The tables went flying. The goods disappeared. The teeming market was liquidated in seconds. The police were coming by, and that was cause for panic in this Attaba market. Indeed, market life in this neighborhood – the site of current construction on Cairo’s third Metro line – is tougher than ever, legitimate or not, even …

A soft, languid mist of fine rain caresses the lush, gently rolling hills and valleys that protect this fairytale village outside Bordeaux and its treasured 820 vineyards. On 7,800 hectares of limestone and clay Saint- Émilion and eight neighboring communities whose borders were set in 1289 by Edward I, King of England, also Duke of …

Ingredients: 2 cups flour1 1/3 cup sugar100gm butter (room temperature)1/2 cup corn oil5 eggs3 teaspoons baking powder (BP) (1 1/4 packet)1 teaspoon vanillaJuice of 1 lemon3 teaspoons cinnamon powderPinch grated nutmeg5 medium Egyptian apples (peeled and chopped into cubes) 12 cubes each.Preheat oven to 260 degrees C Preparation: 1.Sift flour into bowl 2. Add sugar, …

Ahead of the Paris couture shows, top designers have joined a tricky exercise to glam up one of the world’s most traditional pieces, the abaya – the long black overgarment worn by millions of Arab women. Unveiled the same week that French President Nicolas Sarkozy unleashed a storm across the Arab world for criticizing the …

Sometimes Twitter can make newcomers feel like twits because the online messaging service isn’t as simple as it sounds. The idea of sharing information in 140-character snippets is easy to grasp, but it can be confounding to navigate the communications crossfire while trying to learn Twitter’s etiquette and idiom. Then there’s the befuddling matter of …

THe pleasures of owning a pet can often be dampened by the challenges of finding good veterinary care, training, pet food and accessories. With the scarcity of such places in Egypt, The International Veterinary Hospital and Pet Motel is one of the best options available for any pet owner in town. Located 2 kilometers from …

A study of more than half a million people worldwide has found that 70 percent associate science more with men than women, according to results released Monday. The study described the opinions as implicit stereotypes – beliefs that people are unwilling to express publicly, or don t know they have. These stereotypes could nonetheless negatively …

Freestyle street football players gathered at the Wadi Degla Club on the outskirts of Maadi this Friday to participate in a competition that is the first of its kind here. The event was sponsored by carbonated energy drink company Red Bull, a newcomer to the Egyptian market. But what precisely is street “freestyling? Well, it …

The location is great, because people are always coming in and out of the mosque, Um Araby explained as she chose an ice-cream cone from a large stack. She examined five or six cones, and said with a wide smile that she was looking for a “sweet biscuit. Finally, having decided on an acceptable cone, …

Tamarai’s second dining and nightlife experience is undoubtedly cooler, literally and metaphorically, than anywhere else in Cairo. The terrace, which opened to the public with an all-white themed party last month, is truly an extension to its indoor counterpart: a relaxed dining experience with good food and drink in the earlier part of the evening, …

For the most convenient duo of beachfront holiday and Sinai excursion, head directly to Dahab. A small beach town approximately a hundred kilometers up the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, Dahab offers a more tranquil (and less pricey) option than Sharm El-Sheikh, and it is more accessible to the Bedouin activities. Indeed, only recently …

While the décor at The Moghul Room may be a bit on the boring side, the food served here is second to none. The interior of the Indian restaurant at the Mena House Oberoi, in the words of a friend, is “typical of that found in Indian rest houses, but the cuisine’s lovers will surely …

Intercontinental CityStar’s Al-Saraya ballroom buzzed with activity this week as chefs from across Egypt presented their finest culinary creations. The 2009 National Salon Culinaire was in high-gear as exotic and inventive dishes were on display. Many of the participating chefs work in Egypt’s finest five-star hotels. It is immediately apparent that this event has little …

Walter Mueller knows his Transformers. The 32-year-old has been collecting the robot toys for more than 20 years. He even has one of the brand s main characters, Optimus Prime, tattooed in full color on his leg. The owner of a meat-processing plant, Mueller recently traveled from his native Ontario, Canada, to Southern California to …

Health experts have long warned of the risk of obesity, but a new Japanese study warns that being very skinny is even more dangerous, and that slightly chubby people live longer. People who are a little overweight at age 40 live six to seven years longer than very thin people, whose average life expectancy was …

The smoke produced by cigarettes will follow one nearly everywhere in Egypt: from a sidewalk, to ahwas, to an office or a restaurant. But it can no longer be found in the lobbies of the Cairo Marriott Hotel & Omar Khayyam Casino. As of June 1, the Zamalek hotel’s lobbies are smoke-free, a first for …

The creations of Dutch lighting firm Brand van Egmond are so feminine that, one could argue, they define the ideal modern woman by their form and shape: sexy, tough, enigmatic. Merging the classic concept of chandeliers with novel materials and forms, Brand van Egmond evokes the question of why one hangs chandeliers in the first …

Special stockings commonly given to stroke patients to prevent blood clots don t work, a new study reported Wednesday. Doctors often prescribe the tight, thigh-high stockings to patients who have suffered a stroke, seeking to prevent blood clots in patients legs – which could prove fatal if they break off and reach the heart or …

Voice dialogue is the latest in alternative medicine, offering a new approach to exploring oneself. It involves engaging oneself in a personal dialogue to explore the variety of voices one has with which they speak to themselves as well as to others. The technique is used to explore one’s personal psyche with one’s own promptings …

Videogame lovers are being coaxed off couches as the industry sprints ahead with a trend toward fitness titles and motion-sensing controllers. The premier Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) that wrapped in Los Angeles on Thursday was rife with exercise, sports, and dance videogames that people play by moving their bodies instead of just their thumbs. A …

Experiments on mice have revealed a gene that is linked to early hair loss, a Japanese researcher said Tuesday, sparking hopes for a treatment to prevent thinning and baldness in humans. The research team found that the absence of a gene known as Sox21 – which it said is shared by humans and mice – …

On the stone steps of the 500-year-old Santa Maria del Popolo church, our tour group huddled around our guide in a tight circle. Come closer, the guide said. We leaned in even more. Be really quiet inside, he advised. He was holding a tattered, hardcover copy of Dan Brown s Angels & Demons, and as …

The magic of the watch-making craft and the human ingenuity involved came to life in a seminar held recently by Felopateer Palace, a local watch boutique with several branches in Cairo. It was part of the Swiss International Watch Company’s (IWC) promotion of its unique Leonardo Da Vinci line. Coming to lead the watch-making seminar …

The old tradition of the henna night has been a growing trend in recent years, and brides-to-be are now just as busy planning their henna night as they are planning their weddings. But why the sudden comeback? One lady can be held responsible for changing the cultural notion of the henna night with its old …

Nazi-occupied Paris conjures up images of food rationing and scarcity in a climate of fear and repression. It was also a time of garish hats and clunky wooden-heeled shoes. For the first time, a Paris museum is offering a glimpse at the world’s fashion capital during World War II through some 400 accessories: handbags, scarves, …

A dining experience should, in my opinion, never be experienced twice, even at the same restaurant. Aqua at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza has established itself as the home of experimental cuisine with a base in authentic and traditional French dishes. With Chef Christophe Gillino as executive chef, Aqua has consistently composed and reinterpreted – …

A chemical found in green tea helps inhibit sexual transmission of the virus which causes AIDS, said a study Tuesday that recommends using the compound in vaginal creams to supplement antiretrovirals. Medical experts at Germany’s University of Heidelberg said the compound could be a low-cost arrow in the quiver of medical weapons to fight the …

When Annamarie Saarinen needed to soothe her ailing daughter, she used a rattle – downloaded to her iPhone. Jeff Hilimire uses a white noise application on his phone to make shushing noises for his infant daughter. And Tracie Stier-Johnson lets her young daughters answer trivia questions on her phone while waiting in the doctor’s office …

User photographs can still be found on many social networking sites including Facebook after people have deleted them, British researchers said Thursday. The findings by a team from Cambridge University raise questions about the ability of users of the sites to permanently delete potentially embarrassing photographs. The researchers posted photographs on 16 popular websites and …