En helt vanlig onsdag…

…efter jobbet träffade jag Adde i Sundbyberg och så åkte vi till till Solna för att hjälpa Wilderbeast att flytta. Men först åkte vi förbi Donken och hämtade lite mat.
Först lite mat i flyttkaoset, men eftersom Wilderbeast hade plockat i ordning ganska mycket så det var bara de stora möblerna kvar att flytta.
Adde och jag åkte sedan hem i Stockholmstrafiken. När vi lastat av kärran så åkte vi in till stan för att handla lite. Men vi tog en fika först…Min första latte på väldigt länge eftersom jag tror att min mage inte riktigt klarar av kaffe just nu.
Gott gott gott och så finaste Adde som alltid fixar min mugg =)Och så blev det sushi till middag…

Iftar

10 juli 2013

Idag var det första dagen av Ramadan. Och eftersom mamma fastar blev det en riktigt Iftar (betyder frukost, alltså frukost efter dagens fasta – fast i vårt fall blir det ju middag). Vi samlades hela familjen och Hansson som var på snabbvisit runt middagsbordet och kl 17.12 (i enlighet med Dubai-tid där mamma och pappa bor för tillfället) var det dags att bryta fastan. Och det är ju lite av en procedur eller egentligen så är det bara så att man äter lite annorlunda mat just under Ramadan.

Hos oss bryter man fastan med en fruktsoppa med aprikoser, dadlar och fikon. 

Sen blir det en anksoppa som pressar i citron. 

Till huvudrätt blev det en av mina egyptiska favoriter, batatis bel tamaten – vilket är potatis i tomatsås, med ris och stekta kyckling filéer med sallad. 

Och till efterrätt blev det Aátayif – en söt pannkaksliknande knyte som är fyllt med antigen nötter eller vaniljcustard och sedan friterad. När den är friterad så häller man över en sockerlag. Mycket sött och mycket gott.

En riktig Iftar att börja första dagen av Ramadan. Och det var riktigt mysigt att få dela den med mamma i år. Det var länge sen sist =)

Pappas födelsedagsfrukost

I lördags fyllde min pappa år. Och som vanligt varje 29 juni så var det strålande sol och en riktigt varm sommar dag. I min familj brukar vi vakna tidigt och väcka födelsedagsbarnet med sång, presenter och tårta på sängen, men eftersom pappa fortfarande är på Dubai tid innebär det att vi skulle behöva gå upp kl 03, och det känns lite sådär =$ Men istället hade Adde pratat ihop sig med Wilderbeast och Ove och dom åkte och spelade en 9-håls runda strax innan 6 på morgonen. Så när de kom tillbaka hade mamma och jag fixat frukost och var redo att fira Pappa.

Dads birthday breakfast was ready for him when he got back from a golf game with Andy, Wilderbeast and Ove. Mom and I had prepared the breakfast, presents and baked bread. A nice way to start off Dads birthday celebration. 

Paketen låg uppradade och väntade på jubilaren.

Mamma bakade småfrallor som inte behövde jäsa, så det gick riktigt snabbt vilket är skönt.

De blev väldigt goda, enkla men goda.

Jag gjorde finmackor med ost/skinka och ost/omelett.

Och pappa blev glad för sina presenter och vi satt länge i morgonsolen och njöt av att vara tillsammans. Och att det var sommar och att vi skulle få finbesök och att få fira pappa ordentligt!

Egypt 2012 day 13

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Egypt 2012-2013 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I still haven’t been able to post from our trip to Egypt last Christmas. We had a lovely time and I took lots of pictures, but I still haven’t been through all the pictures but now I hope to be able to post some of our doings in Egypt.  I hope you’ll enjoy the post even though they are “slightly” late =) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More from our trip to Egypt 2012-2013.

January 2 nd

Our last day in Egypt for this time and we were really happy that we’d had a great trip but also sad since we were going home. Andy and I both like Cairo and Egypt alot and miss our family and friends quite a bit. But that is the way the cookie crumbles for us and we’ll just have to be back soon again.

We woke up early and it was quite foggy in the morning. No sight of the pyramid from the balcony this morning. But isn’t the greenery lovely in Maadi?

We all pilled into the car and drove to my Grandmothers house. She pretty much lives in, what I think is the most Egyptian of Cairo, on Misr-we-Sudan Street. A street were I’ve spent many hours strolling up and down in my youth together with my cousins. Across from her apartment is this mosque, I think it has  very details. And as you can see the weather changed dramatically and we had blue skies as far as the eye can see.

We were going to eat breakfast together at my Grandmother and Uncle Mimmis house. But my aunt Maha and uncle Mostafa and my cousins Hady and Hadeer also came by to say good by and have a lovely breakfast together. My Grandmother is an amazing cook and had made lots of yummy dishes.

Aged mish – a cheesemix (strong cheese that has aged in a jar with oil) that is served with tomatoes. Mish is usually made from Roumi cheese whish is a quite strong cheese and therefore becomes quite strong and the tomatoes help to lessen the heat. So good, I could live on this!

My Grandmothers beautifully pickled olives and vegetables. Spicy, vinegary and crunchy. Lovely with everything. I was luck because my Grandmother let me know how she makes it and the recipe that she uses. I still haven’t tried to make them but I want to. They are delicious.

Pickled Lift – turnip. This is one of my absolute favorite Egyptian foods. I love Lift!

Homemade Taymeya – or sometimes called falafel in other countries in the region. But the Egyptian Taymeya is ground broad beens and then fried. So good, piping hot!

White goats cheese – salty and really creamy.

Roumi cheese – similar to a parmesan cheese. A big favorite!

An Egyptian omelette.

And lots of other good foods. An Egyptian breakfast is really a breakfast full of lots of different tastes and textures as well as sizes and everything is eaten with a lovely flat bread called Baladi. I’d eat Egyptian breakfast every day if I could, it’s the best breakfast I know.

Then it was time to say good bye to everyone and I was going to miss them terribly. They are all such wonderful people and I love being with them. I hope we’ll be back soon again, and that we won’t stay away for another 4 years.

We made our way back home to Maadi and made sure our packing was done as well as spent some last minute time in the sun on the balcony. We were going to meet up with my friends Maha and Mai later on in the afternoon so we took all the chances for sun that we could.

We met up Maha and Mai as well as the kids Hana, Kenzie and Omar at Beano’s Cafe in Maadi, right by Road 9. It’s a large villa that has been converted to a cafe so i’ts like sitting in someones back garden. Lovely place and highly recommended!

Lots of room to sit and different arrangements for the most variability. They also have a kids corner with swings and a slide to keep the kids occupied. And if bad weather or to hot outside one can sit inside in the AC.

We ordered lots of different things and just had a great time talking and just enjoying each others company. Lots of reminising about Malaysia and Egypt as well as letting Andy in on all the bad stuff we have done in our youth =)

The Vanilla Latté was beautifully smooth. Mmmm!

A chicken wrap.

After a few hours of Maha and Mai freezing and Andy and I enjoying the beautiful weather we walked back to the apartment and said our goodbyes to my best of friends. We really enjoy their company and had a great time together.

Time to pack the last things and make sure we were ready to go to the airport later on in the middle of the night. Cause we were taking out My Parents and little Brother for a last Thank You dinner at T.G.I Friday’s.

We started out with a drink since we has some logistical issues, so I had a Mohijto with my Dad while waiting for Andy, Wilderbeast and Mom to arrive.

We ordered lots of appitizers and shared. We were stuffed to the teeth after dinner, but it was all worth it =) Friday’s was a resturant athat we oftened visited when living in Malaysia, it was like a little piece of home in a far away place. And since it was kidfriendly My Parents really liked it too. We’d spend hours there on Sundays and it brings back really fond memories… Andy hadn’t been to Friday’s before so I really liked showing him what it was all about. We had some Jalapeno poppers…

And some huge onion rings…

As well as a nacho plate…

And Wilderbeast who ADORES loaded potato skins, was in heaven!

And some BBQ chicken wings!

Yummy! And for mains some took burgers…

…Other Philli-cheese-steak sandwiches…

And some Fajitas…

And we spent a few hours just having a lovely time and it really was the best way to end a great vacation, just the 5 of us, enjoying each others company, wigging out and giggling our way through dinner!

And after dinner we made our way back home to finish the last bits of the packing and sleep a couple of hours before it was time to go to the airport and travel back home…

Egypt 2012 day 11

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Egypt 2012-2013 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I still haven’t been able to post from our trip to Egypt last Christmas. We had a lovely time and I took lots of pictures, but I still haven’t been through all the pictures but now I hope to be able to post some of our doings in Egypt.  I hope you’ll enjoy the post even though they are “slightly” late =) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More from our trip to Egypt 2012-2013.

December 31Th

The last day of 2012, wow the year goes fast!

We started out today with lovely homemade Egyptian breakfast, foul, taymeya and roumi cheese. I love! =)

And then Andy and I took another walk to road 9 for some last minute things.

Then all of us pilled into the car and drove to my aunts house to see her and her husband. And luckily also my lovely cousin Rehab, her husband Ehab and their lovely boys. We had a lovely time there with lots of laughs and coffee. Perfectly lovely family time.

We went back home and had beautiful grilled fish for lunch, and then just hung out until the evening when we were to meet up with Maha and Mai + families at Downtown and the Mam’s restaurant to celebrate New Years.

At Mam’s the place was packed but we packed together and enjoyed our time with lots of yummy food, drinks and happy people. Lots of laughter and joking all night long.

We smoked Shisha / Water pipe and since I love Shisha and I don’t do it unless I’m in Egypt I was really enjoying my self! =) We celebrated New Years with all our might…

And when the night became chilly, we piled into cars and drove our way home towards Maadi in the Cairo night…

An unusual and different New Years celebration than andy and I were used to, but we had a lovely time. Thanks for a really great evening!

Egypt 2012 day 10

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Egypt 2012-2013 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I still haven’t been able to post from our trip to Egypt last Christmas. We had a lovely time and I took lots of pictures, but I still haven’t been through all the pictures but now I hope to be able to post some of our doings in Egypt.  I hope you’ll enjoy the post even though they are “slightly” late =) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More from our trip to Egypt 2012-2013.

December 30Th

Today has been a dag of leisure, at least for Andy and I. We took the day to do some shopping and have a long walk. We’ve started on the home stretch now and we want to make sure to have time to get everything done. After some shopping and a long walk we ended up at PizzaHut for lunch. Yum!

A small pizza and a 3-part appetizer was chosen today.

Then we walked home…

In the afternoon we all got ready and dressed to be picked up by Maha and the kids so that we could drive out to the Pyramid area and to her mother house. My parents and Maha and Mais parents are best of friends and our families often spend time together since we met in Malaysia. The trip there was very long due to alot of trafic.

We arrived at their beautiful villa in the Pyramids area when it was dark so unfortunetly I didn’t have time to take a picture and I pretty much let the camera rest and only took a lot of “private” pictures so all the pictures I have from the visit is the dinner. The dinner was wonderful, Tant Nadia is a very good cook.

We had a wonderful dinner and a really wonderful time with our friends. Lots of laughs and memories. Thank you very much for a lovely evening!

Egypt 2012 day 9

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Egypt 2012-2013 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I still haven’t been able to post from our trip to Egypt last Christmas. We had a lovely time and I took lots of pictures, but I still haven’t been through all the pictures but now I hope to be able to post some of our doings in Egypt.  I hope you’ll enjoy the post even though they are “slightly” late =) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More from our trip to Egypt 2012-2013.

December 29Th

Today we had decided to spend the day with my cousins Shimo and Moe as well as his wife MiniCooper. A day of just hanging out Egyptian-style. Always nice to just have some time to talk and enjoy ourselves.

We, Andy, Wilderbeast and I started out by going to Moe and MiniCooper new apartment. A lovely place with beautiful and throughout design and lots of beautiful pieces to make a beautiful home. Shimo joined us there and we pilled into the cars and left for a breakfast-place in the Rehab-area called Arabiata.

In the sunshine, oh the beautiful and warm sunshine we ordered breakfast of all the most amazing sorts. Lots of small dishes as well as new dishes even for me. But what a breakfast, real Egyptian food with great flavor can’t really be beat.

I ordered a Prince – which is Foul (brown beans casserole) that has been oven baked with sausage, cheese and eggs. Yum! All eaten with bread and it was truly delicious!

A few hours of breakfast in the sunshine with lots of laughs and then we were on our way towards the Nile to take a Faluka ride on the Nile. It’s one of our traditions together with my cousins so of course we wanted to have another go.

Cairo is a really beautiful city and from the Nile it makes you forget about the hustle and bustle of the city and just embrace the stillness and wonder of the Nile.

After the Faluka ride we made our way to a restaurant that made Syrian Shawerma, I think it was called Ya Mal Al Sham (but I might be mistaken). Andy, Wilderbeast and I love Shawerma and this according to my cousins was the best place for it. And oh my, they were so right! It’s a sit along the side of the road and eat kind of a place and for us that ain’t a problem, we’ve been to worse places. And as long as the food is good, we’re all in…

After dinner Wilderbeast went back home and the rest of us continued to Old Cairo. It’s a place were I hadn’t been before and i pretty much is what it seems. Inside a large city wall, remains the old Cairo with plenty of beautiful buildings, amazing mosques, really fantastic architecture and a bustling marketplace where one couldn’t stop to see beautiful things. It’s kind of like Khan El Khalili but less touristy, which is always nice! It’s a beautiful spot and I’ll be going there several times in the future and I highly recommend it!

We had a coffee at a coffee shop and just enjoyed the atmosphere. I loved it!

Then we said our good byes to my cousins and went back home. A lovely day with my cousins and they are the best! I’m just sad that we live so far apart, but so glad that we can hang out when we are in Egypt. It’s nice to have family that one loves =) Thank you all!

Egypt 2012 day 8

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Egypt 2012-2013 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I still haven’t been able to post from our trip to Egypt last Christmas. We had a lovely time and I took lots of pictures, but I still haven’t been through all the pictures but now I hope to be able to post some of our doings in Egypt.  I hope you’ll enjoy the post even though they are “slightly” late =) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More from our trip to Egypt 2012-2013.

December 28Th

We had discussed going on a pyramid adventure with my Dad. He wanted to visit some of the pyramids that aren’t very well known such as Abu Sir or to go to Fayoom and look at the pyramids in the area.

I can’t tell you how many times we have been to Giza and Saqqara pyramids and how much I love going every single time. It’s an amazing creation and I love walking around and imagining what the pyramids looked like just when they were built, how the people lived and how it was to be an Egyptian in those times. And something that I really hold dear to me is when we graduated and our graduation ceremony was in front of the pyramids. Such an amazing and special experience!

Any ways, after breakfast Andy, Wilderbeast, Dad and I pilled info the car and started our trip towards the Pyramids. But unfortunately this being Egypt we missed our exit from the Ring Road because the sign to turn off was after the turn itself. So we tried going another way and ended up going around the Giza area for about an hour with lots of traffic and two hours after we left Maadi we finally parked at Saqqara and The Step Pyramid or the Dosjor Pyramid.

Having been there lots of times before we know all know what to expect and where to go. Although there are lots of people selling postcards, books, hats and other touristy crap and not go forget the donkey taxi. We’ve been there and done that, about 20 times already so we just ignored them and did our thing. We saw the Ti Tomb pyramid slightly to the right of the Dosjor and about 4 other pyramids in the distance. We took pictures and even recruited my Dad and Wilderbeast to help us find 2 geocaches in the area, one earth cache and one traditional cache. Finding them both was fun, because that meant that we finally managed to take our first Egyptian cache. It was quite annoying because we started geocaching about 4.5 years ago, just after our 2009 trip to Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Bahriya and the Nile Cruise. So se missed out on all of them, but it gives us a reason to come back.

We started driving from Saqqara towards Abu Sir but the road got worse and worse and worse. The speed bumps were the size of small houses and our car was really getting abused. The speed bumps were scraping the underside of the car and we just couldn’t get anywhere properly. So we decided to call it a day and go back home instead. We were all tired from the sun and walking around but I think mostly from the stress of the road.

Back at home my Mom had made Koshari and we LOVE koshari. Koshari is pretty much the national dish of Egypt. It is a combination of cheap foods that are found by everyone, rich or poor. The first layer is a boiled rice and black lentils. The second layer is small macaronis. Then topped with beautifully smooth tomato sauce, fried onions and a lovely sauce called Da’ah, which is vinegar, garlic, cumin and salt.

And for desert beautiful red and plump strawberries.

Then Andy and I got picked up by one of my best friends Maha and her kids Hana and Kenzie in their very cool Jeep Wrangler. We were going to her apartment to hang out there with Maha and my other best friend Mai (also Maha’s sister) and her son Omar as well as Maha’s husband Mohammed. Maha, Mai and I met in Malaysia in 1994 and became best friends straight away. And even though we only see each other once every couple of years it’s just like we’ve never been apart.

We had some amazing Shawarma sandwiches, shredded beef with veggies and Tahina. So good! Yum!

We spent the rest of the evening/night with Maha and Mai and it was really nice. I missed them =) Thanks for a great night girls =)

Egypt 2012 day 7

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Egypt 2012-2013 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I still haven’t been able to post from our trip to Egypt last Christmas. We had a lovely time and I took lots of pictures, but I still haven’t been through all the pictures but now I hope to be able to post some of our doings in Egypt.  I hope you’ll enjoy the post even though they are “slightly” late =) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More from our trip to Egypt 2012-2013.

December 28Th

We woke up today to the sound of birds chirping outside our window. Most might think that Egypt is just desert but here in Maadi it is much greener and serener than other parts of Cairo. Maadi is filled with trees, flowers and gardens and is a really nice place to walk around in.

We had breakfast and just tried to make plans for the day. Andy and I decided to have a day if walking around Maadi and visiting some stores that were on our list from last time. Like Mobacco for clothes of Andy and Maadi Grand Mall for sports equipment, shoes and bags.

To make a long 3 hour walk short we walked around Maadi and I showed Andy some of my old neighborhood. Lots of memories for me that I really wanted to share with my baby.

After the three hours walk we had a quick lunch at Maadi Grand Mall and then we walked home.

I let the camera have a rest and just enjoy my time instead. 

We met up my cousin Moe for some chit chat before going together to my Grandmothers house to spend some quality time with the whole family with a great turkey dinner that my Grandmother had prepared. Some of my cousins (I have a few) and my aunts and uncles (I have a few of those too) were there and it was really nice seeing them again. It felt like yesterday that Andy and I were there, but it had been 4 years. And since my cousin Moe had gotten married and we got to meet his wife Mai.

After a great dinner and lots of laughs, lots of laughs! We made our way home to the apartment, bellies filled and hearts full of love. A really lovely day!

Egypt 2012 day 6

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Egypt 2012-2013 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I still haven’t been able to post from our trip to Egypt last Christmas. We had a lovely time and I took lots of pictures, but I still haven’t been through all the pictures but now I hope to be able to post some of our doings in Egypt.  I hope you’ll enjoy the post even though they are “slightly” late =) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More from our trip to Egypt 2012-2013.

December 26Th

It was time to pack it up and go back to Cairo. After a few relaxing days at the Red Sea we’d need the hustle and bustle of a big city. We had breakfast and started to prepare the apartment.

Cleaning and covering furniture and packing for the way home. A few pictures of the apartment to remind us and then a last whiff and a last look at the ocean to remember it and started our 170 km car ride home.

We arrived in Cairo at 10 a.m. and unpacked the car and our bags. We started preparing for the afternoon, my Grandmother and two of my uncles were coming to have dinner with us. One of my uncles lives in Paris, France and is leaving in a day or two so we just wanted to say good bye to him properly.

At lunch time we ordered Pizza Hut and had lunch at home. Just a quick lunch before we tried to rest of the rest of the afternoon. We were really very tired and all of us seemed like we needed to sleep.

Our guests arrived and we had lots of laughs and enjoyed our time.

We had Kofta and Kebab, grilled pieces of meat as well as grilled meat rolls, served with oven roasted potatoes, spring rolls, samosas, kobbe (fried meat and bulgur rolls), babaghanough (an eggplant sauce), Tahina (sesame pasta), pickles, salad and bread. It was a real feast! I love Kofta and Kebab, the grilled flavor is beautiful.

After dinner we had a fruit salad with fresh strawberries, oranges, bananas and pomegranate. So good and such wonderfully tasting fruits. Yum!

And since this is Egypt we also offered the guests sweets in the form basbousa (semolina flour cake), baklawa (nuts rolled in filo dough), and lots of other treats. These are sweet and usually filled with nuts and loved in Egypt. But I don’t eat them because if my nut allergy and also because they are just a bit too sweet for me.

After dinner our guests left and we made it a night, tired but content.