The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

And the saga continues—another week, another dish of the week! This week’s mood is all about our childhood staple: macarona and panee. For those who aren’t native Arabic speakers, ‘macarona’ literally translates to pasta, but in this case, the pasta in question is red sauce pasta, while the panee is fried, breaded chicken cutlets.

Before we landed on the chosen dish, we contemplated plenty of other options, which included ice cream, iced coffee, or just plain ice. In other words, a dish that puts this week’s weather into words, but alas, macarona and panee took the top spot! 

We chose this dish for several reasons, but mainly because this week was hot in Maadi and all over Cairo, and we wanted a meal that reminded us of that lazy summer mood.

As a dish, macarona and panee is quite reminiscent of the time when we’d have a long day at the pool or the beach and come out starving afterwards. Our moms and grandmoms would always be ready with that star dish of any summer vacation, and we’d have mouthfuls of the simple meal and hastily jump right back into the water. Because we were kids and we didn’t have a lot of expectations, we could have that dish over and over. We could have even had it on a daily basis without ever getting bored! It was a win-win situation for the parents as well—the dish is easy to make and enjoyable. 

We also chose the dish because there’s an overall lethargic mood around the office. And when one feels lazy, people take shortcuts whenever they can. Hence, macarona and panee. The hot weather is really hitting us hard and could be the main reason for the fatigue that’s been looming over our heads since Sunday. However, we’ve all lived our “white girl dreams” and got an iced coffee fix, treating ourselves for International Women’s Day! We had a mini-celebration amongst ourselves in the office and reminded all women that they’re extremely strong and resilient. We had a great connection and an overall vibe of unity that made us push through the week and end it on good terms! 

Tell us, how did your week go?