-grey niqab before stepping out of her bedroom. "I wake up to the sound of the jallab pot bubbling. That’s my real lifestyle content."
Her friends arrive. They are also niqabi or hijabi. They pull off their face veils inside (since the gathering is all women) and the transformation is instant. The serious girl in black becomes a giggling tomato-sauce-stained chef. They roll sambousa while watching a Turkish soap opera on the iPad. This is the entertainment: cooking as a circle of trust.