Cultural Tour

One of my favorite Egyptian foods (though it is also Greek) is the Moussaka - eggplant, tomato sauce and bechamel sauce on top and baked in a clay bowl. The other is the Um ali although I still haven't found my favorite one like I had two years ago. Little Maria (upstairs triplet) and I are going to make it from my Egyptian cookbook. I told her that the one I liked best seemed to be made with corn flakes. She suggested frosted flakes so we will try that and cut out some of the suger added. It also has raisins, pistachios, almonds and hazelnuts and milk. I forget the rest.
Yesterday, we had our lunch at Naguib Mafouz restaurant in the Khan Khalili - the gigantic marketplace full of kitschy souvenirs and also real Egyptian stuff like copper pots, instruments, etc. They had asked before hand whether anyone was vegetarian. When we got our main plate of food, I knew why. Yes, there was grilled lamb, charcoal grilled chicken chunks, those long cigar shaped lamb pieces - it's like hamburger and then oh yeck, tiny little pigeon grilled, spread eagled, very little meat, lots of bones. Now I have seen grilled pigeon at Abu el Sid but they were big pigeons. I played with mine and then put it on a plate. There was rice too. Before that we had the appetizers- baba ghanough, hummus, tzatziki, and wonderful fresh Egyptian flat bread all puffy since they just baked it. I sat at what the triplets dubbed "the table of coolness" it was a cushioned booth and I sat in a cushioned chair just next to them. We laughed and chattered away all through lunch. I gave Nick my cigar meat and told him we would ask for a doggie bag which he actually got!

The walk was long through Coptic Cairo - we visited two Coptic Churches and one Synagoue that is a museum. Our guide was an Egyptian woman with perfect English who had a PhD from Cairo University in ArtHistory. She really gave a wonderful explanation of the history and the architecture. She specializes in Islamic art history . She tied Egyptian art together from Pharaonic influence, to Coptic and then to Islamic. I had walked to the Fulbright office from Zamalek thinking that we were leaving at 9:30 - well, we were leaving at 9:00 and Hend called me to see where I was. Unknown to me, I was SIX blocks away and I ran to find the bus. I guess I am getting in better shape because I only started wheezing at block four. Then off we went.

After lunch, we went to Islamic Cairo to see a variety of mosques. I had been to all of them before but our guide explained how the differences came about. By the end of the day we were pretty tired out. Kathy and Karl needed to go to the bookstore so I volunteered to take the triplets home in a taxi. We got a good taxi driver! I negotiated the price and off we went. Right before traffic was really horrible. Kathy had invited me to have dinner a la Al Omda via our online ordering. I had my orzo soup again and rice pudding for dessert. We laughed, we talked and after a couple hours it was time for me to go downstairs to relax, check email and go to bed.

Found out my diplomatic boxes arrived and so I will pick them up today. I'm really happy about that and now Shayma and I can put some children's workshops together. I need to call the ecolodge in Fayoum today. Dominique will come with us too at least through Sunday. The eco lodge is right on the lake so yes, I will take my DEET in case there are mosquitoes.

I'm trying to get in the best shape so when I get back, people will say wow! I might even get extensions in my hair. Shayma says it is not expensive. Wouldn't that be a hoot! Hend said she would email me the phone number and address of a place downtown where they do pedicures and manicures and waxing - that will be a cultural experience.

Well, I just got an invitation for dinner tonight with Dominique and her friends in Maadi - about 20 minutes away from Zamalek. Brian is the curator at American University in Cairo and was Shayma's employer. I met him at the Art opening at the Townhouse Gallery Tuesday night. The contemporary artist's exhibition was four huge screens showing a rather strange series of scenes - Bedouin children making stone structures in the desert, a Bedouin man with a cow and microphone, tied to a wheel and picking up strange sounds that it made when the cow with a cone shaped object on its back and a plug for the microphone on it to pick up the music. Strange strange. But I liked it. It was at least a 20-30 minute film.

I saw a tiny little black kitten on the way to the Fulbright office. Oh, I wanted to scoop him up and rescue him. There are so many cats in Cairo. It is heartbreaking - I want to see if there are any veternarian schools. They need to sterilize the kitties. Oh well, so I will take off for another walk, but before that, I need my coffee and my yogurt.