It's all about Food !....I'm in trouble !

Yesterday was a day of food.  Whether it was buying food at the groceries or eating food at restaurants, it was all about food....Hmmm I though I came here to work !....Anyway....

After going to sleep at 4:30 am (it was 10:30pm Miami time!) Mohamed picked me up (thank God late!) and we first stopped off to have lunch before we went to buy food.  You know what they say, don't go grocery shopping when you're hungry or you'll end up buying more than what you really need. 
We stopped at a very nice restaurant called "Abou Shakra".  It is very very hot in Cairo in the month of August so it was great to be inside with AC !!



Shish Tawook

Fatta

I ordered Shish Tawook, which is grilled marinated chicken with yellow bismatti rice & peas and grilled vegetables.  Mohamed ordered Fatta which is a very traditional Egyptian dish of rice & meat with a tomato based sauce and toasted bread on top. 

I finished my meal with a traditional Egyptian desert called Umm Oly which was delicious!  It's the Egyptian version of bread pudding.  The bread is soaked in milk, cream, & sugar,  then golden raisins & nuts are added  and then baked until golden brown.  I'm telling you it was sweet!..:) Can not have too many of those for sure or I'll be rolling back to Miami !
  


Umm Aly

 

After this great lunch , off we went to buy food and the things I needed for the time I'll be in Egypt. Since I'm staying at a "flat", (that's what they call apartments here) I'll be doing my own cooking a lot of the times so I needed to buy my supplies. One of the places I liked to go to is the "western style" supermarkets that are available in Cairo.   
A good place to get all these things is at the "Metro Supermarket" chain which caters to foreigners.

We ended up going to two different ones as I was on a hunt for a specific cheese I liked and Mohamed obliged me by going to another Metro to look for it. 

Groceries - Bismatti rice, mango juice, milk, hibiscus tea, yogurt, honey among other things 

We were almost home and I forgot to get bread so we stopped at an Egyptian style supermarket and picked up some bread...3 supermarkets...oh boy, Mohamed does have a lot of patience with me.!

Now I needed to rush as I had other friends that had invited me for dinner and I was already late. I needed to shower, get dressed and go ....to eat again!...ay ay ay!

This time my friends ordered meat and cheese pies and we had the traditional cakes for Eid that were delicious too.  The pies are sort of like pizza but the crust is different.  It's similar to a pan pizza but the cheese is baked inside and then topped with tomatoes, black olives, spices .. a blending of flavors that's very good.  All of course highly dietic.....NOT !....
Suffice it to say, I will not eat for the next 3 days!

Cheese Pie

Then it was back home to have my cup of tea before crashing!.  I felt more tired than the day I arrived but its the jet lag and that happens.  Today is a day for business and probably more food !...oh boy !  Catch you later !

Traveling Redheaded Lady