Food in China

A family picnic in Crown Plaza  

We have been warned about the food in China before we came and had prepared a list of  restaurants that offer Halal food but we were disappointed all the same.  It is not that Chinese food is bad or tasteless- my kids used to eat at Panda house and Chinese corner in Cairo all the time- but we could never make sure if it had pork or not.

In all the regular Chinese restaurants  we tried , there were no English menus and few waiters spoke English.  Since all the Chinese we knew was "nee haw" and " "cece", communication was impossible in any way.  Our list of Islamic restaurants was no good too because the ones near our hotel turned out to be under construction or mobilization! For the first couple of days we still had hope to find one and when we finally got there, we were totally disillusioned.   

The smell was awful, the place looked dirty and ,to our surprise and dismay, there was nothing Islamic about the menu; they had many pork dishes and even more, they had some donkey meat.   The smell of boiled cabbage permeated the place and I felt a sudden urge to vomit or cry, neither of which I could do in front of my kids!  The only beef they had in that restaurant was served raw with vegetables and we had to do the cooking in their hot pot!  No offense meant or anything, but in our Egyptian culture, you go to a restaurants  to be served and pampered, not to do the cooking yourself. I was in no mood to try any new cooking experience.  Had I not been tired to death with every muscle and joint aching after four days of traveling and sightseeing, I would have loved the idea of a hot pot on a restaurant table and cooked for my family in the manner I used to do for the last twenty years. BUT I COULD NOT DO IT THEN OR THERE.  That was way too much.  Nora almost fainted from fatigue and disgust and we decided to leave after ordering two dishes that no one could eat.

But at least we knew better than trying to find other restaurants, Halal or no Halal, we will not set foot into any Beijing restaurants   again.   

After four days of near starvation, we decided to save what remained of our energy by eating a big lunch in the kids' hotel room. We finally came across 711 and there we got the only foods we could recognize: toast, cheese, boiled eggs, Pepsi, fruits and chocolates.  Since the hotel room had only one small table and one chair, on which I sat in front of the treats, everyone else sat on beds and waited for their turn to eat. I had never seen my children so happy to eat the cheese and eggs  sandwiches I made. They savored every bite of the food with huge appetite and asked for more!  That was one hell of a picnic.  We still love China!

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

sweet little things 2

Yes, I insist; life can be joyful. You must work hard to spot happiness anywhere and grab it. It will not come easy to you if you do not do your best to seize it.

 Despite the traffic jam, despite the rubbish heaps on every street corner, despite drivers cursing one another and homeless children selling tissue paper as a means of begging; despite non-stop TV commercials urging you to pay the last pound in your pocket to help save the life of poor sick children, or participate in the education of promising needy youth; despite all the misery in your heart and around you.

Despite everything… life can be joyful; life must be joyful. Don’t lose faith; don’t surrender to the tensions and worries; open yourself to all possibilities; open your eyes and heart to the little things that are the substance of happiness and life; look in the eyes of your child; listen to their pure laughter; rejoice in their unconditional love and acceptance of you; touch their hair and hug them; try to feel their heart beats; try to indulge in their little dreams and to make them come true. The sight of a beautiful bird on a tree, a lovely flower in a garden; the smell of baking, a lovely dress on a girl with smooth hair can change your mood. Just keep your senses open to the world and be keen on receiving little joyful things that will make you happy… for a while. Yes, happiness is brief, but it is worth taking the trouble to find.    

Excerpt 3 The Good Wife

Hala went into the sitting room, the one saved for guests and never used by the family, the chairs that usually outgrew their owners and see more than one generation.  The rocking chair, her mother's, looked inviting with its soft crimson velvet fabric and the golden embroidered cushions on it,  but she was too restless to sit down. She was attracted by the patch of sunshine outside and went straight to the window to get a feeling of warmth that she desperately needed. She was faced with the neighbor's laundry hanging, neatly organized: small pieces on the front lines, followed by the bigger ones. The clothes looked whiter than any clothes she had ever washed or hanged; the type of radiant whitens that Hala believed was possible only in Ariel commercials.  How she envies that woman and admires her housekeeping skills, without even knowing her name. They talked only twice, once when their eyes met while both were busy hanging clothes and the second time when they met by the elevator and she took the opportunity to ask her about her maid. She has always wanted a maid to come once a week but for years, Salem did not agree, especially after the incident of the little servant they had when the twins were little. He does not trust strangers, he would simply announce and if she insisted he would proceed with the "the good wife" sermon. A good wife does this, a good wife does that and would go on forever and she would drop the subject and try to be a "good wife". 

Sweet little things

Sweet little things

"Tomorrow, tomorrow , I love you tomorrow; you're always a day away!!"

Do you remember those lyrics from the lovely Annie movie as the sweet little girl sings for her dog promising it things will get better tomorrow? Here is the link to remind you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ5DORLwJY0&feature=related

This is the motto I live by; actually all Egyptians do; we are too indulged in the struggles and disappointments of everyday life to feel an ounce of simple joy.

We are used to postponing joy and happiness and well -being to the future.  We have no time for joy; no time for the little sweet things in life that make it bearable, if not happy. Happiness, fulfillment, peace, and even health are "always  a day away", like the little movie heroine promises. Nothing is to be enjoyed today. For us, today is just a passage to tomorrow and the tomorrow we all wait for never comes.

 A heart-felt laugh, a peaceful evening with soft music, a heart-warming conversation with a true friend, a good movie with the family, a hug to a little child, an outing to the park are little sweet things that we miss, things that can change the quality of our life and boost our energy and spirits. 

I remember the time when I lived with my family in the STATES and was amazed at how Americans enjoy their time at no cost at all.  The walk in the park with the kids, the watermelon festivals; the marathons in the early mornings, and my all time favorite activity: strawberry picking are just a few examples.

 When the strawberries are ripe in spring, families are allowed to go into the fields, each person with an empty container to fill it with strawberry and spend great time picking it.  My twins were only seven months old when we took them to the strawberry field with the older kids. That was one of the most fun and enjoyable days we ever had.  The tiny green plants ornamented with fresh red strawberries ready for picking; the children racing to get the largest and reddest fruits, then running to wash and eat them, the lovely photos we took of the twins sitting on the ground and fighting one another to get the bucket full of strawberries. The fun and joy we experienced that day as a family is still remembered by all of us.

 Why cannot we enjoy the tedious days we live by adding a sweet strawberry on top of all what we do. Let's all have fun; let's all enjoy the present moment because it is all we have for now. Let's hope tomorrow will be better but never forget that today counts more.

Sophisticated (excerpt 2)

Sophisticated 

   The word "sophisticated" has always fascinated me                  

for no apparent reason; maybe because it had no equivalent in Arabic, my mother tongue, an exact equivalent, that is. I was fond of Arabic and believed it is richer and more expressive than English (which is true) but ever since I started to study English literature, I fell in love with English. I kept the little dictionary uncle Mahmud gave me in my handbag all the time and opened it on the bus whenever I had nothing else to read; never bothering about my colleagues who believed me to be a book worm and joked  about my transistor dictionary. It was the eighties and   and students would carry transistor radios and later Walk-mans and earphones, while I was reading a novel or writing in my diaries on our way to and from the university.

On our very first drama class the word "sophisticated" acquired new connotations for me When Dr. Negm, trying to explain its meaning picked me out of the fifty nine students as an example of a "sophisticated" lady. That was something, for your professor to ask you to join him in front of the whole class and  act like a living model of he a fictional character as sophisticated.I found the situation very flattering; and I loved the way other students started to elaborate on the meaning of the word just by looking at me: classy, elegant, and expensive, of good taste, has great expectations. The blood rushed to my face and Deena told me I looked ridiculousness and thus negated the main point of being sophisticated with my shyness. She believed that being daring is an essential component of being a sophisticated person and this, both I and Deena were sure, was never part of my personality. Deena believed that with my neat, trendy French clothes, shoes and bags, my styled hair and a touch of expensive perfume, together with my perfect pronunciation of a language that other students struggled with, I might pass as one. But to those who know me well I am a shy, dreamy and naive girl. Deena was my best friend since first grade and sometimes I felt she knew me better than myself.  She  was right; an attractive appearance, love of literature, dreams, and "great expectations" are not enough qualifiers  for a sophisticated person.  I was thrilled for the description all the same and I tried to maintain the "shell of circumstances" that made others think I was sophisticated. Can you blame an eighteen year old student to be thrilled when described with the big word "sophisticated"?   

Excerpt (1) from Safe or Sound? kitchen scene

Hala struggled to grasp the idea and keep it at the back of her mind; it was a smart solution to the most complicated problem in her thesis that kept bothering her for the last month. It popped into her mind like a fire work of all shapes and colors as she put the meat in boiling water to cook for lunch. She knew she would have to work hard and long to put the sparkling idea into shape so that she would not have to miss up the rest of the chapters she had already finished ; the chapters approved by both the supervisors who rarely agree on anything at all. Those damn university regulations never fail to make my life a torture since I started writing my PhD.

Hala knew for sure that Salem would be upset if the food was not ready the moment he comes home. So she did not leave the kitchen to write her idea; instead, she decided to move the meat, which refused to cook after half an hour, to the pressure pot and start right away with the salad.  She moved nervously form the sink, where she had soaked lettuce in water and vinegar, to the fridge, to get tomatoes and cucumbers. She heard the key click in the door announcing Salem's arrival. "Thank God, I have washed the vegetables last night" she murmured to herself. She grabbed the cutting board from the rack where it was hanged and  the salad bowl from the top shelf and started to make the salad. She heard Salem's steps as he went to the bathroom then the living room and knew she would better hurry up and serve his lunch.  She ran to the fridge to get the dressing she prepared before as her mother advised. She was grateful that everything was ready when she suddenly detected a faint burning smell; Oh my God, now I have to start rice pudding all over again; she turned off the cook and took the plates to the dining table. I will soak some rice and it will be ready by the time he wakes up after his nap. I am not going to sleep anyway; I will have to work this long chapter out or I will lose track of how to do it.

Excerpt (1) from my upcoming novel: 

Safe or Sound?

The best shopper ever (2)!!!

The best shopper ever (2)!!!

"I want you to take the size of Nora's pants right now. I will call you back in five minutes. I am standing at the counter with two sizes and I want to see which one fits better", my husband says in his tenth oversees call to inquire about the size of this pair of pants.

In the first call, Mohamed asks what size he should buy. Then he doubts that the same size in his hand is too tight, so he makes another call to ask us to measure the waist of her favorite jeans.

The third time , he calls to let me know how clever he was since the size 30 I told him to get for her is too tight and that he wants to get 32.  The next call is about the length, and the following one is about her favorite color. He is puzzled when she tells him that she likes  red, green, blue, purple and orange and asks him to chose for her. A few minutes later he calls to tell me that he bought all five colors of the same pants!!!

A few moments later, he calls again about a dress for me or a T. shirt for Ali and we go about the whole process of taking the measures all over again, then the call about the colors and then the final decision that he will get all three available colors!!!

I freak out; not because of this fatherly devotion and generosity but because of the patience and physical effort he exerts to buy clothes for all of us and always forgetting about himself.

It is not just about clothes, but all other stuff.  If you are following the blog regularly, you must know by now his obsession with appliances and gadgets and electronics when you read "Waffle Makers and Friends". Mohamed is always travelling, and since he is a very family bound person, living most of the time without his family, he finds solace in shopping for the family. It is a psychological need that urges him to roam all malls and shops in the provincial town where he works looking for the things that we like and buy them for us.  There is also an element of skill that I should not overlook; the man has a great taste, and he is a good opportunity hunter.

When I or one of the children visit him, the daily chores of shopping double or triple as he insists to take us to all the places that he roams when we are not around. The last time I visited him I was amazed at the circle of friends he made while shopping for us. Whenever we go into a mall, all shop assistants and check out persons hurry to greet him. They insist that he sees all the new arrivals and check out all the offer items. One Indian salesman even hid some items for him, without asking, so that he can choose whatever he likes. I was tongue tied; I was sure they did this for him not because of tips, tips for sales assistants happens only in Egypt.  All sales person automatically sympathize with the big Egyptian guy who spends most of his time, and money shopping for his family!  He is a valued customer everywhere.  

In the supermarket I insist we get two trolleys and each goes his/her way to finish the list quickly. Usually, I finish first and want to check out and leave.  When I call him a hundred times to come to the counter, there is still a round of shopping that he will make; he starts to take stuff out of my trolley and replaces it with cheaper and usually better quality things from his trolley.  I feel really stupid; no wonder I really hate shopping for groceries. When we go home, I find he got double the list I wanted, all good stuff that I do not need!!

Is not that enough to make my husband the best shopper ever!!!  Please say Mash' Allah after reading this and wish for a great husband like mine.