Saturday, 19 March 2011
Strawberry season
February started strawberry season and I've been out buying 1kg punnets every week since they appeared in the shops. For 12LE a punnet you can't complain!
When I get them back I tend to clean and prepare them straight away. Because everything is so dirty here I wash each strawberry individually under running water and then use a knife to take off the head and any bruised bits.
I did then managed to eat all of the strawberries I had prepared in two sittings (!) so I've been trying to experiment with some different ways to use strawbs while they are still in season.
Strawberries and yogurt dessert (recipe made up after having something like this for dessert in Dahab)
Wash and prepare the strawberries then cut into small pieces (about four pieces per strawberry).
In a large bowl empty a large tub of plain yogurt.
Sieve several dessert spoons of icing sugar on top of the yogurt and then mix in. Add more to taste (but remember the strawberries will also add sweetness).
Then mix in the strawberries.
Yum!
The longer you leave it the more "strawberry" the yogurt becomes.
Can be served with a spoon of vanilla ice cream.
Strawberry jam (BBC Food / Sophie Grigson recipe)
Clean, top and halve 1kg of strawberries
If you're being strict about it don't use any strawbs that are bruised (I just cut off the bruised bits as if I followed this rule with the batches of strawberries you buy out here I'd only be able to use about half of them!)
Coat with 500g of sugar and leave covered in the fridge overnight. When you pull them out in the morning there is a lovely strawberry syrup at the bottom of the bowl.
Put all of this plus another 500g of sugar and the juice of 4 baladi lemons/limes in a pan and boil up.
It's turned out more like strawberries in syrup which I have been adding to plain yogurt for a yummy breakfast and pouring on crossants at the weekend. I had to use the baladi lemons / limes so this might be why mine didn't set properly. Or maybe I should have cooked it up a little longer (I took it off the heat after 25 mins).We're keeping all the jars (4 of them) in the fridge to reduce the chance of it going bad in the heat. Two other friends that also tried this recipe said that theirs burnt and caramelised so getting proper jam must be somewhere in between! I've asked mum if she can find some pectin to bring out when they visit and tis might help.
Strawberry Cider
Wanting to think of something else to make with these yummy strawberries I thought we could try and experiment at the Grand Malt. A month ago we made some hooch using various fruit juices and a bit of honey so we thought that we could just to the same but substitute 1lt of shop juice for some homemade strawberry juice.
2kg of strawberries cleaned and cut in to chunks
Put a handful into the blender cup and add a bit of apple juice and then blast with the blender. Add another handful and continue until the jar is full and everything is blended.
This leaves a thick, bitty juice and we weren't sure we wanted to put something so heavy in to ferment so we then used a seive and strained the juice through it. We added nearly 1lt of apple juice to the strawberry juice and mixed it up before putting it through the seive reasoning that this would help the strawberry juices come out.
We got over 2lt out at the end of it, so that's 1lt of clean strawberry juice and 1lt of apple juice.
To this we added another 5lt of apple juice. We used "natural" this time with "no added sugars" as two weeks ago we tried a bog-standard turbo-cider using just apple juice (but not the "no added sugar stuff" we used "apple nectar" instead which tastes loads sweeter) and some honey with the yeast. This went mental and bubbled away for 10 days at least.
We didn't add any extra honey for the yeast as we hoped there would be enough in there.
Scotty reclaimed the yeast from the wheat beer (thanks Fabs) brew we bottled this week. This has been sitting in the fridge and we just chucked it in and put the lid and air-lock on.
This morning, 20 hours after starting it off, we went in to the back room to see if it was working and found this:
There is obviously a lot more naural sugar in strawberries than we give them credit for! We've cleaned it up now but it is still bubbling away like crazy. I'm thinking that it must be something in the strawberry juice that is making it frothy but this shouldn't be a problem if we just keep an eye on it. Hopefully the fruits of our labour will pay off - we'll let you know in about a week!
When I get them back I tend to clean and prepare them straight away. Because everything is so dirty here I wash each strawberry individually under running water and then use a knife to take off the head and any bruised bits.
I did then managed to eat all of the strawberries I had prepared in two sittings (!) so I've been trying to experiment with some different ways to use strawbs while they are still in season.
Strawberries and yogurt dessert (recipe made up after having something like this for dessert in Dahab)
Wash and prepare the strawberries then cut into small pieces (about four pieces per strawberry).
In a large bowl empty a large tub of plain yogurt.
Sieve several dessert spoons of icing sugar on top of the yogurt and then mix in. Add more to taste (but remember the strawberries will also add sweetness).
Then mix in the strawberries.
Yum!
The longer you leave it the more "strawberry" the yogurt becomes.
Can be served with a spoon of vanilla ice cream.
Strawberry jam (BBC Food / Sophie Grigson recipe)
Clean, top and halve 1kg of strawberries
If you're being strict about it don't use any strawbs that are bruised (I just cut off the bruised bits as if I followed this rule with the batches of strawberries you buy out here I'd only be able to use about half of them!)
Coat with 500g of sugar and leave covered in the fridge overnight. When you pull them out in the morning there is a lovely strawberry syrup at the bottom of the bowl.
Put all of this plus another 500g of sugar and the juice of 4 baladi lemons/limes in a pan and boil up.
Strawberry Cider
Wanting to think of something else to make with these yummy strawberries I thought we could try and experiment at the Grand Malt. A month ago we made some hooch using various fruit juices and a bit of honey so we thought that we could just to the same but substitute 1lt of shop juice for some homemade strawberry juice.
2kg of strawberries cleaned and cut in to chunks
Put a handful into the blender cup and add a bit of apple juice and then blast with the blender. Add another handful and continue until the jar is full and everything is blended.
This leaves a thick, bitty juice and we weren't sure we wanted to put something so heavy in to ferment so we then used a seive and strained the juice through it. We added nearly 1lt of apple juice to the strawberry juice and mixed it up before putting it through the seive reasoning that this would help the strawberry juices come out.
We got over 2lt out at the end of it, so that's 1lt of clean strawberry juice and 1lt of apple juice.
To this we added another 5lt of apple juice. We used "natural" this time with "no added sugars" as two weeks ago we tried a bog-standard turbo-cider using just apple juice (but not the "no added sugar stuff" we used "apple nectar" instead which tastes loads sweeter) and some honey with the yeast. This went mental and bubbled away for 10 days at least.
We didn't add any extra honey for the yeast as we hoped there would be enough in there.
Scotty reclaimed the yeast from the wheat beer (thanks Fabs) brew we bottled this week. This has been sitting in the fridge and we just chucked it in and put the lid and air-lock on.
This morning, 20 hours after starting it off, we went in to the back room to see if it was working and found this:
There is obviously a lot more naural sugar in strawberries than we give them credit for! We've cleaned it up now but it is still bubbling away like crazy. I'm thinking that it must be something in the strawberry juice that is making it frothy but this shouldn't be a problem if we just keep an eye on it. Hopefully the fruits of our labour will pay off - we'll let you know in about a week!
Friday, 11 March 2011
New open mic night, new song
During the long curfew hours Alice and I found a load of things the fill our time. One of those was re-writing the lyrics of English folk song 'London Town' (which Bellowhead brought to our attention) to fit our experiences in Cairo. The lyrics still aren't quite right, but they're almost there and so I chose to play it at the new open mic night held in the BCA last night. JT joined me on guitar, and it all got nicely folkily raucous. Alice filmed it on her snazzy camera, and so the video of the debut performance is below.
Khan shopping (again)
Today Therese and I went back to the Khan as we both had things to collect that we had ordered two weeks ago. We were joined by Rachel who is new to Cairo this year and we all had a great time together.
I must say that the day started off well with pancakes for breakfast with our weekend coffee. They were yum, but weren't without their problems. Firstly I tried to make the batter too quickly; more haste, less speed. So the first batter was really lumpy and I abandoned it. I finished another batter and then Scotty had a go at my lumpy one and managed to get the lumps out. 30 minutes to rest (the batter, not us) and then we're on to frying. As per usual in our flat we make do with what we've got when you can't quite find the things you need/would use in the UK. This meant that we were using a plastic spatular to turn the pancakes. The first one turned out OK, but the second one was a bit plastic-y. Pan very well washed and spatular in the bin, we return to frying. We're keeping them in the oven when they're done and then start to worry as they are actually cooking still, rather than keeping warm. All this aside when we come to eat them they are just great. I've not been out today to buy lemon so Scotty has sugar and I have our Canadian maple syrup and left-over strawberries on mine.
We were a little concerned about going to the Khan this weekend as a few things have started to get going again downtown. The army have apparently cleared Tahrir Square and there have unforuntatly been sectarian clashes. We're conscious of this, but know to look out and get ourselves out of a situation should it occur. Foruntaly nothing of concern happens and we have a great 3 hours shopping. We start again by Attaba and within 100m I have already spent money. First is some great glasses that a boy was selling just outside the Metro. 15LE for the set of 6. Then I collect the door sign I have ordered. Then a few steps further along and there is a new revolution sticker that has been produced. Genious. And at 2LE a sticker someone is finally selling it to me at the right price!
Further up Mohamed Ali Street and Therese is looking at sofa's and furniture for her apartment that she has bought. Then along to the tent makers bazarre and we have a tea with Ashraf who sold us the lovely fish hanging last week. We all buy some cushion covers. 25LE a piece for the ones I choose. Back home Scotty and I stuff them with an old pillow that we have cut in half. I stop by our usual guy and buy a brown scarf 20LE then further towards the Khan itself I find a smaller scarf in green for 15LE but I get it for 10LE - might be good to wear for the Paddy's night gig next weekend.
In the Khan nowand there is a little more life than last time, but still hardly any westerners so we got a bit of hassle. A few of the "white elephant" stalls have cottoned on to the fact that people like to buy booze memorabelia and so have some metal Stella signs (Ros bought us a cardboard one last year that we had been eyeing up). They are 400LE but I'm not convinced that they are original - the metal is in perfect condition - so I give them a pass. Therese buys her lamp that she has been after and I get a small hand-blown glass vase for 8LE that will go with the larger one we have for flowers.
A good trip and I'm pleased with the glasses and stickers. I could have bought more but I am sure that there are more designs that will come out and these things will be around for a while.
I must say that the day started off well with pancakes for breakfast with our weekend coffee. They were yum, but weren't without their problems. Firstly I tried to make the batter too quickly; more haste, less speed. So the first batter was really lumpy and I abandoned it. I finished another batter and then Scotty had a go at my lumpy one and managed to get the lumps out. 30 minutes to rest (the batter, not us) and then we're on to frying. As per usual in our flat we make do with what we've got when you can't quite find the things you need/would use in the UK. This meant that we were using a plastic spatular to turn the pancakes. The first one turned out OK, but the second one was a bit plastic-y. Pan very well washed and spatular in the bin, we return to frying. We're keeping them in the oven when they're done and then start to worry as they are actually cooking still, rather than keeping warm. All this aside when we come to eat them they are just great. I've not been out today to buy lemon so Scotty has sugar and I have our Canadian maple syrup and left-over strawberries on mine.
We were a little concerned about going to the Khan this weekend as a few things have started to get going again downtown. The army have apparently cleared Tahrir Square and there have unforuntatly been sectarian clashes. We're conscious of this, but know to look out and get ourselves out of a situation should it occur. Foruntaly nothing of concern happens and we have a great 3 hours shopping. We start again by Attaba and within 100m I have already spent money. First is some great glasses that a boy was selling just outside the Metro. 15LE for the set of 6. Then I collect the door sign I have ordered. Then a few steps further along and there is a new revolution sticker that has been produced. Genious. And at 2LE a sticker someone is finally selling it to me at the right price!
Further up Mohamed Ali Street and Therese is looking at sofa's and furniture for her apartment that she has bought. Then along to the tent makers bazarre and we have a tea with Ashraf who sold us the lovely fish hanging last week. We all buy some cushion covers. 25LE a piece for the ones I choose. Back home Scotty and I stuff them with an old pillow that we have cut in half. I stop by our usual guy and buy a brown scarf 20LE then further towards the Khan itself I find a smaller scarf in green for 15LE but I get it for 10LE - might be good to wear for the Paddy's night gig next weekend.
In the Khan nowand there is a little more life than last time, but still hardly any westerners so we got a bit of hassle. A few of the "white elephant" stalls have cottoned on to the fact that people like to buy booze memorabelia and so have some metal Stella signs (Ros bought us a cardboard one last year that we had been eyeing up). They are 400LE but I'm not convinced that they are original - the metal is in perfect condition - so I give them a pass. Therese buys her lamp that she has been after and I get a small hand-blown glass vase for 8LE that will go with the larger one we have for flowers.
A good trip and I'm pleased with the glasses and stickers. I could have bought more but I am sure that there are more designs that will come out and these things will be around for a while.
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Ivebeenthere - now's the time to come to Egypt
Last week the grauniad had an article about whether it was safe to travel to the Middle East. Around the same time another ivebeenthere tipper wrote a tip saying that now was the time to visit Egypt and Tahrir Square. I replied to the thread saying that we'd recently been to Tahrir and it was safe, peaceful and welcoming and that the Egyptian Museum was deserted.
So - come!!!
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Busy, but good busy, weekend
We tend to do a few things at a weekend, but also have a lot of time to ourselves to chill out after busy weeks hard at work. This weekend though we had quite a few things packed in!
Thursday evening = pub!
Friday
9am get the Metro to Tahrir Square and then visit the Egyptian Museum (separate blog post about this above).
Then 1pm for lunch at the Fairmont 5* bubbly buffet! This is one of the real luxuries of living out here; that you can go for a fancy brunch and be a bit posh for a while and then very full for a while longer! You have so much choice when you go from roasts, to spring rolls cooked to order, to 50+ different salads and starters, a guy who will make any combination of pasta and sauce you want and then you've got to make sure you leave room for a plateful of mini-desserts. Good times!
Back to Maadi and pop out to the free musci festival / celebration.
Back home and time for a little bit of work before heading to the BCA and finally paying our membersip fee to join! Glass Onion, Beatles tribute band, are playing and are very tight and very good. we both have a few beers and a good night out.
Saturday
Time for some work before heading out after lunch to JT's for a band practice. We're playing the St Paddy's Day gig at the BCA in a few weeks and have quite a few new nnumbers to get sorted.
In the evening the commune gang are round for drinks and we take them out to dinner. This is our "thank you" to them all for putting us up and putting up with us during the revolution! P actually moved out of his room to Gibbo's so that we could stay in it. They were all great though because by living over there with them it meant we could stay sane and talk to like-minded people. It relaly helped us stay calm and get through it all.
Dinner was at a place called Dune we've not been to before but is a Moroccan place not far from ours that had large portions and was really quite tasty.
Good times, but now back to school for the week!
Thursday evening = pub!
Friday
9am get the Metro to Tahrir Square and then visit the Egyptian Museum (separate blog post about this above).
Then 1pm for lunch at the Fairmont 5* bubbly buffet! This is one of the real luxuries of living out here; that you can go for a fancy brunch and be a bit posh for a while and then very full for a while longer! You have so much choice when you go from roasts, to spring rolls cooked to order, to 50+ different salads and starters, a guy who will make any combination of pasta and sauce you want and then you've got to make sure you leave room for a plateful of mini-desserts. Good times!
Back to Maadi and pop out to the free musci festival / celebration.
Back home and time for a little bit of work before heading to the BCA and finally paying our membersip fee to join! Glass Onion, Beatles tribute band, are playing and are very tight and very good. we both have a few beers and a good night out.
Saturday
Time for some work before heading out after lunch to JT's for a band practice. We're playing the St Paddy's Day gig at the BCA in a few weeks and have quite a few new nnumbers to get sorted.
In the evening the commune gang are round for drinks and we take them out to dinner. This is our "thank you" to them all for putting us up and putting up with us during the revolution! P actually moved out of his room to Gibbo's so that we could stay in it. They were all great though because by living over there with them it meant we could stay sane and talk to like-minded people. It relaly helped us stay calm and get through it all.
Dinner was at a place called Dune we've not been to before but is a Moroccan place not far from ours that had large portions and was really quite tasty.
Good times, but now back to school for the week!
Egyptian artifact de ja vu
In our wandering around the Egyptian Museum we stumble on this statue:
We both recognise it, but cannot work out where from! In the end we just assume the cross-legged scribe is a famous image that appears in loads of ancient Egypt progs maybe.
That is until we get our wallets out to pay for dinner later and suddenly it all fits in place!
We both recognise it, but cannot work out where from! In the end we just assume the cross-legged scribe is a famous image that appears in loads of ancient Egypt progs maybe.
That is until we get our wallets out to pay for dinner later and suddenly it all fits in place!
Friday, 4 March 2011
Two / Too Touristy? Tahrir Square and the Egyptian Museum
We met D&P at the metro at 9am (after managing to pick up the only taxi driver who didn't know where Maadi Metro is and nearly took us over the bridge to the Cornich!) as we wanted to get to the museum early on, but I wasn't 100% convinced that although the guide book says it opens at 9am we know what things are like!
The metro journey was fine and we got out at Sadat. I'd changed trains here last weekend without a problem, but we didn't know how things would be leaving the station as it comes up right in the middle of Tahrir Square. And.... things were fine!
We got out of the Metro and started to wander around. There were definitly more people that I would have expected on a Friday morning pre-Jan 25 (!) but it wasn't busy busy yet at all. Everyone was welcoming and friendly; saying hello and asking us to look at their stalls. We bought some stickers from the first guy we saw (2LE bargin) as they had the head of the army on them which we thought was fun. Around one corner we see some placards and work out that a pro-tourism rally must be taking place later today. A few people are filming and they then come and speak to us. They are completing a university project on tourism/revolution and inerview Scott and then me about our thoughts! We say generic non-commital answers about politics, but when it comes to tourism we say that we think it is very safe, an excellent time to visit Egypt and are encouraging everyone to come out.
We then walk around the square and buy more t-shirts that we really need! But there are some good designs and some good prices (25LE for a standard print and then 35LE for one on nicer stretchy material - which the guy reckons will fit Scott, but only just fits me!). We then take a few photos with our mug which we have been carrying around waiting for a good moment to snap since we got back in Janaury with it! Quite fitting maybe that we won it for our short film that ended "We don't know how things are going to turn out in the next few months here".
It was amazing to see the sites that we knew, but had been seeing change on TV news reports for the last month. Then to be there and see them ourselves. There were the tents in the centre of the roundabout and then the impeccable KFC frontage that must have been boarded up during all of this. On the eastern side of thesquare there is a semi-permanent stage and sound system set up and it's from these buildings that many of the camera shots were from. The burnt out NDP building was the most significant view for me. As we go to buy tickets for the museum we see how dangerously close these two buildings are.
In to the museum and we must have been in the first dozen people to come through the doors that day. The huge halls were empty! It really felt like it had been opened just for us. We headed up to the Tutankhamun exhibits which take up half of the top floor of the museum. They are just stunning. So many shabtis that they hardly fit in the cabinets. A few artifacts have information type-writered up and stuck in with them, but most are just numbered and put in the case. They've tried to maximise natural light here so that you can see the artifacts, but actually we know that's not great for them. There's just so much stuff that we can see why people describe it as a warehouse.
We get to the Tut Room which houses his mask. We can see through the glass as we enter that it is just going to be us and two army guards in the room. Wow! It's kind of funny to see the army and the swat team just walking around - sometimes feels like we're in a computer game or Night At The Museum! But here we are on our own now with Tut's mask. P says that when he came before the closest he could get was 2 people away. Now we can just stop and stare and look from all angles.
When we've had our fill we walk passed the Russian-doll-esque ever increasing caskets and vaults that Tut was housed in on our way to the mummy room. It's an extra tickets to get in to the mummy room, but well worth it. Especially when we are again the only people in there. You can see whey it costs more as this is done properly as everything is temperature controlled. I'm glad to have the guide book as it points a few things out to look for (injuries on one mummy caused in a final battle, over stuffing on another during mummification and signs of small pox on another). Usefully, the book also tells us that there is a second mummy room on the other side of the museum - otherwise we would have never of found it!
Downstairs and we walk though huge blocks of stone that have been ripped from temples (far more and larger in size than those at the British Museum, so I don't feel so bad!). When we leave the exit takes us through a gift shop. This is always my favourite part of any cultural activity, but it's great news here, as before their shop was truely rubbish and now it's dead fancy with all the standard stuff tourists want to buy (pencils, postcards, rubbers, magnets etc). We buy some postcards and a magnet to add to our collection, but we leave the cushion covers that despit being exactly like the ones we buy in the Khan for 25-35LE cost 150LE here!
As we are leaving the museum there are now more people coming in and generally around. We notice that rather than tourists, most are Egyptian families and most of these are either sporting flag face-paint, or other revolutionary memorabelia. It's great to think that this is a day out for Egyptians now; museum in the morning and Liberation Square in the afternoon.
Back out of the museum we head into a busier Tahrir Square so taht D&P can grab the metro and we can go to find a taxi. To get in to the square now we have to go through two lines of civillians. The first are checking ID (luckily we have our passports with us) and the second look in our bags and pat us down. It's very organised and everyone respects this. The people are streaming into the square now as it is nearly time for prayers. There are also loads more stalls up and running and a general "carnival" atmosphere. It's great and we wish we could stay for longer; just to walk around, buy some more things and speak to people. We decide though that we will come back soon. It's not been a huge effort to get up and out on a Friday morning and it is good to take advantage of things when they are so quiet. So maybe we will go to the museum again, but we are definitely up for visiting Tahrir again.
The metro journey was fine and we got out at Sadat. I'd changed trains here last weekend without a problem, but we didn't know how things would be leaving the station as it comes up right in the middle of Tahrir Square. And.... things were fine!
We got out of the Metro and started to wander around. There were definitly more people that I would have expected on a Friday morning pre-Jan 25 (!) but it wasn't busy busy yet at all. Everyone was welcoming and friendly; saying hello and asking us to look at their stalls. We bought some stickers from the first guy we saw (2LE bargin) as they had the head of the army on them which we thought was fun. Around one corner we see some placards and work out that a pro-tourism rally must be taking place later today. A few people are filming and they then come and speak to us. They are completing a university project on tourism/revolution and inerview Scott and then me about our thoughts! We say generic non-commital answers about politics, but when it comes to tourism we say that we think it is very safe, an excellent time to visit Egypt and are encouraging everyone to come out.
 |
| Scotty being interviewed - media whore! |
 |
| Placards ready for the pro-tourism rally later that day |
 |
| Tahrir Square, Friday 4th March c9.40am |
 |
| Us with our UKN mug (and revolutionary newspaper) with the Mogamma building and tented Tahrir Square in the background |
 |
| Us with the UKN mug and the Egyptian Museum and a burnt out NDP building in the background |
 |
We get to the Tut Room which houses his mask. We can see through the glass as we enter that it is just going to be us and two army guards in the room. Wow! It's kind of funny to see the army and the swat team just walking around - sometimes feels like we're in a computer game or Night At The Museum! But here we are on our own now with Tut's mask. P says that when he came before the closest he could get was 2 people away. Now we can just stop and stare and look from all angles.
When we've had our fill we walk passed the Russian-doll-esque ever increasing caskets and vaults that Tut was housed in on our way to the mummy room. It's an extra tickets to get in to the mummy room, but well worth it. Especially when we are again the only people in there. You can see whey it costs more as this is done properly as everything is temperature controlled. I'm glad to have the guide book as it points a few things out to look for (injuries on one mummy caused in a final battle, over stuffing on another during mummification and signs of small pox on another). Usefully, the book also tells us that there is a second mummy room on the other side of the museum - otherwise we would have never of found it!
Downstairs and we walk though huge blocks of stone that have been ripped from temples (far more and larger in size than those at the British Museum, so I don't feel so bad!). When we leave the exit takes us through a gift shop. This is always my favourite part of any cultural activity, but it's great news here, as before their shop was truely rubbish and now it's dead fancy with all the standard stuff tourists want to buy (pencils, postcards, rubbers, magnets etc). We buy some postcards and a magnet to add to our collection, but we leave the cushion covers that despit being exactly like the ones we buy in the Khan for 25-35LE cost 150LE here!
As we are leaving the museum there are now more people coming in and generally around. We notice that rather than tourists, most are Egyptian families and most of these are either sporting flag face-paint, or other revolutionary memorabelia. It's great to think that this is a day out for Egyptians now; museum in the morning and Liberation Square in the afternoon.
 |
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| Looking towards the sqaure's entrance from Qars El Nil bridge and you can just about see the two lines of civilian security (one checking ID and one patting people down) |
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