Foods

So, the food we ate in Israel was not varied at all.  Every meal consisted of hummus, flat bread, and various pita stuffings of some sort.  It was always good hummus and pita, but it was always hummus and pita.  It was served at every meal.  Same with potatoes and rice.  Every meal.  They always had a carrot/eggplant/green dish at every meal too.  I missed cold cereal and hamburgers!  In Israel, mixing dairy with meat is not Kosher, so we had dairy in the morning, and meat for lunch and dinner.  Fruit was always the dessert, with some other little cakes and tarts, but not nearly sweet enough to count as a dessert.  The most amazing Baklava I had was in Egypt.  Lots of honey and super flaky.  The meats were always some variation of cubed beef cuts, fish, or chicken legs.  We went to dinner in the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem with another couple from our group.  It was an Israeli restaurant and it was my favorite meal.  I had a lamb-burger with goat cheese.  It was DELICIOUS!  Mixing of dairy and meat, so it wasn't Kosher, and so I'm surprised they even served it.  Plus it was on the Jewish Sabbath, so we were doubly surprised they were even open.  We asked the server about it (who, incidentally, spoke with perfect English in an American accent), and she gave an explanation about there being secular Jews and Orthodox Jews.  AKA Jack Mormons versus active Mormons.  lol!  The meal pictured above was also delicious.  It was one of my favorites.  The fish pictured above looks weird, but it is seasoned so well and the flat bread they gave us was the best we had the whole trip.
The food in Egypt was much the same as in Israel, but they mixed dairy and meat, so the dishes were more varied.  Again, the dessert was fruit, the main courses were cuts of beef or chicken, or sea bass.  Always sea bass.  At very meal they had sea bass.  blah.  Just as in Europe, there was never any ice, and we had to pay a fortune for diet coke.  We could at least drink the water out of the tap in Israel, but not in Egypt.  Ever.  We tried to eat as many fruits and salads as we could in Israel, because we knew once we got to Egypt, those days were over.  You can't eat anything that has been washed by the water.  More about the water associated with the Nile later.