My daughter's BD cake....

It was my DD1 8th BD.

She loves fruits on her gatou' so she took her dad all around the city searching for the perfect cake...& here's what she bought.

It was a very tasty cake...

happy Birthday my dear Fofo!!

Eid Fitr Saeed Everyone...

Eid Saee'd to all of you ...& in sha Allah the fast went easy..but now it's time to break our fast & eat some of the lovely Eid Kahk "cookies" & biscuits...

My lovely neighbour umm Abd Arahman made me these nice platters of cookies filled with nuts & malban (I have no idea what to call it in English so i'm adding this pic to show you all what it looks like,its also called Rahet elhalkoom in some places wich means soother to the throat)

Umm Abd Arahman is officially my life-saver all Ramadan ..she has a home bussiness where she cooks & sells food from her house ..mainly traditional Egyptian food like stuffed vine leaves & cabbage,feteer meshaltet & eid cookies & biscuits.I have used her services in my Iftars & her food is very tasty masha Allah.

Although the cookies taasted great ,I have to say that they do not compare to my mom's cookies.

They are the melt-in-your-mouth type but I guess they definitly needed more filling.

The biscuits are crunshy...just as I like them.

On another note, in our Home in Egypt they are not making cookies because this last year we lost our grandmother & my uncle...May Allah forgive them & grant them Janna...Ameen.

If my mom was making kahk this year I would've made her send me some...insha Allah next year...

Tell me your favourite kahk or biscuits?

Ramadan a time for Friendship & Dessert

Ramadan is the time of year when our ebadat increase ..but it's also a time for sharing special recipes between friends..

Dishes filled with tasty food has been going back & forth between me & my friends and I had to share the amazing desserts that were given to me by my loving friends...

Let me start with this ...the very rish & calorie loaded labanese madloa'a

Yummy just look at that ...this basically a base made out semolina flour ,covered with fresh creamor eshta & then sprinkeled with every nut you have ..cashews ,hazelnuts,pine-nuts..

katayif beleshta...Home made katief filled with fresh cream

& the tastiest Blueberry Cheescake I have ever had

What do you think ?

What it is your favourite?

Beading Frenzy!!!

My girls have a new hobby...

Al Hussein mosque

In the spirit of the holy month I really miss Ramadan in Egypt with my family.I think part of the Ramadan spirit are the family gatherings.
I will try to write several posts of the traditions of Ramadan in my country.Egypt is famous with many Ramadan traditions as the Fanoos & the madfa' el Iftar & mawae'd elRahaman, but that is a whole other post.

In this post I've included pics that I took of the Hussein mosque in Cairo.It is an amazing mosque near Khan El Khalili area(most famous for the silver & Pharoanic souvenirs you can buy there).
It has become one of the many customs of ramdan to eat Iftar there & then pray Maghrib, Isha & Tarweeh at Al Hussein & then maybe go drink tea with mint at one of the million kahawy in the area & stay until you eat Suhoor & pray fajr.

To read a bit more about the history of the mosque you can go HERE

First here are some pics from the outside of the mosque

The rest of the pics were taken inside the womens' section. Needless to say that the architecture of the mosque is breathtaking. take a look:

While I was taking these pics the most amazing thing happened a group of Asian muslim sisters (my guess is that they were Pakistani) were visiting Sayedna El Hussein & they started chanting these amazing words praising the grandson of the prophet peace be upon him. The rest of their group was on the male section of the mosque. A guy was reciting the words while the rest of the group chanted along with him.It was a magical moment.

RAMADAN KAREEM everyone!!

may the holy month of Ramadan bring you forgivness from Allah the Almighty.

Joy From Fasting To Feasting (Season-II)

In sha Allah this year too I will be participating in "Joy From Fasting To Feasting (Season-II)"

Hopefully I will try to post as many pics of my Ramadan cooking as possible.

With the 2 Iftar gatherings that I'm planning insha Allah I will have many recipes to share.

Wish me luck with my cooking!

Honest Tag

I was tagged by sister Umm Omar of Just Another Day.

I need to write 10 honest things about me & then tag 10 people...

So here goes..

1) I've always had problems with my self-esteem.Ever since my teen years I've struggeled with low self-esteem & self-image.

2) I am afraid of cats.I adore them but I can never get really close to them.I'm just too afraid.

3)I'm full of contardictions it scares me at times.

4)I'm very good at keeping my friendships alive.I still maintain contact with my very 1st best friend ,we've been friends ever since our 1st day in kindergarten.

5)I can at least name +10 people who I feel comfortable telling them anything. YES I trust people.

6)I really really pray to Allah that one day I can adopt a child & raise him/her as my own .

7)I'm at a very low point of my life a the moment.I have faced alot of challenges & I'm fighting depression.I look at my kids & they are the only reason why I'm still going but I know that I need to do more & regain my positive attitude towards LIFE!!

8)I procarcinate ALOT.

9)I'm very very lazy

10)as a result of numbers 8 & 9 I haven't read a whole book for a very loooong time.

I have been postponing this tag forever now...& it has been difficult to write!!!

I'm very glad I did & near the end I could at atleast add 3 more points but I'm sticking to 10!
I tag anyone who feels like doing this.

Nostalgia….

Two reasons for this post 1st I really miss Egypt ….& I also I wanted to share this amazing place with all of you….this is the inside of Al Hakim be Amr Allah masjid in Al Hussain area in old Cairo…..it’s located on the Mo’z ledeen Allah Street ,wich is a piece of enchanting old Cairo… I just wish I took more pics..these were taken by my Best Friend & it’s a reminder of a wonderful day …

There Comes a Time in Life...

Mosaic Builder

This is taken from Noblese's blog..it was a bit long but fun to answer all these questions.....

Rules:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One Word to describe you.

12. Your flickr name.

Butterflies!!!!

On our way home from swim class my DD pointed out to a number of basil plants by the side of the street ....asking me "what are those flying things Mommy"

We inspected the plants & masha Allah we saw the most amazing butterflies flying around the basil drinking the nectar out of the flowers...



The girls were so excited at the sight of the butterflies...we even tried touching them...

Everone knows that finding these natural phenomenon is very hard in the city ....so we were quite enthusiastic ...

here are some pics I took of the grand event !!!

CUTE video

I hate FB!!!

My FB account got deleted ....I don't know how or who did it ..it just happened...I couldn't access the acount for over 2 weeks ...I kept sending them emails asking what the problem was....I got no response ...they have one of the worst services I have seen!!!

Now I lost my acount of 3 years ...all my pics ,notes & 170 friends are all gone...I'm very sad ...because I had friends from school & college in my friend's list...I don't even have their emails.....

Of course I couldn't resist making another acount & re-inviting everyone to join my list...I'm just addicted....

I guess it is a love-hate relationship

I LUV ladybird books.....

I just got my oldest DD this nice book from Ladybird about grammar and punctuation....

I can speak English very well but I always felt that I'm not very strong in the grammar and spelling. I hesitated to teach my oldest these subjects ,but when I saw this book it gave me a kind of confidence that I can do it.

She is really enjoying it very much ...it has stickers & is very colorful.

Another set that we use is the Read It Yourself series ...we have Level 1 series ...it is a collection of 6 books ...they are very easy and suitable for early readers

.

Our trip to Cairo

Recently my very adventerous sister arranged a one day trip to Cairo for the whole family...

By that I mean all our cousins and aunts from both sides of the family...it was all women and children .

Although we had some grumpy moments from some people who cannot seem to enjoy themselves at all ...yes you know yourselves...the over all experience was good & lots of fun...


Our 1st stop was at Fagnoon

fagnoon is located on Sakkara Road, Giza

It's other name is Sabil Om Hashim.It's run by some amazing artists....they really know how to get the kids excited about arts.

Once we got there the children and some of the more un-inhibited adults enjoyed playing on the monkey bars

Then we paid the fee of 45 LE for every participating child or adult.

they gave us a presentation of all the things we can do.

You can choose from

pottery, wood carpentry, agriculture, baking, jewelry making, iron smithy ,bead work,drawing with colored sand,and others.

They also give you a choice for a mud fight or a colors fight where they fill small plastic bags with colored water & you get to throw it at each other.really messy and fun stuff.



To reach fagnoon follow these instructions:



To reach Fagnoon from the Pyramids Road, turn on the Maryoutiya Canal towards Saqqara. Fagnoon is 12.5 kilometers down the canal.



If one is traveling by public transport, take a microbus in the direction of Saqqara and ask the driver for a drop off at Sabil Umm Hashem.



If one is coming from the Mounib Ring Road, take the Badrashein- Maryoutiya exit. From this point it is 9.5 kilometers to Fagnoon.



One of the things one will notice just before arriving is a bridge named after Nobel prize winner Ahmed Zuweil over the canal.

ofcourse everyone opted for the pottery it's so much fun

After that we went to the Egyptian Muesm...

I do not recommend this for younger kids ...my 5 year was so bored ...I struggeled to keep myself in a good mood and really try to enjoy it...

Ofcourse the muesm has some really exciting replicas and artifacts from different eras ....

the most amazing is the mummies hall ....but you have to pay extra to enter.

They also have a seperate hall for the jewelery from Pharonic & Roman eras....

After finishing the muesm we simply crossed the Cornich & took a boat ride in the Nile

it was so relaxing and peaceful after a very busy and noisy day.