So I've just come up from the lobby cafe, 'Cafe Cornish'. I've been wanting for a while now to try something you can only get out in these parts: Turkish Coffee. Yah, yah, I know, I'm in Egypt, not Turkey, but Egypt was occupied by the Ottoman Turks for a while. They don't call it "Turkish coffee" here, but " 'awah ", and you can get it either bitter, medium or very sweet. As it was the first time I was having it, the waiter suggested I try it 'medium'. It came in a small esspresso-like cup, poured out of a small brass ewer. I took a sip- thick-ish, but not entirely unpleasant and not remotely bitter. The jolt, however? As I sit here, I'm having to type and retype lines because of the jitters. I may have found something wayyyyy more potent than Redbull, Monster or even Redline. Whhhheeeeee!!! Chris is just shaking his head.
There's lots of great food & drink here. Every morning since we've been here at the hotel, we've been lucky to be able to try a variety of local dishes. My favorite so far is 'fuul'- topped with onions, tomatoes, parsley and a sprinkling of spicy dry herb mix. It's stewed broad bean and the only thing I can liken it too is refried beans. Fuul is eaten typically with 'eesh baladi- a whole-wheat pita bread. There is also fiTiir, a puff-pastry used like pizza dough and topped with sweet stuff or savory. The 'regular' coffee is awesome too- when they set down the cup, I couldn't quite put my finger on the smell until Chris mentioned what it tasted a bit like; dark chocolate- yummy! The juices are so much more than that: actually, to best describe the consistency and flavour, imagine pulverizing a mango/strawberry/honeydew/guava/orange/(whatever) and put it in a glass. Oh My God. Delicious. Speaking of delicious, Chris and I had a chance to sample some local desserts too. A couple of my favorites were Kunaafa, a shredded-wheat type pastry soaked in a honey syrup and a semolina cake (also soaked in honey syrup), topped with crushed pistachios (I removed those before eating). Another popular one is called Umm 'Ali, (lit. 'Mother of Ali) a rich bread pudding with coconut, cream and nuts (eaten anytime of the day).
There are still so many dishes I have yet to try. My next epicurian adventure will be Kushari, a mix of lentils, beans, noodles and onions, topped with a spicy tomato sauce. Rob, one of our producers, says it's delicious, filling and very cheap! Now that will have our own kitchen too, I'm looking forward to making some dishes too. It will be interesting to see how they turn out...!
There's lots of great food & drink here. Every morning since we've been here at the hotel, we've been lucky to be able to try a variety of local dishes. My favorite so far is 'fuul'- topped with onions, tomatoes, parsley and a sprinkling of spicy dry herb mix. It's stewed broad bean and the only thing I can liken it too is refried beans. Fuul is eaten typically with 'eesh baladi- a whole-wheat pita bread. There is also fiTiir, a puff-pastry used like pizza dough and topped with sweet stuff or savory. The 'regular' coffee is awesome too- when they set down the cup, I couldn't quite put my finger on the smell until Chris mentioned what it tasted a bit like; dark chocolate- yummy! The juices are so much more than that: actually, to best describe the consistency and flavour, imagine pulverizing a mango/strawberry/honeydew/guava/orange/(whatever) and put it in a glass. Oh My God. Delicious. Speaking of delicious, Chris and I had a chance to sample some local desserts too. A couple of my favorites were Kunaafa, a shredded-wheat type pastry soaked in a honey syrup and a semolina cake (also soaked in honey syrup), topped with crushed pistachios (I removed those before eating). Another popular one is called Umm 'Ali, (lit. 'Mother of Ali) a rich bread pudding with coconut, cream and nuts (eaten anytime of the day).
There are still so many dishes I have yet to try. My next epicurian adventure will be Kushari, a mix of lentils, beans, noodles and onions, topped with a spicy tomato sauce. Rob, one of our producers, says it's delicious, filling and very cheap! Now that will have our own kitchen too, I'm looking forward to making some dishes too. It will be interesting to see how they turn out...!
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