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The Seaforth News, 1962-08-16, Page 6Ancient Customs in Modern Egypt In Egypt the superlative ap- plies to a great many things The monuments of its past eiv- ilizations — the oldest in the World —• are not merely big, not even huge, but gigantic. The Nile, the most wonderful of rivers because it alone, with; out the help of rainfall, gives Egypt to the world, is also one of the longest, Egyptian landscapes are vast, stretching from horizon to hor- izon, unbroken by hills and mountains so that they call to mind words like infinity or eter- nity. The deserts of Egypt axe vast too, engulfing practically the whale country, leaving only a narrow strip free from its burn- ing embrace, The sky over Egypt, seldom en- cumbered with cloud, offers a wider expanse of clear blue than in most countries, increasing the impression of immensity. This munificence, this largess is found too, in the Egyptian people, in their unbounded gen- erosity and hospitality, in their gaiety and the joil de vivre, in the way they express themselves. When two Egyptians greet each other they do not merely shake hands and pass the time of day by inquiring after each other's health and that of their families. Greetings, no matter how often they occur in the course of a day or how brief the meeting, are elaborate, even grandiose. Abdel Mawgud may have met Abdermrahman only yesterday, they may work in the same of- fice and see each other every day, but when they meet, in the office or in the street, an on- looker — especially a Westerner would be convinced that they were long lost friends reunited after months or years of separa- tion. "Peace be with you, wel- come, welcome, a thousand wel- comes" they both exclaim warm- ly, clasping hands and shaking then enthusiastically. This open- ing greeting is followed by in- quiries concerning each other's health and well-being, mutual congratulations and further exs pressions of welcome. When they part, even after a brief conver- sation that may have lasted only three or four minutes, the leave- taking formula is just as warm end elaborate. In any other part of the world one would be con- vinced that the two friends were .parting for a very long time. Walking in the countryside with a friend recently I was sur- prised to find that all the people who greeted us on our way through the fields used quite a long formula, of which I did not understand the words. I was en- chanted when my friend trans- lated them for, to our brief "good evening" these simple pea- sants, returning from a day's toil in the fields, replied: "You have brightened the fields with your charm" or "You are wel- come and have made the fields lighter by passing through them." In a country where every- thing, whether it is built by na- ture or man is on a vast. gener- ous scale, it is only logical that noise should be in proportion to the rest of the scene. The main source of noise in Egypt's capital is the traffic. Cars, buses, lorries, trams, taxis, tumbrels, horse- and donkey - drawn carts tear along the streets and avenues at hair-raising speed and in such an apparent state of confusion that it is amaz- ing any vehicle is left intact. In these circumstances there is only one way to avoid knock- ing down pedestrians like so many skittles and that is for the drivers of vehicles to keep one hand firmly clamped on the lalaxon. This sends dawdlers and jaywalkers scuttling like fright.. ened chickens in all directions and clears the way for the on- rushing traffic. Bicycle bells, the shouts of cart TOYING WITH A HEART --- Olarbara Wicks eyes a plastic, l'auild-it-from-a-kit, see-through 'model of o heart at a New York City toy show. A squeeze- foulb pumps a red -colored li- quid through the channels and tea chambers. drivers and the clatter of wheels and hoofs complete this gigantic orchestra whose daily perform - arms begin shortly after dawn. and end after midnight, with a pause in the afternoon for the siesta, Egyptians are great lovers of music and there is hardly a, shop, stall or restaurant - es- pecially in the popular districts that is sat equipped with a radia and sound amplifier. Being exceedingly generous by nature, no Egyptian would think of enjoying the music provided by his radio set without sharing it with as many neighbors as possible. He therefore turns it on at full volume to make sure that all may enjoy it aver and in Spite of all the other sounds corning from neighboring radios and, of course, from the traffic, writes Irene Beeson in the Chris- tian Science Monitor. At first one is simply over- whelmed by the sheer weight of the noise which seems to be all of one piece, like a blanket of fog or the pitch dark of night when one emerges from a lighted place. After a time when one's ear has grown somewhat accus- tomed to the brouhaha one be- gins to perceive that there is a scale of sounds with an infinite variety of notes. Through the roar and massive wave of sound produced by large vehicles one distinguishes the note of the tumbrel wheels from those of smaller cars, the jingle of a horse's harness from the bells of bicycles or carriages or of the lic- orice man's cymbals which also have a bell -like quality but of yet another kind. Voices begin to pierce through the wall of sound, the voices of street criers, hawkers and ven- dors who are in the nature of of troubadours bringing us the poetry of Egypt that has sur- vived the fiercest onslaughts of every kind of destructive devices of modern life, My first awareness of this po- etry came to me through the deafening roar of trafic in Qser el Nile Street, one of the busiest thoroughfares in the heart of the city. A plaintive, tremulous voice crying "Laym000n, laym0000n ." lingering on the second syl- lable and the rest of the sentence was lost in the general cacophony of klaxons, bells, wheels, and shouts. The owner of the voice, a frail old man in an off-white gellabiah stood on the curb on the opposite side of the street, carrying a basketful of bright yellow lemons the size of eggs. With his head raised, as though he were imploring the heavens to witness the quality of his lemons, he sent his cry floating over the deafening din of the flow of traffic ("lemons, oh lem- ons, God make them easy to sell"). My lemon man reconciled me with the chaotic noise of the city by opening in it a door through which I glimpsed the poetry of eternal Egypt. I went around with ears strained to catch the street criers' voices, slender threads linking the present with the past. "Oh, my sugar cane, it has no spots, see it is like the cheek of a beautiful girl, oh my sugar cane" cries the seller of pale green or mauvish sugar cane while the banana merchant knows full well that the com- plexion of a good banana is far from flawless, "The father of the spots, the father of the spots" he calls, offering the succulent fruit whose skin is mottled with small brown spots. The fruit of the vanilla is compared with a beau- tiful maiden and the vendor's cry is addressed to the boys; "the vanilla, cheek of a beautiful girl awake, oh boys, take your pennies and come to me, come buy this beautiful girl's cheek." It took me a long time to dis- cover why the man who sells tomatoes cries "Tomatoes, buy my crazy tomatoes" and I was given the choice of two explana- tions. The tomato is so red, so round, so beautiful that it might we:1 drive one; crazy with plea- sure or again, the price of toma- toes fluctuates so unpredictably that this might drive one to dis- traction, The rag and bone man's cry is a litany: "I buy old clothes." he chants, "I buy old iron, I buy old brass, I buy old books, old shoes" and then, summing up in an ear- splitting cry "1 buy all old things." "The best, the most excellent onions come from the seaside," while "my radishes are fresh from the islands," cry the vege- table merchants in the market. Okra, known here as ladies' fingers — "buy my ladies fing- ers, so slender, so delicate, oh my ladies' fingers," The guava is 'like the cream of the milk" and the roasted sweet potato "roasted in the oven is as sweet as honey." The traffic rushes and crashes and roars and screeches, but nothing can drown the cries of the Cairo streets "oh, oranges, of honey"; "oh barbary figs, sweeter than grapes" — "God make them easy to sell." OPEN AIR — Mrs. Clara Girard is shown at work in her "open air" kitchen in Chicago. Kitchen was converted to this type when a baby tornado swept through the area, TABLE TALKS A salad loaf is always both good and decorative for a buf- fet, Here is one using either chicken or turkey. Slice it as you serve it, SALAD LOU' 44 cup vinegar ?s cup salad oil Si teaspoon salt Pepper and paprika 3 cups chopped cooked turkey or chicken 2 tablespoons unflavorcd gelatin 11 cup cold water 21/2 cups hot clear broth 2 bard -cooked eggs, sliced ?5 cup cooked or canned peas 6 stuffed olives, sliced 1 teaspoon onion juice 31 cup finely chopped celery Mix first 5 ingredients and pour over turkey. Let stand in refrigerator 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle gelatin on cold water and soak a few minutes. Dissolve soaked gelatin in hot broth. Add salt and cool until slightly thickened. Make a design of sliced eggs, peas, and olives on bottom of salad mold and cover with a thin layer of the thickened broth mixture. Chill until firm. Mix onion juice, celery, and drained turkey or chicken with remaining thicken- ed broth, Carefully pour this mixture into the mold and chill until firm, Unmold on crisp let- tuce Serves 6, e e s Potato salad is popular for picnics, and here's a variation you may like, POTATO SALAD 3 cups cold potatoes, cut in cubes 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon chopped parsley 3.1 cup chopped celery tabelspoon chopped onion 6 radishes or 2 pimientos, chopped Mayonnaise Mix potatoes, salt, celery, onion, and radishes (or pimiento) and parsley. Add enough mayon- naise to misten, Place in the refrigerator to absorb some of the dressing and to chill. Arrange on lettuce leaves to serve; top with more mayonnaise. e Its "cawn puddin" time in Dixie) When summer steals laz- ily over that land of plantations, the aromas from the kitchen be- come even more tantalizing. Cooking in the Deep South is considered a fine art, but we are often accused of living in the past. CulinariIy speaking, this is an understatement; grandmoth- er's and great-grandmother's re- cipes are used for every occasion. In some places it is considered distinctive to speak with a Sou- thern accent, and it is always a mark of distinction to cook with a Southern accent. Today's re- cipes have been tried and tested in the kitchens of Jackson's most prominent matrons and career women, writes Madora 1•Iall Sharp in the Christian Science Monitor. There are also recipes from restaurant:, such as the Old Southern Tea Room in Vicks- burg, Allison's Wells at Way, Miss„ and recipes obtained from fine New Orleans cooks, V e AUNT ELVIRA'S "CAWN PUDDIN" I No, 2 can cream -style corn 1 tablespoon sugar I teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons butter, melted 5 eggs well beaten 3 cups milk t tablespoon cornstarch 1 tablespoon cold water Combine corn, sugar, salt, but- ter, eggs, and milk, Dissolve cornstarch in water and stir into corn mixture. Pour into a greas- ed shallow 2 -quart baking dish. Bake at 350° F, about 1 hour or until the custard is firm. Yield: 6 to 8 portions. CRAB MEAT MOLD 3 large packages crease sheese ? $ cup lemon- juice • 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce Tabasco sauce, red pepper to taste 3 cans crab meat and juice 2 tsp. onion juice 2 envelopes gelatin in r cup cold water: dissolve in i cup • boiling water 2 tsp. salt Stuffed olives - Soften cheese with a little cream; add other ingredients except crab meat. Beat thor- oughly. Add crab meat. Line mold with stuffed olives. Pour in crab meat mixture. Makes 2 ring molds. Serve with crackers. * ,e CRAB MEAT IMPERIAL 1 green pepper, finely diced 2 pimientos, finely dined 1 tbsp. mustard 1 tsp. salt Ilsa tsp. white pepper 2 whole eggs 1 cup mayonnaise 3 lbs. lump crab meat Mix pepper and pimientos, add mustard, salt, white pepper, eggs, and mayonnaise. Add crab meat, mixing lightly so lumps are not broken. Divide mixture into eight crab shells or casseroles, heaping it in lightly. Top with little coat- ing of mayonnaise and sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350° F. for 15 minutes. Serve hot or cold, e e e OUTDOOR HAMBURGERS 1 Ib, ground beef 1 egg, lightly beaten at tsp. salt 3a tsp. garlic salt 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 3s tsp. pepper Prepared mustard Chopped onion Small cubes of cheese HOW CLOSE DO YOU FOLLOW /ins 700 CL eSS if it's ass than one car length hr every PO tulles per hour Girls Do Forgery Quite Legally Most people who make $ living by copying other people's signa- Owes for cheques are police tar- gets, and practically all of them are men, But In Rochester, N Y., are two pretty girls, Helmi Wol- ford and Carmella Judd, who make a perfectly legal living out of forgery. The girls' jobs are identical — copying signatures of business executives and government of- ficials so expertly that the copies can be used in cheque -signing machines. Their employer is the Todd Division of Burroughs Cor- poration, it's a leading designer and manufacturer of cheques, forms, and machines for dis- bursement protection in business and banking, The copying technique, routine to the girl "forgers," is interest- ing to watch. After studying a name, they write it in very black ink, and with frightening accur- acy, on a white card. They en- large this signature three tunes so minor blemishes can be elim- inated, then reduce it to its or- iginal size and make a printing plate from it. When placed in a cheque -sign- ing machine, the plate can "sign" thousands of cheques while the person who owns the signature can attend to other jobs. To insure absolute protection for clients, the girls work in a cage — literally. The only door - to their wire -mesh enclosed studio is locked, and no one can get in without a special pass, writes James N. Miller in the Christian Science Monitor, Just recently, when the Ford Motor Company in Detroit bought up Canadian Form stock, several Todd offices could have been the setting for Hitchcock thrillers, It all started with a phone call from a top Ford ex- ecutive. The deal was going through — tomorrow. Arrangements were made to obtain the official's signature Sweet pickle relish Melted butter Mix beef, egg, salt, garlic salt, Worcestershire sauce and pepper together lightly, Divide mixture into halves. Draw a 9 -inch circle. on a piece of waxed paper (a cake pan is a good guide) and pat half of the mixture out lightly to fit the circle. Do not press hard, The eircule of meat will be about Vs ineh thick. Leave a 1 -inch margin around the edge of the circle for sealing and spread half the patty with prepared mustard, Then sprinkle with a little chopped onion, some cubes of cheese and spread with relish, Lift up the waxed paper at the opposite side of the patty and fold the meat over like a turnover. Pull off waxed paper, and seal by pressing around the edge. Repeat with second half of meat mixture. Brush both sides of patties with melted butter, Put in wire toaster basket. Broil slowly over coals. Serve with toasted buns if desired, (Serves - 2.) e +* CHOCOLATE ICE BOX CAKE 7 blocks unsweetened chocolate 8 tbsp. water 9 tbsp. sugar Pinch of salt 6 eggs Ladyfingers Macaroons Melt chocolate, water, sugar, salt over hot water. Add yolks of 6 eggs, one at a time, beating well between each, Fold in the 6 stiffly beaten egg whites. Line ring mold with ladyfingers; sprinkle crumbled macaroons on bottom of mold; fill with choc- olate mixture. Serve with whip- ped cream. ISSUE 31 — 1962 from correspondence on file ltt as Rochester bank. Copying the zlsxne and making the plate — work that ordinarily would take several days -- had to be done in 24 hours. Utmost secrecy had to be maintained so a serioU* stock fluctuation would not take. place, .A Ford courier picked up the signature plate -- on sohedult — and delivered it to the proper parties in Toronto, Not one Todd employee, who, by the nature of his job knew of the transaction, let the information leak, Mesdames' Wolford and Judd take a good dealing of teasing about their jobs as "forgers." But in their business, which deals in honesty, especially the protection of other people's bank accounts, the girl "counterfeit- ers" are understandably respec- ted. Stealing Art Is Big Business The thieves climbed a fire escape, moved single file over a narrow parapet, and scurried across a network of flat roof- tops, When they came to an in- ner patio at the O'Hana art gal- lery in London's Mayfair, they dropped down 10 feet and within minutes had jimmied a simple lock on a glass -paneled door and walked in. Waiting for them was the gallery's summer exhibi- tion of French impressionist and modern paintings. Their value: More than a million dollars. Ignoring' heavy bronzes and minor works, the thieves cut some paintings from their frames; they took others, frames and all. There were 35 of then, including some of the best of Renoir, Braque, Cezanne, Picasso, Utrilio, Toulouse-Lautrec, Sisley, and Vuillard. The most valuable was a Vuillard ($840,000). All were taken back over the roof- tops and down a fire escape to a getaway truck. When the theft was discovered the next morn- ing only one clue was left—the imprint of a rubber sole, The robbery was the biggest art theft in history and brought an immediate reward offer $56,000 from the firm that had insured the paintings for $560,000. It also brought the total value of art treasures stolen in the U.S., Britain, and France during the past twelve months to $7 million. Surveying barren walls, the gallery owner, Jacques O'Hana, 62, Spanish -born British subject, explained that the front entrance had been strongly bolted. It was so much like "a little fortress," he said, that it had not been con- sidered necessary to put strong doors on the inner patio. For those who enjoy collecting fa- mous last words, he added: "I did not imagine anyone could get in that way." What Do You Know About SOUTHEAST ASIA? L.AO KAY DIEN DIEN PHU m HANOI NINH BINH RTIi! 'VIETNAM MILES 0 100 •5ONG 01 OVERTHROW GOVERNMENT IN PERU — Troops surround the Presidential Palace in Lima, Peru, after the armed forces ousted the government and set up a junta of three gen- erals and an admiral to run the country. President Manuel Prado was arrested and jailed on the Pacific island of San Lorenzo.