Around Korea part 1: Hampyeong-gun Butterflies Festival

In a beautiful spot of Jeollanam-do province in South Korea, the celebration of butterflies is happening from April 27th to May 8th. We went there on the opening day of the festival and it was a beautiful day. The weather was perfect for a picnic: warm but not hot, with fresh breezes.

There are a few restaurants that serve Korean food only and it was my first time to have Bulgogi with Ttokkboki and it was delicious. The activities are limited and the golden bat exhibit doesn’t have any bats. And what made me sad was some school children were on a field trip and some of them were catching the butterflies and their teacher didn’t stop them. There is an open area where you can play with chicks and rabbits and see farm animals.

The Korean traditional performance started in late afternoon, just a few minutes before we had to leave to catch the train home, but I enjoyed the opening of the performance.

The top five street snacks you must try in Cairo

I think the best snacks aren’t in stores and restaurants – they’re in the streets. Street food is very delicious and very cheap.

1- grilled sweet potato: it has a beautiful taste and the way it is made even better? A man pushes the wooden cart, and on the top of it there is an old oven. They put the sweet potato inside and leave it to be done slowly.

2- termes or lupins: it’s very easy to get by the Nile river, especially in summer time. It’s one of my favorite snacks. It’s better than popcorn, especially with salt and lemon flavor.

3- grilled corn: street venders use a small fire to grill the corn on. It has a beautiful smell and the taste is even better.

4- hummus el-sham drink: it is a spicy drink, made of chickpeas. On winter nights young lovers walk by the Nile river and drink it. The recipe is in my book, Fast and Easy Egyptian Recipes.

5- sunflower and watermelon seeds: the seeds are dried, then salted then put it in special type of oven to be hard on the outside and soft and tasty on the inside. Peel the outside and eat the inside.

Shish Taook

Shish Taook
I think it’s a perfect dish. It’s very easy to make, and it tastes delicious.

Serves 2 people

Ingredients:
1- four chicken breasts
2- one cup of yogurt
3- four or five tablespoons of soy sauce
4- three quarters of a cup of orange juice
5- salt
6- black pepper
7- chili powder
Spices to taste
8- one onion
9- colored pepper


Preparations:
1- Bring a deep bowl and mix the first 7 ingredients together.
2- Keep it in fridge for 2 hours at least.
3- Cut the chicken to small pieces.
4- Cut the pepper and onion to small equal pieces.
5- Put a piece of pepper, onion and chicken on a skewer and repeat it until you finish it all.
6- Grill it.
And Be El-hana we El-shafa

My new book

This is my new book cover. The book to be released soon.

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