Cooking and Cars

In leaving the expat-comfort of central Maadi and moving a few miles closer to downtown, my life has taken on quite a few changes.

First of all, my diet has changed. In Maadi, every restaurant under the sun delivers - from about noon until midnight. You can order American style nachos from Lucille's, sushi from Makani, or chicken from KFC. From the high end Egyptian Delicacies of Abou el Sid to the relatively inexpensive McDonald's - everyone will be at your door in generally an hour or less. While this made life easy (there is even an English language website that you can order through), it also made life pretty expensive as items such as sushi and nachos are not locally grown or acquired. Still, about 4 days a week (7 if it was a rough week) I was having one of the 50 or so restaurants in my neighborhood deliver dinner; I even knew a few of the delivery guys by name.

I'm not sure these places deliver to my new neighborhood; and even if they did, there is the unfortunate flavor decline of food that has been in a metal box on the back of a scooter for 30 minutes or more while it would sit in traffic instead of my belly.

On top of that, every morning in Maadi I used to walk 10 - 15 minutes down to Road 9 to get a cappuccino before walking another 5 - 10 minutes back towards my apartment to reach the bus stop. I am a miserable, horrible, no-goodnick wretch without my morning dose of espresso. (You now may ask "why not just drink the coffee at work? the regular coffee, like everyone else??" - simple: to make it taste good without the addition of foamy milk I need to add sugar, sugar leads to a sugar high, which leads to a sugar crash, which leads to me being a miserable, horrible, no-goodnick wretch again; all of which makes it a bit pointless.) Anyway, there were a few places I went and, power and water outages aside, I could easily get a pre-or-post school cappuccino with little effort or having to go too far out of the way.

So the new neighborhood has changed my life pretty drastically. First, my morning begins with a 15 minute coffee routine with my new cappuccino maker. It pulls beautiful espresso shots with a full inch of crema, but the steaming wand needs coaxing to heat up enough to produce a good foam. Still though, my skills from as a part-time barista are coming in super-handy. Additionally, I've worked out that I am saving roughly $20 USD a week - yippee!

Because the delivery guys don't get out this far, and even if they did I'd fear the condition of the food on arrival, I've been cooking every meal. This, again, has lead to a major cost savings, easily in the $50 - $100 a week range, and is introducing me to the joys of cooking. So far I've turned salmon belly into delectable fillets, created a sorry-excuse for moussaka, and really explored the range of the cheap 'cheddar' cheese available at the grocery store here. I try to expand my cookery skills by deviating from my standards at least once a week (but also stick to serious comfort food at least once a week, hence Tuesday's Chicken in Campbell's Cream of Mushroom over white rice). At right is left-over steak I pan seared in leftover red-wine reduction with goat cheese, shrimp and asparagus that I made last Spring in my Julia-Child-is-God phase. I'm hosting a roast dinner for some friends tomorrow night and will be attempting roasted veg and chicken livers for the first time (not in the same pan) to accompany roast chicken, which I'm usually pretty successful with - esp with the liberal application of butter, rosemary, and Paul Prudhomme's Poultry Seasoning.

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Another major change that's come with the move is driving.

I'll give you a second to get over your shock. . . especially if you've ever been on the roads in Cairo.

It's much faster to get home from work with a car, and easier to get groceries and supplies back and forth from Maadi and the mall; but oh...my...god! the roads.

So far I've driven twice, on weekend mornings, when there is no traffic. I simply don't have the skills/patience/desire to combat the crowded traffic situation here (this coming from someone who used to commute daily on the Washington beltway); but it does shave 40 minutes off the afternoon commute and is great for running errands after school or those days when I'm running late and would never make the bus, but could easily still make it to school on time. Fortunately, my roommate is gung-ho to drive here and generally enjoys the rush-hour game of 'dodgems'; so I get home faster with half the hassle.

So that's life on the Nile right now, cooking and cars. As Ramadan approaches it's end, I'm planning upcoming trips to Aswan and Athens (again, hopefully for more than 2 days this time) and can't wait to give my new camera a proper work out! I'm also hoping to tack-on a few days on a Greek Island, so if you have a favorite I should not miss, please let me know!

Maadi

It's not often I take pictures around my neighborhood, in fact, I usually take my lovely little neighborhood for granted.

But this morning, waking up to the beautiful sunshine and warm weather, I just had to take my camera out when I joined my friends for our weekly coffee just down the way from my apartment.

The first thing that caught my eye was this scene next to the supermarket. I see it every day (yes, I go grocery shopping nearly every day - or at least get a coffee. Fruit, veg, and meats are all pretty organic here and the lack of hormones and preservatives means food doesn't last long - you cook and eat it or it goes bad pretty quickly.) Anyway, this pretty little walkway and seat are on a side street smack in the bustle of Road 9 - the major shopping thoroughfare in Maadi. I loved how the light and shade made the little scene seem so very tropical.




Next I ran in to the street sweepers kicking up quite a bit of dust in front of Beano's. The sweepers clean the trash and endless sand from the gutters BY HAND using a broom made of twigs and a plastic dustbin. They are usually assigned to the same areas, so you tend to get to know your local sweeper - even if it is just with a daily "SabaHr el Khir" - good morning - and a wave.





Finally, after T and I had wandered quite a bit down Rd 9 in search of a particular tiger print couch we had found for her new apartment (which sadly had been purchased by someone else), and had explored the local antique shop that was full of beautiful curiosities from the heyday of Cairo (including a full-size Victrola and a beautiful desk-top chiming clock in the art deco style), we noticed this little building and dove cote. Now, I've walked past this particular building hundreds of times, and I think never really noticed how beautiful it is - and also how peculiar - a as it is sitting right across the street from a Cinnabon!


I really hope this weather sticks around for the field trip I'm taking with my students on Sunday to Islamic Cairo! What a long blog post and lot of photos that will require to recount!

Another Beautiful Evening Surprise

Through my windows, spiraling up from the street below, is the sound of joy.

Women are uulating, boys are singing, someone beats a drum and someone else plays energetic music on an accoridan while people clap in time. I imagine they are dancing.

This is likely another moving party, possibly a wedding. I love how alive my street can be - even on a weeknight.

More on Ramadan

Today, I awoke from an afternoon nap to the wonderful smell of cooking. I have no idea what it is, but with many families in the neighborhood preparing the Iftar meal, I'm sure the smell is a mingling of many delicious foods.

Iftar is the meal that Muslims eat just after sundown during Ramadan to break the fast (which lasts each day from sun up to sun down). Many long tables are set up in public places downtown to feed the poor hot meals for Iftar during Ramadan (as it is a time of giving), and large extended families gather together to share the Iftar meal as well. There are wonderful buffets for Iftar at local restaurants, and a large variety of sweets and nuts to choose from in the markets. (Including, according to the Associated Press "Obama Dates").

Ramadan ends this year towards the end of September.

Easier

I always say that my life in Egypt is pretty easy. I don't have a car, I do a lot of walking, I don't have a lot of bills, or places I need to be.

But there are things that have been missing. Most significant was the lack of my favorite snack: Prosciutto di Parma and cheese on bread.

No longer, dear readers. The days of low-blood pressure are over and done! Finally, we have an AMAZING little Italian grocery that stocks all my favorite cheeses, makes fresh breads and pastas and mozzarella, and stocks Prosciutto di Parma - better than any I ever got in the states (no salty aftertaste, smooth texture - perfect).

Fortunately, it's about a mile and a half walk to the grocer, so at least I burn some calories on the way there :)

Well, now I have everything I need here - save affordable western fashion, which is what trips home are for. . .I guess the question now is: Will I ever leave?

Downtown, Where All the Lights are Bright

Today 3 of my teaching colleagues and I took the metro into downtown Cairo. The metro here is HOT (like Cairo itsself) and crowded, but costs only 1 Egyptian pound - which is less than 20 cents in American dollars. There is a women's only car which is far less crowded than the mixed gender cars, so Ciara, Sarah and I rode in the women's only car and Steve took the mixed car.

Getting on and off the metro was the only true challenge. People simply push through each other just like back home to get on and off, but the doors shut so quickly that my skirt got caught the first time! Fortunately, we learned from the experience and adopted a first-on/first-off policy whenever we could!

Downtown was more crowded and far busier than our little suburb of Maadi! Crossing in traffic was a true challenge...you wait for a slight break and just walk into the traffic and keep a steady, brisk pace as you cross. Cars will not stop for you, but they may slow down or swerve around you. It is the ONLY WAY to cross (unless you are at a major intersection where a traffic cop is stopping traffic), you need to be very alert!

Walking out of the metro, the first landmark we found after the Egyptian Museum was...wait for it...KFC. That's right, we turned left out of the metro and the first thing we saw was Kentucky Fried Chicken. Ah, the Americana!

Then, like a depression era film where a roustabout might convince a wide-eyed tourist to give away all his money, so too were we taken in. A man stopped us and asked us if we needed help. He DID offer some helpful suggestions about crossing the road and the lights, but then insisted we should go to the "Government Shop". On and on he went so we followed him. In the "Government Shop" (read: TOURIST SHOP) we were were shown how papyrus is made, persuaded to smell several types of oils, offered complimentary tea and soft drinks, and given a hard sell. The glass perfume bottles shaped like camels, hookahs, and elephants were very spindly and pretty; but expensive and surely would break before I got them home.

After what seemed like an age we wandered out into the heat and walked around. Shoe stores were everywhere, as were tons of stalls selling knock-offs of Prada and such (again like New York), and finally, after a quick lunch, we headed back to Maadi exhausted.

Tomorrow we begin our training for school and it is also the beginning of Ramadan, which will bring its own new challenges and posts.

Crazy Week

What an amazing week! School let out for teachers only 9 days ago and so much has happened!

First, I am getting ready to sell my house, which has been a great deal of hard work!

Second, I picked out an apartment in the Cairo suburb of Maadi. I am very excited about the apartment, because it has absolutely insane furniture that reminds me of the amazing 1946 French film La Belle et La Bete.

I also got my assignment today for next year's classes. While I am not teaching drama as I had hoped, I will still surely be involved in performance arts in the extra curricular vein. I am teaching 8th, 9th and 10th grade English and Speech and Debate. While I have no Debate experience, I have a lot of experience giving and attending workshops on public speaking (not to mention dozens of public speaking events) from my days working in medical communications.

My days have been completely absorbed by spackle and paint - and researching things to do in Maadi and maps of Cairo. I have also had a few opportunities to email and IM with some of the other new staff members at my school, which has been very exciting!

I leave 2 months from yesterday!!!!