Koshary for Dinner

Last night we visited friends for dinner. The meal served was Koshary, my absolute favorite Egyptian dish. You might see the English language spelling with a few variations but the pronunciation leads me choose k-o-s-h-a-r-y.


Koshary is a uniquely Egyptian dish served from carts in the street, at specialty restaurants and in almost every Egyptian home. It is a bit like chili in the United States. Everyone recognizes it. No two recipes are quite the same. And, the best version is the one we serve at our house.

Koshary is a vegetarian dish with a base of rice, lentils, pasta and chick peas. This combination is sometimes layered, sometimes mixed. It might be garnished with carrots or other vegetables. It always contains "some garlic" and "some onions." Crispy fried onions on top are a must. It is then served with a delicious tomato sauce. Here are a couple of other variations we have had in recent years:


This became a dish I wanted to be able to prepare myself. So in November, I picked up this cookbook in downtown Cairo at Lehnert & Landrock.


I gave it a try about a week ago. I had to wait until we had a few more cooking pots. The result was "OK" but not anywhere near great. I was pretty sure that the problem was in that "Basic tomato sauce" at the bottom of the left-hand page.



Something told me I'd find part of the answer here:


I needed more information -and I didn't think that the Internet was the place to look.

Linda happened to go next door to visit our neighbor early this week. As it turned out, the neighbor was preparing Koshary that evening. Linda confirmed that not only were red chili peppers essential, but I was also missing that critical ingredient in middle-eastern cooking, cumin. Later that afternoon, the neighbor's daughter showed up at our door with this bowl:

Notice the two containers of sauce. The one in the center is merely delicious. The one on the right is hot and delicious!

Last night we had that invitation back to Nasr City for Koshary with Mona and her son Moody. Moody's brother and sister joined us. Mona served up a large plate of Koshary for each of each of us. Two sauces. Linda took notes in the kitchen as Mona prepared a second batch of the hot sauce for us to bring home with the leftovers. Now we have our own secret family recipe.

Oh, and those leftovers that we brought back to the apartment. - Moody recalled the first time he had heard that word in Minnesota. I had told him we were having leftovers for dinner. He understood the words. - But what did it mean? How would it be different from "right overs" or even a "left under?" We all had a good laugh.

Our Trip to Fayyum

Our trip to the Fayyum Oasis to visit the Hawara pyramid turned out to be very interesting in itself.

Many people ask us, "is it safe in Egypt?" Well, yes, it is very safe. Women and small children stroll the streets at night. Street crime is virtually unheard of. There are no burglar bars on the doors of shops and no one here has heard of a "stewmaker." In short, this isn't Chicago or Philadelphia, much less Tijuana.

But the government wants tourists to feel safe as well as be safe. When tourists leave their hotels in Luxor for their visit to the monuments, buses and vans form a convoy with a police escort. Everyone heads out together to the Valley of the Kings or Abydos, etc. While it does make people feel safer, it also crowds the sites with everyone arriving at about the same time.

When we arrived at the Fayyum Oasis today, we were greeted at a police checkpoint by the Fayyum Tourist Police. Since we were Westerners traveling alone, (just our friend and the two of us in a private car) the police assigned us an escort consisting of five officers. A driver and an armed commander sat in the front of this pickup truck and three armed police sat in the rear.

That shell covering the bed of the pickup is made of about an inch of steel.

They were very nice folks, like all Egyptians. When we stopped to buy ourselves some water, we bought two large bottles for the police. Since we didn't want to feed them too, we didn't stop for lunch while we were with the escort.

Besides making us "feel safe" they knew the route to the pyramid and bumped the siren occasionally to help gain us a right of way. Very handy. We should have this service back in the states. Have you tried to get through Yellowstone in July?

While we were at the Pyramid, our escorts stayed in the parking lot. Guard duty was picked up by two monument Tourist Police who accompanied our guide and helped him out by pointing out stones and signs as he talked. About a hundred yards out from the pyramid in three directions stood armed guards.

No, they weren't fending off any terrorists. They were preventing any locals from coming to steal the rest of the bricks or other antiquities on the site.

As it turned out, the police escort came in very handy, though. As we left the pyramid area, our friend (and Linda) heard a high-pitched squealing from under the hood. We stopped at a mechanic's shop and soon had five heads from the neighborhood under the hood. After some pushing and pulling, a verdict was rendered. "Loose fan belt. I'll have it tightened after we get back to Giza."

After about ten miles, the noise grew much louder, the idler pulley flew off, and belts quit turning. I got to take some nice pictures of an agricultural area while everyone else studied the problem.

Fortunately our friend always carries a rope. I've noticed the same equipment in the trunk of several taxis. Soon we were tied onto the back of the police escort.

They towed us about ten miles to the edge of the Fayyum district that is their base. From there we made a few phone calls but finally settled on getting a tow from another passing truck. That truck towed us the remaining 35 miles into Giza. This was my view for that part of the ride. We are about eight feet behind the truck.


We got into pretty heavy traffic on Pyramids Street. People trying the "dodge and weave" technique to cross the street between the truck and us were surprised to find that rope. At least three successfully jumped it and no one was run over.

Breakdowns are more common here than at home. You probably don't appreciate just how reliable your car is. If I recall correctly, we experienced three flat tires and one "run out of gas" situation during three weeks here last November. And those were all in taxis except one of the flats. On a previous trip, a couple of years ago, our driver lost a u-joint and dropped the drive shaft right in the middle of Pyramids Street in very heavy traffic at around midnight.

The Pyramid at Hawara, Off the Beaten Path

Most of our friends think that Egypt is an "off the beaten path" location. Most tourists that visit this country see a pretty standard group of sites.

• The Pyramids at Giza near Cairo
• The Valley of the Kings on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor and the great temples on the east bank
• The temple of Abu Simble
• The famous Islamic sites in old Cairo

But there is a lot more to see.

Today, we headed out into the Fayyum Oasis to see the ancient pyramid at Hawara.

The Fayyum Oasis is a large sunken area lying about ninety miles to the Southwest of Cairo. Technically, Fayyum is not an oasis since it is fed by the Nile river. But it is called an oasis and certainly looks like one. You pass through about thirty miles of serious desert without a living plant on it to get there.

As soon as you reach the oasis, the view changes remarkably. Known as the "bread basket" of Egypt in ancient days, it is still a very active agricultural area.


We have seen some of the sites in the actual town of Fayyum on a previous trip. We knew that there was an old, somewhat deteriorated, pyramid at the nearby town of Hawara and that is what we wanted to see this time. A good friend had offered to drive us and we accepted his offer.

We passed by the saltwater lake and stopped briefly to take a picture of a fishing boat and buy a shell necklace from some of the children.



When we neared Hawara, we saw the sign for the pyramid and soon saw the pyramid.


Only a couple of hundred feet tall when originally built, the pyramid is even shorter now. As you approach it, there is a display of some of the artifacts from Greek and Roman times.



The necklace pattern on this statue is recognizable in Egyptian souvenir necklaces available today.


We picked up a guide at the entrance along with a couple of Tourist police who showed us around the area. There is an entry passage that is easily visited. You can only proceed a hundred feet or so before encountering water that blocks any further progress.


The pyramid was built with mud bricks and covered in white limestone. The limestone was removed long ago. The mud bricks have held up quite well over what might be a thousand years, all things considered. Their condition probably serves as a good answer to "how often does it rain in Egypt?"



You can see the bricks on the pyramid and get a nice close up shot with a telephoto lens.


But, it is hard to judge the size until you pick up one of the fallen bricks and hold it in your hands.


That lets you take a close look at the straw in the brick too. It is amazing to see a 4200 year old brick with pieces of straw throughout.


The ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote about an incredible labyrinth that also existed at this site. Nothing remains of the labyrinth site although this Youtube video presents some interesting new discoveries that relate to it.

Since there were no other cars in the parking lot, we were not surprised that we had been the first two visitors to the pyramid this day. We were surprised, though, to discover that we were the first two visitors to the pyramid since January 5th. Now, that's off the beaten path!

Watching the Superbowl from Cairo

We finally did get a satellite dish installed. That will be worth a post of its own, later. I have 560 free channels to choose from and found two carrying Superbowl XLIII. RAI Sports had the game coverage in Italian and ARD "Das Erste" provided a German version.



Both networks provided commercial-free programming. Usually I would think this was great but, of course, for this game I'd like to see them. I'm sure there will be plenty of coverage of the ads available on the Internet, tomorrow, though.

I found the German station to have a slightly better version of the game. During the unseen commercial breaks, the Italian coverage generally just showed a long shot of the stadium.


The German station showed sideline shots and player interviews.



The Germans had two commentators and a third reporter on the sidelines.

Both stations covered the Springsteen halftime show in full.

And the remarkable part is that it was a great game. I kept thinking that Pittsburgh was going to find a way to run away with it. Then I thought the Cardinals would just give it away with penalties.

But no, this was one of the best Superbowls ever and well worth my staying up past 5:00 a.m. to watch. Certainly the best final three minutes!

The Neighborhood Entrepreneur

I've mentioned the construction project out in front of our building a couple of times before. It is pretty disruptive to traffic and to general peace and quiet. There is a constant traffic jam on Marioteya road.



The project has also closed most routes across the Marioteya Canal. In our neighborhood, this presented one person with an opportunity. He set up a ferry to help people cross the canal. It has been in operation since at least early November and does a brisk business.

A Great Place to Read a Book

The weekends generally bring clarity to the air in Cairo. I'm not sure how much of the usual haze in the air is due to pollution and how much is just from vehicles kicking up dust but the air almost always clears on the weekends.

Weekends begin on Thursday afternoon and include Friday's day of prayer, Saturday and Sunday. We chose to spend this Sunday out on the balcony. The air was clear and warm and we both read. I am finishing up "The First Computers, History and Architecture." Linda is reading "The Last Days of Old Beijing."

The view from our balcony to the Southwest was particularly good today. We could see the pyramids at Sakkara, about fifteen miles away. Most days we only see the farm fields just beyond the apartment when we look in that direction.

Here's the view to the Southwest (Click any picture to enlarge)

Yes, those are the pyramids at Sakkara on the horizon:


And here I am reading about Conrad Zuse' relay-based computer from the 1930s

If you visit Cairo, try to make it out to the Giza pyramids on a weekend. A picture that includes the Giza pyramids in the foreground and Sakkara pyramids in the background is a rare prize.

Cooking With Gas in Cairo

Our stove in the apartment is powered with gas. We are not hooked in to a city gas line. City gas is available in some areas close to downtown. Linda recalls gas lines being installed in the Dokki area back in the late 1980s.

So how does that stove operate? Bottled gas. That cabinet just to the right of the stove contains a large blue bottle of gas.

That leaves a little bit of space for onions but not much else. I plan to add some shelving in the future though. We only use the gas for cooking. Many people also heat their hot water with it.

Gas is generally cheap and readily available. If you need a replacement bottle (known locally as a "bomb") you just let the bawab know. Think of a bawab as a doorman. This New York Times article presents a rather negative stereotypical view of the bawab but gets the idea across.

Your bawab will flag down a passing gas salesman. These folks are easily found because they come down the streets banging on their bottles with a wrench and shouting out the Arabic word for the product.



The bawab and the seller will exchange "bombs" for you. You settle up the money with the bawab. While they work, it's lunch time for the gas seller's donkey.


Our stove has an installation manual that I think recommends using soap bubbles to check the connection to the bottle. The manual definitely advises against using a match. I can tell that much from the next picture even without an English translation. Nevertheless, the friend and his bawab who installed our first bottle used the match test. This didn't bother me since my dad used to use the same test back in the 1950s.



There does not appear to be any odorant added to the gas in Egypt. I suppose that the consequences of opening a burner valve and then not pressing the igniter button on your stove could be quite severe but I don't hear of this happening much.

A Hardware Store on Pyramids Street

The quest for furniture continues. Our custom-made sofa and chairs are being constructed across town in Nasr City. Meanwhile furniture is appearing like magic in the apartment. Friends gave us a carpet and a great entryway mirror.

Linda went over to our next-door-neighbor on the floor to ask a question. She came back an hour later pushing a loaned bedside table through the door. That's how things work in Cairo.

Linda also had received a recommendation to visit Dary department store on Pyramids Street to shop for accessories. We have been past the building many times and Linda was interested in visiting it even before the recommendation.

The Dary building has seven floors and when you first enter, it appears to be one large furniture showroom. Following a habit that I developed when I worked for Dayton's in Minneapolis, we took the elevator to the top floor and prepared to walk each floor taking the steps down between floors. (This could be an all-day job when you did it at Macy's or Marshall Field's flagship stores!)

The elevator opened on the top floor and much to our surprise and my delight, we were in a hardware store. The entire floor was occupied with nuts, bolts, nails, wrenches, etc. I had been planning to go downtown to a street filled with tiny tool stores - it is just a couple of blocks from the street filled with tiny auto parts stores. But no, here close to home was all the hardware I needed.

I soon had a hacksaw and blade, two masonry bits, a crescent wrench and a couple of other items. And all for under ten dollars.

If you are in Cairo and looking for small tools - Dary is highly recommended.

We never did find the accessories that Linda was looking for but we picked out two stools for the breakfast bar and a nice patio table for the balcony. These are being delivered Saturday if all goes well (or, Insha' Allah - "God Willing," as the locals say.)

A bit more about Pyramids Street. Obviously it is named because it runs straight out toward the Giza pyramids from downtown. The street is about five miles long running from Giza Square, near downtown, out to the west. It is lined with palm trees in the center and has heavy traffic at most any time of the day or night. There are shops, restaurants, hotels and much much more along its length. It is always bustling with activity.

It has approximately three lanes in each direction. I say, approximately, because when the traffic slows down, you can definitely squeeze in more:

There are no traffic lights. There are no left turn signals at these non-existent traffic lights. Every half mile or so, you will encounter a "loop back" that lets a driver reverse direction. At those points there are always more than three lanes.

How do you cross a street like this? Very cautiously. "Pedestrian right-of-way" is not a concept practiced here. The operative rule is "Pedestrian beware!" Once you see that you can cross one lane, just step out. You use the "dodge and weave technique" to get the rest of the way across. Watch these guys find their opening:


and step right into it:

We Lowered the Kitchen Cabinets

We only had a few constuction issues on the apartment project. This is because we had a good friend on site managing the construction. The biggest issue was the height of the upper kitchen cabinets. Here Linda is standing by the cabinets. She can't reach the top shelves in them. The overhang with the crown molding also protrudes too far over the cabinetry for our taste.

Our friend assured us that they could be easily lowered. Unfortunately, he was unable to get the original carpenter on site to do the job. After about ten days of effort, he decided to go with a different carpenter.

One evening, the carpenter showed up with a young assistant and set to work on the job. The work demonstrates some of the differences between the U.S. and Egyptian crafts. Our carpenter didn't bring a step ladder. We gave him a chair to work from. He brought along a cloth bag of tools. These included a screwdriver, a hammer, a square and a handsaw. He did have an electric drill.

The job was accomplished with all screws turned by hand and all sawing completed with the handsaw.

When the job was complete, everything was as Linda wished. The job took about two hours for the carpenter and assistant and we were charged 150 Egyptian pounds. That is about $27.

Here is the new look:

Orientation to Cairo

It occurred to me that some of my readers may not have been to Cairo and could use an introduction to the area to help in reading some of my current entries.

Here is a map of the greater Cairo area: (Click to enlarge)

The red line is the "Ring Road" a 68 mile long beltway that circles the Cairo metropolitan area. With three lanes marked in each direction it moves traffic quite well unless there is congestion - which is frequent.

Now it might look to you like the red line doesn't quite form a ring. You are right! The ring road simply stops there at the lower left part of the map. This is because UNESCO decided that completing the ring would endanger the pyramids. You can, in fact drive out to the end of that southern part of the ring. It looks like this:

It might look to you like there are a couple of vehicles driving over the sand on the left edge of this picture. Again, you are right. Since the ring road does not go through, Cairo drivers simply drive out into the desert as they head west where the road would have been built. At rush hour, the traffic on this narrow stretch of desert trail is simply unbelieveable. Meek drivers should not attempt it!

The failure to close the ring also put impossibly heavy traffic onto the two local roads that run northwest to southeast close to the pyramids. Both of these roads run along canals. There is now a project underway to "close the ring" by building a stretch of the ring road freeway as an elevated highway above the Merioteya canal. Here is a picture of that project:

We have an excellent view of the project as it runs right in front of our apartment building and is scheduled for completion this year.

To help you judge the distances on the map, it is about eight miles from the pyramids to downtown and about ten miles from downtown out to the airport. This eighteen mile journey can take anywhere from about a half hour to two hours depending on traffic.

Most of our time here is spent in these places

• The area near the Giza Pyramids


• Along the two roads that run from Giza Square to the Giza Pyramids. Pyramids Road and Faisal Street


• Downtown, not too far from the Cairo Museum


• About two miles due west of Downtown near the Khan El-Khalili and Islamic Cairo


• Nasr City (Medinet Nasr)


• At the Carrefour Mall in Maadi

For a map with a lot of detail of the central part of the city, follow this link

UPDATE 2/2/09
Here is a picture taken near sunset of the dust arising from the non-existent extension of the Ring Road beyond its official end.