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Monday, March 18, 2024

Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Linda Gets a Haircut and I Make a Nostalgic Trip Back in Time

Linda needed a haircut in early March but the traveling hair stylist that she has used in the past had moved on to greener pastures.  After checking with friends, she located a salon at the nearby Dandy Mall.  We used Uber to take a ride to the mall, about thirteen miles away.

The trip costs about 350 Egyptian Pounds, around $7, including a generous $2 tip.

We found the mall still decorated for Valentine's day as we walked in.

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We quickly found Linda's destination, the Zacharia Ghoneim Coiffure, and there was a convenient coffee shop, Brioche Doree, located across the aisle.  I settled into a comfortable chair where a waiter quickly brought me a menu while I listened to a musician playing The Girl from Ipanema on a piano in the entry lobby.

 


 

I was anticipating having a nice warm croissant and coffee, but the waiter never returned to take my order.  I eventually left and moved down to the next store beyond the coiffure, which was a Brico Hub Home Store.  Upon entering, I discovered it was actually an Ace Hardware Store.  

And what a selection of tools and hardware it had!  Besides a remarkable selection of hand tools, it had cup hooks in several sizes which I had been looking for.  And speaking of hooks, it had the largest selection of chain hooks I have ever seen.

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Over in the housewares section, among the plastic dishes, pails, wastebaskets, etc., I stumbled onto a set of Wilton cake decorating accessories.

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That brought back nostalgic memories of my first visit to Chicago in about 1974.  The Pillsbury Company, where I worked as a computer programmer, had just purchased Wilton Enterprises for about $9 million.  My boss and I traveled to Chicago to see if there were any recommendations we might make about their computer usage.  

We ventured via taxi to the Wilton headquarters and manufacturing plant on South 115th.  I believe the taxi driver asked us something along the lines of, "Are you sure that's the address you want?"  The drive from the freeway, east to the plant along 115th was interesting.  I wish I had owned the iron bar and gate concession in that part of town.  We found the plant surrounded by a six-foot fence topped with concertina wire; it reminded me of of a military location or two I had been in a few years previously in Vietnam.

Short version of the story - with fifty years of hindsight.

  • Wilton was doing fine in the direct-mail business.  There was no obvious synergy with our other Pillsbury businesses.
  • Wilton hired an up-and-coming manager, Vince Naccarato, to run Wilton in 1976; he promptly moved the headquarters operation to suburban Woodridge.  Manufacturing would follow.
  • Pillsbury was sued for anti-trust violations in 1975 accused of trying to monopolize the cake-decorating business.  A jury awarded $4.5 million to Parrish's Cake Decorating Company of Los Angeles in 1981.  After an appeal, Pillsbury was ordered to pay $6 million in 1984 and divest itself of Wilton.  This in spite of the fact Naccarato had bought the company out from Pillsbury in 1981.
  • Like so many U.S. manufacturing operations, the Wilton manufacturing jobs ultimately went to China.
  • Pillsbury still owned the south-side property in Chicago in 1983 and after unsuccessful efforts to sell the real estate, traded it to Republic Airlines for 1 million dollars worth of airline tickets.
  • After some thirty years running Wilton, Vince Naccarato took Wilton private once again, selling it to a venture capital firm for $700 million in 2008.

A couple of help-wanted ads from 1976:


 

And a look at the plant site today on Google Street View shows a Walgreens store on the property without any barbed wire in sight.  I may have to make another visit to the area sometime.



After Linda's haircut was complete, we toured the mall and found a splendid Egyptian restaurant, Antar, also know as عنتر الكبابجي داندي مول. The food was excellent and the service superb. We highly recommend it.

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We had the usual "salads" and Linda was particularly ecstatic to find beets available.

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Entrees were delightful. Tom had a sausage and potato stew and Linda enjoyed a lamb and barley casserole. There was an array of desserts available but the meal was just too filling.

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Winter in Egypt, 2024 - We Replace the Balcony Door

When we first moved into our flat here in 2008, it was constructed with doors to the front and rear balconies custom made in the nearby area.  While they looked charming, they were not particularly efficient at keeping out either noise or dust.  I blogged about the replacement of the front balcony door with a newer style sliding door back in 2013.  That's the original on the left below and its replacement on the right.

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Over time, perhaps with the whole building settling a bit as construction crews built the Ring Road out in front of our place, the sliding door became difficult to close properly.  Unless carefully manipulated there was plenty of room for dust to leak in, to say nothing about the cold breezes in January.

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While some adjusting of the door rollers might have fixed the problem, we realized the difference that improved window technology might bring us while visiting another apartment in our building which had almost total silence from the traffic outside.  We opted to replace the sliding door with a double-paned  hinged model. (sliders just don't do a good job at preventing noise infiltration)

Of course the new door would have to be custom built.  "Standard size" openings are not an Egyptian thing.  That created some apprehension on our part since we would be leaving town for a visit to the south in a week, Ramadan would arrive shortly after that (getting any work done during that month is problematic) and we would then be returning home to the U.S.

Our neighbor knows a reliable window contractor. We were assured by the neighbor that the process would be completed in a very timely fashion. The custom built replacement was manufactured and installed smoothly in five days. 

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The window contractor arrived with two strong young helpers.  They carried the door panels and frame up the eight flights of stairs to our apartment while the contractor brought the screens up in the elevator.  Our elevator is not tall enough for the doors to fit inside.

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Total cost of the replacement unit with installation was 16,000 Egyptian Pounds - about $315.

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We retained the old doors out on the balcony for a few days since our friend, Roshdy, knew of a couple of people interested in purchasing them.  We eventually sold them for 1,000 EGP, about $20, to a buyer who also had two helpers to take them down the stairs and tie them across the top of his car.

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That brought the total cost of the replacement down to under $300.  Next year, we'll replace the two sliding windows on this side of the building with similar technology and have perfect silence!

 

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Linda Makes Roqaq

When I saw this product in our local supermarket I was intrigued so I bought a package of it. I had no idea what it was.

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We opened the package once we were home. Still had no idea what it was or what to do with it. We asked a visiting friend what it was and he said, "Raqaq." I asked how it is used. He said that you dip it in soup and bake it. This friend is not known for food knowledge so I questioned his answer.  

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I looked up raqaq recipes on YouTube and watched how Egyptians prepared the dish. It did indeed call for using stock or soup, as our friend had suggested. I always have stock on hand for making various recipes so I was ready to go. After coating both sides of the cracker-like sheets, I continued for several layers. The YouTuber suggested making a filling of ground beef with onions and then adding more stock coated layers.

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I had some leftover chili con carne so I thought that would make a good filling. Turns out I had just the right amount of chili to complete a layer. After the chili layer I continued to add several layers of sheets and topped the dish with dots of butter.

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Into the 350 degree oven it went.

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After about 35 minutes it was browned and crispy.

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I cut into the raqaq and removed a slice for us to sample. It looked very much like the YouTube version.

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Flaky layers with a meat filling.

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The raqaq combined with some stuffed vegetable that our neighbors had given to us made for a tasty Egyptian meal. Notice our special Ramadan plates.

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Thursday, February 29, 2024

Winter in Egypt, 2024 - A Walk along Al-Azhar and Port Said Streets

As Ramadan approaches, there is much shopping going on along the streets near Khan el-Khalili.  As we were leaving the Khan a few days ago on the Al-Azhar Bridge, we noticed the large crowd below us near the old Tiring Building in the Al Mosky area of Cairo. 

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We returned to the general area to take a half-mile walk along Al-Azhar Street and Port Said Street before turning back into the Khan at the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary St. George. 


 

We started off near our usual entrance to the Khan, across Azhar Street from the Al-Azhar mosque.  This mosque and associated university are the seat of Islamic authority and wisdom in much of the Islamic world.

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We walked along this shopping path for a hundred yards or so before turning back out onto Azhar St.  Believe it or not, a number of men were riding motorcycles and motor scooters down this narrow path through the crowd.  If a motor cycle can fit, you will see one or feel one zip past you. Pay attention when you hear a horn! They don't want to stop.

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I don't recall seeing this fishing shop on previous trips; perhaps we were on a route that was new to us.

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There was considerable merchandise targeted at the local Ramadan shopper.  These saving banks, converted from various tins, were in abundance.

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These special red and green figures seem popular among sellers, if not buyers.  The rotund figure represents a television character popular with children during Ramadan broadcast on MBC (Middle-east Broadcasting Corporation in Saudi Arabia).

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Moving back out onto Azhar Street, we found ourselves opposite the entrance to a street leading to the Avenue of the Tentmakers, a favorite route of ours.

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The street is crowded with shoppers and cars.  Walking is probably faster than riding in a car or taxi at this point.  

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This street vendor was selling vine leaves for making stuffed grape leaves.  His cart forced pedestrians into a narrow squeeze with the passing traffic.

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Linda is at a disadvantage in this crowd since she cannot balance a bag on her head which frees up the hands to carry a cellphone in one and push forward with the other.

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When we reached Port Said Street, we turned right before getting to the real crowd.  Port Said is always a busy avenue.  We soon came upon several clothing stores on the opposite side.

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This store obviously had not sold out of Valentine Day night-wear yet.

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There is a convenient pedestrian overpass available to cross Port Said, although most people were using the "dodge and weave" method to cross through the slow moving traffic and vendors were using the overpass to display their wares.  I climbed the overpass to get a few pictures up and down the street.  Linda remained on the street level where she took a seat at one of the merchant's tables.

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A large building near the overpass turned out to be a Franciscan Monastery which houses a large collection of very old Christian and Islamic texts, (three minute video tour here.)

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After crossing Port Said, we found ourselves in the area of a large Christian Church.  We saved the interior tour for another day but found the mosaics on the outside to be interesting.

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A map, found on the outside wall of the church, outlines the journey of the Holy Family through Egypt as recorded by the Coptic Christian Church.

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We took about a half hour to wander through the labyrinth of streets in the area leading back to Khan el-Khalili, eventually reaching the gold-trading area adjacent to el-Moez Street.  This dead-end alley beyond the Smile sign is lined with gold shops featuring the precious metal under bright lights.

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We reached el-Moez Street at about dinner time and decided we would try one of the new rooftop restaurants along the street; we chose Khan Shaheen, largely because of the welcoming Santa Claus with saxophone at the entrance.

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Climbing the stairway to the top floor, we noticed the Happy New Year sign, too.

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The Khan Shaheen menu offered both a chicken shawarma crepe and a chicken shawarma sandwich.  We ordered one of each.  The crepes are a new item on menus here, we've been told, and have become popular as various Syrian restaurants have introduced them.

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Sandwich on the left and crepe on the right.

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Dessert items on the menu include "Ali's mother" and "molten cake."  The former is usually referred to as "Um Ali" (mother of Ali) and is quite delicious.  Molten cake?  We have no idea. As for the meaning of this phrase at the bottom of the menu - we thought it didn't make sense because it is a poor translation of the Arabic, but native speakers cannot figure out the Arabic version either.

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We were the only guests on the top floor in the early evening hour, where this electrician appeared very steady as he walked on the fourth-story wall above the street, adjusting the lighting.

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As we looked around, we noticed two other rooftop dining spots nearby.  These are all new to this end of Moez Street along with many new shops.  I'll save the Moez street tour for another post.

 

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We left the restaurant a bit after dark and many lights were now on, giving the area a magical quality.

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We exited Moez Street by the Bab El Fotouh gate in the north wall near the notable Al Hakim Mosque.

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Hailing a taxi, we replaced two passengers just arriving at the gate and joined two others already in route to their destination along the Nile Corniche.  Passing through Tahrir square, we caught a glimpse of the Nile Ritz-Carlton (formerly the Nile Hilton) and the former Mogamma building, both bathed in bright lights. Cairo proves to be an enchanting city of lights after dark.

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More pictures at this Flickr album.