See Food

Yesterday we had dinner at our favorite seafood place, Star Fish. You know when a meal is so good you are still thinking about it the next day? Yea, that's how good it was. Alhamdulillah for leftovers.

Beautiful, fresh pita bread

Seafood soup, my favorite part.

Various salads

The spread

Yum!

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Beauty Product Junkie

I've always been a beauty product junkie. I love make up, lotions and potions. E's been on a few business trips recently and he always brings me back something from the duty free, mashaAllah.

This was my Mother's day gift last week.

These were from a few weeks ago, I've already used up a bit. I'm trying to get in the habit of using up my stuff instead of saving it for some unknown reason.

I'm going to give myself a manicure soon.

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A Message From Houda

This is just to let the readers of  MyHijabPlus know, that Houda has, for some personal reasons, had to close her blog and facebook, hopefully temporarily. She just wanted you all to know she's ok and not blocking her readers out but has had to for reasons beyond her control. I'm sure you understand. Hope to see you soon Houda. :)

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Bought Recently

Just sharing with you all some things I've purchased recently. I know it's completely shallow, but I love shopping. Really, I love when I find something great that I love for me or my kids, not the actual drudgery of going and searching, etc. Especially here because most of the time it's individual shops not all in a mall or shopping center but when I do find something I love, which isn't easy 'cause I'm so picky, it's great.

The 2 necklaces on the right are new, they were super duper discounted at Aldo Accessories. I'd never buy them full price, way too high for costume jewelry. The one on the left I've had for a while.

A friend recommended hanging them cause they would get all tangled up in my drawer, so here,they live nicely inside my wardrobe door.

These shoes were also on sale 50% off, and I just loved this color. You know I love wedges. They pinch a little but I'm going to try wearing them at home with thick socks to stretch them out a little.

 

This scarf was not on sale but just so pretty, I knew it would go great with my favorite black abaya and my red bow ring. It's pretty slippery so an under-scarf is necessary but I love the colors.

While I'm on the subject of accessories,shoes and the like, let me ask you all something. Do you match your shoes to your bag?

I always have and sometimes I feel like it's become a burden.  I know I can do what I want, and no one's forcing me to match but for some reason I can't get past the idea that they need to match at least a little. Like for example, the cream shoes, they could go with a matching cream patent bag or a multi colored bag that has cream in it? I don't know why it just feels wrong if I wear them with a black bag. I have issues, I know.

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Hijab Fashion Magazine Again

I picked up this magazine and figured it would be great fodder for the blog. See how much I love you guys? Much to my shagrin, most of the stuff in there wasn't nearly as ugly as the last time. It comes in plastic so I went by the cover which is awful but here's a few bad ideas and some nice ones.

Now, I know Yay Egypt and all and yes, we are free but that doesn't mean you are free to desecrate the flag in this way! Really lady? Crinkle flag top? I saw the cover and thought, ok they're making a magazine cover, it's not an honest fashion suggestion. UNTIL...

These are actual suggestions on how to incorporate the Egyptian flag in your outfit. Wrap it about yourself in such a way that says I AM EGYPT!

I think it's lame, ugly and kinda disrespectful, but hey, It might work for a rally or something?

Now for the not so bad. It seems to me, for my taste, the abayas that are actually wearable are great except for one thing that has to ruin it. One design element too many. Like this one below, its cute but I'd like it better without the dangly beads. Easily fixable though.

This one, I like a lot. The color is nice, the shape is good and I like the beading. I just don't care for the mesh part in the middle. I'm more of a simple style girl.

This one would be nice without that weird flap/fold thing on the bottom. Take that part off and I'd totally like this.

Designers, know when to stop. Citizens of Egypt, wearing red, white and black is cool, wearing a shirt with the Egyptian flag on it is cool, wearing the actual flag is not.

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Parenthood

The show.


After many recommendations I decided to watch the nbc show Parenthood online. It just finished it's second season so it wasn't too much. I haven't had a show that I liked, you know, just had to watch since Lost ended.

So anyone watch it? I really liked it. The cast is great, I've always liked Lauren Graham since Gilmore Girls and Peter Krause from Six Feet Under. The series starts out a little shmaltzy like super lovey dovey but conflict comes up pretty soon.

I believe it might be the first show to have a child with Autism (Aspergers)  as a main story line. It's informative and heartfelt without taking over the whole show. I'm sure many families appreciate having that mirrored on tv.

It makes me wish my family all lived near by. Not that I didn't before but, you know. They're always stopping by each other's homes and offices. I love the chemistry, they all seem like real family and the dialog is natural and funny. I love the opening theme song/credits as well.

What are you favorite shows? Any recommendations?

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Cool Stuff

Some recent things of interest.

Safiyah playing X Box kinect. Awesome but she wasted most of her allowance on a quick turn.

Remember these? My mom got it for the kids, hours of fun.

These stickers are being sold everywhere, they look like the Egyptian license plates.

Cute refrigerator magnets :)

A friend of ours' dog. He's the sweetest!

Also, I wanted to say that my thoughts and prayers go out to all the people affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Horrifying what has happened there.

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Peanut Butter Squares

This is a recipe I've used a couple of times before, but it's been a while. It's a no bake kinda copy of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. They are really good and really rich. Smaller squares are actually better than how I cut them. This is the recipe but I tweaked it according to the many reviews.  You're gonna want a cold glass of milk.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 cups peanut butter (1 jar)
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs (Marie biscuits worked great if you're in Egypt)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (Or chopped up chocolate, I used dark because that's what I had but I'd recommend milk chocolate for sure)

Directions

1. Melt 3/4 cup butter or margarine over low heat or in the microwave. Remove from heat and stir in confectioners' sugar, peanut butter and graham cracker crumbs. I used a hand mixer on low. Spread mixture in 9 X 13 pan. A plastic bag over your hand works well for this. Pat down evenly.
2. To Make Topping: Melt together 1/4 cup butter or margarine with 2 cup chocolate chips. Spread this mixture over peanut butter mixture. Refrigerate 1 hour. Cut into squares.

Keep refrigerated. You can freeze them, wrapped individually as well.

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Little Differences

Just a little post about some of the small differences between the US and Egypt. Most of these things are pretty normal to me by now but to those outside Egypt, might be interesting.

We still have pull tab top soda cans.

And it's Coke Light. Not Diet Coke here.

A large percentage of Egyptians don't have gas lines, so we get cooking gas in these hideous propane tanks by the stove.

Milk comes in a box like this and doesn't need refrigeration. Like Parmilat in the US but it's become so normal to us now. I don't like the  fresh  milk here. It's just not the same. I find the Juhayna Skim tastes closest to the 2% in America.

The washing machine is in the bathroom. Some people even have it in the kitchen. I couldn't do that but yea, no dryers either.

Which brings us to: Everyone line dries their laundry in the balcony (which everyone has) Even the rich people. Well, their maids line dry their clothes.

Arabic Keyboard

Round plug. I don't know if it's just our apartment but these are so loose and the plugs fall out sometimes.

That's all I could think of today. Got any?

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For Women Guest Blog

I was honored to be chosen by Jessyz of Chocolate Mints In A Jar to guest blog on her For Women themed month. Here is my guest blog post over there. I'm looking forward to reading all the various topics posted from Egyptian women bloggers she's chosen. Read my post on A Culture Of Gold In Egypt..

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Accessories And Instagram

Instagram is one of my favorite iphone apps. It allows you to apply various filters to your photos to make them look like they came from your grandparents' attic or just look a little more artistic. I've demonstrated it out here to  show some accessories I bought kinda recently,(70% off sale at Accessorize!)

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