Watching My Weight

   Just under 2 months ago some of  the ladies in the teacher's lounge at work decided to start following Weight Watchers. After some initial scepticism, I decided to take the plunge and I signed up and paid a 3 month subscription, I know myself well enough to know that the only way I'd stick to it would be knowing I'd paid for it!

  According to my online plan manager I'm on my 7th week-I'm not really counting the first week as I was writing report cards and constantly snacking. So far I've lost 2.5 Kg and as of last week have started working out for 30 minutes 3 times a week. 

YAAAAY!!

Sharm El-Sheikh and Sham El Nessim

    Recently the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. In 2010 there were a series of shark attacks that killed several people and since he was deposed in February 2011, former President Mubarak has taken up permanent residence in the city. Despite all this and the drop in visitor numbers since the Revolution, it is still a popular destination for tourists, especially those looking to combine sun, sea and sand and stunning natural beauty with an active nightlife. The waters of the Red Sea are ideal for snorkeling and scuba diving.

   Sham el-nessiem is an Egyptian national holiday and is a uniquely Egyptian way to welcome spring. It translates literally into "smelling the breeze"  and dates back to Pharaonic times. These days it falls on (Coptic) Easter Monday and is celebrated by all Egyptians irrespective of religion. It is celebrated, as most festivals in Egypt are, with food; in this case, coloured boiled eggs, green onions and salted fish (ringa and fessekh). These are usually eaten as part of a picnic as most families head off somewhere green. I remember when my cousins and I were young, we would all head off to the family orange grove and the smell of orange blossom still brings those memories back.

  This year a friend and I headed off to Sharm El-Sheikh for the long weekend and I have to say, it was one of the best ideas we'd had for a while! She was able to get us a good deal via her workplace so we were staying in a lovely 5 star resort at a fraction of the cost. The hotel was nice, the room large enough for the 2 of us not to constantly be in each other's hair and the view from the balcony was lovely

View from our room.

The other advantage this hotel had to the one I stayed at two years ago was that the beach was right within the resort. A three minute walk (through the pool area and garden) lead you to a walkway from which you had a glorious view of the red sea.

First view of the Red Sea

   While I would have been perfectly happy to spend all 4 days on the beach, snorkeling, reading and soaking up the sun, my friend had other ideas. She insisted that she wanted to climb Mount Sinai and visit St. Catherine's monastery. I was slightly less than enthusiastic as I had done this on my last visit and it was exhausting, freezing and took up a whole day. However, remembering just how tiring it was I felt I couldn't leave her to do it alone so we booked 2 places on a trip leaving the night we arrived. Unfortunately, the trip was poorly organized and our guide was rude, badly spoken and aggressive, but enough of that story now! On the bus journey to the mountain the air-con was on full blast and that was just enough to bring the cold I'd been keeping at bay all week to full strength. By the time we started the hike, my nose was completely stuffed and breathing and hiking at the same time was becoming problematic (I've discovered I like breathing...it helps keep me alive), so in the end I only made it as far as the first rest-stop on foot and then carried on on a camel!

Me on the camel watching the sunrise over Mount Sinai

    My camel pilot Saleh (a Bedouin native to Sinai) and I had a good chat as we made the trek up, he's been doing the job for about 3 years and that on a good day he can hire his camel about 4 times in either direction. The best tourists in his opinion are Indonesians as they nearly always opt for a camel ride up , while Russians are far less likely. I asked him how the revolution had affected business and he told me that they've definitely had fewer people this year but the numbers were starting to pick up again. 

  The view of the sunrise was as stunning as I remember and I'll let the pictures do the talking.

  In the end we weren't able to go around the monastery as the monks had decided to close to visitors in preparation for Easter services, but we did manage to use the facilities there and I snapped a picture of the door to the main church decked out for the occasion.

    Back at the hotel I took some paracetamol and slept for 12 hours straight! Luckily I got my wish and was able to spend the next 2 days on the beach.

Egyptian Weddings

    The first thing you should know about Egyptian weddings is that they are loud. LOUD! The loudest part is the 'zaffa', this is the procession the bride and groom take-usually into the hall where the wedding is taking place. They are preceded by a band of traditional musicians with 'tablas' , the traditional Arab drum, trumpets and occasionally dancers with candelabras on their heads. There are traditional wedding songs, usually singing the praises of the bride and the joys of marriage. The zaffa can be as long or as short as the couple want but I've never attended a wedding where the zaffa has been shorter than 10 minutes. Sometimes the couple spend some of this time dancing with each other and friends and family, other times they simply watch on as others dance, it just depends on the couple's preference. As with anything else, the quality of the zaffa, in terms of musicians depends on the amount of money spent on the band, the songs are the same across the board but the difference is seen in the costumes worn by the band members.

    Once the happy couple reach the doors of the hall they do not simply walk through. Oh no. As if the last 10-20 minutes hasn't been enough of a hint that they're ready to party, they are whisked away into a ante-chamber before a big announcement to mark their entrance. Once in the hall, they usually head to the 'kosha' a seating area reserved for the couple, usually on a slight stage. Depending on the couple they may either spend most of the wedding there, talking to guests and having pictures taken or they barely sit down, spending the whole time dancing. Different strokes, different strokes.

     Some weddings will include the 'katb ketab' the actual marriage vows part, if they don't then the couple have already tied the knot officially and have decided to split the celebrations.

    As usual the highlight of any wedding is the buffet. Don't expect a piece of wedding cake, as my friend colleague and fellow blogger IrishAlexandrain recently discovered, there's a high probability that the cake is actually a foam model and the bride and groom cut a piece of cake hidden to one side.

    The most important thing to remember about Egyptian weddings is that they never start on time. If your invitation says 8:30, don't go before 9:30 and don't expect anything to happen till 10 at the earliest. Most are held in hotels at night although it's starting to become popular to have alternate venues. Some people rent villas out for the occasion, allowing for an outdoor party.

Eid time!!

   Well folks, it's that time again. After a month of fasting from dawn till sunset Muslims around the world will tomorrow (10/9/2010) celebrate Eid El-Fitr-a three day celebration of the end of Ramadan which literally translates into the feast of breaking the fast.
   The streets will be filled with the sounds of celebration and children's play (in fact I can already hear the fire-crackers going off in my street). One of the traditions of Eid is to buy a new outfit for at least the first day of festivities so the shops have extended their sales in the weeks leading up to Eid to entice people to spend. For those less fortunate, donations of second-hand clothes will be distributed so that underprivileged children will get to experience a sense of joy at this time of the year. Families will meet up, either at the grandparents or go away together for the break to the beach or maybe the family farm.
     Once again people will be able to turn to Caffeine first thing in the morning to help get them through the rest of the day. Snacking can once again begin in earnest despite the plans of many to stop this year so as not to regain any weight lost over the holy month. But few will be able to resist traditional Eid cookies or Kahk, a buttery biscuit sometimes filled with dates and sprinkled with icing sugar. A delightful sugar rush after a month of daytime lethargy.

Eid Saeed everyone!
 PS: When the internet begins cooperating again, I'll upload a link to an Eid song!

Ramadan and Food!

   A nice juicy steak with all the trimmings. A big bowl/plate of pasta. A pizza with your favourite topping. Roast potatoes. Molokhya*. Fatta*.  Whatever food you like, and sometimes even ones you don't like much, at some point during the  day in Ramadan you will be thinking about food. If you're not thinking about it, you're talking about it. Or watching a cooking programme. Or reading recipes. Or shopping for/preparing food for Iftar-literally breakfast-the main meal of the day. 

  It may be breakfast Jim, but it's not as we know it! Forget cereal, toast and pancakes. This is a breakfast of soup and dates rice or potatoes of vegetables and meat, especially  in Egypt, meat reigns supreme. No gathering of friends or family would be complete without copious amounts of meat. Red meat cooked in various ways, chicken, turkey, you name it, chances are it'll be on the table!

  

A traditional liquorice juice seller.

  The juices are equally varied but usually include Ammr elDin which is an apricot drink, made from sheets of dried apricots dissolved in hot water (much like sheets of gelatin). Karkadeh is a tea made from the hibiscus flower and can be served hot or cold. Kharoub  is another favourite in my house as is liquorice. All these drinks have medicinal benefits,  some can help regulate blood pressure (Karakadeh lowers while liquorice increases), cholesterol and blood sugar levels-essential when a person has been fasting.  


  And now, dessert! Although the sweets eaten in Ramadan are available all year round, they have a special place in any Ramadan meal. In Egypt most people stick to Oriental sweets at this time of the year, the most popular being konafa a dish made with shredded fillo pastry, drenched in syrup and stuffed with nuts or cream or raisins. Basbousa is a semolina dessert again cooked with syrup. Baklava, golash (pastry not meat) and various other sweet things also make an appearance. 

     


  Sohoor  is the meal eaten about an hour before dawn as a chance to fill up the tank before another day of fasting (all that food from earlier doesn't count!). This is a much lighter meal usually of eggs, fool( broad beans) and cheese. 


  It should be noted at the end of this piece that although food plays a major part of this holy month, it is about much much more. This is the first time I've experienced Ramadan in the heat of summer (Ramadan gets earlier by about 11 days each year, following the lunar cycle) and never in my life have I been more grateful for a glass of cold water and count my blessings that I have access to clean, safe drinking water. And that is the main reason behind this month, to remind us of how lucky we are to be able to eat and drink and to give a taste (if you'll excuse the pun) of how people with little or no food and water feel everyday and to remind us to help as many of those people as we can. A common sight in streets during this month is Moa'ed Rahman  or Mercy Tables where people pay or provide food to feed the needy, these are open to anyone all throughout the month.


All images were found using Google Images. No copyright infringement intended.