Egyptian Charity Dinner for the Children’s Cancer Hospital in Cairo

The children’s cancer hospital is a happy place for children who are suffering. The hospital helps them to get over the pain, to laugh and try to live normally. And it is the biggest cancer hospital in the Middle East.

The hospital has entertainment programs and it has school inside its buildings.

I used to live five minutes away from the hospital. I have seen the great changes in the area, from old slaughterhouses to an amazing organization.

The hospital was built by donations. I remember when the hospital was under construction all of the Egyptians donated, even the poor families. The students saved their allowance to donate it. The hospital offers free treatment by donations.

I live in South Korea now but I’ve never forgotten about the children with cancer. My husband and I organized a charity dinner to raise money for the hospital, and it was a lovely event. Many people of different nationalities and different cultures came to donate. All of them have something in common - all of them wanted to help children and by the end of he night we raised about $250.

I did what I do best; I cooked Egyptian dishes. You too can help by organizing a small event, yard sale, a charity dinner, or Egyptian movie night. It doesn’t matter how much you donate. Every dollar can help.

Hawawshy

Hawawshy :
Is the most beloved food to the Egyptian people , and you will never find an Egyptian who doesn’t like Hawawshy , Hawawshy is bread stuffed with ground beef .
Ingredients:
1- pita bread
2 - 100G of ground beef “ for one piece of pita bread”
3- salt 4-black pepper to taste
5- diced tomato “ optional”
6- onion
7 - butter

Preparations:
1-Cut the onion to very small pieces and mix it with ground beef, salt black pepper and diced tomato.

2- Pita bread usually comes half open if not you open just a half, butter the bread from inside and stuff if with the beef then butter the bread from the top and the bottom.

3- Put it in preheated oven 180 degree for 5 minutes then turn it upside-down and leave it for 5 more minutes and done.
two piece of hawawshy serves one person.

Baba Ghanoush “Eggplant Dip”

Baba Ghanoush “Eggplant Dip”
It is very popular salad every one like it, in Egypt it is kind of street food.
Serve one person

Ingredients:
1- three tablespoon of tahini sauce
2- one eggplant
3- one garlic cloves
4- red pepper powder to taste
5- salt to taste

Preparations:
1- Bake the eggplant in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 40 minutes and turn it constantly.
2- After it gets soft place it in a bowel full of cold water and wait until it cools down then peel the skin off.
3- Mince the eggplant very well with a fork then add to the tahini and mix them together.
4- Mix the red pepper and the garlic together and add to the tahini mixture with the eggplant, then add salt to taste.
5- Place Baba ghanoush in the refrigerator and serve it cold.

I hope you like it

Langkawi, The last part of Malaysia trip

Langkawi is my favorite place in Malaysia. It is very big, so you can get anything you want, but it’s not spoiled. We rented a small car to be able to get around and drive around the island.

Staying in Oriental Village was great. It’s kind of far from the town but it is in the middle of dazzling nature. There are monkeys everywhere - on the highway crossing the road, up in the trees jumping from branch to another.

One of the most beautiful things to see is watching a tiger walking and taking a bath while having coffee at Tiger Gallery and Exhibit. It’s free admission. Zanah is the only tiger in Langkawi and she’s a true beauty.

Feeding deer in Oriental Village tickles!

In Wildlife Park we got to feed all of the animals and play with the bunnies.

Underwater World

Seven Wells Water Fall. We woke up early in the morning and hiked to the falls but unfortunately it was dry.

Langkawi Cable Car. Since we stayed in the Oriental Village it was easy to get to it and what an amazing view from the top. We saw some workers on the top of a tower.

We watched the sunset on the beach.

I miss Langkawi!

Malaysia Part 3: Penang

Penang:
The trip from Kuala Lumpur to Penang:
We started our trip by taking a bus - a “Super Nice bus” - that what they called but in fact it was super horrible. The bus waited in the wrong platform with no note on the screen. We asked the information desk and they didn’t know if the bus had arrived or not and finally when we found the bus we thought the bus would stick to its schedule but the bus took off 90 minutes late. On the road the bus had a problem with the roof. It made a sound like zzzzzzzzzzzzz for six hours.

Once we got to Penang many taxi drivers tried to charge us three times more than the real price to go to Batu Ferringhi.

Batu Ferringhi is very nice place a lot of cultures, religions, night market and western restaurants that served pork, and Halal restaurants as well.

Thai Temple:
I adore Buddhist art and the Thai style is my favorite, with gold color covering the roof and a huge statue of Buddha. And there was a cute cat hiding from the sun in front of the entrance door.

The cute cat

Hindu Festival:
The Hindu festival was huge. Roads were closed and traffic was bad. We walked a long distance to get inside the festival. Indians were dancing on the road, there was music, Indian food and beverages every few meters and flowers everywhere, but unfortunately trash was everywhere, too. I was enjoying seeing new culture and people celebrating their feast until I saw the men with hooks tearing their back I respect all cultures and religions, but it was horrifying.

Little girls playing

Butterfly Farm:
It was great to see different types of butterflies flying high, landing on the flowers and eating. There was one sad thing about the place, though. Some people weren’t careful and stepped on butterflies.

20 minute meals

Hungry? Want to cook new dish in 20 minute? Exotic recipes right out of Cairo. Check my book out.
http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Easy-Egyptian-Recipes-ebook/dp/B007CDZ9FE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330927059&sr=8-1

Picky, Sticky or Just Plain Icky?

Picky, Sticky or Just Plain Icky? It is a book about blind dates in South Korea. Written by my dear friend Valerie Hamer.
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/137638