Oh, come, Mr Tally Man, tally me banana

[wayfaringwordhack]

The bananas here in Egypt aren't quite as good as they were in Mayotte (you can't get a lot of different varieties, either), but they are so much better than the supermarket offerings in France.  You can, of course, buy them in the store here, but they are better fresh off the cart where the hands are still in a bunch.

And did I mention cheaper? If you are up to speed on your Arabic numerals, you will see that you can buy a kilo for 5 EGP (Egyptian pounds), which works out to about 32 cents a pound.

Hail the street vendor from your balcony, pop down to the street to buy a hand or two, hurry upstairs, and make banana pudding pie. If you want. :P

Guess who has dessert waiting for her? :D

Comments

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Oh, neat! What a cool way to buy bananas! And that's a great price!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Different flavors of bananas--fresh from the bunch! Wonderful.
"Where the hands are still in a bunch"--those bunches are called hands? So is each individual banana a finger?

So you hail the vendor in English? French? Arabic?

(LOVE LOVE LOVE the photos, bien sûr)

miam miam

[mana-trini.livejournal.com]

I get the chance to eat the banana pudding but people might wana see the good stuff...see I said...right!
Why don't you add a picture.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Cool! I didn't know they had trishaws in Egypt too!

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't know why it surprised me, too, to see them, but it did. :P

Re: miam miam

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I thought about it, but it was too late when I finished it and the light wasn't nice. :P It wasn't pretty either, but it tasted mighty fine, didn't it? ;)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Yep, individual bananas are called fingers. :D It is kind of confusing to me in English (the French word is easier on my brain: régime=bunch) because a "group" of bananas could be a "bunch" for me. But the whole cluster of bananas on the rachis (the long stem upon which form all the tiers of bananas) is in fact termed a bunch. Then each tier is a "hand." So what you buy in the store is not a bunch of bananas but a hand of bananas or, more likely, part of a hand.

And I've actually never hailed a vendor from my balcony (poetic license); I buy my bananas from them where they stop on the corner when I come back from the market. I'll post pics of that soon. But if I did want his attention, I'd probably yell, "Salama!" which is one of the ways of saying hello.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

This icon is a bananaquit on a banana inflorescence. The bananas this plant makes are tiny and pink and oh-so-scrumptious. :D

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I love being able to get my fruits and veggies at the market just down the road. It is very picturesque. And the prices are amazingly low.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Too, too wonderful. The things you've seen! And taken the time to notice and remember, and then *share*. I feel so lucky to have found you.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

very cool!

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I bet they have tasty bananas in Malaysia, non?

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

The feeling is mutual, my friend!

[frigg.livejournal.com]

They do. Red ones as well. :p