Chinese Food Culture

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Market Grill Cheeseburger


Image by ~db~
Oh boy, I love The Market Grill in Monrovia (@TheMarketGrill). I’ve eaten there at least a half-dozen times and every time it’s been pretty terrific. Good food and good people, with the latter playing an important part of the experience. The staff and owners make sure you are welcomed.

This was the first time I ordered their cheeseburger. I got it with everything, along with fries on the side. It’s a 1/3 lb. patty in a homemade bun, with red onion, tomato, lettuce, pickle, and 1000 Island dressing. I went with the suggested American cheese. For the fries, I got the spicy ranch dipping sauce. It’s served with a nice pickle spear on the side.

Given their track record, it’s no surprise I thought this was a really, really good burger. Fresh veggies, quality beef, and that tasty homemade bun. The fries were better than average, though I’ll probably ask for them well-done next time.

The downsides were minor. I asked for the burger to be cooked medium but got medium rare, though it was a perfectly cooked medium rare. While I like my steaks bloody, I usually prefer my burgers cooked a bit more. Still, I’d take this over an well-done patty any day. Also, the grind of the beef is a bit coarse. In my case that meant chomping down on a sizable piece of hard cartilage, leaving me with the choice of swallowing this bit of unpleasantness, or spitting it out in a busy restaurant. Not a big deal, but something I’d rather avoid.

Those minor quibbles aside, this is certainly a burger I’ll be having again. About .

Egyptians are the nicest people on planet Earth


Image by modenadude
Excerpted from my latest blog entry at www.modenadude.com

( modenadude.com/blog/2010/08/26/the-lens-cap )

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I would like to speak about something that happened tonight that is really quite miraculous and very, very shocking. True proof that Cairenes are the nicest people on the planet, or at least nicer than anyone American.

My American friends arrived in Cairo today. Two weeks of loneliness vanished in a matter of seconds when they walked out of that terminal. I cannot express the jubilation I felt when they walked out. I was very happy seeing these two (Kiran and Sofi), knowing that they were with me and knowing they were about to experience what I had just experienced. It�™s tough, but it’s good.

Before they arrived though, they asked me whether there was something from America I needed that I forgot to bring or didn’t realize that I should. I couldn’t think of anything I possibly needed, except for one thing. A lens cap. I had lost the lens cap to my Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM at some point during my time in Cairo. Maybe it was stolen, or maybe it just fell out of my pocket. I didn’t know. But leaving that 17-55mm lens (which is worth more than my camera) without a cap is pretty stupid. Like moronic levels of stupidity. But I didn’t ask them to bring one because of the cheap camera shops here that probably had the cap for half the price than anywhere in America.

So tonight, we (Kiran, Sofi and the rest of the USC students who also came, on the same flight, to Cairo today) went out. It was their first night, and since I’ve been here the longest, I took over as the planner / tour guide – which is one of the reasons I came early… I guess I can be a little controlling. And people say I act like I’m a “know-it-all” so I guess I was able to use that part of me tonight. So after I got most of them Egyptian numbers, I took them around July 26th Street. A very busy street in Downtown Cairo. We got some Egyptian fast food from GAD, ate it at a sheesha, had some coffee and beggars asking for baksheesh (tips), walked around Talaat Harb, and stopped off for some of the best mango juice that Cairo offers. It’s this place at the end of July 26th, where it hits Ramses (pictured in the grahpic). It’s known for its as’ab juice (sugar cane juice), but I love the mango juice here. Real cold with fresh mangos, with some pieces still in the drink. Love it. I’ve been there twice before. It’s hands-down my favorite mango juice in the city.

Anyway, while we were walking around, before the mango juice, Kiran and Sofi can’t help but see my lens cap-less camera. (I wrap my camera across my chest but keep the camera in the back – I think it looks tighter that way haha – so they couldn’t help but see it sticking in their face.) They remark how I should cover it somehow, but I tell them I’ll get it from a shop at some point. But even though it would only be a few pounds, I didn’t want to spend the money. Who knows why. Dumb move. I’m lucky it hasn’t gotten scratched.

So we go to the mango place. Everyone was full (no idea how, they had hardly anything to eat!), but I convince four others (of a total of six others) to get the drink. So I went to the cashier and gave him LE 10 (mango juice is LE 2.50 each) and tell him four mango drinks. He gives me a receipt to give to the cocktail mixers. But that’s not all he gives me. He also gives me… a lens cap.

I am completely and utterly shocked. But probably confused more than anything. Who is this guy? Some kind of spiritual man? How on Earth did he know I needed a lens cap? This is impossible. Then I inspected it. It was scratched up, and on the cover it read “Canon Hypersonic Motor” the same words written on the lens cap that I had lost.

This lens cap, was my lens cap.

There’s really only one explanation. I dropped it the last time I was at the mango place, someone gave it to him (or he found it) and he kept it. KEPT IT. And waited for me to return. Or rather, hoped that I would return. Who knows when, just figured I would. And when I did, he would give it to me. And guess what. He did!

How did he remember me? Remember my face, remember the fact I had a camera? I have absolutely no idea. But he did. And now I have my lens cap back.

If this story alone doesn’t prove how amazingly nice and heartfelt these Egyptians are, I have no clue what can. It was truly amazing. And I’m not just grateful that I was able to benefit from such a caring deed, but also that my friends, who were spending their first night in Cairo, were able to experience it as well. Cairo doesn’t get the greatest rep back in the states. “Be careful if you’re a girl.” “They will steal from you.” “Don’t act foreign or touristy.” But I am here to say, Egyptians… Egyptians are the best people on the planet.

I have never felt more hospitality, more care; I have never felt safer and more secure than I do here in Cairo. Even though it was so very difficult to adjust to this style of living, especially since I did so alone, it was very good knowing that if I needed something, all I had to do was say, “bitatakalum inglisi?” (do you speak English?) and I’d get help. If that person didn��t speak English, he or she would find someone who did, and when those people were found (not if, but when, because these people don’t stop looking until they find someone who can help), the new people would change their entire schedule to help me if need be. They would postpone their mandatory sunset prayer and hold my hand to take me to break my fast, or would take a separate bus out of their way back home just to make sure I got to where I needed to be. To all the Egyptians out there: Thank you. You people are wonderful, and you make me feel home every day and make life so much easier and so much more meaningful. Alhumdulillah.

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read more posts about our time in Cairo at my blog — www.modenadude.com — I’ll be here until the end of December, so do check in regularly!