Living in a Cloud

We have been in Egypt for nearly 3 months now.  Every day it has been sunny with endless blue sky with very very few clouds...until today.  It is getting cooler in Cairo as we inch closer to Christmas.  It was around 14 degrees Celsius this morning.  We looked outside to see this!

We are on the 3rd floor of our building.  We were standing on the balcony.

Dimples checking out the fog on the balcony.

It was extremely foggy.  There are many buildings within a couple feet from our building.  As you can see by the picture, the visibility was virtually ZERO!  Our building was inside of a cloud.  Not something we experience every day here in Egypt that is for sure.


So, today became an inside day.  The cloud has lifted now and the endless blue sky has returned...with very few clouds I might add.  After cleaning the kitchen extensively, I decided to mess it up again with some cooking.


I do not claim to be the best cook, nor the healthiest eater, but I try hard on both accounts.  The food we have access to here is different than at home, and my oven works only at the best of times.  So, I have learned to adapt.  And with that adaptation, I have become a more creative cook.  Mostly because I cannot access everything as easily or as regularly as I could in Canada.  Meat also spoils faster here so I cannot buy a lot and store it.  I can only buy a couple meat items at a time and I have to prepare them in the first 24 hours.  The other interesting component of food here is the process of grocery shopping is different every time.  If you find something you like, buy a lot of it because it may not be there next time.  This is especially true for anything that is imported.  But, even produce varies week by week.  I could not find cantaloupe or mango anywhere in the store, and last week, we could not find bananas.  Most of the produce is local, very little is imported, which explains the differences in supply.


Anyway, back to my creations of the day.  Today I decided to take everything out of the fridge and use what I could find.  I made a very scrumptious couscous meal and a delicious tzatziki sauce.  Hubby loved it all, except for the peas in the couscous, they did not turn out as I would have liked.  Either way, the result of this particular lunch has inspired me to deviate from cookbooks and recipes and follow my instincts.  These meals are both my own creations without a recipe.

The garnish ingredients for the couscous dish.

Finished product.  The base is couscous and red lentils, corn and peas.  The toppings include, feta cheese, balsamic glazed red onions, fresh tomato and fresh basil.

The ingredients lined up for the Tzatziki sauce.

Ready to enjoy! The bread is Shamy bread...similar to pita bread.

Perhaps I will create a food page from here on out for those that are interested.  I have been receiving inspiration from many places and can share that information as well.  For now, enjoy the few pictures of our delicacies from today.