Zooba

Egyptian traditional foods with a twist. Top trained certified chefs, funky decor, amazing taste, fresh ingredients. Serving kosherie, hawawshi, foul, tameya, beet and lentil salads, soups, fresh juice drinks, aish baladi coated bright green (spinach) and red (beet juice). Amaaaaazing. Give a hug to the manager Chef Zuzu who is one of the talents behind this establishment and who runs the rest of the staff like a close knit family. (Located in Zamalek)

Planet Africa

Just like the North American Rainforest Cafe chain, but with amazing grilled food. (Located in Heliopolis)

Eid Fireworks

From the early morning of Eid, the fireworks begin to pop off (the sort of "caps" that children are banned from playing with in Canada since I was a child), following the Eid prayer, it is as if a tempestuous storm has traveled through - with the frequent whizzing of fiery crackers and the smoky air they leave in their wake.

Striking Colours

Sometimes I believe that the striking intensity and wild mixtures of colors used in Egypt is because of the bold bright hues of the flowers that cover the land.

 

Egyptian Salad

Egyptian salad usually has delicious vegetables, nice spices and vinegar dressing (including cumin plus a mix of spices you can buy in the grocery store called "mixed spice") and the bits of vegetables are usually cut up super small and yummy.

Amazing Street Festivals

Street festivals in Egypt are really incredible. The below pictures were both taken from the Korba district in Heliopolis. The street gets super-packed with youth, music-makers, face-painters, food n' drink vendors, book-sellers, craftspeople, parents with kids, sidewalk artists, drummers and booty shakers. As the day progresses and the sun wanes, the crowds spill in overflowing in a jittery chattery loud but peace-loving rabble, standing room only.

Beautiful Fountains

The below pictures are taken from Al Azhar Park and are all recent, however Egypt has many historic fountains dating back centuries. You can learn more about the history of such fountains when you are visiting Egypt by a trip to Cairo's Islamic Museum.

For another fabulous modern version of fountains in Egypt - check out Chocolate Mania Egypt for chocolate fountains. Yum.

Jolt yourself awake with coffee

In Eid, after fasting the month of Ramadan and going out to the cafes or in the comfort of the home, it is great to remember the gift of Egyptian strong coffee and strong tea. Even the Latte Macchiatos are stronger here.

Eid Sweets

Kahk is not the only sweet stockpiled and devoured during Eid. There are many many delights consumed during this sweet holiday season. During the Eid prayer, people walk amongst the people praying and hand out sweet dates, bonbons, cookies, etc. Here is a picture of a few of the festive offerings from the bakeries:

Eid Prayer

The Eid prayer is one of the most beautiful prayers in Islam. It begins at sunrise of the morning of the first day of Eid.

The people gather nearby the mosques, but prayer is held outside in nature, under the wakening sunshine and over the grass (in Egypt, large carpets with festive design are lain down over the ground to keep people dry from the morning dew as they pray and to keep clean). 

Before the actual prayer, the people chant prayer together (sort of like one massive outdoors choir), with different people taking turns at the microphone which leads the crowd, voices ringing in unison across the landscape. Children run about through the crowds of people. 

Everyone is dressed in their finest clothes or beautiful prayer gowns, as the prayer goes on you can hear the laughter of children and the calls of awakening birds around you, while the people stand shoulder to shoulder with one another, giving greeting and sweet tidings for the year ahead. 

Iftar

Iftar is the meal that Muslims share with their friends and family during Ramadan as they are breaking their fast from sunrise to sunset. Everyone sits together in anticipation, and at the sound of the Magreb (sunset) adhan (or in Egypt - the cannon!) everyone begins to dine together, starting first with Khoshev, and then getting to the main course and afterwards sweets.

Dishes with Béchamel

When you hear the word béchamel, usually you think of a wafter thin sauce that lightly coats pasta. In Egypt - not so!

Béchamel in Egypt is THICK, maybe an inch or up to an inch and a half. It is so thick it does not coat the pasta, but sits broadly atop it, like a proud king regally sitting atop his thrown, crowned with a golden layer where the oven bakes it to fabulous perfection.

Béchamel can cover pasta, and in this case there is usually a layer of meat added, and occasionally a thin layer of tomato sauce as well (depending on how your family prefers it) and even sometimes a bit of cheese. It is also used in other dishes with ground beef, such as fried aubergine or fried zucchini (yum, yum and more yum). The most delicious dishes of "casserole" I've ever had.

Barbecued sweet potatoes

One word: Fabulous.

Egyptian tea

Like most things in Egypt: Strong - and packed with sugar.

Uum Ali

Uum Ali, when well prepared, is one of the best - and more calorific - desserts you will ever feast on. Puff pastry, heavy cream, pistachios, almonds, pine nuts, condensed milk all cooked to a golden crisp in the oven (think of the taste of marshmallows over the campfire, peeled back to reveal lots of other melt-in-your-mouth yummy stuff added inside that forms a sweet bread-pudding-like milky goodness)

The Story of Uum Ali, so I've been told, is quite interesting as well, a historic tale of a fight over ascension to the thrown in Egypt and a mother (Uum Ali, the Mother of Ali) desperate to secure her son's place, driven to murder another woman with a ShipShip (wooden sandal used for the baths).

I am not sure how this nasty story got associated with this heavenly dessert... :( but most certainly don't let that stop you from eating it!

The dancing horse

Egypt has amazing horses, but this is a horse of a different kind. At celebrations where dance troupes come to perform, the dancing horse is a signature part of such evenings, a delight to all of the children in the audience, and drawing laughter and giggles as the mischievous horse goes around kissing people, tapping them on the head, cradling babies, and dancing with the other dancers and sometimes audience members.

McDelivery

In Egypt, you can have anything delivered to your doorstep. Fast food, pharmacy, full restaurants, bakeries, groceries, etc. I'm not a big fan of McDonald's, but I am a big fan of delivery. These cute little delivery trucks fill the roadways of Egypt. Considering the Cairo roadways - McDonald's on wheels gives new meaning to the phrase "fast food".





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Suntanning

I do believe you should never encourage suntanning. However, for those of you who do prefer that California glow, you can save your money from the tanning salons and pick up a ticket for Egypt.

Or better yet, just buy a bronzer and still hop on the plane over here.

Source: Queen Estee's How to Care for Sunburnt Skin

Rockin' Christmas Parties

Since it is currently Ramadan, and I've made quite a lot of Ramadan posts, I wanted to balance the blog with a post about Christmas which is also a major time of celebration here in Egypt. The below pic is from a Christmas party hosted at a club just after New Years. As with every fabulous Egyptian party - loud music and lots of dance are involved.

Trendy Restaurants

Egypt (and by Egypt I mostly mean Cairo and Alexandria) has a large and growing selection of restaurants, cafes and night clubs. Great food, great atmosphere, and great company.  Cairo 360 is a great site to dig the latest reviews on where to go. Other sites to check out include Yallabina, CairoDining, and VirtualTourist.