Shopping in Cairo reminds me of my high school German teacher. Her name was (and hopefully still is) Mrs Burgess. She had a daughter working for some time in Eastern Europe, so our German grammar instruction would sporadically be interspersed with stories about her daughter’s trips to the grocer’s. There were generally two paths these stories would take. Story A involved there being nothing in the shops. Story B would involve spotting something and queue all night if need be to buy it, because it would be gone tomorrow.

Well the shops in Cairo are stocked. What they are stocked with though can sometimes be a little odd. There is a strange stock control system in operation that can see one shelf of every shop in Cairo choca-block with one product for a week, after which, it disappears for months. So, like in Story B, when you find something you want, grabbing it is essential. Today, after looking for tartlette cases (just because I thought they’d be good to have) and a coffee grinder for a good six months, I stumbled across both of them when I was looking for, wait for it, shelves!

Of course, there was only one coffee grinder left, so following a mad dash home in 42C to get more money, the six month search was over. Rather coincidentally, Mr S has been dropping not so subtle hints over the past couple of weeks about how he really wants a fruit tart. A French fruit tart. Since we are yet to find a fruity tart here up to the specifications of my cute, but gastronomically demanding, Frenchman’s taste buds, it involves me making said tart - entirely from scratch. No nipping out to M&S for pastry shells, chopped fruit and custard here, no siree! And I must fess up to not being the best pastry chef.

So, whether it was out of love, or excitement at finding the tartlette cases, I’m not sure, but I embarked on pastry making (in hot weather - not advised), creme patissiere making and pitting cherries…

The French taste buds are yet to pass verdict, but no matter. I’m over the moon that I managed to not burn anything, not undercook anything and get 6 out of 7 tartlettes out of the cases without breaking them!