Welcome to Baumshell. I'm Lauren DeYoung-Shelman. I'm Rhada Iyengar. And I'm Aaron Simpson. And we are here this week for an awesome discussion of all things, White House mayhem, Keeping Up Foreign Relations and Pop Culture. But before we get started, we have it a very

exciting announcement. The talented Aaron Simpson has joined a new employer, a leading global

aerospace company, which I think Aaron is a good time for a reminder. We do not speak for our

employers. We speak only for our lovely and

brilliant selves. Luckily, the booze helps with that. Right, exactly. We speak for no employers.

This week, however, we are speaking for PIMS Cups in honor of Queen Elizabeth's birthday. PIMS cups,

if you have not had one before, are a delightfully refreshing summer beverage that I highly

recommend and some cookies courtesy some leftover CNAS events earlier today what would be the queen's

birthday without some savory snacks mean there are tiny cakes sweet snacks in fact I feel like it's very

fancy tiny pink little cakes this week we have a wonderful guest Mara carlin the former deputy

assistant secretary of defense for strategy it currently just recently started Pink Little Cakes. This week we have a wonderful guest, Mara Carlin, the former deputy assistant

secretary of defense for strategy. It currently just recently started a new job at Johns Hopkins

Syce School. She'll be joining us this week to talk about all things Middle East and many other

issues. And for now, I will talk awkwardly for a second because that was a great transition.

So like I said, we're here this week with Mara Carlin, the former fabulous Deputy Assistant

Secretary of Defense for Strategy and many other fun and exciting things. As usual, we're going to run

through our bombshell guest questions. The first of which, Mara, is what is the best meal you have

ever eaten while traveling? Well, thanks for having me. I'm delighted to be here. So the best

meal I ever had, I'd actually say, is the most memorable. And it's because it's a meal I didn't

really have. I was a young grad student in the UAE, and we were having lunch with these shakas in the desert, sitting on

the floor, eating with our hands. But I was a vegetarian at the time. So I didn't really have this

amazing meal that they made for us. And I came home and decided to stop being a vegetarian. Good decision.

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