It's almost time for Eid

Feluccas on the Nile at Aswan




The small one-room house over the road

Tomorrow is the last day of Ramadan – finally after 29 days of fasting - tomorrow night the new moon will be visible for the first time in the night sky and we will see the beginning of the Eid el Fitr (mostly just called the Eid here) and the end of Ramadan. This will be a three day holiday which runs on to the weekend so we will really experience a holiday period until next Sunday. To tell the truth it has been a long month for me and tonight I am really tired for some reason, not that I’ve done anything out of the ordinary today. Maybe it is all just finally catching up. Or maybe it is because today was hot and uncomfortable and VERY thirsty as I did all my work around the house. Also windy, but not as bad as the other day. It’s supposed to be a little cooler for the next few days which will be great.

I have actually had a slightly more interesting few days with Hagar coming and staying for 2 days, helping me to cook the iftar meal for 25 that we provided on Friday night. It was good to see her again and have her company and to learn a few more words of Arabic. And with her help we managed to have all the food ready exactly on time. At the last moment Mohamed added another dish; I don’t know its Arabic name but it is zucchinis cut into thinnish slices length ways and fried then layered in a pan with a béchamel sauce and baked in the oven.

In the end all the drivers were working and Mohamed took the food by himself in the Honda. Except the food that was for the doorman and his family and the folks over the road. All the pans came back empty and Mohamed said the food was good so I can only hope that they all enjoyed it. I saw that the people over the road were all gathered around a carpet on the ground outside their small one room, they seemed to have guests as well. A small amount of generosity goes a long way in Egypt.

Obviously, now at some time when the drivers are not working we will need to give them a special meal as well. But the high season has started to kick in and so I don‘t know when that will be. And thank goodness really, work has been a bit scarce during Ramadan – many tourists are given the impression that nothing much can happen during the month and it’s a time to avoid, which is a false impression of course, and in fact many tourist hotels etc. make special deals, including special iftar meals at excellent prices.

Another special custom that marks the end of Ramadan is gift giving. We will give gifts of money to the doorman and to our drivers, and also to Hagar and to Rania’s boys. So – let me tell you a little about the Eid.

The word Eid is an Arabic name that means a festivity, a celebration, a recurring happiness, and a feast. In Islam, there are two major Eids namely Eid el-Fitr (Festival of Breaking the Fast) celebrating the end of Ramadan and Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) which coincides with the Hajj (the main time for a pilgrimage to Mecca) and commemorates prophet Abraham’s sacrifice of a sheep in place of his son Ishmael. (Abraham is a figure of great significance to Muslims as well as to Jews and Christians)

Eid el-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims after Ramadan as a matter of thanks and gratitude to God. It takes place on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the lunar calendar, and is a happy celebration with new clothes, gifts, and plenty of good food. Though technically the Eid is one day, festivities last three days in Egypt with public holidays for schools, universities and government offices. Some shops and restaurants are closed during Eid, too.

The Eid day starts with a small snack followed by Eid prayers (Salat al-Eid) in congregation in the mosque attended by men, women and children. Afterwards neighbours, friends and relatives start greeting each other. The most common greeting is Eid mubarak (Have a blessed Eid). Children are normally given gifts, which traditionally are new clothes to wear throughout the Eid. Also, women (particularly mothers, wives, sisters and daughters) are commonly given special gifts by their loved ones. (I wonder if there’ll be anything for me?)

It is customary for children to also receive an Eidyah from their adult relatives. This is a small sum of money that the children receive, to spend on all their activities throughout the Eid. Children wear their new clothes and go out to amusement parks, gardens or public courtyards based on how much their Eidyah affords. The amusement parks can range from the big ones on the outskirts of Cairo (just out past us there are two of them) to small mobile neighbourhood rides consisting of swings and small rides, much like a small carnival we might see at home. In other parts of the city, kids also gather around a storyteller, a puppeteer or a magician, entertained by Egyptian folktales or by a grown-up’s sleight of hand. It is also customary for kids to rent decorated bikes to ride around town I’m told.
This will be an unusual site as I don't think I've seen a kid on a bike here yet.

Eid is a time for family gatherings and since a lot of Egyptian city dwellers are first or second generation immigrants from towns and villages, those gatherings can involve travelling and therefore it is the busiest time of the year for roads and trains. Since most Egyptians live in close proximity to the Nile, felucca rides are one common feature of Eid celebration in Egyptian villages, towns and cities. For a lot of families from working neighbourhoods, Eid celebration also includes picnics in green areas including parks, zoos, botanical gardens and even green islands on major roads.

The doorman and his family have already left today to go to Faiyoum to celebrate the Eid, and the little house over the road is also locked up. I guess they have also headed to their home town. Walaa asked us to come to Kuwait to celebrate with the two sisters that live there but it really wasn’t feasible or affordable when we investigated.

Family gatherings involve cooking and eating all kinds of Egyptian food but the item most associated with Eid el-Fitr are kahk (singular is kahka) which are spicy cookies filled with nuts or dates and covered with sugar powder. Egyptians either bake them at home or buy it in the bakery. Thus, a bakery crowded in the last few days of Ramadan with kahk buyers is apparently a common scene. I don’t have to worry – Rania was kind and baked a big selection of them for us and sent them with Hagar. The biscuit itself seems a bit like shortbread to me.

I also understand that TV in Egypt celebrates Eid, too, with a continuous marathon of movies as well as programs featuring live interviews from all over Egypt of both public figures and everyday citizens, sharing their Eid celebrations. No doubt that will all be in Arabic and I’ll miss out on it. Mohamed may watch some it. I have no idea if he has anything in particular planned for Eid.

Tonight he is out with his friend Mohamed Elkardy the policeman who is back from Sharm El Sheikh. When he gets home I assume he will have another hour of prayer before our final meal and bed. In fact, it’s now 1.30 pm and he’s just arrived home. I’ve been trying to find a kahk recipe for you but one I found had a review that said it was terrible and another said you need a spicy mix called rihat el kahk that you can only buy in middle eastern stores.

Rihat el kahk is a spice mixture or essence used as part of the seasoning in Egypt. It contains aniseed, fennel seed, mahlab, and bay leaf. Mahlab is made from ground sour cherry stones, and it apparently lends a bitter almond fragrance to the dish. Rania’s biscuits don’t smell like that to me however. They have a crumbly texture.
Here’s one I found that uses a mixture of spices to make up for not having the rihat el kahk. However I haven’t tried them and they seem fairly fiddly – so maybe only you dedicated cooks will give them a try.

Makes approximately 40 biscuits

1 cup whole milk
3 bay leaves, fresh if possible
454 gms. unsalted butter
4 ½ cups all purpose flour
3 tsp ground aniseed
3 tsp ground fennel seed
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground cloves
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups pitted dates
powdered sugar for dusting

Twist or crush the bay leaves to bruise them and heat with the milk in a small saucepan until very warm – do not allow to bubble or boil. Remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter in a medium pot and heat over medium-high heat until it foams and bubbles. Continue to cook until the solids have separated to the bottom of the pan and the butter is lightly golden in color.

As the butter is cooking, whisk together the flour, 1 ½ tsps of the aniseed, 1 ½ tsps of the fennel seed, the cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Once the butter is clarified and golden, pour the liquid into the flour and spice mixture and mix thoroughly

Remove the bay leaves from the milk, and, once the mixture has cooled enough that it’s just warm to the touch, dissolve in the yeast and the sugar. Allow to bloom for 10 minutes and then add to the flour and butter mixture along with the almond extract. Knead or process until the mixture comes together, and then cover with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place for 1 hour.

While the dough is resting, place the dates and the remaining aniseed and fennel seed into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture comes together in a thick paste.

Preheat the oven to 175-180 degrees C.

Form a ball of dough and flatten it to a disk about 3 inches across. Form a 1-inch disk of date paste and place in the center of the dough. Fold up all 4 sides and pinch together to seal (see photo above). Allow the formed biscuits to rest for 15 - 20 minutes, and then bake for 25 minutes or until golden and cooked through. While they're still hot, transfer the biscuits to a rack and shake over icing sugar through a sieve until they're completely covered. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

I think you can also put other things in the middle like nuts or even a piece of turkish delight.

So that’s it for tonight folks – I hope that you enjoy your week. Will probably write again after Eid

Lots of love
Lyndall

Almost over

Another partly cloudy day yesterday and the pyramids were at it again, ducking in and out of shadow and looking amazing. Taken through the bedroom window.


Hi everyone, Ramadan is now drawing to a close and although we don't know the exact date yet, it will be over and the Eid here in 4 or 5 days. That's not quite the end of the fasting - there will be 6 more days in the month that follows but you can choose how and when after the Eid you fast for those days. Mohamed says he thinks for him maybe 2 days a week, but I figure I'd rather get it all over at once. So we'll see after Eid. Muslims believe that if you do the extra 6 days it is as if you had fasted for a year.

Today has been a really nasty day with a very strong wind blowing and a temperature of 41 - there was so much sand in the air that we couldn't even see the pyramids when we went up to water the plants on the roof. It has looked like being in fog all day and the wind was really rattling the awnings. Very like the khamseen although that comes in March-April.

I hope it has cleared a little by tomorrow as I will be up reasonably early tomorrow (well, by 10.30 anyway) as tomorrow we provide an iftar meal to our drivers and the people at the park where the vehicles stay overnight, and for the doorman and his family and the family over the road in the little one room shop/house. Hagar is coming at around 11.00 am and thank goodness really as Masry has put in an order for a range of Egyptian dishes, most of which I know how to cook but have not cooked yet. The doorman's wife is also going to cook the rice - Masry says it's a farmer's dish - rice cooked in milk in the oven but with salt and butter, not sugar. SO that's one thing I don't have to do. The meal we'll provide is:
- dates
- toshi (pickled mixed vegetables)
- bread
- olives
- mixed salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, onion, carrot
- mulukhiyya, a soup made of a green leaf that I've never seen before and garlic and coriander and chicken (or rabbit) stock. Masry loves it. My little phrasebook says you'll either hate it or love it! Given the meat broth I have only barely tasted it, to me it doesn't taste much like anything except the garlic.
- maHshi koosa - zucchini and small eggplant and small peppers stuffed with a rice and tomato and dill mix and cooked in a tomato sauce (these are already made, a friend of Mohamed's sent them home with him tonight, along with a full meal for him)
- potatoes sliced and baked in the oven with sliced onion and garlic in a tomato sauce
- makarona bil beshamel - macaroni and mince layered with bechamel sauce and baked (sort of like lasagna but with ordinary penne or elbow or twist pasta)
- meat, chunks of rump, first boiled for about and hour and a half and then baked/browned in the oven
- juice

That's all to be prepared tomorrow and I guess with Hagar's guidance all will be well - insha'allah. The food has to be ready to leave here by 5.00 pm latest and when they get to the park it will all be spread out on carpets on the ground and all the men will sit round and eat and drink as soon as they are able. I won't be there to see it - it will be men only. Don't know if Hagar will be staying the night or not. So I might have iftar by myself tomorrow but that will be OK. Mohamed has been invited out to some of his friends for iftar a few times but he has always declined to be with me; I am sure one night eating by myself won't hurt. Mind you he has gone out often later to the cafe with his friends so it's not really as if he's been deprived.

We went out to the supermarket last night - another of my very rare evenings out in Ramadan. We were also asked out to one of Masry's friends house last night for iftar but preparations for the big meal took precedence. Instead, we will be going in the Eid to Osama's house. Osama doesn't have any English but I spoke to his wife on the phone and she and I should be able to communicate quite well I think. (Yes, Osama's house - I'll keep you posted) We went over to Carrfours in El Maadi, it's a bit of a department type store as well as supermarket and there's not a bad range of clothing stores in the same complex. One of the Ramadan customs is that you get new clothes as a gift before the Eid and we were looking for Mohamed but he didn't see anything he liked. We had been to City Stars earlier in the week but he didn't really find anything there either. Fingers crossed that he can see something he likes in the next few days.

It has been lovely being out on the streets and seeing the lights and the people out taking the evening air, the cafes full and the streets busy, even at 1.30 to 2.00 am when we come home. I think maybe now I can appreciate just a little the special atmosphere of Ramadan.

I don't really have too much else for now, it's 1.30 am and Mohamed is still at prayer, he will finish about 2.00 am and then we'll eat a little earlier tonight. After midnight he prays for an hour, a mixture of reading the Qu'uaran and praying - basically singing the Qu'uaran just as they do in the mosque. This is an important part of the extra religious rituals of the last 10 days of Ramadan for him.

I want to say a BIG thank you to everyone who has written, it's been great to get your letters and hear all the news from your part of Oz. I look forward to hearing more from you all. We are both fit and well. Sorry I don't have any new photos of Logan - news is that he's over 7 kg and laughs lots. I also know he's slept through the night and is being good. Sounds like a great baby, can't wait to see him again.

lots of love for now

Lyndall

رمضان كريم

Yes, Ramadan kareem once again as we celebrate two weeks of Ramadan tomorrow and around 2 weeks and a day or two more to go. The moon is full and bright tonight, and at the moment (9.00 pm) still a very warm 32 degrees outside. The airconditioners in here in the hall are struggling to make it comfortable after another hot day. Being single brick, albeit covered with lots of plaster and a different coloured external facing, the walls really hold the heat for quite a while. I can’t seem to get enough liquid into me tonight and I’m very thankful for the perpetual ice-maker in the fridge.

When we were coming home one evening just before Ramadan, I saw a shop that had been converted to a lantern shop. It was totally decked out with magnificent coloured lanterns, or fanoos, of every shape and size, some plain colours and some with elaborate patterns. As you drive around you can see these lanterns hanging on balconies and in windows.

And since Ramadan is considered to be the most joyful month of the whole year, children also have their share of fun. A fawanees (said fanoos, so that’s how I’ll print it from now on, fanoos for one, fanooseen for plural) is a must for many kids. These are traditionally made of tin and coloured glass, with a candle inside. More modern examples are battery operated or plug into mains electricity. All mosques and streets during the whole month are full of colored lights in a festival fashion. Apparently in the past, children played in the streets with their lanterns, singing "wahawy ya wahawy" – metaphorically meaning the light of fire. This tradition is still practiced, though rarely now in the streets, except in middle class or poor neighborhoods, and in the countryside. I haven’t seen any around this area with kids, although there are coloured lights on some buildings and lanterns at the entrances.

So I’ve done some research about this colourful custom and thanks to Tour Egypt I can tell you a bit more about them.

Lanterns and lamps of various kinds, hues and degrees of brightness, have always been special to the Egyptians. Many stories of their origins have been told. One story has it that the Fatimid Caliph Al Hakim Bi-Amr Illah wanted to light the streets of Cairo during Ramadan nights, so he ordered all the sheikhs of mosques to hang fawanees that could be illuminated by candles. As a result, the fanoos became a custom that has never been abandoned.

Another story states that, during the time of the Caliph Al Hakim Bi-Amr Illah, women were not allowed to leave their houses except during Ramadan, but even then they had to be preceded by a little boy carrying a copper fanoos. The fanoos was then used to announce the arrival of a woman and to caution men in the street to move away. As the laws against women softened, women were allowed to go out as they wished but people liked the idea of the fanoos, and so it became a tradition that little children carry them in the streets everyday to play.

A third story relates that the lanterns came from a completely different religion. Some believe that the use of lanterns was originally a Coptic Christian tradition celebrated during Christmas time (Coptic version), when people used to celebrate with colourful candles. This story says that, as many Christians converted to Islam, they took this tradition with them in the form of lanterns made of tin and lit with candles.

Regardless of the truth of these stories, the fanoos remains a very unique symbol of Ramadan to Muslims and Christians alike. It has passed from generation to generation, and is today explicitly associated with children. Its popular image is children playing out in the streets during Ramadan, happily swinging their fanooseen and singing a rhyme in colloquial Egyptian Arabic.

During the few days before Ramadan arrives, children become excited and are more insistent about having a fanoos. In fact, most of them can hardly wait to start swinging and singing. That’s why, exactly one week before Ramadan, some Egyptian streets are transformed into workshops for tinsmiths to produce as many fanooseen as possible.
The fanooseen makers are usually very humble people. They; as many other craftsmen in Egypt; work in small areas, in any corner, in alcoves or just simply under corrugated iron shelters, to produce the tens of thousands of fanooseen needed to meet the demand during Ramadan. Actually the fanooseen makers usually start between six to nine months before Ramadan depending on the market forecasts.

In these days of globalization it appears that the Chinese have also made inroads into the fanooseen market, producing plastic lanterns that also play popular songs. While it was initially thought that these might destroy the local trade, reports say that the traditional fanoos is still sought after and the old tradition appreciated.

Another popular decoration is like alfoil cut into a deep fringe and strung like streamers. You see this in silver and sometimes in gold strung across streets and from house to house. Usually it stays in place until the weather brings it down, so you see it for quite some time afterwards. I’m sure there’s still some up since last Ramadan.

I haven’t much other news; again I have been basically in the house except for the supermarket trip and a look around one of the newer housing estates (very nice). We had a problem with one of the Coasters this week – it was parked in the parking lot where it is kept overnight and some small boys got into a Hiace that was parked nearby and started it up and drove it into the front of our Coaster. It’s still in the panel shop but hopefully will be finished tomorrow. So that has been taking most of Mohamed’s time, both day and night. No-one has any insurance of course and at least the child “driving” wasn’t hurt.

Anyway, it’s about 3.00 am and time for the final meal and off to bed. Mind you I’m not tired, didn’t wake up until 2.30 pm today!!! Mind you it was almost 5.00 am when I went to sleep.

So, from hot and sunny Cairo I bid you Ramadan kareem until next time

Lots of love

Lyndall

PS Judy – my very favourite cotton nightdress is getting a very good workout over here – it’s perfect!

Logan's progress

These are the latest pictures sent by Lahni on Monday. Sunday was Father's Day of course and the 7th is also Ian's birthday so there was some celebrating happening. The picture of Ian and Logan enjoying a nap was taken on Father's Day. Very cute.


Ramadan is progressing well, we seem to be into the swing of it now although I dread to think how long it will take to get the biorhythms right again. Basically we sleep late, often until midday or very close to it, and then begin the day - usually going out for Mohamed to take care of business and doing the housework for me. Mohamed is back in time for the iftar meal, usually just hanging out the door waiting to hear the call from the mosque that tells us we can eat and drink. Today that was 6.09 pm. He's anxious to have the food ready right on the minute. Normally I manage it. I am not usually really hungry but I am always thirsty.

Once we've eaten it's relaxing time, or maybe doing bookwork, or going out to the cafe for Mohamed, or like last night, off to the supermarket about 10.00, and then we stay up to eat as close to 4.00 am as possible. Some nights we make it but sometimes it might be earlier, like 2.00 am or so. I have a normal breakfast of muesli but add some juice and water (as much as I can manage) and maybe even a piece of toast and Vegemite (I brought back a big jar this time). Mohamed has more of an Egyptian light meal or breakfast, bread, cheese, beans maybe, egg maybe, a little toshi (pickled vegetables) etc. Once we've had that and put the dishes in the sink it's off to bed. I don't usually like going to bed when I've just eaten but I'm so tired by then it's welcoming.

Today we had Rania and Hagar and the 3 boys to share the meal with us and in fact the ladies did the cooking for us and now I have 3 more dishes that Mohamed likes - a sort of spinach soup with lots of garlic and ground coriander called mulukhiyya, sliced potatoes done with onion and garlic in a tomato sauce in the oven and savoury rice made with milk. I would never have made that one - milk and salt and pepper, ghee and margarine, baked in the oven. It was fine but not my favourite. The potatoes were delicious however.

I have had an uneventful time, just in the house basically, one quick drive for coffee one night and a visit to the supermarket my only outings in 10 days. Such an enormous change for me and at times I find it very restricting. Thank goodness I now have the net.

Cairo suffered a significant disaster this week - you can read about it here

http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=16381

Yes, I now have an Egyptian newspaper on line so I can keep up with what's happening around the country. But coincidental that I was just telling you about the Citadel last post and this major problem has occurred just behind it in Old Cairo. It's been so hot, I can't stop thinking about all the poor people and how they must be suffering. I would think it highly unlikely they will find any more alive and the death toll will be a great deal higher than it is now.

Anyway, sorry to end on a sombre note but it's time to think about getting food ready and then getting off to bed.


Looking forward to hearing from you guys, news from home is always welcome...

lots of love

Lyndall

Ramadan kareem

Images of the Mosque at the Citadel. It has many names, one of which is the Blue Mosque.


Today has been the first day of Ramadan – a lunar month that is also one of the months in the Islamic calendar. So last night when the new moon was visible for the first time after sunset we knew that Ramadan began today (Monday, 1st September).

The Islamic calendar has an eleven-day offset from the Gregorian (western) calendar, so the exact timing of Ramadan during the year is variable, sometimes falling in summer and sometimes in winter. The first day of Ramadan too is variable, since Sha’aban, the preceding month, sometimes has 29 days and sometimes 30 days (don’t ask me how it all works, I’ve really no idea – shifting time like shifting sands under your feet - it is all a foreign concept to me, pardon the pun)... Ramadan lasts for 29 or 30 days, as do most lunar months. This year, for better or worse, Ramdan is in high summer. Daylight saving time officially ceased one month early a couple of days ago because of Ramadan.

For Muslims, the holiness of this month comes from the fact that it marks the day when Gabriel started the transmission of God’s message to the prophet Mohammad, fourteen centuries ago. The exact date has never been identified (and I gather Mohammed the Prophet didn’t ever reveal it), but it is believed to be on one of the last ten days of this month, a day which Muslims call Laylat el-Qadr and which is considered the holiest day of the year. According to Islam, the month is dedicated to prayers, as it is believed that it is an occasion “to wash one’s sins away and enjoy God’s unlimited mercy”.

The principal ritual during Ramadan is fasting. This entails abandoning eating, drinking, smoking or sinning, even if minor, throughout the whole day, from dawn to sunset. Also no kissing or “relations” of any sort between the sexes, even those who are married. This year, that means from 4.00 am until 6.20 pm.

Last night Mohamed had been out meeting with the drivers and then having coffee with friends so he didn’t get home until 1.30 am. I had been too tired to wait up so was asleep although I heard him tiptoe in to change, but he then stayed up resting and praying until 3.15 am when he woke me up. We quickly got a meal ready and finished it so that Mohamed fitted in one last cigarette right on 4.00 am. I was so stuffed with food, even though I just had cereal and juice and water, and more water, that I had trouble sleeping because my belly was so full it was hurting. Although we’d thought to sleep late, for some reason neither of us slept well and I got up just after 8.30 am with Mohamed about an hour later.

Mohamed was out and about for most of the day but I had my usual house cleaning to do and then we both worked at getting the iftar meal ready. We timed it perfectly so that as soon as we heard the call from the mosque we were able to begin. I was really fine and not hungry during the day but I did get very thirsty and dry in the mouth. So I found it easier than I thought but I suspect that was just the first day and maybe it won’t always be that easy. In fact I could only eat a small meal, although I have had plenty to drink.

Mohamed has had to go out again this evening to meet one of the drivers so he will pray at home tonight although on other nights I think he intends to go to the mosque.

Though the usual daily practice is in most ways normal, Muslims prefer to spend more time praying or reading the Qura’an, particularly at night, and Mohamed will normally go to the mosque at 9.00 pm. Most Muslims also aim to read the entire Qura’an during the month as well. The traditional practice starts immediately after sunset, which is announced to people through all mosques by the ritual azan, or the call for prayers. Because the new mosque opened just down the road from us on Friday we can hear the call loud and clear.

The daily meals become limited to two, the first of which is the iftar, when fasting is broken just after sunset. The timing of the second meal, sohour, is variable according to what you feel like or what your plans are, but is usually delayed as much as possible until just before dawn. In between iftar and sohour, people are allowed to eat as they choose. For me, I snacked on grapes and fruit juice and water and water.

What makes this month different in Egypt? Well, from everything I can gather, a long time ago, Egyptians adopted certain social habits during this month that are not directly related to religion. Officially, the working hours are lessened to allow more time for prayers. Tourist attractions and offices close earlier. People usually sleep very late and spend considerable time in the mosques. Mohamed says that traffic is even more chaos and congestion in the afternoon because EVERYONE is trying to get home at the same time to break their fast as soon as allowed.

Once, beginning in the 16th century, it was the habit of the Egyptian government to fire a canon which could be heard throughout Cairo to announce end of the daily fast. This was fired from the Citadel over the El Moqattam mountains. Technology has replaced this habit so that now announcements are made on radio and TV and of course from the mosque. The Citadel is now a tourist attraction and well worth the visit. It has a very large mosque in the huge compound that is very beautiful, also a palace, still furnished in some magnificence and there’s also a fort although we couldn’t go into that part when I went there. There’s an amazing view over the city as well.

Iftar is considered the main meal of the day during Ramadan and is often very rich. Any type of food might be served, but traditionally the dessert (if you have one and we don’t usually) almost always includes konafa or qatayef. The former is a cake-like food made of wheat with considerable sugar, honey, raisins and different types of nuts (which Mohamed doesn’t like he tells me so I probably won’t be trying that). The latter is almost the same, but takes the shape of a small circular cake, which is folded to include nuts and raisins. But although we don’t normally eat dessert I did make Om Ali yesterday and we did have that after our meal and he said it was good!!!! I’ll put the recipe in because it is SO delicious!

On the last day of Ramadan, observatories again check for the new moon. The month ends after the 29th or 30th day, when the "eid el fitr" or feast and 3 day holiday begins.


That’s enough for now – it’s midday on day 2, I woke up about 10.00 am and Mohamed is still in bed as he didn’t actually sleep until after 4.00. I try to keep the noise down while he’s still sleeping so it’s a nice quiet and peaceful time for me too – reading, writing etc. Again today is not quite so hot, it’s to be around 36 I think and I don’t need the aircon yet but no doubt will later.

Anyway – here’s your sweet treat

Om Ali (or Omm Ali or Umm Ali)

200 gm puff pastry
30 gm ground almonds
30 gm ground hazel-nuts
15 gm raisins or sultanas
15 gm coconut flakes (not desiccated, the proper flakes)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 large cups milk
1 cup cream, whipped with a little vanilla (measure before whipping)

(You could also add 30 gm of ground pistachios, but then you will need to add a little more milk)

Directions:

Brush the puff pastry sheets with butter and bake in a 200 degree C oven (or according to packet directions if you use a packet – I do, I never did learn to make pastry properly). Let them get fairly firm and a little golden on top. In my oven this takes about 10 minutes.

When cool enough to handle, break the puff pastry into bite-sized pieces.

Mix the pastry with the nuts, raisins and coconut and put in a deep casserole dish. Mix it up well so that everything is evenly spread through.

Put the sugar and milk in a pot and bring just to a boil. Pour this mixture over the pastry, nuts and raisins.

Spread the whipped cream evenly over mixture (try not to leave any gaps anywhere including around the sides or as it cooks the milk will boil up and spatter everywhere – the cream seems to keep it sealed).

Bake 25 minutes at 200 degrees – it should just start to go golden brown on top and not be sloppy, a “firmish” consistency.

Mohamed says it’s eaten cold but all the recipes I have found say eat it hot or warm – I think I prefer it hot although it is also delicious cold, even if not so moist. You can serve it with additional cream or ice-cream or just as it is – sweet, creamy, nut crunchy, heavenly.


Enjoy!

Love until next time

Lyndall