Guava jam

It is a guava season now in Egypt. I love this fruit in fresh a lot. I also like to stock up some guava jam cans. It goes great with breakfast toasts. The Egyptian guava is yellow when ripe with a pronounced fragrance which makes a wonderful aromatic jam.


Ingredients:
Guava
Sugar

Many recipes call for water. I do not add water. With water it will take longer time to cook and as the result the jam will come out like a pure. Meanwhile I like to feel pieces of fruit in the jam.

For each 10-12 guava fruits I add 2 cups of sugar 200 ml each (400 ml total).

Cut guavas into quarters and scrape out the seeds (I do not peel fruits). Put the guava insides with seeds into a pot and bring to a boil (on a low heat.) Then reduce heat to minimum and boil for about 30 minutes. Remove from stove and set aside to cool for 15 minutes. Pour the mixture through a metal sifter (into a pan) to separate out the seeds. Use a spoon to force the mixture through the sifter.

Meanwhile, slice seedless quarters of guava into smaller segments. Transfer them to a heavy pan (the same that will be set on stove) and add sugar (for each 10-12 guava fruits 2 cups of sugar), shake the pot, cover it and leave for 30 minutes. Then, shake it again and leave for another 30 minutes. Repeat this procedure for 4-5 times. This will allow juices to develop. Hence, there will be no need for water. Sometimes I leave fruit-sugar mix over night and start cooking only next morning.

Add mixture obtained after sifting seeded pieces to the heavy pan where you kept guava-sugar mix. Set the pan on stove; bring to boil (on a low heat). Reduce heat and keep boiling, shaking the pan every now and then (stirring would mash the pieces of fruit) until a little drop onto a wet saucer begins to thicken. It takes to me about 5 hours to reach this stage on a low heat. Jam should simmer at a very slow boil. If it is too high, the jam will burn.

Move pot from stove and set aside to cool. Transfer jam into jars and refrigerate. Jam will stiffen as it cools. Make sure they have good tight lids. This jam can keep for months.

A fish restaurant in Alexandria

My husband and I love fish and eat it as often as possible. In Alexandria, we have found two quite good fish restaurants. One of them is Zephyrion - the one that is located in Abu Quir. So, if you choose to go down there get ready for a long drive.

The interiors of the restaurant are simple – all painted in white, high Italian windows allow plenty of light insides. White linen table clothes and curtains with dark blue strip emphasize the marine motive as well as the cleanness of the place. White walls carry naïve paintings predominantly with traditional for Egypt Pharaoh’s motives.

The menu is also very basic. It is just fish, shrimps and wine or beer. But the choice of fish is quite reasonable. The customers select fish and shrimps for themselves and then the restaurant would cook them.

At the time of our visit there were around 6 types of fish to choose from. We ordered two types of grilled fish (one was fillet and another complete fish) and grilled shrimps plus some soft drinks. Salads, tahina, tzatziki (a yoghurt and garlic paste) , pickles, fried eggplant were brought as well. All food was deliciously fresh. It came to something around 140 Egyptian pounds for two of us.


This picture was taken in a parking lot in front of the restaurant.


Spacious hall of the restaurant.

And here are the paintings.

Armadillo' shoe

It seems that soon we might walk in something like this
They are so-called 'armadillo' shoes from Alexander McQueen's S/S 2010 show.

I wonder whether these shoes will be ever found elegant. I remember when the first shoes on a platform came into existence they seemed very ugly. Then, gradually all people got used to them and many found them even stylish. But the shoes on the picture above are something!

By the way armadillo is an animal with a shell.