The much anticipated "food" blog

As I don't have much news to share, I'm going to give in to all you fellow food-lovers and discuss Egyptian eating. :) All spellings are approximated because transliteration isn't standardized, so you might have trouble looking up recipes.

Unfortunately, I don't like Egyptian food much. "WHAT?" Yes. Shocking, but true. It isn't like the diverse, flavorful "Middle Eastern" cuisine we eat at restaurants in the States. The flavors get old rather fast, and eating cheap can be veeeery boring. Additionally, the first few weeks here, my body was in an absolute panic because I couldn't find a way to consume vegetables. I've managed to balance my diet by now, but I can't wait to get back to my veggie-heavy cooking habits in the US. By the way, for those who are unaware, my dorm has no kitchen, microwave, toaster, zilch. Thus my friends and I have to buy our food or eat PB&J sandwiches. It's been annoyingly expensive and generally frustrating.

(I don't take too many pictures of food here, so about half of these aren't mine. FYI.)

Anyway! Some staples. 'Eesh baladi ("life of the country"): Coarse pita-ish bread baked daily and sold on the streets. Not the best bread, but cheap as you could possible ask.

Fuul: Stewed broad beans with a lot of salt and various toppings, depending on what variety you get. Eaten with 'eesh baladi or in sandwiches, often for breakfast. Cheap protein.

Shakshouka: One of many mish-moshed stews of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, onion, spices, and a lot of salt, eaten with bread. This one contains egg, obviously. One of my favorites.

Molokhiya: Soup made from pureed molokhiya, the only other name for which seems to be "Jew's mallow." Slimey? Yes. Delicious? Not too bad.

Salad: Often fresh veggie mixtures, tahina (sesame paste, pictured top left), or baba ganuug (mashed roasted eggplant, pictured top right), eaten with bread. Pretty standard for appetizers, and generally pretty cheap.

Ta'amiya: Cairene falafel... mashed broad beans mixed with herbs and deep fried. Here pictured in sandwich form for take away purposes. A good, cheap, vegetarian street food, but it has gotten very tiring as well.

Koushari: Egypt's staple street food full of carbs. Rice, several kinds of pasta, fava beans, lentils, those freeze dried onion things, garlic, and spicy tomato sauce. One of my favorites, but the quality of koushari varies widely between vendors... so other times not one of my favorites. This particular koushari is the best :)

Shawarma: Spit-grilled spiced meat mixed with tomatoes and peppers, often served in sandwich form with tahina. Comes in chicken or "meat," which can be any combination of beef, lamb, or camel. Yes, I've eaten the camel form before... I'm pretty sure, anyway.

Kofta, while we're on the meat subject: Grilled kebabs of spices mixed with "meat" (see above definition). Not a favorite, mostly due to the quality of the meat...

Mahshi: Vegetables (zucchini, okra, peppers, tomatoes, vine leaves, eggplant, or cabbage) stuffed with spiced rice, covered in tomato sauce. Possibly THE favorite, and one which I will be learning to cook in the US.

Feteer: Pizza-shaped two-crusted crepe-type things. The bread is kinda chewy, though. Inside can be meat, veggies, cheese, or sweet stuff (often honey, though our favorite feteer place in Zamalek has a killer chocolate-banana-peanut butter feteer). Pretty darn good.

Tagine: Moroccan style slow cooked stews with meat or veggies in tomato sauce. Always a favorite.

Casserole-y things: Various dishes layered with rice, sauces, veggies, pasta, and/or meat, and baked. I honestly don't know what this one was called, but it was yummy.

Stuffed pigeon: Stuff with spiced rice. Major Egyptian specialty, and pretty good. Pigeon's a little gamey and always tastes a little like dirt to me. That might be a mental thing.

Juuuuuuuice!: If you're at a juice shop, it's always fresh squeezed and amazing (and cheap). Comes in orange, lemon/lime, banana, strawberry, mango, guava, carrot, pomegranate, watermelon, and sometimes more. Also, sugarcane juice in abundance.

Sweets: Egyptians looooove their sweets. These include delicious European style cakes.

Also Egyptian style goodies, including baklava (ba'lawa in Cairo), kunaafa, bosbosa, and many other yummy things that involve honey, filo, and pistachios.

There's also a variety of doughy things deep fried and soaked in honey. Their name escapes me. Can anyone help?

Also, om 'ali ("mother of Ali"), which I have recently discovered to be heavenly. It's sweet milk baked with some sort of bread concoction on the bottom, topped with coconut, raisins, and nuts.

And... that's a pretty good overview. Some good, some bad, some indifferent. I'll probably miss Egyptian food when I leave, but I'm a little tired of it at the moment. Really, I just want a kitchen. :P