Dumb bitch

Like her husband, Suzanne Mubarak is just as stupid and out of touch. God, this really riles me.

Egypt first lady plays down women harassment report

CAIRO (AFP) Egyptian first lady Suzanne Mubarak has played down allegations of rampant sexual harassment in her country, accusing the media, and implicitly Islamist militants, of exaggerating the reports.

"Egyptian men always respect Egyptian women," the pro-government Al-Ahram newspaper on Friday quoted the wife of President Hosni Mubarak as saying in remarks aired on Thursday by Al-Arabiya television.

The Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights (ECWR) released a survey earlier this year showing that 83 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women in Egypt are sexually harassed.

"This gives the impression that the streets in Egypt are not safe. That is not true... The media have exaggerated," Mubarak said.

"Maybe one, two or even 10 incidents occurred. Egypt is home to 80 million people. We can't talk of a phenomenon. Maybe a few scatterbrained youths are behind this crime.

"And maybe some people wanted to make it seem as though the streets of Egypt are not safe so girls and women stay at home. This could be their agenda," she said in a reference to Islamist militants.

Mubarak's statements come less than a month after an Egyptian judge sentenced a man to three years in jail with hard labour for groping a woman on a Cairo street and ordered him to pay his victim 894 dollars in compensation.

The sentence was unusual for its severity and unprecedented in the male-dominated Middle East.

"This is the first case we know of, where someone was jailed for groping," Engy Ghozlan, an activist with the ECWR, said after the October 21 judgment.

"We welcome the ruling. The judge was obviously setting an example."

Yeah, I wouldn't necessarily say the streets of Egypt, particularly where tourists and expats are, as "unsafe." But to say that only one or maximum 10 sexual harassment incidents have occurred is total absolute bullshit.

Harassment for me fortunately was limited to "just" really really lewd stares and incessant catcalls. I guess Egyptian guys aren't into not-so-bodacious Asians as much, so I just got the basic package. But I definitely had friends who were regularly groped -- ranging from full on grabs to men "discreetly" brushing against women in the street.

She should consider stepping outside of her ridiculous Heliopolis mansion and walk in downtown Cairo, without her guards and without her motorcade screaming "FUCK WITH ME AND MY HUSBAND'S GOVERNMENT WILL END YOU."

Good pumpkin marshmallows

See the difference?

When the marshmallow batter feels like the inside of a marshmallow, stop whipping. I didn't work quickly enough, so the batter cooled before I could spread it out evenly in the pan. Don't whip for so long that the batter cools so much it's too stiff to spread out.

Pumpkin marshmallows: FAIL

Serious Eats featured this pumpkin-spice marshmallow recipe. After baking a few batches of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (super easy and delicious!), I'm trying as many pumpkin things as possible. A can of Libby's pumpkin puree contains about three cups worth of puree and most recipes require only one cup of it. So either you can triple the recipe or try three different ones. I bought one can and contributed a cup to the marshmallows.

I've made basic white marshmallows before (I use this recipe) and they came out pretty good. It's essentially just sugar, corn syrup and gelatin, tossed with a few other things, so it's pretty easy. The important thing is the whipping. You want to whip it well so lots of air goes into them and your marshmallows end up nice and puffy.

That's where I went wrong. I used the new stand-up mixer my parents got, which I decided to give it another chance before I declare it a waste of money. It is a waste of money. There are reasons why people choose Kitchenaid and Cuisinart, even though they may be pricey. The one my parents got (and oh yay, got me my own too) is terrible and so un-intuitively built. Basically, not enough air got into the marshmallows, so when my parents took it up to the neighbors I told them to call it "pumpkin jellies." They didn't taste bad, they just were very very flat. If you mess up too, just call it a jelly.

After mixing all the ingredients, smooth it out onto a greased sheet

Coat them in a mixture of cornstarch and confectioner's sugar. The basic marshmallow used rice flour instead of corn starch. Markets usually sell the Michiko brand flour, which is in a plain white box with a blue star in the middle

The powder coating kept getting absorbed... This didn't happen with the basic white ones. Both recipes call for around the same amounts of sugar, water and corn syrup, so I wonder if the amount of pumpkin puree should be taken down? I also wonder if the marshmallows being underwhipped had something to do with it...

They taste and smell pretty good, but have sorry little excuses for bubbles. Poop.

Will be trying these again tomorrow. Hopefully they'll come out better, so you guys can see what a good homemade marshmallow looks like. I'll be using the hand mixer like I did last time...

If you want to simulate whipping with a hand-mixer with regular beaters, just tilt the bowl as if you were going to mix it. Same with the hand mixer. The last time I made basic marshmallows, they weren't quite as puffy as I'd like, so I'm going to extend the whipping time by two or three minutes than recommended.

Pomegranate wine

Last week, mes parents et moi made pomegranate wine. I wish I had a beautiful story about how this is a Korean family tradition and the process is rife with secrets. It's not. Very easy peasy to make.

Tear some pomegranates apart. It helps to crack the shell with a knife first. Mind you, this is a very messy project, as the pomegranate seeds burst and explode everywhere. So no white shirts!

Then coat the pieces with sugar. This time we left the shell and the white skin in; you can also just pick out all the little seeds. Dad said there's probably no difference, except maybe more nutrients?

Fill a big jar a little more than two-thirds with sugar-coated pomegranate.


Then pour soju (Korean liquor) into the jar until it is full.


My parents don't seem to have a preference with brands. They mixed two kinds of soju, Good Day and... something else. I don't think you need particularly high quality soju, as you're flavoring it.

Then set the jars out in a cool, dry place and wait.

It's been a week and my parents still haven't filtered the wine yet... Pop said you can pretty just leave it there forever, as it gets better with age. My parents have a jar that's aged for a few months and it was moderately sweet and very smooth to drink. Will let you know what this new batch tastes like once we get it filtered and ready.