We've not been keeping on top of blogging with various things going on, so I'm going to make an attempt to catch back up with things.
I'm going to start with plans, and then work backwards I think...although that makes very little chronological sense.
MUSIC
We've got a few gigs lined up which is exciting - gigs that we will be watching, rather than playing in which is even cooler! The first is next week when we're hoping we'll finally get to the Cairo Jazz Club and will get to see Glass Onion. They are an awesome Beetles tribute band and they sound spot on so it should be a very fun night. A colleague of ours is the drummer, so we hope to go along with a few people from work to have a good group together.
Then in two weeks' time there are two gigs going on; Rock at the Pyramids and then Rock Stop. We won't actually go to the Rock at the Pyramids gig even though it does sound awesome (Queen, Pink Floyd and Coldplay tribute acts on the Sound and Light stage in front of the pyramids). It's going to be 6 hours long and starts at 10pm - way past our bedtime (even if it isn't on a school night!) so we just can't justify the ticket price considering we'd probably fall asleep after one band! We do plan to get to Rock Stop, though, which is an afternoon event at the weekend and includes a few musicians we've seen before - and some new ones. More on the gigs once we've enjoyed them!
FOOD
Last night we went out to have dinner at a new restaurant in Maadi. It's a place we walk by a lot and has changed hands twice since we've moved here. We've never been too attracted to the restaurants / coffee shops that have taken up residence in the area it's situated, but thought we'd give this one a go as we'd heard others had visited it. At first I thought it would be a standard 'Italian' but it actually claimed 'fine Italian dining'. There were a few other people in there when we arrived, but we were soon the only people there. They had a cover charge which included some nice breads and a too tasty blue cheese dip along with two olive-based dips.
To start we had mushrooms and a caprese salad. I must say that the mushrooms were very good; oven baked, instead of fried, and a nice amount of garlic on them. The salad too was good and they didn't scrimp on the mozzarella, but could have had some dressing on the side maybe. For the mains Scotty had veal and I had sea bass - mainly because I was quite excited to see something different on the menu. What was nice was that they served the vegetables and potato on the side; which in my case was spinach (again - excited to see this on a menu) and sauteed potatoes. Yum! Scotty found that his sauce was a bit bland, but I found mine slightly overpowering (a lot of butter was involved I reckon!).
It was more expensive than we thought it would be from the outside, mainly because the menu lists a price that is 'plus plus' (i.e. plus a tax and plus a service charge) but also because I think that the level of food quality in there is higher than other Italian restaurants in Maadi. I would go there again, but only as a treat. Scotty, however, thinks the food quality is about the same as other places but the setting is nicer.
We did finish our evening off (somehow we made room in our bulging bellies) with another treat; ice cream from Stavolta. This ice cream place has been a real hit in Maadi and is a good excuse to walk in to Degla. They always have new flavours in that they make from fresh ingredients - last visit I had their hibiscus sorbet and this time I tried their lemon, orange and carrot sorbet which was a lot tastier than it first sounds! It was very lemon and citrus-y, but with only a hint of carrot at times.
WORK
So, why did we deserve that treat? Well we'd had one of the craziest weeks at work yet. For the last two weeks since coming back from our half-term, we've been in full-on rehearsals for the school production and this week were the final rehearsals and performances. We love getting involved in these, even though we know how much hard work and how intense the final few weeks always are. We had three performances planned (two early evening and one matinee) but ended up doing a fourth performance because people were enjoying it so much. But 'phew' it's over with now and we can sit down, and we can sleep and we can do nothing! It does always feel a little strange to have something that takes up so much time, thought and energy just gone, but I'm sure our bodies and minds will thank us!
LIFE
All around us other things have been going on. Things are gearing up for the presidential elections and so we have been following the news closely. Around in Maadi we haven't felt much effect of the elections just yet. There has been some unrest down town and around the Ministry, but this seems to have been localised (although the reports of deaths two days ago was a worry). In Maadi we have seen candidate posters up and today we've seen the first banners up. With fewer candidates I wonder if the banners and posters will cover as many surfaces as they did in November, but we'll have to wait and see.
We also made our baby news public via Facebook. The number of lovely comments from people was quite overwhelming, and has made the whole thing seem even more 'real' now that people are regularly asking how things are going.
I'm going to start with plans, and then work backwards I think...although that makes very little chronological sense.
MUSIC
We've got a few gigs lined up which is exciting - gigs that we will be watching, rather than playing in which is even cooler! The first is next week when we're hoping we'll finally get to the Cairo Jazz Club and will get to see Glass Onion. They are an awesome Beetles tribute band and they sound spot on so it should be a very fun night. A colleague of ours is the drummer, so we hope to go along with a few people from work to have a good group together.
Then in two weeks' time there are two gigs going on; Rock at the Pyramids and then Rock Stop. We won't actually go to the Rock at the Pyramids gig even though it does sound awesome (Queen, Pink Floyd and Coldplay tribute acts on the Sound and Light stage in front of the pyramids). It's going to be 6 hours long and starts at 10pm - way past our bedtime (even if it isn't on a school night!) so we just can't justify the ticket price considering we'd probably fall asleep after one band! We do plan to get to Rock Stop, though, which is an afternoon event at the weekend and includes a few musicians we've seen before - and some new ones. More on the gigs once we've enjoyed them!
FOOD
Last night we went out to have dinner at a new restaurant in Maadi. It's a place we walk by a lot and has changed hands twice since we've moved here. We've never been too attracted to the restaurants / coffee shops that have taken up residence in the area it's situated, but thought we'd give this one a go as we'd heard others had visited it. At first I thought it would be a standard 'Italian' but it actually claimed 'fine Italian dining'. There were a few other people in there when we arrived, but we were soon the only people there. They had a cover charge which included some nice breads and a too tasty blue cheese dip along with two olive-based dips.
To start we had mushrooms and a caprese salad. I must say that the mushrooms were very good; oven baked, instead of fried, and a nice amount of garlic on them. The salad too was good and they didn't scrimp on the mozzarella, but could have had some dressing on the side maybe. For the mains Scotty had veal and I had sea bass - mainly because I was quite excited to see something different on the menu. What was nice was that they served the vegetables and potato on the side; which in my case was spinach (again - excited to see this on a menu) and sauteed potatoes. Yum! Scotty found that his sauce was a bit bland, but I found mine slightly overpowering (a lot of butter was involved I reckon!).
It was more expensive than we thought it would be from the outside, mainly because the menu lists a price that is 'plus plus' (i.e. plus a tax and plus a service charge) but also because I think that the level of food quality in there is higher than other Italian restaurants in Maadi. I would go there again, but only as a treat. Scotty, however, thinks the food quality is about the same as other places but the setting is nicer.
We did finish our evening off (somehow we made room in our bulging bellies) with another treat; ice cream from Stavolta. This ice cream place has been a real hit in Maadi and is a good excuse to walk in to Degla. They always have new flavours in that they make from fresh ingredients - last visit I had their hibiscus sorbet and this time I tried their lemon, orange and carrot sorbet which was a lot tastier than it first sounds! It was very lemon and citrus-y, but with only a hint of carrot at times.
WORK
So, why did we deserve that treat? Well we'd had one of the craziest weeks at work yet. For the last two weeks since coming back from our half-term, we've been in full-on rehearsals for the school production and this week were the final rehearsals and performances. We love getting involved in these, even though we know how much hard work and how intense the final few weeks always are. We had three performances planned (two early evening and one matinee) but ended up doing a fourth performance because people were enjoying it so much. But 'phew' it's over with now and we can sit down, and we can sleep and we can do nothing! It does always feel a little strange to have something that takes up so much time, thought and energy just gone, but I'm sure our bodies and minds will thank us!
LIFE
All around us other things have been going on. Things are gearing up for the presidential elections and so we have been following the news closely. Around in Maadi we haven't felt much effect of the elections just yet. There has been some unrest down town and around the Ministry, but this seems to have been localised (although the reports of deaths two days ago was a worry). In Maadi we have seen candidate posters up and today we've seen the first banners up. With fewer candidates I wonder if the banners and posters will cover as many surfaces as they did in November, but we'll have to wait and see.
We also made our baby news public via Facebook. The number of lovely comments from people was quite overwhelming, and has made the whole thing seem even more 'real' now that people are regularly asking how things are going.
No comments:
Post a Comment