El Andalous - Easter

A Failed Hot Cross Bun

I hope you are all safe and well and keeping to whatever regulations your respective governments have set.

Here, we don’t yet have total lockdown. We have curfew between 8pm-6am; social distancing is advised, as is staying at home unless you have essential shopping. However, shops remain open. Shopping malls are closed Fridays and Saturdays and are open only from 10am-5pm. All the normal recommendations (hand sanitization, wearing of masks, social distancing) are strongly recommended if you do go out.

Anyway, for Easter last weekend I had Safi round for a meal. She also lives in Sahl Hasheesh (where all hotels are closed, and visitors from outside Sahl Hasheesh allowed only with prior notice). She really likes Thai food, so I cooked satay chicken and we ate outside on my balcony (at a bit of a distance). We ate at 4pm, so that there would be enough time to eat and for Safi to get back before curfew (at that point curfew was 7pm). For the first time, I bought some corn on the cob and I have to say, it was quite delicious. I’ll definitely buy that again.

I had tried to bake some hot cross buns, but they were a bit of a disaster. It was a shame as I’d spent ages over it. I’m not too sure what went wrong, but they came out more like scones or rock cakes. Maybe I didn’t knead them enough or maybe I didn’t leave them long enough to rise (but I thought I had, obviously). They are just about edible and I’m going through them slowly as my lunch each day, but I would never impose them on anyone else!

I won’t try it again until next year (maybe, if I can bear the thought of trying again), but I do miss hot cross buns. I haven’t had one in years (they don’t have them in Switzerland either). I also like Easter Eggs, but they don’t have those here either. Sometimes I miss being in the UK/Europe!

I’d also tried to provide some cupcakes for dessert (I’ve never eaten so many cupcakes in my life, but I can’t seem to stop myself from baking and eating them…). However, even those went wrong. I wasn’t having a very good baking day. At least I know why my cupcakes went wrong. I’d failed to remember that I’d switched my little electric oven to grill (it’s one of those small, almost portable ones, so nothing fancy at all and I cook everything at the same temperature). Consequently, instead of baking my cupcakes, I grilled them. Whoops. I tried grilling them from the bottom to compensate, but they still ended up a little soggy in the middle. Again, they were edible (and I even enjoyed them), but they weren’t fit for public viewing.

This weekend, it's Coptic Easter weekend, so everything’s been tightened up to stop people from gathering (which is a good thing). All the beaches are totally closed – it’s not allowed even to walk on them or to cross them to have a swim in the sea. All public transport is being stopped on Monday and Senzo Mall will be closed. No visitors will be permitted in Sahl Hasheesh. It’s strange time indeed. But Happy Easter to anyone who celebrates or who has celebrated!