Author: marga (Page 30 of 158)

Fun with Egyptian Stencils – Booklet review

Fun with Egyptian StencilsOne of the activities I have planned for Mika’s 8th Birthday Ancient Egyptian party is decorating t-shirts. For that purpose, I got a couple of booklets of Ancient Egyptian stencils at Amazon.com and some Tulip Fashion Spray Paint at Michael’s. The booklets were Fun with Egyptian Stencils booklet which I got as part of the Exploring Ancient Egypt Fun Kit I bought at Amazon, and Fun with Egyptian Symbols Stencils. So far I have only used the first booklet, and I’m quite happy.
The stencils are quite small, each sheet is about 5.4″ x 4″. The sheets are laminated and they cleaned up quite well (though we’ll see how many clean ups they can stand). They are, of course, too small for spray painting if used by themselves – but I cut out a rectangle the size of the stencil in the middle of a cardboard sheet, then taped the stencil there, and it worked quite well to shield the rest of the spraying surface.
Tulip Fashion Spray PaintI’m also happy with the paint. The kids had some difficulties making it spray rather than just blot, but I think it was a matter of applying the right pressure to the pump and having it at an adequate distance from the surface. I think the kids at the party will figure it out.
Both Mika and Camila were quite happy with the results. Mika painted a t-shirt she had with the ankhs and Camila just tried it on a piece of paper-cloth we had around. I got white t-shirts for the party, so I think it’ll work even better.
Mika's stenciled t-shirt
Camila's stenciled cloth

Cat Mummies – book review

Cat MummiesCat Mummies is a delightful book about the worship of cats in Ancient Egypt. It’s written in serious, yet accessible language (though I wouldn’t read it to a child under 8) and the illustrations are gorgeous. The information is accurate and fascinating, though I’m not sure why the author put so much emphasis on the Persian conquest. Mika loved reading the book.
My only issue are a couple of paragraphs that implied that Egypt was conquered by the Persians because of its animal worship. I’m not sure if it was a veiled attempt to get a Biblical point of view in, or just sloppy writing.
In any case, it’s a great book to read to your little Egyptologist – and you can probably find it at the library or for very cheap online.

Menu for Ancient Egyptian party

This post might be better suited for my Food Blog BUT I figured I’d included here for anyone who is searching for ideas of what to serve at an Ancient Egyptian party.
While we know in general what the Ancient Egyptians ate (a lot of bread and beer, complemented with the vegetables they could grow in their gardens – onions were very popular – as well as the fish they could get from the Nile and the birds they could hunt), we don’t really have much in the way of recipes, and it’s not necessarily easy (or practical) to get their staples here. For example, where would I find a tiger nut?
The following menu for my kids slumber party is as authentic as I could get it to be. I’m basing some of the ingredients on what has been available in Egypt from Coptic times on.
Snack: Baby carrots, cucumber slices, celery and pita bread with hummus and babaganoush. Grapes and watermelon, if I find it.
Dinner: Chicken kebabs, with cucumber-yogurt salad
Breakfast: Egyptian pancakes* with honey & walnuts and eggs a la carte
Lunch: Pizza (I know, I know, but that’s what Mika wanted) and same things as snacks
Cake: Homemade, with light brown frosting (to look like sand), decorated with these Ancient Egyptian figurines
I had wanted to make a pyramid cake, but my trial efforts at it were pathetic. I hope this cake will turn out (I’m planning on using mix and store-bought frosting) and won’t look too bad.

* I don’t know if the Ancient Egyptians ate pancakes or feteer, but when I lived in Egypt there were several shops (specially one in Khan el Khalili) serving them – they were delicious. Given the simplicity of the recipes, I would imagine they are very old. I’ll give them a trial run tomorrow, to see if they come out. If not I’m not sure what I’ll do. I have a recipe for ataif, arab pancakes which date to medieval times, but it looks even harder.

Oriental Trading Company Catalogues

A while ago I blogged about my experience ordering stuff from Oriental Trading (in summary, they sell stuff which causes cancer and other diseases without disclosing it). I haven’t ordered from them since, but I have been receiving their catalogs. All their catalogs. Seemingly every week. Multiple times.
I don’t get it, why would a company publish so many catalogs and feel compelled to send them to all its customers? It’s not as if each catalog presented unique merchandise.
Clearly it must work for them, or they’d stop the practice – but it’d still be nice if they were a little bit more conscious of the environment. They could at least use recycled paper.
Anyway, end of rant.

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