Ramadan

 

 Ramadan Kareem everyone! (credit)

Have fun fasting during the summer ...errr...not!

We'll manage!

Oh, pass me by..

I have been contemplating a thought lately.
The thought has slipped my mind.
It has been replaced.
Two people. People I hold dear. Two people I cherish.
They have been contemplating time.
Late.
Forever.
(Notice the influence of "The God of Small Things" , by Arundhati Roy)
What more do we need to convince us of the fact that time is relative? Give me time, not necessarily space. I only need time. I need to go through this again, I need to study and try, I need to fail in order to succeed. In order to learn, I have to go through a series of trial and error attempts, until the error is minimized if not entirely eliminated.
I need time.
Time to remember. Time to forget.

Twenty-whaaat?

Twenty-One
واحد و عشرين
Yep yep! Je suis 21!
And;
 I have an amazing boyfriend. And mom. And dad. And sisters. And brother. And cousins. And best friends. And old friends. And new friends.
It doesn't count how many people actually showed up as much as it counts who!
Who. The friends. The people.
Who went out of their way.
Thank you, world.
Thank you, stars. Thank you, sky. Thank you, 26th of August.
Thank you, God.
One happy girl, one big blue world.
One legal Virgo!

This week

Is my Birthday week!
YAAAY!
So, I decided I'll do all things new:
New Hair! Honey blond highlights and no more A-line.
New riding skills! I can now park.
New spirits!

I decided to start studying. I started going to gym.


because I deserve it. Just that.

Come to think of it, we all deserve a treat every now and then. W e all deserve to be treated like royalty. And this is how I choose to treat myself this week; like royalty.
Maybe dump that old journal when you're not even halfway through and indulge in the delight of a new one.
Eat that butterscotch tart.
Drink that cup of hot chocolate.

Lately

On Monday I bought this amazing book by my favorite Egyptian female writer; Ahdaf Souief: book
I have read The Map of Love and fell in love with it instantly. At once. Just like that.

Mother-ly Issues:
My mom and I have the weirdest mother-daughter bond there could ever be. We fight endlessly and we hurt each other immensely, yet the next minute, you find us laughing and joking about stuff. It hurts to hurt her, especially when I'm snappy and crabby. Yet, I haven't been raised to be the one who apologizes and be all mushy about stuff, I tend to just change the subject and totally ignore it. Which is wrong.

Music:
Last night was this Scorpions tribute concert; Jimy and Osama of Salalem were guests. Jimy ♥ for one song; When the Smoke is Going Down and Osama on the guitar for this song and another. All in all, the concert was really good. And Jimy was even better =3

Cairo:
At the very center of Cairo lies The Shura council, Egypt's Parliament. On the 19th started a fire at around 5 pm on the second floor of what was a beautiful building spreading to the 3rd floor of the 3 story building which fire forces couldn't put of until around 7 am of the next day. Halls and archives were destroyed. Leaves me guessing the ways in which they would abuse tax payers to rebuild the place. I am only architecturally at loss.
Picture from here.

Day 365

If you could see the smile I had on my face last night! 12 am today actually...
We have been together for one year today, the first of many to come (InshAllah) and we went out to get me my anniversary gift; two amazing anklets! I've never owned an anklet before!
I'm so happy... So very happy! And I know Mohammed is happy too.
This leaves only one countdown; my birthday : 8 days to go.
I've been reading a lot of poetry lately
edit: 
It has been an amazing day. It has been one of the best days of a lifetime.
I even bought a new book. Had my favorite coffee. Spent it with my favorite person.
Then we met up with friends. Then my mom got pissed (as usual)

Anniversary in...Two Days!

1. flower from my love, 2. Your home is here, within my heart, 3. happy nappy, 4. love is love, 5. One summer, 6. 365: Day 221, LOVE THYSELF, 7. Wedding: Glenn & Wynette, 8. simple.special.life, 9. Sam and Reanne Engagement shoot

Finally

- an update.
As what might have been correctly assumed; I am home. And I have been busy ever since.
Also, now that my driving license is actually here, I drive around! All the time!
Last night I went to this jazz concert, and God was it amazing...seriously.
The PlayList:

1. Tenor Madness
2. Bright size life
3. Afro Blue
4. Land of the Leal
5. Body and Soul
6. 'Round Midnight
7. Goodbye Porkpie Hat (which I overwhelmingly liked)
8. 9 over Reggae (this too!)
9. Brazilian Like ( I had to leave here)
   
10. The Red One
11. How Insensitive
12. Windows
13. Silver Hollow
14. From Within
15. Impressions
16. Four on Six

On a totally different musical note, pun unintended, I've been listening and very much liking pretty.odd. by Panic at the Disco...
Tell me which songs to download!

Post started on August the 14th, completed on August the 16th.

Ube Cupcakes!

How I was introduced to "Ube":
My brother turned 7 on the 15th of last month.
My dad is a very friendly consultant of anesthesia, who works in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where most nurses are Filipino. Now. there's this one nurse, Yasmeen, who considers my dad the epitome of fatherhood and kindness, and her son's Godfather. Yasmeen, her husband and son asked my dad if they could come over for tea a day before my brother's birthday and brought Purple (ube) cake with them.

What is Ube? Ube means, in Tagalog, purple yam(s), I don't know if we get purple yams in Egypt, but they sell some sort of ube jam here at the Asian section at the supermarket, and you could easily find it in Asian supermarkets. They also sell it in powdered form.

Last night, I decided I would bake some, in cupcake form since it takes less to cook.

Ube Cupcakes Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup of unsalted butter (2 sticks)
2 cups of sugar
4 large eggs (I used 5 small)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2.5 cups of flour
1 cup milk
1 cup ube jam

I changed that a bit, i added more ube jam and a bit less sugar. I also used skimmed milk.

For the frosting:
250 grams of cream cheese
1/2 cup of butter
3 cups of sugar
1/2 cup ube jam

I changed this, too, a bit, added less butter and more ube, and so less sugar. Mix all that and you've got your cream cheese frosting.

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit which is about 170 Celsius.
• Sift flour, baking powder and salt and set aside
• In a different container; mix butter and sugar using a mixer until fluffy
• Add one egg at a time, and mix. Then add ube.
• Add flour mixture and milk, in intervals
• Fill your containers half to two-thirds full and place in the oven for about 20 minutes. The larger the container, the more it will take to bake. Bake till fork/toothpick comes out clean.

Now find your way and decorate your cupcakes. They didn't come out purple, but the icing is sort of a pastel purple, you could use violet food coloring.
If you can find purple yams, then boil and mash them and add them instead of using the jam/powder.
You could also use this:
Purple Yam Frosting

• 3 cups grated cooked purple yam (ube)
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 1/4 cup evaporated milk
• ½ cup butter
• about 1 ½ cups fresh milk

1. In a medium sauce pan, mix purple yam, sugar and evaporated milk and place in medium heat. Keep stirring.
2. Add butter in batches. Alternate with fresh milk. Keep mixing until desired consistency, for spreading or for piping. Remove from heat. Let cool.

Will add pictures later! I'm so proud of moi!

Mosaic!

1. Sara <3, 2. sashimi + beef teriyaki combo, 3. I ♡ PAINTING, 4. Purple rain, 5. Captain Jack Sparrow's Boats, 6. Foodstuff III // Cappuccino Flower, 7. Shakespeare & Co, 8. mm, carvel, 9. Editor, 10. Here comes the sun, 11. random pattern, 12. *Cinnamon Bokeh

Here´s how you do it...
type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search, using only the first page, choose an image, copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker (3 columns, 4 rows).

The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What do 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.

A tribute to: An Inspirational Home

I decided against blogging negatively and so, my last post as deleted.
I am not angry.
I am not angry.
I am not angry.
I found this site today and it sort of made me happy again: CUPCAKES!

Why I felt down:

1. I am not going home tomorrow (still stuck in Jeddah for booking mess ups)
2. I failed two subjects after having literally studied my eyes out of focus. One this term, and one last term.

How I got over it: 

1. Thinking about all the happy times in retrospect.
2. Collecting recipes.
3. All my other grades are good! A+, A, A, B, and the ...ermm F...this term.

Now, I am in serious need of inspiration, and back home, Cairo, there are a number of places that leave me inspired, endlessly.

1. Korba, Heliopolis. Just walking around Korba, down Baghdad street, with the sun shining. And when the weather is too hot stopping for raspberry and yogurt icecream, or Nutella icecream at Manderine Kwaidar. Also, Harris Cafe with their amazing pastas and salads. Great coffee! It's a tiny place with removable ceiling! Well, not literally, sometimes they open it and you can look directly at the sky. Then comes my most favored of all Cilantro Cafes;the Korba branch! For having welcomed me on weekday mornings and making my day for serving my "Cappuccino, tall, skimmed milk". What else is there to love about Korba? Starbucks! The sweetest of all Cairo's Starbucks branches! God, I miss Korba. And all the smiles, and laughs and tears this place has witnessed.
2. Zamalek. As you can tell, I have a thing for walking. Walking around Zamalek! 26th of July street and stopping at Diwan Bookstore*( where I get my Moleskines) which has such an intriguing aroma about it, with the wooden floors and interiors (I also have a thing for wooden interiors) and then after buying some goodies, stopping at the only nonsmoking Cilantro branch which also has amazing wooden interiors. Now this could be the only place in the world smaller than Harris, Korba. THE PLACE IS TINY! It's split in half, vertically. Nothing could cheer me up more than a walk around Zamalek, and stopping at random stores with hidden treasures and watching the Nile. Memories, oh, memories. Not forgetting to mention that, Zamalek is home of the Sawy Culturewheel.
3. Azhar Park (site) there is simply nothing more to say. This place is magical.
4. Falouka rides, The Nile. You need to experience that to know what it feels like. A great feeling that could be yet again intensified in the presence of good company.

Now, there's one more place left, yet I won't include that in the list since it is not in Cairo.
Alexandria.
"Mermaid of the Mediterranean", cruising down Alexandrian streets is like doing so a century ago, when pretty things mattered, when pretty things existed. And the view I get from our place there, too. A truly inspirational experience.

If you ever questioned why I love home so much, and why I am this home sick. Now that's why.
* their Heliopolis Branch is just as amazing, a lot bigger too.

Because I am angry

As much as I hate to admit it, as much as it is true:
I freaking hate Cairo University.
I failed two subjects because they chose to be assholes. Because my hell of a doctor decided not to give me my midterm marks, even though she said she would. To hell with it, seriously.

I freaking hate SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES TOO!  Because they won't find us seats to go back home. And I NEED to go home.
So now, I am not yet a graduate until i take the freaking make-ups and I am still stuck in Jeddah for another week.
Will update later