Fada's First Thanksgiving! (Cairo Style)

It's one of those things - you know what to expect but you don't at the same time. We've all seen those American films with big family Thanksgiving gatherings so we all have roughly the right idea. There's going to be a turkey, something made of cranberries (as, like we Brits, our American cousins like to mix sweet and savoury) and it's all to commemorate the first settlers surviving the first harsh winter stateside.

This Thanksgiving though is destined to be different from the outset. We are in Egypt and all far away from our real families. We are in Egypt where Thanksgiving isn't celebrated but Eid Al Adha, the first day of which is today, is. So, family; I feel you can make your own wherever you are. And, why not? We are all part of someone's family somewhere; we all belong to that great family of the human race so why not knit a family where you are. Turkey isn't much called for here but Heba manages to find a beautiful 15lb specimen which makes the oven shelf buckle under its weight. We shop in the morning for vegetables and all the while Egyptians are preparing for their feast too (there are flocks of sheep in the streets and cattle on trucks).


Arriving later at Heba's at 2pm to help with the preparations, I find her already peeling a pile of potatoes and that the turkey has been cooking since 11am for a dinner around 4pm. The smell of the stuffing is amazing! Lots of rosemary too. Of course, as good cooks always do, we have a little tipple whilst we prepare - vodka cocktails...mmm. There is turkey, stuffing, sweetcorn, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, peas, broccoli and gravy. You cannot help but be excessive with these kinds of meals! You think every single guest will have a huge portion of everything but forget that there is such a quantity of different dishes that it ends up as a mountain on your plate once you take a bit of everything - it seems to be the law of special occasion food.

People arrive and everyone has brought something. There is a vegetarian alternative to turkey (mini quiches), more stuffing and yorkshire puddings (yes, a Brit contribution and very welcome too), lots of wine, pecan pie, chocolate brownies, apple chocolate crisp, chocolate cake and even a bottle of port. This is what I mean by the law of special occasion food. Meanwhile things are hotting up in the kitchen with Heba as she wrestles the skin off the turkey to scoff right there and divides the meat into white and dark, throws vegetables in dishes and enlists the help of guests to take the food into the dining area. Imagine it all on the table! Then imagine it on plates with jolly pirates on and with red and white cutlery! Somehow with all the pots and pans and serving dishes and table spoons and pasta servers and napkins and split gravy on the kitchen floor, it all comes together, is passed round and it's all delicious.

Even better though, when we sit down to eat there is a lovely buzz of conversation and laughter and a sense of easy goingness and all's right with the world. We all know that all isn't right with the world but just for a short time we can suspend our sense of reality and enjoy just being there in the moment. As guests we are a mixture of Americans, Brits and a Bahamian. Our topics of discussion range from using the words 'stuffing' or 'dressing', the origins of yorkshire pudding and mince pies and how the mash resembles the mud mountain Richard Dreyfuss builds in 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'. Probably many other things too but I'm several glasses of wine down the line by now...

We end by watching 'Charlie Brown' and 'Doctor Horrible', with second helpings, opening the port and finally, Heba's piece de resistance! She had the forethought to buy sets of divided, t.v. dinner-style containers so we can take food away for tomorrow! It's brilliant! We all help ourselves - one container for savoury, one for sweet. I leave with such a sense of well being and feeling very benevolent and content. We give about half a chocolate cake to the three guards on duty at the end of the road. They look really pleased and are licking their fingers as they stop the traffic for us so that we can pass.

Soup Exchange!!!

Before we delve into our food pasts, let’s talk about the food present; gifts of food in the now.

When you live on the edge of the Sahara, soup weather is a long time coming. While folks back home in our respective countries update their facebook profiles with tales of cold wind and snowy mornings, in Cairo we are still walking around in flip flops and short sleeves.

This week, for the first time all fall, it is predicted the temperature will not rise about 75 degrees F (24 C) - and in the evenings it has begun dipping into truly chilly, refreshing temperatures that are perfectly comfortable for walking about in clad only in a sweater.

In honor of the first days cool enough to warrant the title “Soup Weather,” Fada and I decided to have a soup exchange - I will trade a lunch of my chicken noodle soup for a lunch of her lentil soup. Below are our recipes - and you can decide for yourself which comforts you down to your chilly toes more.

Heba’s Chicken Noodle

Boil 1 whole chicken with just enough water to cover the chicken, and include 2 cloves of garlic, 1 bay leaf and a generous application of the following spices: Rosemary, Oregano, Basil, Paul Prud’hommes Poultry Seasoning (at least 2 tablespoons), Old Bay Seasoning (about 2 teaspoons), Sea Salt, and Pepper.

When the chicken is to the stage when the flesh is falling off the bone (about 90 minutes - 3 hours depending on the size of your chicken), it’s transition time! Place a colander over a bowl to catch the extra juice and transfer the chicken carcass & meat into the colander to cool down.

While the chicken cools, add the following to the broth: 1 can whole new Irish potatoes, 3 or 4 stewed tomatoes (preferably the ones that are “Italian Style”), one large onion cut into largish pieces, and some celery. If you are in to carrots and mushrooms and things, throw those in there too.

Your chicken should be cool enough to handle now. Pull it apart with your fingers and put the meat in the pot, the bones in the trash.

Simmer until onions are clear.

Add Egg Noodles or Semolina Noodles (they hold up best). If you are going to be storing a large amount of soup for lunches on later days, only let the noodles cook about 5 minutes, so they do not go soggy in storage. Cook the rest about 10 - 15 minutes and enjoy.

The memories are of sick days in winter when I’d stayed home from school; my windows covered in frost, an 80’s movie on the television, and mom bringing me a bowl of chicken noodle soup in bed to soothe my whining.

Fada's Lentil Soup (and you can leave the lentils out and make it just plain vegetable if you want)

Fry a roughly chopped medium onion in vegetable oil until transparent. Add about a kilo of chopped carrots and then a head of celery together with fresh rosemary, thyme, parsley (a good handful of this) and cinnamon (because this is Egypt and everything has cinnamon in it!). Fry for a few minutes then add 200 grams of rinsed lentils (doesn't matter what colour). Simmer in about a litre of water until everything is soft - about 45 mins - and whizz or mash, depending on your implements. You may have to add some water as the lentils absorb it.

This is a very hearty soup, just right for when you come in from chilly weather. It's better the day after too as the flavours seem to have time to meld, so perfect for taking into work in a tub and heating in a microwave, which is exactly what I'm going to do tomorrow. I've made many soups but, for me, the combination of onions, carrots and celery as a base seems to work the best. I don't actually like celery raw but they have a peppery flavour cooked which I love and that, together with the sweetness of the carrots and onion is a perfect combination.

I don't have any particular memories to go with this recipe, only layers of memories of wintry evenings, with the dark closing in, the kitchen a bit steamed up, but everyone warm inside and enjoying a soup with bread and often cheese, slices of meat, pate.

A Sense of Purpose

This is a blog about food memories.

Having both lived in or visited many countries between us, we are documenting the delights, differences, and challenges related to cooking and eating. The whole world over we eat (and cook!), and as it is often a focus of interaction for visitors and inhabitants alike, it is a subject that everyone has an opinion on!

We will see where this leads but the range of eating styles often highlights other aspects of cultures; some practical, some traditional and some philosophical. Moreover, people's attitudes to food permeates their social experience: from eating on the run in a fast food culture where families no longer meet for a meal around the table, to the long, leisurely French weekend lunches that begin with an apero at noon and end sometime around six, several courses later. The time we allot to a meal is often also the time we allot to family and friends.

This is a place to relive that time spent over a holiday meal with family and friends; alone with a good book and a muffin; and all the places in-between where the memories are enhanced by food. This is about your food experiences and ours. We are one world family, united by a common love and interest - and here we invite you to share your recipes, your favorite flavors, your cultural explorations through food, and those meals you will never forget.

Please email us your contributions through our profile email address. Feel free to attach photos (food only please, no faces), for if we can not personally savor the flavors that you so ardently remember, at least we can salivate over images of them.