Linda Shows Us What's for Dinner

Some friends have asked "What do you eat when you're in Egypt?"  Just about any food you want you can find in Egypt. Sometimes we cook American, sometimes we cook Egyptian favorites, sometimes we order in and sometimes we go to restaurants.  The best dinners however, are the dinners at friends' houses.

Kofta with all its accompaniments is a favorite restaurant meal.


 One of our favorite winter foods is chilli. Kidney beans are available everywhere and I buy the ground beef at the local supermarket where I have a favorite butcher who seems to know what I want even before I ask for it. Meatloaf with mashed potatoes is another winter favorite and this year I also made a beef stew and Tom has made his specialty, General Tso's chicken. 










I ate some moussaka made by a neighbor and it was delicious so I asked for her recipe.  I followed her instructions but it just didn't taste as good as hers.  I'll try making it again and hope for better results. It wasn't inedible, it just didn't taste the same.










 Most fruit we buy from street vendors. The strawberries in Egypt are fantastic!  They're so beautiful and ripe.  Egypt is the world's 4th largest producer of strawberries. We eat lots of them.

I enjoy a cooling strawberry smoothie after a brisk walk in the neighborhood.



Tangerines are called "Yousef Effendi" and we always have a supply of them in the refrigerator. I like that they often come with stems and leaves.


For a long time I avoided buying carrots because they are so huge.  My American brain said that large carrots could not be good because large American carrots tend to be woody and tasteless.  Finally I gave in and tried some and they're wonderfully sweet and tasty.  Cauliflower is also gigantic-it must be the sun??  I also buy cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes and eggplants.



 There's a bakery near us that makes lots of good stuff.  It's hard to not buy some of everything.


This is the friendly baker who wants Tom to learn more Arabic.  He remembers us even when we've been gone for two years and loves our President Obama.


From L-R: shelf stable milk, cake mix, salmon, tuna, diced tomatoes and tomato paste


From L-R: mayo, yogurt, tahina, lemons (yes, they're green) and molasses (here it's called black honey)


And coffee?  Which ever kind you desire.



So you see, everything is available here from soup to nuts.



Posted by LINDA