Weeks later…

I suppose the honeymoon had to end sometime. i.e. Sooner or later I would get tired to Korean food and start craving Indian (read my own) cooking. But I still don’t like cooking for a just myself. Have become so unused to  it in fact, that when a pot of stew (imitating Moon yi) didn’t “get over” within the next couple of days, I simply lost track of time, and ate it 3 weeks later only to give myself my first awful bout of food poisoning! I won’t go into details but I blame the ingredients and my forgetfulness, not the recipe which was fantastic!

Meanwhile,  kimchee doesn’t go bad – ever – but does after a while start to taste a but much in its cold state and so can be converted to soups and stews (and even pancakes) the first which was highly recommended by Emily’s sister as a way to reduce my coughing. A nice twist on the theme was to stew it with using leftover gravy (I would call it broth but it get’s quite solid in once it cools down) from a curry whose main contents were all gone. Said gravy has also been used to make a dalia (wheat porridge, North Indian style) and a very quick egg curry.

Well, as you may guess I have started my kitchen running again. Not with the frequency or Cairo or B-22 but better than at the outset. The setup of the apartment with its open kitchen is nice and conducive for a few visitors at a time. Guests sit around the counter – the only dining table actually – on barstools (folks living in the same building, as many of the UIC-ites have a request to bring their own since the management provides only two per household) and we eat, drink and make merry. Or we sit around the low coffee table in the living room, but the kitchen area works better because of easier access to food. A mini ritual of gathering here after Western Civ lectures on Tuesdays has been tentatively started with speaker (Kelly last week, Michael last night…) organizer Chad and 1-2 others chosen at whim. Would be nice, because I’m getting real tired real fast of my own company and even that of my precious Kindle at mealtimes.

A shopping spree in Gourmet Egypt led to an abundance of fish and hence a few fish dinners among friends. Menus follow, with dinner guests and links to actual items (if available).

Dinner for 7 (at table) as a sort of lets welcome ourselves back to Cairo back in later August (pre-Eid). Salima and Hoath, Belle, Emmanuelle, Camillo and Mate were there. Peter’s familiar mug was missing (and missed by some but no matter, he’s been before and after). After an apperitif of what I fondly call Brazilian iced tea – Cacaxa mixed with a mint/orange peel/ginger and tea infusion – we wined and dined on the following:

Doi maach (fish in yogurt sauce – Bengali style as I fondly hope)

Spinach Daal

Vangi Bhaath (Eggplant rice)

Arbi sabzi

Green apple salad

Think that’s it. The range and mix of flavors worked well, although I’m wondering if I could have just served plain rice?  My thought was that both the yogurt sauce for the fish and the daal could complement the rice without either overpowering the other, and this way way I didn’t have to make a separate vege (since the arbi/colocasia qualifies as a starch). It was successful. Oh and there was the labna+ cream served with mangoes.

Barely had I gotten back than I took off again for Switzerland during the Eid break. And returned armed with plenty of goodies from Neuchatel. Sausages, Rillettes and wine and more wine, and oh yes the inevitable collection of chocolates. I got back on the 12th and was barely off the plane when I was invited for an impromptu dinner at Louise and Michel’s, which was so welcome. It hasn’t been quite 3 weeks yet, but I’ve not done badly in terms of issuing invites from my end.

Not counting dinners for 2, over the weekend had Louise and Michel, Kevin of US-Aid, Emmanuelle and Camillo and Peter. Dinner was in two rounds that evening. A first round of Cheese and charchuterie – wild boar sausage, taleggio, and a nice ripe Camembert (courtesy E&C) set off by nice Bordeaux reds and a white brought by Kevin. Some melon and baguettes served as vehicles for the cheese and sausage. Oh and I completely forgot the star of this round – the goose rillettes. Yum! Indian dinner followed:

Mango salad

Meen kolambu (fish in a tamarind sauce)

Avial-type vege medley

Pongal/khichidi

No formal dessert really, chocolates galore – Grand Marnier bomb + those covered in dates (L&M’s contribution). Some Grand Marnier to go with.  Then finished with a final cup of chai nicely scented with ginger and cardamom.

How was it that despite L&M cleaning and putting away dishes, I had a nearly full sink by Sunday morning? or not quite full but not empty either. For one I did make a big batch of vangi bhath as a way to ensure being able to carry lunch AND use up an excess of eggplants. Louise and I shared it on the Monday.

A small intimate mid-week (or in Belle’s case weekend end) girls night in for Belle, Mel (anie) and me. Another Gourmet Egypt spree in prep for Saturday already, brought home, among other things, two luscious sushi-grade tuna steaks.  And I had some peaches of indifferent quality. Inspiration struck and we had a meal in 3 courses. First Gazpacho/Sal Morejo, then seared, mostly raw tuna with a peach chutney – recipe forthcoming topped off by a pasta aglio e olio embellished my style with anchovies, dried chillies and walnuts.  The big pay-off was lunch for the next day.

Weekend was Zane and Adam’s first visit home with their parents Duncan and Hala (her first time too),  Peter (naturally) and Steve and Helen after a long time. Like the weekend previous, dinner was in two shifts – cheese, charcuterie and gazpacho followed by a northern Indian meal. Truffled salami and a truffled pecorino were the C&C items this time around. F0r actual dinner

Jungli Maas on a bed of greens

Rajma (Peter’s call)

Dill & Peas Pulao

Radish raita

Fresh mango chutney

Naan/Parathas (from Indian restaurants)

The mango and labneh dessert though planned never materialized, and we made do with chai, oh and I forgot Hala’s chocolate cake, which went nicely with and has fed me and Fawzeya a few breakfasts since.

Sunday was supposed to have been a working/shop  talk dinner for Drew, Kate and myself but she couldn’t make it, and his mother was in town, and then Salima called and brought a friend along as well so plans changes and voila another dinner on the way.

Gazpacho with some cheese

Quinoa with zucchini and carrots

Chicken Mole (another successful experiment)

Daal (Salima’s offering)

All this followed by cupcakes brought by Drew’s Mom. the evening ended relatively early which was good as school was on the next day..

And guess what it’s Wednesday again and folks are coming over …again. Charles, Tim, Peter and Melanie this time. The planned menu:

Doi Macch

Chane ki daal

Green beans with coconut (South Indian style)

Mango salad

PLAIN rice

Methinks that ought to be enough.  Choco-dates to follow. Will check in later and tell me how it went. School tomorrow so insh’allah for an early night.

Anyway I should add an additional note regarding the Indian husband, the actual translation of the phrase Goz El-Hind is actually closer to India’s husband rather than an Indian one (though he could be I suppose). Still a good mnemonic though, and though I won’t be purchasing any during my trip to the souk today, I’ll remember it. An also try to remember another word for another nut that I do actually want, snabel, for pine nuts aka pignoli (in Italian) and chilgoza (in Hindi/Urdu). Wait a minute, there’s that husband (goz) again, this time chilled. Sorry guys, it’s not me, just my shopping list.

May they never end!

“…one of the fundamental necessities of life, food is something that concerns all of us, at many levels from the individual to the global. We pattern our daily routines around the taking of meals, and make choices about what we eat or don’t eat according to our personal beliefs and ethics. Entire societal structures are based on our access to food, and in history, wars have been fought, and grand voyages undertaken on account of specific food items. Nobody can claim a complete disinterest in the topic or level the complaint that the topic favors students of certain majors over the others.”

My word-play loving self has named the course, “Food for Thought & Feasts with Words,” the feasts at issue being the verbal varieties I have exhorted my students to offer me throughout the semester. I did create a website for the course, but until the course is over, intend to restrict access to the students and few of the teachers. But I couldn’t resist mentioning the course here, since it is so theme appropriate.

The menu featured duck, a first for me here in Egypt and I’ll have to get some again since it’s relatively inexpensive compared to other places. Let me say first off, that duck is one of my favorite meats. Last year when I visited my friends in Beijing I was delighted to try the real deal Peking Duck, which really is spectacular and folks, not matter how good the others you’ve tried are (I have tried a few and even had a good round In Eau Claire of all places), nothing compares to the original. When I visit France or for that matter French restaurants I do try to order duck whenever I can. I had a particularly annoying experience some weeks ago when my neighbor Maria and I went to our local French place for dinner (Le Bistro, a nice enough place but with the usual crappy Egyptian wine and unfortunately exorbitant corkage  fees for bottles we might BYOB). The waiter announced a duck in wine sauce as the special of the evening, which I ordered off the bat, as in right away. It wasn’t a particularly crowded evening either but as soon as I placed my order the response I got was “Sorry but it is finished.” Considering no time had passed between his recitation and my order, I had to wonder… why did they have to tell me about it if they were already out?

Anyway, yesterday, I made the duck with a cherry sauce since I had the sour cherries from my trip to Turkey. I may have over cooked the bird just a trifle but it was quite yummy regardless. It was accompanied by a side of Greek style roasted potatoes (in olive oil and lemon with garlic) but with an added twist – I added pesto instead of just garlic. yum. Another twist was the white beans – my friend Belle characterized them as “like English baked beans but with flavor.” I’m adding the recipe here in a new chapter I thought I’d add to my roster called “Twists in the theme.” Julie brought a lovely fresh salad, there was okra seasoned with tomotoes, thyme and garlic and dried red chillies (naturally) instead of the usual Indian spice mix, and to round off everything couscous stuffed eggplant and peppers (more dried loot from Turkey). Finally dessert also featured Turkish loot – some amazing dried figs which were plumped up in lemon juice and ginger and served with the usual whipped mixture of labneh, honey and cream.

Last week I had experimented with variations on a Rajasthani theme for jungli-maas/murg, which I had also tried using pigeons instead when Eva and her mother visited. Very simple – the meat of choice is poached – not fried in ghee (clarified butter) with generous amounts of chillies and garlic. Very tender, very flavorful, completely decadent and not at all worth thinking about the calories or the right main (artery that is).

Okay thats all for now… more by and by

My mother claims that once, when I was very young (still in the single digits), I very earnestly explained to her that the major difference between us was that whereas she ate to live, I lived to eat. Not a very meaningful aim in life, perhaps, but the statement still exemplifies one of our differences, double-digits of years later. Except that today I might rephrase my original statement to more broadly include “food” rather than just “eat,” for it’s not just eating food that I’m obsessed with but all its glorious aspects – cooking it, shopping for it, socializing around it etc. etc. etc. A cook-book was inevitable I suppose. For now it’s on this blog, maybe someday it will become a “real” book? We’ll see…

Meanwhile Cheers, Prosit, Sante etc

Neeraja