Auntie Marys Torshi Left recipe

Torshi left is a popular Arab pickle and in Egypt they make it in brine, without any vinegar at all. The beetroots give the turnips a lovely pink color. 



•1 kilo  turnips (about 2 lbs)

•2 beetroots, raw and sliced or quartered.  (you only need a peice really)

•2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

•just over a litre or 2 pints of water enough to cover the turnips

•5 tablespoons of salt

Use firm, unblemished turnips. Trim and wash them and peel them if necessary (if large). Cut them in half or quarters and leave baby ones whole.
Place the turnips in sterilised preserving jars and layer with slices of beetroot and garlic.  Traditionally you put a piece of beet at the bottom, so that when the top turnips turn pink you know its time to serve and eat them
Put the water and salt into a pan, bring to the boil and pour over the vegetables. Seal the jars and leave in a warm place for 3 or 4 days, by which time the pickle will be ready to eat.

Then keep refrigerated and eat within 2 weeks.

The Cat lady

Madame Vera Baiucci was the cat lady of Maadi.  She lived in an apartment building not far from our house.  Her husband was a fastidious man in both dress and deportment.......alwasy a gentleman.  Vera was not, she was often disheveld and smelled of old cats, and the fish /scraps she carried around the town to all the animals that she fed.  When ever she went outside, she was followed around by a long line of cats and dogs who were more interested in the aroma of the food she was carrying.  They walked behind her with their noses in the air like they were in ecstasy.  At night the animals congregated around her building waiting for her to come out again.  One of the stops she made was our house on road 17.  Although we had a dog named Pedro at that time, Vera came to feed a cat that had been left behind years ago by the previous residents of our Villa.  Twice a day Vera came into our yard, (pedro following her like she was a goddess)  calling out Neferr..............TITI!!!     NeferrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrTITI!.  The old black and white cat would come out of  the jasmine bush and climb down the portcullis to get her bowl of food.  The cat lady gently would pick her up and place her on a sunny window ledge out of reach of Pedro and feed her.  She would scoop a mash of food from her bucket into a small battered aluminum bowl  (recovering the bucket so that pedro counldnt stick his nose in it, and hold it up on the ledge for the old cat.  She would then pet the black and white cat talking soft nonsence while Nefertiti ate.  Then when she was done eating, Madame B would take her bowl and bucket and walk back out to the street. 

work in progress

Madame Baiocci the cat lady of Maadi
Going to get a Ramadan Lantern with badraya
Eid al Adha with Salem's kids
Food Stands, Corn, shuwarma, lib fitir
Ras el bar trip  "the fleas are coming"
Torshi Lift: stealing Auntie marys pickled turnips
going to camel market in the city of the dead
Let them eat cake
Sahara city picnic with Hala;s family