Let the Celebration Begin!

My birthday isn't until tomorrow, but the extended celebration period got off to a good start last evening when my good friend Andrea treated me to dinner at the French restaurant "1886" at the Winter Palace Hotel.

WP glassware -- très élégant!

Andrea's lobster and artichoke starter

My smoked salmon starter

Andrea's stuffed sole main course

My garlic and rosemary lamb loin confit with ginger & lemongrass

The dessert menu: oh, how to choose!?

My praline and chocolate confection with chocolate artwork

Coconut and caramel fondant and kiwi salsa (Don't you just love the "nest" made of pistachio?)

Two VERY satisfied ladies!

View from the top of the stairs looking west (Note the "pyramid" formed by the light.)

A wonderful evening and only the beginning of a marathon of partying! Thanks, Andrea!

Beau on a Hot Stone Roof

I just realized I haven't posted any photos of Beau lately. Here he is on the parapet of the annex roof:

He's certainly "grown up" and "grown out" since he arrived on November 2:

Of course, he's never met a bit of food he didn't like! In any case, he's a handsome boy, living up to his name.

Not Egypt: Macaron Whimsy

More on macarons--in the January 16 issue of Bonjour Paris (The Definitive Guide to Paris) is this article: "The Whimsical World of Macarons", complete with a recipe for pistachio macarons from the master/maître of macarons, Pierre Hermé. I, however, will not be making that recipe. I "learned my lesson" when I took an evening class in the making of macarons at the École Ritz Escoffier in Paris. I now, to paraphrase something my ex-husband once said, eat macarons not make them!

Moi trying to make acceptable macarons!

Been there, done that, got the certificate! And now let someone with more skill and access to the right ingredients make them...

Modern-day cemetery sprawling toward ancient Egyptian necropolis

This story has appeared in the Egyptian press, but here is a comprehensive take on the situation from outside Egypt:
http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/14/16511366-modern-day-cemetery-sprawling-toward-ancient-egyptian-necropolis?lite
It's interesting to read what the villagers have to say about the situation.
We visited Dahshur in March 2012 and I am including some photos from that visit of the Black Pyramid referred to in the article.

Black Pyramid from the Bent Pyramid

Not Egypt: Jardin Pamplemousse

The first of Pierre Hermé's "Jardin" collection of macarons for 2013 is Jardin Pamplemousse (grapefruit). It is described on the website as "Pamplemousse, Clou de Girofle, Muscade, & Pamplemousse Confit" (grapefruit, clove, nutmeg and crystallized grapefruit). Miam-miam!

Latest Press on Andraus Murders

From Ahram Online yesterday:
Funeral for Wafd MP's murdered daughters in Luxor
CH provided masses of flowers for the funeral. The coffins were so small--almost child-sized! We are all so sad...

A Brutal Crime...

We are all in a state of shock today after hearing about the savage and brutal murder of two frail, elderly sisters in their home in front of Luxor Temple last night. We had just seen them in December when we took some Christmas cookies to the house.
Daughters of former MP under King Farouq killed in Luxor Palace

Close Encounters of the Scorpion Kind

I had my first encounter with a scorpion today--a dead one (or so I thought at the time!). A guest here at CH found one in his bathroom and drowned it in roach spray. Once he told us about the creature we all had to traipse in to see it. He then scooped it up onto a napkin and left it to dry, after which he brought it out to the courtyard for us to see in a "drier" form. It really looked like a scorpion then. I ran to get my camera and took some shots with my hand next to it to show scale. It was pretty small, as you can see from this photo:

Well, as our guest told me at dinner tonight, it turns out that the little guy wasn't quite dead! I'm glad my guardian angel was looking out for me!

On a more pleasant note, Beau joined me on the roof for some sun worship this afternoon:

And the bee-eaters were out in force:

And one of them was actually eating a bee:

Lucky 13!

And let me add my best wishes for a "lucky" 2013 to theirs!

Testing...Testing...

I am the proud owner of a new Canon PowerShot S100 (Thanks to KV and CG for their help in making the decision to purchase this particular camera and thanks to ES for transporting the camera and SL for bringing the great retro camera case to Luxor!). What follows are some of the first shots I have taken with this lovely camera. These are all "Automatic" or "Scene Selection". I haven't had a chance yet to explore the semi- and fully manual options available to me. I'm going to have to "re-learn" manual photography as I haven't had to use those skills in years!

Flora:

Poinsettia

Red Flame (Clerodendron splendens)

Persian Acacia (Albizia julibrissin)

Fauna:

Look closely for the kite in the palm tree!

Kite near their nest

Kite again

Bee-eater just before take-off!

Buttons blending in

Beau doing his third favorite thing (after eating and playing)

Landscape, Waterscape, Moon:

Gurn with clouds

Felucca at sunset

Handheld moon

 Sunsets:

Sunset and felucca from the roof

Sunset and felucca from the Winter Palace

Sunset from MY roof 

End of that same sunset

Architecture--"Old":

Luxor Temple - Colonnade Hall

Luxor Temple - Layers of history

Architecture--"New":

Winter Palace with a golden glow at sunset

Luxor door

Happy Holidays 2012!

Another Great Sunset...

What can I say?

Except...how 'bout those clouds?

And what about these from Sunday while we were on the roof for our first shisha of the season:

It's a hard life!