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

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Picky, Sticky or Just Plain Icky?

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Food in Malaysia:

P.S: I wasn’t paid to write this post it is my personal opinion.

Food in Malaysia:
Food is my favorite thing in Malaysia from street food to fancy restaurants. It is always cheap, spicy and delicious.
Malaysia has Halal food, but Western restaurants serve pork and there are many international restaurants as well. Everyone can find his taste.

Kuala Lumpur:
Street food and fried bananas! I never knew the bananas can taste that good before.
We went to an Indonesian restaurant and ordered 5 dishes and drinks for less than 20$. I had a drink called ice teler. It’s iced juices with tropical fruits. It’s the best juice I ever had.
Secret Recipe restaurant and café is very good and cheap.

Ice Teler

Penang:
Tarbush restaurant has Middle Eastern and Indian cuisines. The falafel there was amazing.
There are many western restaurants along by the beach.

Langkawi:
In Langkawi I had the best food ever in the Mexican restaurant. I had a heavenly dish - it was my first time to eat deer and oh my god it was great.

Venison

In the Lebanese restaurant the Falafel was overcooked and they served it alone with no bread, no sauce, and the chicken kebab was cold.

There’s a Russian restaurant in the quay for romantic nights: dinner with sea view and fresh breezes. I had beef in a pot and it should be happiness in a pot. It was nothing less than great.
Beef in a Pot

The Friday market had all kind of food: beef, chicken and vegetables. Everything is tasty and cheap.

Budget Traveller Diaries:

Escaping the Korean Winter to Malaysia:

Late January to February are the coldest months in Korea. My husband and I wanted to escape the winter to a warm place where we could have fun, see new things, eat new food and hang on the beach and Malaysia is the perfect place for that.
We made a budget $100 per day for two people including the accommodation. 
If you are a budget traveller and don’t mind the small seats and buying water on the airplane, Air Asia would be good for you.

Kuala Lumpur: 

We landed in Kuala Lumpur around 6:00 A.M. Sunrise was the first thing I saw in Malaysia. We went to a three-star hotel downtown which cost $38 per night. 


Things I did in Kuala Lumpur: 

1- went to China town seeking cheap shopping but I wasn’t impressed with the products. But on the way we visited an old Chinese temple. It is amazing how art can live so long and yet touch you when you see it. 


2- shopping in big shopping malls. Compared to South Korea, Malaysia is very cheap so even when I bought a dress from a big mall it was cheaper than a street shop in Korea.


3- bears street. I loved that street. There was a bear from every country. Can you guess how the Egyptian bear looks? 


4- doctor fish. Once I put my feet in the tank I couldn’t stop laughing. The small fishes are so tickling! 30 minutes for 30RM about $10. 


5- Bird park. It is a huge park with nice artificial waterfalls allowing you to walk very close to the birds and feed them, but some birds are very aggressive - they left marks on my hands! While passing by a big bird’s cage we saw a small mouse stealing the bird’s food. To leave the park you must take a taxi from the taxi counter where they charge you double for the short trip.

6- in one of the traveling guides, the writer recommended Cosmo world so we went there and other than rides there wasn’t much to do but the haunted house was great and funny. It was all manual! The worker leads the way and pushes the statues in front of us it was fun. 


7- Sunway Park. It was the best thing in Kuala Lumpur. A water park and extreme park and wild park where we watched an animal show starting with only 3 animals, but yet was good. Scream park? I have no idea what it is. We didn’t check it out.
Bears Fight

Extreme Park

Things to avoid in Kuala Lumpur: 
Taxies are the worst thing in Malaysia. We went for dinner with a friend who lives there and we took a taxi two short subway stops from our hotel. The taxi driver refused to use the meter. My friend asked the driver to use the meter and he refused again saying: I will tell you how much it is. 

My friend told him that refusing using the meter is illegal in Malaysia. Use the meter now or we will report you. 
So the driver used the meter with a big sigh and dropped us in the main street. We walked a few meters to the hotel but the creepy thing is the driver followed us step by step to the entrance of the hotel.

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A description of my book Fast and easy Egyptian recipes

In this short and easy-to-use cookbook you'll find 20 authentic Egyptian recipes right out of Cairo. Each recipe is quick and easy and each dish takes no more than 20 minutes to prepare, but it will bring an exotic Nile flair to your dinners, desserts, and beverages.
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My friend's first book

My dear friend Valerie just released her first book about blind dates in Korea.
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/137638