One of our friends is moving from the crowded Taksem abu Talb village near the pyramids to a more suburban location. This places him near some of the small farms south of Cairo or about two miles from our place.
In exchange for Linda's cookies, he brought us a just picked head of cauliflower and two eggplants from one of his neighbors. It's quite hard to find cauliflower that isn't covered in black spots, even in supermarkets. This one was beautiful!
He also brought an invitation to visit his neighbor's farm for an afternoon picnic lunch. Two days later, we headed out to the farm. Like most Egyptian farms, this is a small, family farm. It is principally a Mango orchard but has about an acre of vegetables as well.
Cauliflower, cabbage and eggplants are the main vegetables. Earthen berms surround patches of plants which are irrigated by flooding the patches.
Linda inspected the plants taking particular note of the large leaves. A head of cabbage was harvested for us to take home.
Mangoes ripen in the summer and the peak harvest is around August so we were surprised to learn that there were two nearly ripe mangoes on a nearby tree on this January afternoon. While our lunch was being prepared, we walked through the ten acres of mango trees (as I hummed and sang Underneath the Mango Tree, of course!).
Coming to the tree which was confused about the season, Linda pointed out the two ripening fruit.
Returning to our luncheon spot, our host had prepared fried chicken, a green salad, stuffed peppers and cabbage rolls, delicious potatoes in tomato sauce (another favorite dish in most Egyptian homes) and of course, some molokhia. The molokhia can be used as a dip with the pita bread or treated as a soup.
After the meal, we enjoyed a cup of tea prepared over a hot fire. No meal is complete without tea.
Most tea served here is from the familiar Lipton company, but it is mixed into the pot in the form of " dust tea."
More photos at this Flickr album.
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1 comment:
Sounds and looks like a lovely experience.
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