Beware The Dark Alleys of Cairo

About two weeks ago, we trekked down to Road 9, to do some last minute shopping for one of the kids.  As usual we passed a VW parked on the street, so here's a few complimentary Bug photos since VB's been remiss at the Funkengroovin posts lately.  (We had the whole family here for awhile, plus entertained another five people who are our neighbors back in Connecticut.  So we've all been preoccupied.)

Below 3 photos:  Different views of the same Beetle.

On our walk, we discovered the bakery at the Metro overpass had closed up shop.  It always had full stands of bread and sweets.  Then the bread riots came and VB heard they were baking bread for the government.  As time went on, the amount of products they offered dwindled.  And now this - nothing.  So where to get freshly baked goods? 

While we were shopping near the Metro Market area of Road 9, VB could smell some enticing odors coming from a dark alleyway.  She looked up, saw a sign, and a man standing outside said, "bakery."  It smelled so good, VB had to visit, even over the protests from the kids.  So we went into the dark alleyway.   Below:  Wooden shelves containing  some of the breads, and crackers, including bread sticks. 

Looking beyond the the shelving a man was napping in an airy courtyard, where sheesha is served.

Below: Freshly baked rolls.

Below:  The reason we ended up staying longer.  They had a package of small pizzas made with puff pastry.  The baker said he would have fresh ones coming out of the oven in a few minutes, and the kids wanted fresh, warm pizza.  They didn't want to stop here to begin with, and now we have to wait so they can have it straight from the oven.

They also sell cookies exactly like Greek Koulourakia.

Below: These are called "S" and have an orange flavor.  Others have anise, and some are slathered with sesame seeds (VB's favorite.)

Much of the cooking around the Middle East, southern and eastern Europe is so similar, probably due to the Ottomans who had control of the territories for ages.  It's typically the first bits of a new language VB learns, since the words are so similar.

The bread below is called Tsorek, and tastes exactly like Greek Tsoureki, a bread usually baked for Easter.

Below: The shop sign.  This has become one of VB's favorite food stops.  Everything we've tasted is delicious, and disappears quickly.   We left with two packages of small pizzas (about 2-3 dozen), one tsoureki, one batch of "S", two large fateers, and two packages chocolate filled eclairs and puff pastries, for less than 100LE (about $17.00).  Quite a deal.

Most photos were taken with VB's iPhone, another one of her favorite things.  (No this is not a copy of "Oprah's Favorite Things", but they "Good Things" too.)

 

Egyptian Pancake House

The Egyptian Pancake is also known as fateer.  Every time we go to The Khan, we pass by the Egyptian Pancake House.  Curious, this time we decided to stop in for a bite. 

Below: Awesome Daughter gets tea.

Below: "Savory Pancake" - mixed cheese.  Very yummy.  Not quite sure what combination of cheese was used.  The pastry of both sweet and savory resembles flaky filo dough, but sturdier.  VB can't find any recipes so far, and most of her Middle East cooking books are back in the States ("How convenient", you might say.)

Below: "Sweet Pancake" - jam and powdered sugar.  Also delicious, but very sticky (we ate with our fingers.)

Below: Close up of the sliced "Sweet Pancake."

Below:  A window full of some of the ingredients they use.

Below: The store front.

Below: Another satisfied customer.

Below: The whole building.  VB keeps referring to this shop as "The Egyptian Pancake House" and if ever there was a place, this one would clearly define it, as it houses quite a few occupants as indicated by all the apartments above it.

Below: Shops across the road.  The road is mainly pedestrian, except for the ginormous tourist buses which are allowed to use it as an exit.

Below: The rest of the street, looking back at the main Khan area towards Muski.

All said, VB would definitely go back for more.

Patty Melt (Revised)

VB has revised this post as a result of a comment by the managing editor of Serious Eats, Adam Kuban.  The Boss Man always says VB is, "Not always right, but never in doubt," (meaning, of course, VB thinks she's a know it all) which, for some odd reason, really fits in here for an explanation too discombobulated to refine.

Apologies to Ed Levine and all the folks at Serious Eats.  Believe VB, she is seriously eating her words and pretty damned embarrassed about this.


VB likes to read food blogs. One of her favorites is called Serious Eats. It's a blog originally started by Mario Batali, Ed Levine (apparently he's been on a diet for quite awhile now). It went defunct for awhile, and then was reborn. It's now an amalgamation of various contributors. VB usually ignores most of the recipes, but was drawn to one in particular.

Recently someone posted a recipe for a Patty Melt. It appears to be based on a recipe from Saveur Magazine, VB's favorite cooking magazine. Anyway, reading this little post, and it's links brought back memories (you know, like those "fond" ones everyone talks about).

VB's parents owned three restaurants, at different times. A woman named Stella worked as a waitress in our first restaurant.  VB practically went through grade school with her, and she even threw VB a birthday party.  See!

We knew her and her family. Stella's husband owned some sort of fancy sports car and would pick her up from work (he always reminded VB of Jackie Gleason).   When VB's parents closed the restaurant (through reasons beyond their control) Stella went to work at a Toddle House. Stella's sister lived a few blocks from our new apartment, in a totally new  (and totally black) neighborhood where VB and her mom moved to (due to circumstances related to the aforementioned loss of the family's first restaurant.) We would visit Sella's sister (who owned a talking bird).  VB would play with the bird, while VB's mom, and Stella's sister drank coffee, catching up on the news (i.e. gossip).

Even though we kept in touch, after VB became an adult and moved away (far, far away) she would continually stop by the Toddle House on Clifton Avenue, to visit Stella.  The Patty Melt was VB's favorite dish there (besides breakfast after a very loopy night - Stella probably knew more about VB than VB's own mother)!    Stella made the perfect Patty Melt.   She could do it with her eyes closed.   At a Toddle House the waitress was also the cook, dishwasher, busboy and manager, particularly at night, which was when Stella worked. She was always good humored and laughed about everything.  And, because of her sense of humor and good nature, she had quite a few regulars.  VB remembers the night she visited to tell Stella that VB's mom had died.  At first it wasn't so funny, but Stella could pick out pieces of the past that reverberated in humor. VB and Stella sat, drank coffee, and smoked cigarettes that evening.  VB has a hard time eating when she has a big lump in her throat.  One night VB showed up and was told, by another waitress, that Stella had passed away.  It was a sad evening.

Later, after VB's search for her own mom's past history (another, very lengthy story altogether) Stella's daughter gave VB some photos.  At this point both mothers had passed away.

In remembrance of my visits with Stella at the Toddle House, and her excellence in The Patty Melt, VB presents the following:

(Below): Two very old photos of Stella. The first inside VB's parents' restaurant, and the other outside. The Chinese Laundry next door (run by a real "Chinaman" with a long braid, who spoke extremely broken English, and who fed VB some sort of wonderful broth), where Stella is standing, got axed at the same time as the restaurant (this is what happens when you don't own the building / business, and you have a greedy owner.)

Below: VB's Patty Melt - it's a bit on the thick side.  It was delicious!  That griddle on the new stove The Boss Man bought VB is just short of amazing!  VB almost feels like she's back in the restaurant business all over again.

And, what'll you have?

Open Farm Sunday

Last week we went to Open Farm Sunday, sponsored by Cabot Creamery Cooperative, and hosted by a local farm.  Awesome Daughter was not interested in staying too long, until...they offered her complimentary corn chowder and sharp cheddar cheese.  It was somewhat coincidental, as we were talking about making corn chowder for dinner.  VB presents a short tour of the farm.  We had fun.  And, of course, everyone on the tour behaved like a bunch of schoolkids at a petting zoo!

Below:  The old main barn, where we were greeted and fed.

Below 2 photos:  Cows are hungry creatures.  Some of these animals produce enormous amounts of milk each day, others - not so much.  Added up though, they provide us with our daily intake of main dairy products.  They are also very friendly creatures, or at least that's what VB thought.

Below:  This is a mechanical milking machine.  All cows teats are wiped clean with antibacterial wash, milked, then washed clean again, and given a soothing cream so their teats stay nice and soft - something of that nature.  And for cows unable to get into the milking center, say too pregnant, they have portable milking machines!  Wow, and VB thought she was going to see the real McCoy milking procedure (dude sitting on a wooden bucket, hand milking the cow - VB's kinda behind the times on some of this new technological stuff.)

Below:  The milk tank, with magnetic messages about farming and farming in Connecticut.

Below:  One of the messages, which VB highly recommends - buy local.

Below:  The pregnant cows.  Don't they look overly friendly!  That's because (VB found out,) Awesome Daughter was carrying dog treats in her pocket and they totally wanted to be with her!

Below:  This is a calf barn.  These calves are a bit older, and they get transferred here to socialize after being moved from the greenhouse.  The two calves below are not dairy cows.  They will be on your dinner table one of these days.  This farm also sells beef (Angus), and you can order from them (you know like a whole side, a quarter, something like that.)  At this size, they also have their horns taken off, so they don't injure each other.  Apparently, with horns, when they are hungry and pushing through the throng of other cattle, they poke and injure each other inadvertently.  The horn removal prevents that from happening.

Below: Our last stop was at the calf greenhouse.  We saw a calf, just born the day before.  These are calves that are very young, still nursing, and isolated as they have a habit of mistaking each other for their mothers, sucking, and yes, causing injury.  Here (next 3 photos) we have a female calf, who is absolutely smitten with VB's camera strap!

Below: Awesome Daughter pets the female calf.

Below:  You can see her again.  She's the only one standing, waiting for more visitors
 to welcome.

Below:  After our Open Farm visit, we stopped at our local farm stand to buy corn for our chowder.  The stand was closed, but still open for business.  They have a slot in the wooden windows for money.  Here pumpkins are on display so you can gauge the size when you buy one.  There's a sign with prices on the window.  Many farm stands around here are unattended / self serve.

Below 2 photos:  Our corn chowder and grilled sandwiches.

As VB writes this, she's watching Martha Stewart who is focusing on cheese.

And for some fun, A take off on VB's favorite show Mad Men. This is called Milk Men.

Milk Men - A Mad Men Parody

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Restaurants and Motorbikes

Eating in The Capitol is not only impressive, but can also be expensive. VB enjoys eating out, when there's good food to be had. In her little town in Connecticut, every single restaurant offers bad pizza, bad grinders, bad gyros, and just bad food choices, and it's all the same - as if one family owned all the restaurants. (Okay, one has good pizza and another has very good Japanese food, but that's it.) VB enjoys variety, and so last week when we were in Washington, we ate at:

Eric Ripert's West End Bistro. (Below) VB had the Fish Burger with the Macaroni, ham and cheese for two (she shared.) The Fish Burger is like a massive crab cake on a bun. We took a doggie bag of mac and cheese back to the hotel. Coincidentally, as VB was editing this, Serious Eats posted the recipe for The Fish Burger. VB can verify it's incredibly good, and actually looks like it might be healthy, as well (VB has a habit of picking the most unhealthiest foods from menus.)


The next evening we ate at Grillfish. After the waiter annoyingly repeated several times that there was just one serving of wild halibut left, VB raised her hand and said, "I'll take it." Thus reserving it, as someone else mused aloud, "how old is it?" We had already eaten the Ginger Calamari and Fried Calamari at the bar during happy hours, when drinks and bar food are half price. The halibut was excellent. VB should add that she had massive amounts of gin that evening, so just about anything on a plate would've been "excellent".


Friday afternoon, after watching the crazies on Capitol Hill, we ran off to Founding Farmers for luncheon rendezvous. Just about every restaurant we called was booked solid from 5:30 PM until 9:00 PM that evening, so we decided to do a big lunch instead. VB ordered the House Salad with Buttermilk Ranch, but was instead served with Bleu Cheese (she didn't send it back). She also had the Slow-Simmered Sirloin Chili: "48-Hour Marinated and Simmered Sirloin Chili with Beans, Cheddar Crisps, Grated Onions, and Grated Cheese". It may have been marinated for 48 hours, but there's no way that meat was slow simmered. VB likes the sirloin in her chili to fall apart, melt in her mouth, and be meaty. This was tough, and loaded with gristle. We also ordered the Skillet Corn Bread, at which someone commented, "This is just like yours." Yep, VB makes that exact same freaking bread!


That evening we walked to Dupont Circle in search of a place for drinks and small dishes. We found Zorba's Cafe. We were lucky enough to find a seat outside. We had Zorba's combination Plate containing meats and dips and two wedges of pita, another appetizer plate containing numerous dips, and a full carafe of Retsina on tap. The gyros pieces were amazing and done right (not half raw - they grilled it again after shaving it, which is how it should be)!, The retsina awesome! You have to have a taste for retsina to appreciate it when it comes from a tap (most Greek restaurants don't even offer it. Not even those chichi pseudo Greek restaurants in New York City.) Sorry, no photos from Zorba's.

Below: Our last meal in The Capitol, was a Ben's Chili Bowl. Needless to say we had chili. The boys had Bill Cosby's Original Chili Half-Smoke. VB had a bowl of chili (meat) with cheese and onions. We all shared the Chili-Cheese Fries. And, we saw photos of Obama when he visited earlier this year. We sat in the same area. VB wonders, if she sat in the same seat as Obama, will some of that brilliance rub off on her?

As we strolled back to the car, VB then took photos of the neighborhood, and these are two of her favorites.




While driving home to Connecticut, south of New Brunswick, on the New Jersey Turnpike, we encountered some teenagers on their Yamahas (or whatever small bikes they were riding). They descended upon us, at first, one by one, then in twos. VB tried to put a video together (yet another photo album with music). She should have videotaped this on her new iPhone, but she's a camera gal, and grabbed that first. Watch it if you'd like to (1) see what may come upon you as you journey through The Garden State; (2) Identify the assholes who are participating in this. After the first cycle passed, The Boss Man sped up. VB wondered if he was chasing the guy. The Boss Man said, "I'm going 80." As another bike passed furiously he added, "what do you think they're going?" They were going well over 100 miles per hour, and refusing to use lanes (squeezing in between two side-by-side cars) while one was even wearing his team jacket with his name on it! The highway patrol needs to grab these guys and revoke their licenses to drive, even if it's for a tricycle.



For a real taste of what we experienced, look at: this video.

Cooking The Books

The Internet and newspapers are all agog about the new film Julie and Julia. VB couldn't wait to see it. We try to do some sort of family thing every year. One year it might be the "New Years Day Hangover Movie," and another year it might be a Broadway show (usually a musical) and dinner. This special day typically occurs during the fall / winter holiday season. It all started when Elmer, VB's father-in-law would give everyone $50.00 and VB decided to treat the family to a movie. As we moved on, and out of the mid-west, it eventually turned into a fancier affair. And, let VB add, it cost way more than the $50.00 we used to get from Elmer. This year, even though we will be in the USA for Thanksgiving, given the minute amount of time college students have, it renders us without a proper visit to "The City" for a play. Plus, we plan on spending Christmas in Cairo this year. Yes, we will visit a lot of antiquities, but it just doesn't match the excitement we have of taking the train to New York, going to a show, having a special dinner, and freezing our asses off, as well.

This year VB promised, if everyone went to see Julie and Julia with her, she would make French Onion Soup, which she hasn't made since we moved from Abu Dhabi. Yes, the family began to drool. So, it was decided this past week was the week for that special date. Then Awesome Daughter decided she too would contribute a dish. She's the baker of the family, having made bread from scratch and kneading it with her own two hands (VB uses the KitchenAid for that). The Boss Man added that it would be great to have steak, and so VB decided to include Julia's Caesar Salad.

We went to the matinee and a bunch of very elderly folks showed up. We're talking about the Depends group. It was somewhat depressing, but then later Awesome Daughter reassured VB that Julie, through her blog, reawakened the love for Julia and cooking amongst the younger folks, although it would be hard to discern from the average age of the audience. I particularly felt bad for Number One Son. This is not a movie he would have seen on his own. His favorite part was the SNL skit with Dan Akroyd pretending to be Julia Child.

After we came home, Awesome Daughter made VB a martini with Tanqueray Rangpur Gin (they sucked martinis down in the movie, one after another, while lounging around. Well, at least Julia and her friends did. And it reminded VB of just how good, and potent, a gin martini is.) It was delicious, and VB was pretty much plastered before half the dinner was cooked.

Days before, Awesome Daughter made Creme Fraiche for her dinner contribution. We were somewhat skeptical, leaving it out to brew (below) for 24 hours. Bubbling, it looked like some sort of ooze you might grow in a science class.



Here Awesome Daughter tops off the cake. She made Chocolate Raspberry Ruffle Cake (video), which involves quite a few steps, several of which require refrigeration in-between. If you watch the video at the link, it looks as though Julia and Alice Medrich seamlessly make this cake throughout a few hours. The creme fraiche was started several days before; the chocolate shavings too; the cake was baked and almost completely assembled the day before. Below - the final step to the cake - the topping, which included chocolate shavings, raspberries, and creme fraiche.


Awesome Daughter feels a need to taste the French Onion Soup.


And, viola! It's done.
Julia Child's French Onion Soup (video)




Meanwhile, due to differing preferences as to the doneness of steaks, two are on while the rare ones await. VB was going to buy sliced filets from COSTCO. Every time she does that, she gets at least one, but more like two crappy cuts in the package of four. So VB decided to go whole tenderloin. She bought the PSMO (side muscle and fat have already been removed.) Saveur has an excellent article on how to butcher your own whole tenderloin: Cutting a Beef Tenderloin. As a result, VB gets quite a few nice steaks, and then the end for tenderloin tips.

More on the Caesar Salad here: Julia's Caesar Salad (recipe) and Julia Child and Jacques Pepin (NPR Interview).


The cake in full.


And, everyone is excited!


That white goo is the creme fraiche. The cake was worth the while, and we devoured it, along with our neighbor.


The bookcase aka Julia Child section of our library. The recipes we used are from The Way To Cook, Baking With Julia, and Julia and Jacques Cooking At Home.


And as VB shoots the pics of the books, she's being spied upon by a nosy little kitten.


For some fun. Julia Child was a guest on The David Letterman Show several times. Here Dave is young and fresh, Paul still has a few scraps of hair on his head, and is hardly as flashy as he is these days. Julia, well she's Julia - playing along, and embarrassing Dave. And, lastly, Dave's done some cooking on his own as you will see.

Julia Child On Letterman [1988]