Egypt

After the worldwide scare of bird flu, Egypt saw several cases. Not surprising since Egypt is on one of the main migratory routes for birds from Europe and Asia south to Africa. The flu is caused by a strain of avian influenza virus called H5N1. Governments have been stockpiling Tamiflu, an oral medication for flu, in anticipation of a worldwide pandemic.

Here is an Egyptian man called Yehya (يحيى Arabic for John), although it is pronounced "Yaya".He was on Jimmy Kimmel Live on the 13th of September.He is a handyman by day, and celebrity stalker by night. He just wants to have his picture taken with famous celebrities. He has accumulated 1,600 such photos.His technique is typical Egyptian: he gives the celebrity a gift, which is a souvenir camel figure.His accent is typical Egyptian too. He says "biktshur" (picture), "Robert Williams" (Robin Williams), "Little Women" (Lethal Weapon), "Sixty Second" (Sixth Sense), "elephant" (dolphin).

A humorous self-critical look at an Egyptian:

A typically Egyptian fruit seems to have its origin from faraway places.

Known as Harankash حرنكش or الست المستحية or الست المستخبية (the shy woman), it is sold by street vendors. It has an orange color, and sweetish taste that has a tangy sour tone.

The scientific name is Physalis peruviana It belongs to the Solanacea family, and is closely related to the tomatoes. Its native land is Central America, Peru and Chile, from which it has been transplanted to parts of Africa, including Egypt.

The fruit is wrapped in a papery husk, giving it its name. It is eaten as a casual fruit in Egypt, and said to be on the menu for diplomatic receptions, as a distinctive Egyptian fruit.

One of the less common fruits in Egypt is the sycamore fig, known locally as gemeiz جميز. In English, it is known as Sycamore, Sycomore, Fig Mulberry. In Turkish, it is known as cumbez.

Botanical Information

The Sycamore fig tree should not be confused with other trees called sycamore in northern Europe, which are actually maples.

The sycamore fig tree (Ficus sycomorus sycomorus, and F. sycomorus gnaphalocarpa) belong to the fig family, which includes the common edible fig (Ficus carica), and the Banyan tree.

In many cultures, a small number of people pick bad names for their kids to keep them away from envy, evil eye, or demons.In Egypt, you can find some rural families calling their kids strange and offensive names, to prevent harm from coming to them. This is specially true for a family that has all its male children die in childhood, or something like that.Names such as El Shahhat الشحات (the begger), Shehata شحاتة (begging) are used. This practice is not exclusively Egyptian though.Malaysia recently introduced a set of rules to prevent such practices among its varied ethnicities:

The BBC has an article on how a gem in one of King Tut's necklaces is actually made of natural glass that formed from a meteorite that exploded over the Western Desert.Here is an article on Space.com on the crater, called El Kebira ( الكبيرة "The Big" in Arabic), and here is a satellite photo.

For years, the Egyptian Cuisine section on the Baheyeldin web site has been one of the most visited parts of the site. Visitors were asking for recipes and not just background information and history.

So, today, we launched the Egyptian Cuisine Recipes just as visitors requested, with more than 70 recipes ready for you to try.

After spending almost a month and a half in prison, Alaa has finally been released.

Resource

• My original post on Alaa's detention, dated May 14.
• Alaa's post in solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood (in Arabic it says: "A thousand greetings to the Muslim Brotherhood"). One has to really taste what others go through to sympathize with them.
• Washington Post article on Alaa's release.
  

One of the popular dishes in Egypt, as well as all over the eastern Mediterranean is stuffed vine leaves.The recipe is not a simple one, but it is basically rice mixed with tomato paste, parsley, minced meat that is cooked first. Separately, the vine leaves are blanched in boiling water. The mix is then stuffed in the leaves which are rolled so that the rice does not fall off. It is served with a youghurt dip that has crushed garlic and  cucumbers.Maple trees are all too common in Southern Ontario. The leaves looked very similar to the vine leaves. Since maple syrup is made from the sap of the tree, one can assume that the leaves are safe to eat too.