From my blog on Egypt:

Eat Your Heart Out, Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain will be a resounding theme of my trip to Egypt. Being a big fan of “No Reservations”, Anthony’s show where he travels the world in search of food as a window to culture, we found ourselves enjoying almost all the food (as he does), visiting remote locations, and seeing what the locals truly eat. From pigeon to kushari, the food was a wonderful complement to Egypt.

After reaching the hotel at 3am on Saturday morning from Amsterdam, Kim and I left for the bus station and the Bahariya Oasis in Central Egypt at 6:30am. We were met by our guide for the trip – Kromel – who led us to the bus and we set out on our 5 hour trip. When we arrived at our location in the oasis, we stopped on the side of the road at a local museum. Made out of mud and palm trees – the structure resembles a house with sculptures of would be family members throughout the rooms. Greeted by the artist who created the museum from scratch, Mahmoud showed us around.

Next, we had lunch at his home, which was a lovely start to our trip with a tomato and cucumber salad, fried fish marinated in garlic and onion with other spices and rice, and pita bread of course – a delicious start to our self-fulfilling prophecy of “Becoming Bourdain” (Antoinette?). As we sat on the floor of Mahmoud’s home – we met his three children, drank fresh water from the oasis, and we learned that he would be our driver and guide, with Kromel, for our time in the oasis. As we ventured out into the black desert and then the white, we came upon some men in a rural area who showed us Roman ruins, we stopped to get a chi-cha pipe to enjoy by the campfire and drove through the fantastic natural structures formed in the white desert. These naturally occurring features appear to be busts of sorts grown out of the desert – some look like George Washington and some prairie dog.

Then, we found our camp for the night and the environment was set. A table was put out and a fire started. We chopped vegetables for the salad and Mahmoud put the marinated chicken on the fire. With a small propane devise – the rice and noodles were made. Who knew that traditional ramen-type noodles – with a bit of garlic, lemon, and tomatoes could be so good. The chicken was heaven and the potatoes were as well…we talked and sang by the fire and slept under the stars. The best start to the trip and, in the end, our favorite part.

When we returned to Cairo, we asked our driver to stop somewhere good for falafel take away – a small joint gave us five pitas filled with different goodness for a total of $3. EYHO, AB!

The Sites

Unlike AB, we saw the pyramids. All were as impressive as expected but so close to the city…they lost a bit of their grandeur but no worries – there was much more to come.

In continuing our search to exceed and supercede Anthony Bourdain – Kim and I ventured out into downtown Cairo looking for food. Sure – we saw Pizza Hut, Hardees, McDonalds, and Little Caesars…but that’s not what we wanted. We continued walking – the only Westerners on the street – and Kim said- let’s go in here. I feared that we couldn’t read the menu -- what to order? A man greets us and says – Small, Medium, Large. Whew – we can do that – small please! What arrived was a traditional dish that we had heard about and were supposed to try – kushari. It looks like something I would “cook” as a child in g’ma’s kitchen, different noodles, chick peas, fried onions, and tomato sauce spread over it all. Quite delish although a nap is in order directly after. Ah yes – we continue our Bourdain status.


Pope in Cairo

Only ten percent of Egypt is Christian indicated by a small cross tattooed on their inner wrist. Our friend had agreed to show us around Cairo and told us Wednesday night the Pope of Egypt would be at the cathedral in Cairo answering questions from the congregation. So he came to get Kim and I and we took the metro (underground train) to the cathedral. It was a big occasion and it felt most familiar because the women didn’t wear any head dress and there was a warmth and openness to the people. We bought the sacred bread on the street for the service (EYHO, AB) and went in to witness the ceremony. It was more fanfare than we expected – lights, cameras, boom mics, etc. This was to be broadcast on local TV and Kim and I are pretty sure we made the show based on some heavy camera action. The Pope answered questions from the audience like, “Is it okay to tell lies – even ‘white’ lies?” – falling on April Fools Day this was particularly relevant --but the Pope said… a lie is a lie is a lie. Other very relevant questions were answered and it was an interesting thing to see such frank and open discussion (they had headphones with translation so we actually knew what was being asked).

After mass, back on the metro to eat at one of our friend's favorite places….the main dish…pigeon stuffed with rice. Tres AB, but also like Mr. Bourdain, it wasn’t our favorite…not much meat on the Egyptian pigeons.

Our final day in Cairo, Kromel would meet us for a felucca (sailboat) ride on the Nile and one last Bourdain moment before we boarded the train. This would solidify our status; we enjoyed hommos – a spicy soup with chickpeas in the bottom drank through a straw. After a quick climb over the guard rail, we sat on plastic stools admiring the water and all the young Egyptians - "lovers" - on the banks of the Nile. We had reached….nay….surpassed our EYHO, AB goals.